SESSION 19: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION:
2.1 LEGENDS: Who are the biggest legends in the following fields? Why are they the best for you?
- in music
- in sport
- in politics
- in business
- in fashion
- Whitney Houston
- Lady Gaga
- Britney Spears
- Madonna
- Mariah Carey
- Hannah Montana
- Jennifer Lopez
a) Think about Pop Superstars and what they represent in our society.
b) When did you hear the news of Whitney Houston’s death?
c) What do you know about Whitney Houston?
d) Do you think she deserves a lifetime achievement award?
e) Do you think there’s anything suspicious about her death?
f) Why was it a good idea to quickly remove her body after she died?
h) What do you think of Whitney Houston’s music?
i) Where would you rank Whitney Houston in the list of all-time greats?
j) How influential do you think Whitney Houston was to future singers?
k) How musical are you?
l) Do you know / like the song "I Will Always Love You"?
m) Why do so many music stars and actors take drugs?
n) Should singers and actors be role models or are rebels necessary?
o) What would be your tribute to Whitney Houston?
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 IN THE ORAL SESSION.
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 19, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions:
- 'Singers and Actors should be role models for young people' Express your opinion.
- Write about a big Legend you admire.
Since the consolidation of the film, TV and radio, actors and singers have always been a reference point for the society at any time. Much of them became very famous and they were considered film or stars of film or stars of the song, sometimes despite of themselves, because most of the time, one becomes what others see in him or her.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am trying to say is say that it is the public at large, who turns anyone into a star or a monster, sometimes this only depends on the role interpreted in a film or the lyrics of some of their songs.
From other point of view, most of celebrities are not prepared to take their new status on and that is the reason for the great and sad disappointments suffered by fans of a particular music or cinema star, as they have been recent cases of Amy Winehouse or Whitney Houston.
To sum up, in my opinion singers and actors should not be role models for young people, unless they usually offer a series of personal values, so these celebrities show being full of humanity and consideration towards others.
The overwhelming news of Whitney Houston’s death has shaken the whole world. However, She has not been the only one who has passed away in only two years; the 24 year old singer Amy Winehouse (‘the Black Soul Voice’ as she was considered) left us last year due to the same drug addiction as her dear fellow. Actually, the stories about their turbulent private lives involved in heavy drinking, drug abuse and violent fights have tended to detract from their ability as artists and the main reason to make people think that they are not a very good example for teens.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, children by nature learn from everything they hear, do, see and from everyone they meet, this means that the most important task of parenting is being a good model for them because kids under 14 still have no social problem and they have not become contaminated yet, so they normally give their family the whole of their life, so it is when parents have to struggle for teaching their children values, showing respect for others, setting goals, saying no to drugs etc…since they will try to emulate them in the future.
What is clear is that thanks to the media and the press which are always delighted to feed the public with all sort of details of glamorous people from unrealistic perfect images to musicians who are portrayed as legends, today’s youth often turns to their favorite celebrities for guidance in their everyday lives so they chose them as the perfect role models. The consequence is that self-esteems in youngsters may plummet if they are obsessed with such perfection and problems such as bulimia and anorexia can show up when a teenager tries to look like as celebrities.
In a nutshell, I reckon it would be unfair to generalize; with not aim of being ambiguous and although I am a wholehearted followed of some singers, I am totally against of taking them as a role model. However, I would like to mention that there are lots of celebrities who could not even dream how famous they were to become and it seems to handle their status pretty well.
Always dependent on the person, doesn't matter if the role model if from a singer or an actor as long as this model has a good and correct life.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the mainly problem is that nowadays the major part of actors and singers haven´t got a life which young people should imitate, a clear example of this can be the recent cases of Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston, who destroy their lives and didn´t know how to take the opportunity that life gave them.