SESSION 6: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION:
2.1 DEAL WITH IT: How bad are these situations? What´s the best way to deal with them? See if there are any reasons for optimism:
- mobile phone stolen
- an illness
- bankruptcy
- exam failure
- hairloss / baldness
- getting old
- splitting up with your partner
2.2 POSITIVE: What are you most positive about? Rank these, put the ones you are most positive about at the top:
- your health
- your finantial security
- being in control of your life
- your job or career
- the future of your country
- world peace
- the environment
- your happiness
2.3 DISCUSSION: Here are some questions you can try asking yourself before you come to our discussion on Wednesday:
a)What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘optimism’?
b) Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist?c) Do you think optimism is good for your health? Why?
d) If you are an optimist, have you ever thought you might have a ”faulty” brain?
e) When was the last time the phrase “see the light at the end of the tunnel” applied to you?
f) Do you think optimism was responsible for the 2008 global financial crisis? Or was it greed?
g) What do you think about risk? Are you a risk taker?
h) In what situations wouldn´t you mind taking a risk?
i) Do you ignore negative predictions and always look on the bright side of life?
j) Who are the biggest optimists and pessimists you know?
k) Is there any famous person you know to be or have been an optimist?
l) Would you like to volunteer for a scientific study?
m) Are you optimistic about your own future?
n) How do you deal with unpleasant or disastrous situations?
o) Are you optimistic about the future of the world?
p) Do you normally see the glass half full or half empty?
q) What advice would you give to a pessimist?
r) What would you like to be more optimistic about?
s) Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:
FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.
FINAL TASK:
HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.
Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 6, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions. Choose one of these two options:
- ´The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be influenced by negative information', Express your opinion.
- Advantages and disadvantages of being very optimistic.
It has been estimated that we have from 25,0000 to 50,000 thoughts a day, in fact they occupy a little territory, immune to being affected by feeling and therefore representing some unchanged truth; but it is not which way of thinking is more correct, but which is the most beneficial for people health.
ReplyDeleteIt’s is interesting to consider that people by nature generate negative thoughts so automatically they are unconscious that it is happening. Furthermore, pessimism is harmful for health because makes people more liable to die of heart disease and more likely to get cancer in the first place due to the fact that they get anxious and stressed easily.
On the contrary, optimism normally seems to have a strong beneficial effect on physical and mental health. Actually, there are several ways of thinking positively, one is having thoughts with a positive content avoiding unpleasant event, and another essential factor is having a good sense of humor having an ironic view of life which enhances our well-being state. However, the only likely negative aspect of thinking positively is when we use over-optimism to hide ourselves from reality.
In short, what is a real truth is that life is a long trip where happiness isn’t the destination, but the way to reaching it; so be optimism and take each day as it comes, `this is my motto’.
It has been estimated that we have from 25,000 to 50,000 thoughts a day, in fact they occupy a little territory, immune to being affected by feeling and therefore representing some unchanged truth; but it is not which way of thinking is more correct, but which is the most beneficial for people health.
ReplyDeleteIt’s is interesting to consider that people by nature generate negative thoughts so automatically they are unconscious that it is happening. Furthermore, pessimism is harmful for health because makes people more liable to die of heart disease and more likely to get cancer in the first place due to the fact that they get anxious and stressed easily.
On the contrary, optimism normally seems to have a strong beneficial effect on physical and mental health. Actually, there are several ways of thinking positively, one is having thoughts with a positive content avoiding unpleasant event, and another essential factor is having a good sense of humor having an ironic view of life which enhances our well-being state. However, the only likely negative aspect of thinking positively is when we use over-optimism to hide ourselves from reality.
In short, what is a real truth is that life is a long trip where happiness isn’t the destination, but the way to reaching it; so be optimism and take each day as it comes, `this is my motto’.
At present, optimism could be very strange in these days and age, mainly due to the economic crisis that affects us globally. Despite of that, there are people who keep this attitude, no matter what it happens.
ReplyDeleteBeing very optimistic has both pros and cons. On the plus side, there is a direct relationship between optimism and happiness. For instance, a person can fight against its problems if he believes that he will win and get over it. Another point is that optimistic people tend to be surrounded by other people, as they tend to radiate positive vibrations. All in all, although it doesn’t mean that a optimistic person is not able to see how the reality is, if not he reacts otherwise.
On the other hand, there are important disadvantages. Opponents maintain that being pessimistic is to be more realistic. One disadvantage is that, despite of being very optimistic, you can not prevent accidents, illnesses, being fired from work, running out of money, you let your partner, and so on. Last of all, following the Peter’s law, do not rejoice to see the light at the end of a tunnel because it may be an oncoming train to you.
To sum up, I believe being very optimistic is better than being only a little pessimistic despite the disadvantages, because complaints does not fall in love anybody, so pessimistic people usually end up alone because nobody wants to hear their cries continuously.
At present, optimism could be very strange in these days and age, mainly due to the economic crisis that affects us globally. Despite of that, there are people who keep this attitude, no matter what it happens.
ReplyDeleteBeing very optimistic has both pros and cons. On the plus side, there is a direct relationship between optimism and happiness. For instance, a person can fight against its problems if he believes that he will win and get over it. Another point is that optimistic people tend to be surrounded by other people, as they tend to radiate positive vibrations. All in all, although it doesn’t mean that a optimistic person is not able to see how the reality is, if not he reacts otherwise.
On the other hand, there are important disadvantages. Opponents maintain that being pessimistic is to be more realistic. One disadvantage is that, despite of being very optimistic, you can not prevent accidents, illnesses, being fired from work, running out of money, you let your partner, and so on. Last of all, following the Peter’s law, do not rejoice to see the light at the end of a tunnel because it may be an oncoming train to you.
To sum up, I believe being very optimistic is better than being only a little pessimistic despite the disadvantages, because complaints does not fall in love anybody, so pessimistic people usually end up alone because nobody wants to hear their cries continuously.
Before starting, it is necessary to distinguish between optimistic and overoptimistic people, considering the latter as a quality of the personality in which you do not take account of risks and take your decisions just thinking everything will be all right. Doing things in such a way is a little bit irresponsible and can lead you to a disaster.
ReplyDeleteTalking only about optimism, most of the people probably agree this feeling or attitude is very positive and makes you feel better and full of energy, able to do nearly everything you propose, so it can be true that optimism implies a better health.
But now we already know optimism is good the next question we must work out is if a person can decide to be optimistic or it depends of his personality and his experiences in life. Maybe it is easy to see when someone is tall or short, slim or fat, with strong muscles or weak, etc. but it is much difficult to appreciate if a person has the ability and/or the capacity to be optimistic.
In my opinion, you cannot wake up a morning and tell yourself ‘I am going to be optimistic’, our mind work as a very complicated machine and many chemical substances have influence in it, making you feel in a way or another and you do not have any idea why. Of course, we cannot forget that very unhappy lived situations will become a pessimistic one the most decided optimistic human being.
´The more optimistic we are, the less likely we are to be influenced by negative information', Express your opinion.
ReplyDeleteBy Bárbara Poison
First of all, I agree with the statement: "Seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty can be a positive thing. It can lower stress and anxiety and be good for our health and well-being" That should be a way of living. Something to learn and train. We should be able to manage our emotions and imprint positivity on them.
The reality is that we are not that positive and we have a lack of control over our emotional part (most of times) We are trying to get a balance but many times it is almost impossible to think positive. When you break up with someone, when you or a close relative have an illness or someone you love is in trouble. Or even when you have economical problems (as most of us have nowadays). To be able to see the glass as half full is lucky, but it is what save us from falling and get deeply depressed: Focus on the good things in our life; our mates, our children, our friends, our families, our hobbies, our goals, ...
But, as any other thing in life, it has to be balance. You can not live in a daydream and think everything is going to be solved magically. Our brain tries to trick us sometimes and avoid getting into problems. We often prevent them trying to escape from the negative forecast. We say it is not going to happen to me, it is too bad. That happens and it is normal.
In my opinion, it can be dangerous we you are extremely reckless and you are unable to see reality. You have a double disappointment when something bad happens because you didn´t expect it and you can not fece it in perspective. Could it be an illness? If it is right. We have other human fault to keep adding to the sack. it is another challenge or problem to solve by thinking positive!
In today’s word, it is really difficult to find optimistic people because of the lack of good news, wherever you look for it. That is the reason why everybody is so pessimistic about the future. But this situation has reached his higher point due to the excess of overoptimism we had had for several years. So we can wonder if optimistic behaviours have positive or negative effects in our daily routine.
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, optimism has lots of advantages when it is referred to our health and mental states. First of all, optimism helps us to be happier and besides our thoughts being optimistic make us live without complex and stressful situations. Another aspect about being optimistic is that you deal with difficult situations without thinking about they can finish wrongly. So it gives you self-confidence and makes you feel assertive and sometimes open-minded about the problems you solve. Furthermore, actually, these people transmit their feelings to other people who do not feel well, so in this way, they copy their strength and optimism about difficult situations and lots of times they strengthen their personalities in order to deal with life properly.
On the other hand, optimistic people have some disadvantages too. The first downside is that they do not appreciate risky events because they are far away from reality, so it makes them get into troubles frequently. An important example about it might be how many people have been living over their possibilities for long periods of time, so for that reason a lot of people have lost everything they had and they have had to begin from zero again. Besides, another drawback appears, for example, when they have to fight against serious illnesses, for example a critical decease like a terminal cancer. In that point we have to make difference between being positive and being optimistic, the first one refers to accept something, knowing that you are going to end up dead, without causing pain to relatives who live close to you. On the contrary, optimistic people think they are going to finish cured completely, so their agony becomes stronger when they realize they do not have a solution to their illness.
To sum up, optimistic people understand life how something perfect to them, where everything is great and beautiful and where problems do not exist, but in my opinion, being positive in life is better than being optimistic, because you can have positive feeling about life but without losing reality from your point of view.
Miguel Ruano.
Composition about: Advantages and disadvantages of being very optimistic
ReplyDeleteFor most people the first thing that springs to mind when we hear the word ‘optimism’ is expecting good things to happen. Therefore, it is said that being very optimistic has many obvious advantages but unfortunately there are a number of disadvantages, as well.
As far as positive aspects is concerned, the main advantage is that you can expect a wonderful future where your aims and projects in your life are achieved, provided that (siempre que) you have a positive attitude, that is to say you are self-confident, conscientious, open-minded, ambitious – in the meaning you are determined to be successful- etc. In addition, being optimist can help you being in control of your life and your happiness. Another advantage is that if you had experienced any unpleasant or disastrous situations, being a well-balanced, secure and good-tempered person, your optimism would have easily helped to overcome them. Finally, the greatest advantage of all for some people, you can be healthy, keep as fit as a fiddle, focus and enjoy the real and important things in the life.
This all seems very tempting, but on the other hand there could be negative aspects of being too optimistic. Firstly, sometimes you have to make an effort to be calm, positive, open-minded, in other words being optimistic is often very stressful, especially in difficult situations and above all if you are more pessimist than optimistic. Secondly, because most of us feel like being optimistic, we are used to looking on the bright side of life and might ignore negative predictions and consequently we could suffer from some disappointment. Thus, there is an element of risk. Finally, sometimes it can happen that more optimistic less realistic and that we cannot help us in the life.
To sum up, being too optimistic has more advantages than disadvantages, so it is worth to be a positive person. Nevertheless, that mostly depends on your personality and your personal circumstances.