Unit 1 Sports and activities Task 1 Speaking Read the sentences about why sport can be positive and number them in order of importance for you. 1 = most important, 5 = least important. Think about why. a) Sport helps develop coordination and balance. b) It is very good for health to do exercise. c) Sport allows people to learn about competition in a positive way. d) Children who are less academic may find they can excel at sports. e) Sport gives people an opportunity to work off negative feelings. Task 2 A) Read the sentences about why sport can be negative. In each sentence there are two spelling errors. Correct each error. Sport may be beneficil for health but it also results in many people sufferring from injuries. Competition in sport is very usefull for children who need to learn about life, but if they don´t get positive advise it can encourage them to be aggressive. The amount of money earned by sports stars has gradualy increased and is now far too high, meaning that sport is now a business without sufficent focus on the competition itself. Exceling at sports requires a lot of practice; if young people spend too much time on this, they may neglect school work and recieve poor grades. B) Words commonly confused. Explain the difference between the words. accept vs. except affect vs. effect lose vs. loose stuff vs. staff release vs. realise chronic vs. chronicle strength vs. strange exercise* vs. exorcise * note: we say “lack of exercise” when people are inactive. We use “movement” to talk about an act of moving the body, e.g. in “range of movement” or “Loose clothing gives you greater freedom of movement.” Extra task - Online spelling quiz: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/learn/language-quizzes/spelling-hard.html Task 3 A) Consider these sports: yoga, skateboarding, climbing, swimming. Do you associate them with younger or older people or both? Why? B) Read two comments from a website. What reasons are given to support or oppose the proposal? Proposal: There should be an age limit for the Olympics. Yes! I think the Olympics should put a 30-year-old cap on their sports. After 30, the bones become more brittle and the body becomes less flexible. The muscles tear more easily and performance is not as good. The athlete is more likely to break something, or even have a breakdown. They are not as resilient. NO! I do not believe so! It is true that as we get older it is harder to maintain the same athletic ability as in a person´s twenties. But with technology and our knowledge of proper nutrition, athletes are able to compete when they are older. I believe that everyone has a right to accomplish their dream no matter what age that person is! It is important that everyone has a dream. C) Do you agree with the proposal? Why/not? Write a paragraph presenting your opinion. Use the following linking phrases. Which of them do we use: 1. To explain a point 2. To introduce examples 3. To conclude 4. To make general statements 5. To make contrasting points 6. To add more points A) for example, for instance, such as, like, in particular, particularly, especially, One/A clear/striking/ typical example of (this)… B) in other words,… that is to say,… this/which means that… C) on the other hand, however, nevertheless, even so, it may be said/argued/claimed that,… others/many people strongly disagree… D) in addition (to this), furthermore, moreover, besides, apart from, what is more, as well as, E) as a (general) rule, generally, in general, on the whole, by and large, in most cases F) In conclusion, … All things considered,… To conclude,… To sum up,… D) Complete the table with the correct words. Adjective Verb Noun competitive knowledge X athlete X maintain accomplish resilient X important X (adapted from Dimond-Bayir, S. (2014). Writing for IELTS. Macmillan.) Task 4 Study the techniques for stress reduction. Which of them are physical, which are mental? How are they used? Match them with their descriptions below. Imagery in Relaxation Progressive Muscular Relaxation Breathing Control Biofeedback Thought Awareness, Rational Thinking and Positive Thinking A) The idea behind this is that you tense up a group of muscles so that they are as tight and contracted as possible, and hold them in a state of extreme tension for a few seconds. Then relax the muscles to their previous state. Finally you consciously relax them again as much as you can. B) To use the technique, observe your “stream of consciousness” as you think about the upcoming event. Do not suppress any thoughts. Instead, just let them run their course while you make note of them. As you notice negative thoughts, write them down and then let them go. The next step in dealing with negative thinking is to challenge the negative thoughts that you wrote down. Look at every thought you wrote down and rationally challenge it. C) One common use of this method is to imagine a scene, place or event that you remember as peaceful, restful, beautiful and happy. You can bring all your senses into the image, with sounds of running water and birds, the smell of cut grass, the taste of cool white wine, the warmth of sun, etc. Use the imagined place as a retreat from places of stress and pressure. D) These systems use electronic sensors to measure stress, and then feed the results of this measurement back to the athlete. They allow you to experiment with stress management techniques, and actually see or hear them taking effect on your body. Also, they allow you to practice different ways of using the techniques and compare the results. These methods convert vague feelings into hard, observable information, and help an athlete to fine-tune the use of stress management techniques. E) This is a very effective method of relaxation, which is a core component of everything from the 'take ten deep breaths' approach to calming someone down, right through to yoga relaxation and zen meditation. (adapted from: http://www.mindtools.com/stresstq.html) Which of the techniques described above do you consider effective? Have you tried any of them? What other mental techniques do you know? Task 5 Video Inside the mind of champion athletes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7v4y_xwzQ) I. Watch the video and complete the gaps in summarising sentences with one word: 1. Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have contrasting ______________ , but both of them seem to be very ________________ . 2. Sports psychology may play a part in their ___________________. 3. Brazil were the ______________ favourites. 4. The match between Brazil and Mexico was incredibly ________________ to watch. 5. Sports psychology could explain why underdogs can win despite all the ______________ . 6. Sports psychology may also help when ___________ a devastating defeat. (0:00 - 3:30) II. Watch and answer the questions below: (4:45 – the end) What is sports psychology? What does it deal with? _________________________________________________________________ What factors are linked to success in sport? _________________________________________________________________ What are some of the successful athletes´ strategies? _________________________________________________________________