Let’s Play the Brain Game

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Materials Daily News

Intermediate

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

responsible

Adjective

rɪˈspɑːnsəbəl

able to be trusted and make good judgements

A responsible employee is never late.

A responsible staff member manages time well.

She is a responsible mother who takes good care of her child.

She is a responsible assistant who takes care of many small details for her boss.

Not everyone knows how to be a responsible parent.

make sense

Phrase

meɪk sɛns

able to be explained or understood

I think your plan makes sense.

tease

Verb

tiːz

to criticize or annoy someone in a playful way, often to embarrass them

My girlfriend enjoys teasing me.

It looks like they are having a fight, but they are just teasing each other.

organ

Noun

ˈɔːrgən

a part of the body that carries out a particular function, such as the heart, lungs, brain, etc.

The heart is the body's most important organ.

I'm learning the names of human organs.

riddle

Noun

ˈrɪdl

a question or statement phrased in a way that requires clever thinking in order to understand its meaning

In order to be able to solve this riddle, you need to use logic and intuition.

I never understand riddles or puzzles.

Exercise 2

Article

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Let’s Play the Brain Game

We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head.

But a brain can mean so much more.

A brain can also simply be a smart person. If a person is called brainy, she is smart and intelligent.

And if you are the brains behind something you are responsible for developing or organizing something.

These ways we use the word “brain” all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand.

For example, to tease is to make fun of someone. But a brainteaser is not one who makes fun of someone else’s brain. A brainteaser is a riddle or puzzle that makes you think.

Next, we have a brainchild. A brainchild sounds like a really smart kid. But it isn’t. A brainchild is an idea that one has without any help from others. However, if many people are responsible for a great idea, you could say they brainstormed it. Here, brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic.

Exercise 3

Questions

What does the word “brainchild” not mean?

If you are responsible for developing or organizing something, who are you?

What do you call a riddle or puzzle that makes you think?

Exercise 4

Discussion

Do you have expressions with the word “brain” or “mind” in your language?

Would you call yourself a brain?

When was the last time you brainstormed anything?

Parts of this lesson are based on:

An article by Voice of America.