Recommended topics for final exam

TEXT 1

MODEL

A.: I want to tell you about Peter who is by far the most affable man from all I know. I can speak about him unreservedly. He is honest and generous, he is a man of high morals. Moreover, he is everyone’s favourite…

B.: But I am not as enthusiastic about people as you are. I do not take people for what they look and sound. I try to size them up according to their deeds. That’s why I pass my judgement only on second thought. Very often some little things make us change our opinion of a person for the worse…

Read the following text. Find in it arguments for accepting anger as normal and against it. Copy them out in two columns (I – “for”, II – “against).

Anger Is Normal. Or Is It?

In terms of frequency of expression, anger is normal. It exists everywhere and is all of us. But most teachers and parents find it difficult to accept anger as normal or inevitable. The real issue for the teacher and parent becomes the question of how to deal with anger in oneself. The pressure on us to control or hide our anger are very powerful. Teacher asks, “Will this be held against me as a sign of incompetence or immaturity?” Other concerns are: “What will the kids tell their parents?” and “Will this get back to the principal?” Teachers, in addition, have really concern for their children: “Will a child become frightened? Will it damage him in some way?” or, even more upsetting, “Will the child get angry at me, become rebellious, and no longer like me as a teacher?”

These concerns are so real that most teachers try to hide their anger. The results of this are quite predictable: at best the teacher who is straining to keep in anger is tense, irritable, and impatient; at worst the anger slips out in sarcasm or explodes in a rage of accumulated fury. Some teachers report that they never get angry in the classroom. In further discussions with teachers regarding situations or behaviour which typically arouses anger some teachers recognize all the signs of anger, but actually did not feel in the classroom. But usually an observer or the children in the classroom recognize the signs of anger. Certain teachers are more successful at hiding anger, but unless anger is in a mild form, it will be out one way or another.

How do children react to anger? All of us, as we recall our own childhood experiences in school, can remember instances of teachers experiencing anger in the classroom. Though children frequently face anger from adults, they do not always adjust to it in ways that foster their own growth and learning. Teachers report that children often react with confusion; they’re bothered, or their faces appear troubled. Some children are especially sensitive and hurt at the teacher’s anger, and a few children are even frightened. Sarcasm or biting remarks that touch areas of special concern for children can be remembered with special misery for many years.

Exercise 1. Discuss the text in pairs. One partner will take the view that anger is normal on the part of a teacher. the other will defend the opposite point of view:

FOR:		AGAINST:
1.	The teacher faces numerous occasions when anger is normal and inevitable. Anger often occurs as the result of accumulated irritation, annoyance and stress.		1.	The teacher is expected to behave calmly and coolly at all times. No matter how excited or tired, the teacher should be emotionally stable and consistent.
2.	Feelings should be considered honestly and realistically. It is superhuman never to feel anger, shakiness or helplessness.		2.	Anger in a teacher is a sign of weakness. A person who expresses anger often feels childish, immature, guilty.
3.	Children or other outsiders are really fooled by the efforts of teachers to hide the emotions that are bursting underneath		3.	No matter how joyous or angry the feelings must be controlled, hidden, disguised.
4.	A teacher who denies his own feelings is wrapped in stress and struggle. Excitement, interest, and enthusiasm are blunted, if not completely obliterated.		4.	Teacher who makes fun of children or pick out certain weaknesses or deficiencies can leave lasting scars on a child’s attitude toward school.
5.	The first important criterion of acceptable anger release is that the child not be blamed, attacked or insulted.		5.	Children’s feelings are more important than the teacher’s feelings.

1. Give a character sketch of a person you like (using the Outlines given in Ex. 17).

2. Give a character sketch of a person you don’t like.

3. What kind of people you get on best with.

4. Speak about appearance and character of a famous person (actor/actress, politician, singer, musician, etc.) or of a fiction or film personage you like.

5. Speak about appearance and character of a famous person (actor/actress, politician, singer, musician, etc.) or of a fiction or film personage you dislike.

6. Speak about one sign of zodiac, either yours or of a friend of yours, say how well it reflects the real character of a person it describes.

7. Speak about an imaginary sign of zodiac, which you invented yourself. Say what were the reasons to create it, what qualities are characteristic of persons born under this sign and who of the well-known people in your opinion can belong to it.

8. Give your Self-Portrait.

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