Урок по английскому языку в 9 классе «Проблемы подросткового возраста»

Lesson Plan

Teenage Problems

Level: B1-B2

Age: 15-16

Coursebook: O. V. Afanasyeva, I. V. Mikheeva, English 9

Objectives:

• to practise topical vocabulary,

• to talk about teenage problems and how to cope with them

• to develop reading skills

• to provide students with information about drug abuse, teenage pregnancy

1. Warm Up.

Hello, everyone! How are you? Have a look at this picture (slide 1) How old is the girl? Can she be called a teenager? Has she got any problems?

What are typical youth problems? (misunderstanding from parents, teens do not want to be treated like children, inferiority or superiority complexes, low or high self-esteem, teens are scared of being lonely, bullied or rejected, teens feel self-conscious about their looks…)

2. Speaking. Eliciting the topical vocabulary (pages 154-157).

1. What dangers and hardships are young people exposed to? (ruin their health at a young age, fall victims to crime, neglect their school and homework, waste the best years of their life, get bored or depressed, copy fashion models and pop stars and dedicate their lives to this passion, become net addicts…)

2. Can all teens cope with their problems?

3. How do they protest? How do they show their resistance? (become rebellious, ill-mannered, impertinent, aggressive, violent, skeptical or cynical, untidy or scruffy, too self-assured, shy…)

4. Here are some teens with their problems. Could you become a psychologist for a while and help them by giving some advice.

• Bob can`t get along with adults or peers. What advice could you give him? (slide 2) ( to compromise or to meet people halfway, to try and see other people`s points of view, to establish and upkeep good relations, develop a positive attitude to life and people)

• Polly feels self-conscious about her looks (slide 3) (get over your complexes, keep fit by doing more exercise and having a healthy diet, don`t think too much about your looks, concentrate on really important things like goodness of character)

• John is a net addict(slide4) (remember that heavy use of computers is dangerous, find lifelong friends…)

• Nelly is a fan of a pop singer and dedicates her life to this passion (slide 5) (treat modern fashionable tendencies more critically and don`t allow them to become your whole life, don`t make an idol of anyone)

• David likes to experiment with his appearance and embarrasses his parents and teachers by outrageous appearance and behavior (slide 6)

3. Read the texts about teen`s problems and choose a suitable title for each of them. There is one extra title.

1. Teenage violence

2. Teenage pregnancy

3. Teenage love

4. Teenage drug abuse

1. Not only in America, but all over the world, high school students are more hooked on to marijuana than drinking alcohol.

This makes the situation worse as marijuana impacts the brain directly. It's purely self-harm due to ignorance.

The irony is that many teens consider marijuana and drugs like ecstasy as fun, tamer, effective, good for mental focus, and above all, not harmful.

Most teenagers start on these drugs just for the sake of curiosity and experimentation, or because they see others do it and consider it a norm that they have to follow.

However, for many of them it costs their life.

Statistics reveal that people who started drug abuse in their teen years became addicted by the time they became adults and harmed their life in many ways, including damaging their relationships.

Teen Advice: These so-called "soft" drugs can in no way be an excuse for you to stay away from the "hard" drugs like cocaine and heroin.

What you need to do is to say NO to drugs completely.

There is no drug that you can label as "safe". Furthermore, why do drugs at all?

Remember, all substances including alcohol, marijuana, tobacco etc., have an adverse impact on your cognitive and emotional development. In short, they do you more harm than good.

You may feel happier and on a high at that moment, but that happiness is short-lived - very dependent on the drug, and comes with many side effects and harmful disadvantages.

Instead, you can opt to work on personal development and achieve long-term happiness.

You have all the solution within you - only if you care to know yourself.

2. Anger is a major negative characteristic of the teenage years. Teenagers easily get upset, and they are unable to control their negative feelings in most of the cases.

Teen violence is a harmful behavior that can occur in the form of bullying, fighting, cyber bullying, and using weapons that also leads to school shootings, besides sexual assault and murder.

Such actions not only cause you physical harm, but also leave you with a deep emotional scar that can last a lifetime and ruin your life.

Peer pressure, friendship with antisocial and delinquent peers, and membership in a gang are some of the factors that encourage teen violence.

A violent teenager is likely to undergo other teenage problems too including drug or alcohol abuse, and depression.

Teen Advice: You should understand your own reasons for getting angry and try to avoid such situations or conditions. If you cannot, then you can best try controlling your reactions.

Don't be impulsive. Instead, try to seek help of your parents or teachers to resolve your anxiety and frustration.

Try to understand that anger is a 'cover up' or mask for your feelings of fear, shame, frustration, embarrassment, and others. You need to learn to cope with them.

Release your negative energy and feelings of anger through positive means such as sports, games, running, painting, listening to music, meditation, yoga, or any other hobby.

Don't choose anger as a way to assert your independence and to find your own identity - this mostly backfires. Anger will make you helpless and lose control, with no positive outcome.

Reduce your exposure to TV, Internet, video games. Spend more time on exercising, eating right, leading a healthy lifestyle, getting enough sleep, and finding a good way of entertainment.

3. One of the worst things that can happen to a teenage girl is to get pregnant without getting married. There goes all your fun and independence.

You soon realize that having a love affair and sex in your teenage years is not always cool and nothing to experiment.

It could result in teenage pregnancy, which forces many teen mothers to drop out of school. How would that affect your life and future?

Not only biologically and medically, but teenage pregnancy also has socioeconomic repercussions, because raising a baby requires finances and support.

There is also a psychological impact on the teen mother as her life would drastically change and she might have a difficult time adjusting to it.

Since there is a large probability of teen mothers giving birth to premature babies, it aggravates the problems for them, and the development of the child.

Moreover, according to statistics - 8 out of 10 teen dads don't marry the teen mother. Therefore, if you don't take precautions, it's going to be a lone battle with life.

Teen Advice:

Learn to say NO if you don't feel comfortable about having sex. It is YOUR life - don't let anyone rule over it!

Teen boys should also understand the serious problems involved in having sex. They need to act responsibly and always use protection.

Teen dads cannot get away from the problems that the teen mothers face, and teen boys have to take up the responsibility if they get a teen girl pregnant.

I'd personally suggest you to exercise control and patience as you'll get many opportunities later in life to discover and experience your sexuality.

Taken from http://www.aha-now.com/teenage-problems/

Keys: 1-d, 2-a, 3-b, extra-c

4. Working with new vocabulary. Match the words with their definitions.

   Pregnant

   
   

   have a strong effect on someone or something

   Drug abuse

   
   

   tending to commit crime

   marijuana [ˌmærɪ'wɑːnə]

   (of a woman or female animal) having a child or young developing in her body

   To impact, to have an impact on…

   To become addicted to..

   delinquent [dɪ'lɪŋkwənt]

   Relating to the mental process involved in knowing, learning, and understanding things.

   To be hooked on

   the habitual taking of illegal drugs

   Cognitive development

   A kind of drug

5. Reading for details. Look through the texts again and say:

1. What makes teenagers start on drugs? (Most teenagers start on drugs just for the sake of curiosity and experimentation, or because they see others do it and consider it a norm that they have to follow.)

2. Can drugs do any harm? In what way? Are "soft drugs" harmful? ( Statistics reveal that people who started drug abuse in their teen years became addicted by the time they became adults and harmed their life in many ways, including damaging their relationships. There is no drug that you can label as "safe".)

3. Is it possible to achieve long-term happiness without drugs? (Yes, by working on personal development)

4. What other social evils should we say "No" to? (drinking alcohol, smoking, eating junk food, gambling)

5. In what forms does teen violence occur? (Teen violence is a harmful behavior that can occur in the form of bullying, fighting, cyber bullying, and using weapons that also leads to school shootings, besides sexual assault and murder.)

6. What activities help to release negative energy? (Release your negative energy and feelings of anger through positive means such as sports, games, running, painting, listening to music, meditation, yoga, or any other hobby.) Do you do any? Does it help you?

7. What are the consequences of teenage pregnancy? (It forces many teen mothers to drop out of school. Not only biologically and medically, but teenage pregnancy also has socioeconomic repercussions, because raising a baby requires finances and support. There is also a psychological impact on the teen mother as her life would drastically change and she might have a difficult time adjusting to it.)

8. Are there any ways to avoid teenage pregnancy? What are they?

6. Productive speaking. Do you have any of teen problems? What things trouble you? How do you cope with your problems?

Students: What makes me worry is…

The most important problem is that…

What really worries me is that I can`t…

7. Homework.

Thank you for your work and for being sincere. Being young has both negative and positive aspects. Some people think that teenage years are the happiest years in life, others say that being a teenager is really awful. What is your opinion?

Write 200-250 words.

Use the following plan:

− make an introduction (state the problem)

− express your personal opinion and give 2-3 reasons for your opinion

− express an opposing opinion and give 1-2 reasons for this opposing opinion

− explain why you don't agree with the opposing opinion

− make a conclusion restating your position

N. Chistyakova

Gymnasium 2

Georgievsk