B1 lesson 6

Lesson 1: Extraordinary people

ExpressionsVocabularyProverbsListeningandSpeaking

The topicUseofEnglishListeningMarlie'sNewFace

Writing

ReadingNickVujicicReadingcomprehensiontest

GrammarA.EllipsisB.Substitution

PhoneticsExtra information

Culturalfocus

GamesAdditionalmaterial

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Expressions

Vocabulary Proverbs

Listen to the following expressions and repeat them:

o Adversity makes strange bedfellows. o As you make your bed, so you must lie upon it. o Ask no questions and hear no lies. o Attack is the best form of defence. o Barking dogs seldom bite.

The listening is available in the virtual classroom

Choose the correct definition of the previous expressions:

Adversity makes strange bedfellows:

a) You meet unusual people during times of strife.

b) Sleeping with the enemy is a perfect example.

c) When things get worse, your partner becomes a stranger.

As you make your bed, so you must lie upon it:

a) If you made the bed, dont speak.

b) Take the responsibility for making your bed.

c) If you made the bed, just say it.

d) As you sow, so shall you reap.

e) None.

Ask no questions and hear no lies:

a) If you dont ask, there are no lies.

b) If you ask, there will be lies.

c) Dont ask if you cant trust the answer.

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Attack is the best form of defence:

a) Yes, definitely.

b) Not true; sometimes it is better to wait for your adversary to act, to discover his/her

strategy.

c) Karl Von Clausewitz said that.

Barking dogs seldom bite:

a) If the dogs only bark, they will not attack; everything is ok.

b) If one dog barks at you, you dont have anything to fear from this dog.

c) If one dog barks at you, you almost dont have anything to fear from that dog.

d) Dont be afraid of people threatening you.

Check your answers in the Key Booklet

Listening and Speaking

Listen and repeat the following quote by Benoit Mandelbrot: An

extraordinary amount of arrogance is present in any claim of having

been the first in inventing something.

The listening is available in the virtual classroom

o Who was Benoit Mandelbrot? Do you agree with him? Explain your point of view and record yourself. The recording must be at least one minute.

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

The topic

Use of English

Match the following words with their correct definition:

A. To undergo 1. Incorporating the latest technologies and

developments.

B. To stretch 2. To look fixedly at someone.

C. State-of-the-art 3. To experience something.

D. To stare 4. To meet informally, socially.

E. To meet up 5. To be made longer or wider without breaking.


Listening Marlie's New Face

Listen to the video about Marlie, a girl who has developed a face

malformation and her road to full recovery and write down all the

vocabulary you can understand connected to her problem.

The video is available at:

http://youtu.be/Mc3W80f7Yos

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Listen to each of the following four expressions and then repeat them

again at the same time as the presenter pronounces them.

o long into the future (minute 3:50). o will prove more difficult and dangerous than expected (minute 4:22). o If you dont use it, you lose it! (minute 6:10). o For me this is more than enough (minute 6:16).

Have a look at the following words, expressions and phrasal verbs that

appear in the video and use the dictionary to look up the meanings.

Vocabulary Expressions Phrasal Verbs

Obscurity Why me? To hide away

Bravery To turn their heads To meet up

To haunt Every single one of To slice open

To plead Its more than enough To stretch back

Surgery Face to face

To fix State-of-the-art

To support

To undergo

Implant

To approach

Balance

To stretch

Faith

To join in

To stare at

To point at

To date

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Writing

Answer the following questions using full sentences. Write your answers

and compare them with the suggested ones.

o How did Marlie feel when everyone stared at her and pointed at her? o How does Marlie feel about Dr. Gmez? o What is Dr. Gmezs goal?


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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Reading

Nick Vujicic

About Nick Vujicic

Adapted from: http://attitudeisaltitude.com/aboutus-nick.php

Imagine being born without arms. No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience

touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability

to dance, walk, run, or even stand on two feet. Now put both of those scenarios together: no

arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that effect your everyday life?

Meet Nick Vujicic... Born in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia,

without any medical explanation or warning, Nicholas Vujicic

(pronounced Voy-a-chich) came into the world with neither arms

nor legs. Having had an uneventful pregnancy and no family

history to expect this condition, imagine the shock his parents felt

when they saw their first born, brand new baby boy, only to find

he was what the world would consider imperfect and abnormal. A

limbless son was not what nurse DushkaVujicic, and her husband

Pastor BorrisVujicic had been expecting. How would their son live

a normal happy life? What could he ever do or become when

living with what the world would see as such a massive disability?

Little did they know that this beautiful limbless baby would one

day be someone who would inspire and motivate people from all

walks of life, touching lives all over the world.

Throughout his childhood Nick dealt not only with the typical challenges of school and

adolescence such as bullying and self-esteem issues; he also struggled with depression and

loneliness as he questioned why he was different to all the other kids surrounding him; why he

was the one born without arms and legs. He wondered what was the purpose behind his life, or

if he even had a purpose. After a lot of frustration and feeling like the odd one out in school, at

seven years of age Nick tried out some specially designed electronic arms and hands, in hopes

that he would be more like the other kids. During the short trial period of the electronic arms,

Nick realized that even with them, he was still unlike his peers at school, and they turned out to

be much too heavy for Nick to operate, effecting his general mobility quite significantly.

As Nick grew up he learned to deal with his disability and started to be able to do more and

more things on his own. He adapted to his situation and found ways to accomplish tasks that

Extracted from

http://attitudeisaltitude.com/

aboutus-nick.php

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

most people could only do by using their limbs, such as cleaning teeth, brushing hair, typing on

a computer, swimming, playing sports, and much more. As time went by Nick began to embrace

his situation and achieve greater things. In grade seven Nick was elected captain of his school

and worked with the student council on various fund-raising events for local charities and

disability campaigns.

According to Nick, the victory over his struggles throughout his journey, as well as his passion

for life can be credited to his faith, his family, his friends and the many people he's encountered

during his life who have encouraged him along the way.

After school Nick went on with further study and obtained a double bachelor degree majoring in

accounting and financial planning. By the age of 19, Nick had started to fulfill his dream of

encouraging others by sharing his story through motivational speaking. He found the purpose of

his existence, and also the purpose in his circumstance. Nick wholeheartedly believes that there

is a purpose in each of the struggles we encounter in our lives and that our attitude towards

those struggles that can be the single most effective factor in overcoming them.

In 2005, Nick was nominated for the "Young Australian of the Year" Award, which is a large

honor in Australia. The award honors a young person for their excellence and service to their

local community and the nation, as well as their own personal accomplishments. Nominations

for this award are only given to truly inspirational people.

Now at 27 years old, this limbless young man has accomplished more than most people even

twice his age. Nick recently made the massive move from Brisbane, Australia to California, USA,

where he is the president of an international non-profit organization, and also has his own

motivational speaking company; Attitude Is Altitude. Since his first motivational speaking

engagement back when he was 19, Nick has traveled around the world, sharing his story with

millions of people, speaking to a range of different groups such as students, teachers, youth,

business men and women, entrepreneurs, and church congregations of all sizes. He has also told

his story and been interviewed on various televised programs worldwide. However, Nick's

speaking engagements have gone beyond purely motivational speaking, he has had the

opportunity to speak with several leaders, including the vice president of Kenya. This year alone

Nick is set to speak in over 20 countries.

People ask Nick, "How can you smile?" Then they realize there's got to be something more to life

than meets the eye if a guy without arms and legs is living a fuller life.

Nick shares with his audiences the importance of vision and dreaming big. Using his own

experiences in worldwide outreach as examples, he challenges others to examine their

perspective and look beyond their circumstances. He shares his view of ceasing to see obstacles

as problems, but instead begin to see them as opportunities to grow and reach out to others. He

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

stresses the importance of how attitude can be the most powerful tool we have at our disposal

and illustrates how the choices we make can have a profound effect on our lives and the lives of

those around us. Nick shows through his own life that the major keys in fulfilling our biggest

dreams are persistence and choosing to embrace failure as a learning experience, rather than

allowing the guilt and fear of failure to paralyze us.

How does Nick Vujicic feel about his disability now? He accepts it, embraces it and oftentimes

pokes fun at his own circumstance as he shows off his many tricks. He meets challenges with his

special blend of humor, perseverance and faith always encouraging those around him to

examine their perspective as they develop and define their vision. Using those new definitions

he challenges each person he meets to make changes in their lives so that they can begin the

path to fulfilling their biggest dreams. Through his amazing ability to connect with people from

all walks of life and his incredible sense of humor he captivates children, teens and adults alike,

Nick is a true inspirational and motivational speaker.

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Reading comprehension test

Complete the following exercises:

o Why were Nicks parents so shocked when their little boy was born? o Why didnt Nick use the electronic arms and hands? o How does Nick feel about his disability now?


Have a look at the following words, expressions and phrasal verbs that

appear in the text and use the dictionary to look up the meanings:


Everyday Brand new To wrap around

Uneventful Little did they know that To come in

Limbless From all walks of life To deal with

Bullying All over the world To struggle with

Wholeheartedly The odd one out To turn out

To overcome As time went by To grow up

Award Along the way To go on

Accomplishments Its more than meets the eye. To be set to

Engagement To poke fun at To reach out

Outreach

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Grammar

A. Ellipsis

Ellipsis is the omission of words from a sentence. Those words are unnecessary because

they have already been mentioned. It doesnt affect the meaning of the whole sentence

as both the listener and speaker can understand it:

He woke up and he had a bath He woke up and had a bath. She said she would phone but she didnt phone She said she would phone but she didnt.

When clauses are joined by and, but, then and or we can leave out repeated words or

phrases of various kinds:

We usually have dinner and then go to bed.

Do you like modern or classical music?

Ellipsis is not usually possible after other conjunctions (when, while, before, after)

but we can leave out subject pronouns with verb to be in some cases:

If possible, I would like to change this watch.

While in New York, he met some extraordinary people.

Ellipsis is used in short answers and question tags:

Have you called Mark? Yes, I have.

You dont like sports, do you?

We can use to instead of the whole infinitive of a repeated verb if the meaning is

clear:

I havent been to Turkey but I would love to.

Martha threw the jar at Mark but she didnt mean to.

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

B. Substitution

Substitution is used when we substitute a phrase, a clause or any other grammatical

item for the auxiliary do, demonstratives, personal and object pronouns and one. Our

goal is to make the sentences concise and to avoid repetition.

Do you think Mark will call? He may do (may call).

One/ones is used in order to avoid repetition of a singular or plural countable

noun:

Who is your boyfriend? The one with the blue shirt.

Do I bought yellow or green apples? The green ones.

Personal and Object pronouns have always been used to substitute proper or

common nouns in clauses:

Martha started to work for IBM last week.

She started to work for IBM last week.

Myles bought Mary a puppy.

Myles bought her a puppy.

John read a book while he was on holidays.

John read it while he was on holidays.

Do can be used to replace a main verb if there is no other auxiliary to repeat: I may come tomorrow. Ill call you and if I do (may come tomorrow).

Who wants more brownies? We do! (want more brownies)

Mark didnt like the concert but I did (like the concert).

It is also used with so, neither, and nor. Important: be careful with the word order.

I dont like eggs. I do (I like eggs).

Neither do I (I dont like eggs).

I like eggs So do I (like eggs).

I dont.

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

We use so instead of repeating an affirmative clause after the following verbs:

assume, appear, believe, be afraid, expect, guess, hope, imagine, presume, seem,

say, suppose, think.

Are you working next month? I hope so.

With negative clauses, we use an affirmative verb + not with be afraid, assume,

guess, hope, presume and suspect:

Has the package arrived? Im afraid not.

We usually use a negative verb + so with believe, expect, imagine and think.

Are they still living in New York? I dont think so. I think they move.

Exercises

Cross out the words or phrases which could be left out:

o Peter and Donna looked very happy but they werent really happy because they had an argument at home.

o I didnt take the exam but I think I should have taken it to have more chances to pass the subject

o Would you like to go to New York this summer? I would love to go but Im afraid I cant go.

o I had a shower and then I had dinner and I went to bed.


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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Complete the following sentences.

o I dont think she can come to the party, but I hope______. o The windows in Grandmas apartment are so dirty, lets wash_____. o My car is so old and unreliable, I really need to buy a new_______. o I wanted a new dress. My mother bought me ______but ______is not my style. o I lent the spare key to Charlie but I need to get _____ back. o Josie drinks green tea in the morning and I _____too. o Did they win the match? I dont think ____.


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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Phonetics

Ellipsis

We have seen in the grammar section of the unit how we tend to leave out words in

order to avoid repetition and the meaning is clear.

In phonetics, although the words are left out a very short sound from the omitted words

is left behind:

Whats wrong?

Ive got a headache/Got a headache/ve got a headache /vgat/

Ellipsis in phonetics is usually at the beginning of a sentence.

What time is John getting to Rome?

Im not sure/Not sure/m not sure.

Where are my glasses?

I dont know/Dont know.

Is that Shirley? /that Shirley?/s that Shirley?

What are you doing? What you doing?/what re you doing? /wat/

I should have gone with her/ I shouldve gone there / dv/

Silent syllables

In English, vowels in certain words tend not to be pronounced and , therefore, they lose

an unstressed syllable.

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Most vowels that are left out come before /r/, /l/ or /n/.

/r/ /l/ /n/discovery family traditionalhistory marvellous nationalbattery technically deafening

miserable historically definiteinterest politically prisoner

There are other words which do not follow this rule like memory, formally,

anniversary.

Also, in some words they do not contain the sounds/r/, /l/ or /n/ in order to leave out

the vowels like in medicine or vegetable.

In some two-syllable words with stress on the second syllable, the first vowel is left out

so it seems the word is made up by only one syllable, especially in a fast conversation:

Police

Correct

Believe

Suppose

Theory adapted from Hancock, Mark , English Pronunciation in Use Intermediate,

Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Extra information

Cultural focus

Watch the following video of Susan Boyle, a woman with guts! Everyone was against her and she won them all over. You cannot

judge a book by its cover!

The video is available in:

http://youtu.be/VSrAJsWvEIc

Now, fill in the gaps:

Les Miserables - I Dreamed a Dream

There was a time, when men were _1._

And their voices were soft

And their words were inviting

There was a time, when love was _2.___

And the world was a song

And the song was exciting

There was a time it all went ____3.___

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

When hope was high and life worth living

I dreamed that love would never die

I dreamed that God would be forgiving

Then I was young and unafraid

And dreams were made and used and wasted

There was no ransom to be paid

No song unsung, no wine ____4.____

But the tigers come at night

With their voices soft as ____5.__

As they turn your hope apart

As they turn your dreams to shame

He slept a summer by my side

He filled my dreams with endless wonder

He took my childhood in his stride

But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'd come to me

That we would live the years together

But there are dreams that cannot be

And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be

So different from the __6.___I'm living

So different now from what it seemed

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed


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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Describe the story of someone you know, or someone you have seen

on the internet, with guts, someone who is brave, who fights for what

they believe in.

Look at the following vocabulary which appeared in the video:


Darling To be given the chance To work out

Cheeky Heres hoping it will change To come back

Grin Without a doubt To laugh at

Stunning The biggest wake-up call ever To go back

To be thrilled You are a little tiger To look at

Cynical With your head held high To listen to

What a lot of tosh! To walk out

Games

Look at these two photos of Susan Boyle, taken from

http://www.homorazzi.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/susan-boyle-

before-after.jpg before and after she got famous. Compare her in the two

photos explaining the changes she underwent!

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UNIT 7 Lesson 1

Additional material

Grammar

Exercises on ellipsis and substitution:

http://www.llas.ac.uk/materialsbank/mb061/8.11/index.htm

Listening

Susan Boyles story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/newsaboutbritain/

2009/05/090519_nab_susan_boyle.shtml

B1 lesson 6

Documents

Transcript of B1 lesson 6