Issue 685 The Week p15 'How positive thinking left us in the lurch'

Transcription

1 1. Comparing phrases Look at the following phrases. What do you think they have in common? greed and corruption on Wall Street overextension of credit financial innovation falling house prices the growth of the Chinese economy 2. Look at the picture Try to guess how it might also be connected to the phrases in Check Read the first sentence of an article from The Week and check your prediction. 4. Work in pairs The following words and phrases appear in the rest of the article. Divide them into two groups, based on their meaning: self-help support negativity upbeat downturn trouble grim hard work promises dour pessimistic risks famine plenty 5. Understanding views Now read the rest of the article. Which of these statements best summarises the view of Barbara Ehrenreich? a) We should take prosperity and economic growth for granted. b) We should accept the possibility of recession as well as prosperity, and be prepared for both. c) We should never assume that working hard will guarantee us prosperity Page 1 of 7

2 6. Reading comprehension Read the article again and answer the following questions. a) What three routes have led to the phenomenon of positive thinking becoming popular in America? b) What three examples are given of areas in which positive thinking techniques play an important role? c) What two examples are given of routes by which positive thinking techniques have entered the business world? d) What explanation is offered for why the financial crisis has taken people by surprise? e) How does the attitude of modern-day Americans compare with the attitude of their ancestors? 7. Understanding beliefs What does her use of the following expressions reveal about Barbara Ehrenreich s beliefs and attitude? all-american positive thinking the once-sober world of finance deluded optimism endless self-help manuals business tomes we ought to give it a try 8. Questionnaire Work in pairs. You are going to prepare a questionnaire to find out whether or not you and your peers are positive thinkers. a) Look at the first five situations in the questionnaire and read the three possible answers for each one. The three answers represent an optimist, a pessimist and a realist (but not necessarily in this order!). b) Think of three appropriate alternative answers for situations 6-8 (one optimistic, one pessimistic and one realistic) and add them to the questionnaire. c) Think of two extra situations, and three alternative answers for each one, and add them to the questionnaire. d) Complete the scoring chart underneath the questionnaire. Note: the optimistic answer scores 2 points, the realistic answer scores 1 point, and the pessimistic answer scores zero. 9. How would you react? Swap questionnaires with another pair. With your partner, discuss how you would each react in the ten situations Page 2 of 7

3 10. Assess your results Calculate your total scores, and read the assessment of the results. Do you agree? Why/Why not? Are you an optimist, a pessimist, or a realist? Find out using the questionnaire below! 1. Your boss asks to speak to you in private this afternoon. Do you start worrying that you are going to lose your job? get excited that you might be promoted? wonder what it s about for a minute, then get on with your work? 2. You are invited to a party but none of your friends are going. Do you think it will be a great opportunity to make some new friends? accept the invitation but then pretend you are ill and stay at home? decide to go for an hour or two, then maybe leave quietly so no-one notices? 3. You have been invited to give a speech at a friend s wedding tomorrow. Do you stay up all night writing your speech and getting more and more nervous? decline the invitation because you are worried about making a fool of yourself? see it as an opportunity to entertain the other guests and start thinking of some good jokes? 4. You can t find your credit card. Do you immediately phone your credit card company and cancel the card? assume it will turn up sooner or later and forget about it? try and remember when you last had it and ask if anyone has seen it? 5. Your mobile phone starts ringing in the middle of the night. Do you switch it off and go back to sleep? jump out of bed to answer it, worried that it might be bad news? wait to see if the caller leaves a message, thinking it might be a wrong number? 6. You see a competition in the newspaper to win your dream holiday. Do you 7. You wake up one morning feeling a bit unwell. Do you 8. Your partner says they want to talk to you about something important. Do you Page 3 of 7

4 SCORING: 1 a) 0 b) 2 c) 1 6 a) b) c) 2 a) 2 b) 0 c) 1 7 a) b) c) 3 a) 1 b) 0 c) 2 8 a) b) c) 4 a) 0 b) 2 c) 1 9 a) b) c) 5 a) 2 b) 0 c) 1 10 a) b) c) 0-7: You seem to be very negative about life. Try to look on the bright side a bit more! 8-13: You have a rational, sensible approach to life. You accept that life isn t always easy, but try to make the most of opportunities which come your way : You have a very positive approach to life, but this means you are not prepared for crisis situations. You would be wise to spend more time considering what you would do if things go wrong Page 4 of 7

5 Teacher s notes and key Level Advanced or strong upper-intermediate Aims to encourage students to use their prior knowledge about a topic to help them engage with and de-code a text to encourage students to consider the connotations of vocabulary, and to show how these connotations can be used by a writer to express attitude to practise the sub-skills of reading for gist and for detail to practise inferring the attitude of a writer from their choice of language to compile a questionnaire on thinking styles, extending the ideas expressed in the reading text to wider contexts to provide personalised free speaking practice as students complete the questionnaire in pairs Timing Tasks 1-3: 5-10 minutes in total Task 4: minutes Tasks 5 & 6: 15 minutes in total Task 7: 10 minutes Task 8: 20 minutes Task 9: minutes Task 10: 5 minutes Total: approx 1 ½ hours 1. Comparing phrases They have all been blamed for the current world/us financial crisis. 2. Look at the picture This picture illustrates the classic glass half-full / half-empty psychological test. It introduces the theme of positive thinking, which the article blames for the financial crisis in the US. 4. Work in pairs The aim of this activity is to encourage students to consider the connotation of vocabulary, and also to pre-teach some of the more problematic vocabulary in the article. The answers to the activity are subjective to a certain extent, but suggested answers are as follows: Page 5 of 7

6 Group 1 (words with a positive connotation): self-help, support, upbeat, promises, plenty. Group 2 (words with a negative connotation): negativity, downturn, trouble, grim, hard work, dour, pessimistic, risks, famine. 5. Understanding views b) She is basically suggesting a realistic outlook, as opposed to the historical pessimistic one and the contemporary preference for optimism. 6. Reading comprehension a) Oprah Winfrey (presumably on her television show), evangelical preachers (also presumably on television), self-help manuals. b) Weight-loss programmes, cancer support groups, the world of finance. c) Business tomes (i.e. manuals), motivational speakers. d) The tendency to promote and encourage positive thinking in business has meant that people have been discouraged from even considering that things might go wrong, so that when things did go wrong no-one was psychology prepared to deal with the situation sensibly. e) It is the opposite of the innate pessimism of the Protestant settlers who first arrived in America they believed in the virtues of hard work and frugality for their own sake, and never took prosperity for granted. 7. Understanding beliefs all-american positive thinking: The expression all-american is usually used to mean typically American or representative of American ideals, but here carries a slightly sarcastic tone, perhaps suggesting that America as a nation has been brainwashed by the idea of positive thinking to the extent that it has become central to American ideals; there may also be the suggestion that Americans are arrogant to believe that nothing can ever go wrong for them. endless self-help manuals: Similarly, the word endless implies that there are too many such manuals, and that Americans have been gullible in growing to assume that if you want something badly enough, you ll get it. the once-sober world of finance: The word sober suggests something serious and even dull, so the writer is suggesting that the world of finance is no longer serious or dull, perhaps implying that she thinks financiers have become irresponsible thrill-seekers. business tomes: A tome is usually defined as a large, scholarly book, and in the context of the article there is a hint of sarcasm in the writer s use of the word which suggests that she thinks the business manuals she is referring to have been taken too seriously, with people being too willing to believe everything they have read in them Page 6 of 7

7 deluded optimism: The word deluded suggests the writer thinks people have been naïve in their optimism, and have allowed themselves to be tricked or misled into believing everything the positive thinking gurus have told them. we ought to give it a try: There is a clear note of sarcasm here too, because this phrase suggests something radical or experimental, whereas in fact the writer s point is that adopting a more realistic approach is common sense (the phrase of course also emphasises this point), which Americans have been foolish to ignore; the implication is that Americans only have themselves to blame for the financial crisis Questionnaire tasks Monitor the students carefully as they write the questionnaire, checking that the three alternatives they come up with for each situation correspond with optimistic, pessimistic and realistic approaches. At the end, encourage discussion of whether it is better to be optimistic, pessimistic or realistic (i.e. whether they agree with the writer of the article), and in what situations they tend to adopt each approach in their own lives Page 7 of 7