Themenpool 23: EXTREME SITUATIONS

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

elaborated by: Laura Huber und Carina Meissl

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

VOCAB LIST“An extreme situation is a set of circumstances that

departs from the normal routine, and which may involve uncertainty, risk, time pressures and critical choices

that could mean the difference between life and death. In such a situation, routine drills and procedures are

insufficient, and familiar modes are thinking are rendered ineffective. A feeling of information overload,

combined with emotional distress, create extreme stress“

graduation Abschlussrock/ice climbing Felsen-/ Eiskletternoperating theatre Operationssaalmourning Trauercemetery Friedhofincubator Brutkastenrespect Respektviolence Gewaltagony Todesqualenbone marrow Knochenmarkblood donation Blutspendeno-win situation aussichtslose Situation

Feelings/ Emotions

joy Freudestress Stressfear Angstsadness Traurigkeitdesperation Verzweiflung, Hoffnungslosigkeithappiness Glücklichkeitaggressive aggressiv(to) anger Zorn/ ärgern(to) surprise Überraschung/ jdn. überraschento feel fühlento be overcome with/by emotion überwältigt sein vona deep/ strong emotion tiefe/ starke Gefühleto hide/ show your feelings/ emotions

Gefühle verstecken/ zeigen

depression Depressionconfusion Verwirrungboredom Langeweile

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

Love

to fall head over heels in love sich Hals über Kopf verliebenlove at first sight Liebe auf den ersten Blickto love sb. to bits/ to death jdn. zum Fressen gern zu haben/

jdn. über alles zu liebento be love-struck verliebt seintrue/ deep love wahre/ leidenschaftliche Liebefirst/ puppy love Jugendliebelove marriage Liebeseheplatonic love platonische Liebeperfect/ passionate love perfekte/ leidenschaftliche Liebemothering love mütterliche Liebesmothering love übertriebene Mutterliebelove of your life die Liebe deines Lebensparental love Elternliebeto care for pflegen/ sich kümmernto fall for jdm. verfallen/ sich in jdn.

verguckento have a crush on in jdn. verknallt seinto have an affair (with) eine Affäre mit jmdm. habento go out with mit jmdm. (aus)gehento live with bei jdn. zu lebento move in with bei jdn. einziehen

Dealing with difficulties

to address/approach/deal with/face /solve/ tackle a problem or a difficulty

ein Problem angehen/ beheben

to identify a problem ein Problem erkennento consider multiple solutions mehrere Lösungento get into diffictuly/ trouble in Schwierigkeiten geratento talk sb. out of sth. jdm. etw. ausredento talk sth. through etw. durchsprechento talk some sense into sb. jdm. zur Vernunft bringen

(Natural) disasters

avalanche Lawineearthquake Erdbebenblizzard Schneesturmthunder Donner

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

tsunami Tsunamistorm Sturmhurricane Wirbelsturmtornado Tornadoflood Flutheat wave Hitzewelle

Extreme anger: can make one blind and irrational;

almost always has negative outcomes when it is taken

on another person

Extreme: of the greatest possible degree or

intensity (e.g. extreme pleasure, cold or danger)

Extreme hapiness: being very happy about sth.,

combined with an adrenaline rush over a

period of time

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

Exercise 1: Monologue

Describe what you see in the pictures and compare them

Imagine other extreme situations

Justify whether you would like to experience such a situation

or not

Exercise 2: Monologue

Describe what you can see in the pictures and describe them

Imagine other extreme situations Have you ever been in an extreme

situation? (as well less tragic ones)

Exercise 3: Writing taskWrite an opinion essay about people who take risks. In your essay you should:

Examine cases where people have taken risks

Analyse possible reasons for such a behaviour Evaluate the possible consequences

Write an opinion essay about 400 words. Give your opinion essay a title.Source: Prime Time 7, Unit 5, Page 76/4

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

Exercise 4: Reading My sisters keeper

In my first memory, I am three years old and I am trying to kill my sister. Sometimes the recollection is so clear I can remember the itch of the pillowcase under my hand, the sharp point of her nose pressing into my palm. She didn't stand a chance against me, of course, but it still didn't work. My father walked by, tucking in the house for the night, and saved her. He led me back to my own bed. “That,” he told me, “never happened.”

As we got older, I didn't seem to exist, except in relation to her. I would watch her sleep across the room from me, one long shadow linking our beds, and I would count the ways. Poison, sprinkled on her cereal. A wicked undertow off the beach. Lightning striking.

In the end, though, I did not kill my sister. She did it all on her own. Or at least this is what I tell myself.

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

When I was little, the great mystery to me wasn't how babies were made, but why. The mechanics I understood—my older brother Jesse had filled me in—although at the time I was sure he'd heard half of it wrong. Other kids my age were busy looking up the words penis and vagina in the classroom dictionary when the teacher had her back turned, but I paid attention to different details. Like why some mothers only had one child, while other families seemed to multiply before your eyes. Or how the new girl in school, Sedona, told anyone who'd listen that she was named for the place where her parents were vacationing when they made her (“Good thing they weren't staying in Jersey City,” my father used to say).

Now that I am thirteen, these distinctions are only more complicated: the eighth-grader who dropped out of school because she got into trouble; a neighbour who got herself pregnant in the hopes it would keep her husband from filing for divorce. I'm telling you, if aliens landed on earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get born, they'd conclude that most people have children by accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night, or because birth control isn't one hundred percent, or for a thousand other reasons that really aren't very flattering.

On the other hand, I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material. In fact, when Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask my parents the truth, I got more than I bargained for. They sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course—but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me, specifically, because I could save my sister, Kate.

“We loved you even more,” my mother made sure to say, “because we knew what exactly we were getting.”

It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy. Chances are, I'd still be floating up in Heaven or wherever, waiting to be attached to a body to spend some time on Earth. Certainly I would not be part of this family. See, unlike the rest of the free world, I didn't get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you.

Sources:Titelbild: http://img.izismile.com//img/img2/20090128/bonus/14/extrim_01.jpg

Definition:

Mountain parachuting: http://www.ftag.gr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Extreme_sport_from_rock_climbing_to_mountain_parachuting.jpg

Felix Baumgartner: http://www.andilit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/felix-baumgartner-space-jump.jpg

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations

Flood: http://images.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2013-10/Ueberschwemmung-in-Indien/Ueberschwemmung-in-Indien-540x304.jpg

Storm: http://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/04/8b/d1/05/76271877.jpg

Quote “Extreme poverty…”: http://quotes.lifehack.org/media/quotes/quote-Daisaku-Ikeda-extreme-poverty-threatens-peoples-right-to-life-185578.png

My sisters keeper: http://ebooksbeus.weebly.com/uploads/6/3/0/8/6308108/my_sisters_keeper_-_jodi_picoult.pdf

Themenpool 23: Extreme situations