Запропонований матеріал дозволяє спонукати учнів брати активну участь у різних видах навчлаьно-пізнавальної діяльності, висловлювати власну позицію щодо прочитаного
Topic: How to pursue happiness
Objectives: Practical : to teach students reading comprehension
Developing: to develop students’ reading and speaking skills
Upbringing to motivate students towards learning English:
Equipment: the cards with the text of the quiz " Are you happy being you?"
Procedure
Quiz “Are you happy being you?"
There are times when each and everyone of us looks in the mirror and wishes that somebody completely different was staring back. But what about the rest of the time? Do our quiz and find out if you’re happy being you.
1.If someone criticizes you, do you usually…
2.Back to the mirror. Study your full-length reflection in it and then tick which parts of yours you’d change if you had half a chance…(1 point for every letter you didn’t tick.)
3.If a member of the opposite sex asked you out, would you be…
4.What quality do you look for on your best friend ?
5.When you are in a group of people, how would you describe yourself ?
6.If you were feeling depressed, would you…
Add up your score.
0-20: Come on, you can’t be that bad – no one is! You have a very low
opinion of yourself, and if you don’t change soon, you’ll spend your
whole life feeling unhappy and envious of your friends instead of
having a laugh and enjoying being with them. Take another look
in that mirror and smile! You and everything around you will look
better immediately!
21-40: You’re realistic about yourself, and realize that you can’t be the
centre of attention the whole time. That makes you a very good
friend to have around. Don’t worry about your appearance. Nobody’s
perfect!
41-62: You are self-confident and have high regard for yourself. You also
like to be at the centre of things and have lots of friends. Be careful
about becoming too big-headed tough. If you do you’ll regret it !
3.Pre-reading activity.
3.1. What words do you associate with the word “happiness”?
List all of associations on the board. Explain why you have made these associations.
3.2. Vocabulary
Word search puzzle.
Find the words and circle them.
Htafchoicekluynm
Happinessthuiwqx
Afhuioattitudelmp
Jfgdtypursuekolfh
3.3.Match the meaning with the correct word.
permanent |
Very happy, or likely to make people very happy |
attitude |
Continuing to exist for a long time |
command |
Smth. is unclear, confusing, not certain |
joyful |
To tell smb. Officially to do smth |
ambiguous |
The opinion and feeling that you usually have about smth. |
3.4. Fill in the gaps using the words above
1. Miller soon became a … fixture on the team.
2. Christmas is a …occasion for children.
3. His role in the affair is very … .
4. Captain …the crew to report to the main deck.
5. Their careless… towards the problem annoyed them.
4. While-reading activity
4.1. Look through the list of the synonyms to the word 'happiness"
To be glad, pleased |
Happy because something good happened |
To be delighted, thrilled, overjoyed |
Very glad or pleased |
To be ecstatic |
Extremely happy and excited |
To be cheerful |
Living in a way that shows you are happy |
Satisfied, content |
Fairly pleased with a situation, result etc. |
To be contented |
Happy with your life |
To be optimistic, positive |
Believing that good things will happen in the future |
Use the words from the table to make up sentences
5. Post-reading activity
5.1.Agree or disagree to the following statements and add an argument to
support your view-point.
1) Some people think that happiness is a permanent condition.
2) Happiness is like a visitor…
3) And you can’t force happiness to happen...
4) Happiness is an attitude, not a condition.
5) Happiness is a choice.
Text for reading
Every day, it seems, we’re flooded with pop-psych advice about happiness. The relentless message is that there is something we are supposed to do to be happy – make the right choices ,or have the right set of beliefs about ourselves. Some people think that happiness is a permanent condition. If we are not joyful all the time, we conclude there is a problem.
Yet what more people experience is not a permanent state of happiness. It is something more ordinary, a mixture of what essayist Hugh Prather once called “Unsolved problem, ambiguous victories and vague defeats – with few moments of clear peace “.
Maybe you wouldn’t say yesterday was a happy day, because you had a misunderstanding with your boss. But weren’t there moments of happiness, moments of clear peace? Now that you think about it, wasn’t there a letter from an old friend or a stranger who asked where you got such a great haircut? You remember having a bad day, yet those good moments occurred.
Happiness is like a visitor, a genial exotic Aunt Tilly who turns up when you least expect her, orders an extravagant round of drinks and then disappears, trailing a lingering scent of gardenias. You can’t command her appearance; you can only appreciate her when she does show up. And you can’t force happiness to happen – but you can make sure you are aware of it when it does.
While you are walking home with a head full of problems, try to notice the sun set the windows of the city on fire. Listen to the sounds of kids playing basketball in the fading light and feel your spirits rise, just from having paid attention.
Happiness is an attitude, not a condition. Happiness is your family assembled at dinner. It’s in the present, not in the distant promise of a “someday” when…” How much luckier we are- and how much more happiness we experience – if we can fall in love with the life we are living.
Happiness is a choice. Reach out for it at the moment it appears, like a balloon drifting seaward in a bright blue sky.
Adair Lara
Summary
Home assignment: write the story to illustrate the statement " Happiness is an attitude, not a condition"