Who is better? Who is best?

Description and objectives: This lesson is for pre-intermediate level classes and puts students into the position of having to defend some ideas, which belong to their “mask characters” – fictitious persons with their fates, ideas and points of view. The teacher distributes the roles to students (there are 5 of them), those students who don’t get the role, speak for themselves (2-3 people). Other students act as the audience with the right of vote. Then the teacher chooses a question from the list (there are 7 of them) at random. Students provide their answers (those with assigned roles give prescribed answers, those speaking for themselves give their own ideas). The audience chooses the answer they liked least and the person has to leave the participants’ row and join the audience – he will not give answers any more, but gets the right of vote. The gave ends when only one person is left, who seems most attractive to the audience.

Aim: Discussion, expressing opinions, agreeing and disagreeing

Activity: Interviewing and discussion

John Cook, 51 years old, retired (ушедший на пенсию) police officer, married, with 2 children
What is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?	I suppose the biggest mistake I have done in my life was that I loved my work too much. I mean, so much that I sometimes put my career on the first place, and my marriage – on the second. That was really stupid, I know. I was so egoistic. It was so hard for my wife –all those nights without sleep, and telephone calls at any time of the day. She lived in constant (постоянный) fear (страх). She thought she could lose me. I know I had to find more time to be with her and the kids.
Do you believe in love at first sight (любовь с 1 взгляда)?	Of course I do. When I met my wife I understood that she was made for me. I am not sure if it happens to everybody, but I was really lucky to find such a lady. We have lived a long life together, but the feelings are still alive. My love is still strong, it is not a habit (привычка). I never imagined (воображать, представлять) being with anyone else.
What is the reason for (причина) all the problems of the society (общество)?	It is education (образование). When I was young, teachers told us about respect and discipline. Now modern teenagers don’t know what it means. They don’t respect anybody. They don’t want anything. This is when drugs, crime and prostitution appear. School is useless now, it doesn’t teach anything.
There is a bank error in your favor (в вашу пользу) – what do you do?	I’m a police officer, I will return the money immediately (немедленно). I have a good pension, I don’t need this money. Of course I will phone the bank and draw their attention (привлечь их внимание). It is so good to be honest. But I am sure this will never happen to me.
Can we judge (сулья, судить) a man by his looks?	Of course not. I am a police officer and I know that sometimes people are not so good as they seem. I have a good eye for it (у меня нюх на…). But when a person is a good citizen (гражданин), he pays taxes (налоги) and never deals with (иметь дело с, общаться с) criminals, we can see this from his behavior (поведение). And from his appearance (внешность) as well (тоже, также). That is why I always teach my two boys – you must look neat (опрятный) and proud (гордый). If you like it or not, but that is so.
What is the ideal holiday, to your mind?
What quality do you dislike about yourself?
Ann Baker, 40 years old, secondary school (средняя школа) teacher, single, no children
What is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?	I am a very strict (строгий) teacher you know. When a pupil (ученик) comes not prepared (готовый) I become very aggressive, sometimes cruel (жестокий). No, I never hit or beat my kids – I am not crazy. I only show the best pressure I can. And I am a good psychologist. So once (однажды) I pressed a pupil who had problems in the family. I still feel bad about it. I had no right to do it.
Do you believe in love at first sight?	To tell you the truth, no. If you want to love somebody, you must know him very well. You must know his likes and dislikes, his habits, and so on (и так далее). I am sure that love at first sight is just a wish (желание) to have sex, no more. I have never really deeply (глубокий) loved in my life.
What is the reason for all the problems of the society?	The main (главный) reason for unhappiness is TV. It gives them the wrong impression (впечатление) of what life must be. All those fashionable cars, sexy girls, diamonds, villas. Life is not like that and people become upset (расстроенный). For me life is hard work, and it will always be the same (одинаковый). So I am happy when I don’t watch TV at all (вообще, вовсе). This is my advice (совет).
There is a bank error in your favor – what do you do?	First of all (прежде всего), I want to say that in my daily (ежедневный) life I don’t need much money. So I will give it back to the bank. If I don’t, I will be nervous all the time. This money is not mine, so how can I take it. I earned (заработал) everything I have myself, and this is a good thing. So I don’t want to use this money – it is against my principles.
Can we judge a man by his looks?	You know I have worked with pupils all my life. And many times I had to change (поменять) my impression of a person. Those who I thought were hard-working (трудолюбивый) and clever (умный), turned out (оказался) to be lazy (ленивый) and had no discipline. Or they had no brains (мозги) at all. It often happens. So now I never believe my eyes – I must learn a person closely.
What is the ideal holiday, to your mind?
What quality do you dislike about yourself?
Martin Johnson, 34 years old, builder, married, 1 child
What is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?	Once I was working for an old lady – I had to repair (чинить, ремонтировать) something in her garden. When I asked her for money, I asked for much more than it really cost. I thought she would argue (спорить, ссориться), but when she said nothing and gave me the money, I took it and went away. I feel ashamed (чувствовать стыд) now, but at that time I was glad and happy. My business is not really sentimental.
Do you believe in love at first sight?	You know, my wife and I got married when we were teenagers. It was real love, it was madness (безумие) and passion. But years passed and now I am not so crazy about her any more. So I can say that love at first sight is just a fairy-tale (сказка). But at the same time I can not imagine that our family falls apart. I can’t live without her. May be it is just a habit.
What is the reason for all the problems of the society?	People have too much money. I mean, our children already have everything they want – PlayStations and Game-boys, the Internet, fashionable clothes and vacations (отпуск, каникулы) at the sea-side. When I was young I had one pair of jeans and one T-shirt, and I spent all my time in the street. I wanted to go to work to buy a bicycle. And my son only comes to me and asks for money. This is not right, to my mind.
There is a bank error in your favor – what do you do?	Banks make mistakes all the time, we only don’t notice (замечать) them. My bank once (однажды) lost (потерял) 10 thousand dollars from my account (счет). I had to go there a hundred times to get it back. I returned the money in the end, but they didn’t even apologize. So now I will write them a sarcastic letter just to see their reaction. I don’t want this money.
Can we judge a man by his looks?	Of course not. Most people who look good are rotten (гнилой) inside. I know it for sure – there are a lot of such guys in my work. Or take me for example. I look so strong and confident (уверенный). But when I come to my wife I am a kitten. I am kind (добрый) and polite to her and my son. And everybody thinks I am cruel and aggressive. And I never drink or swear (ругаться матом). I don’t even smoke. Can you believe it? Intuition is good, But I don’t trust it. We must wait and see.
What is the ideal holiday, to your mind?
What quality do you dislike about yourself?
Jill Kennedy, 29 years old, advertising manager (менеджер по рекламе), engaged (помолвлена), no children
What is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?	Well, I will be completely (абсолютно) honest (честный). One night I was completely drunk and I got into my car and drove home. Nothing bad happened, thank God, but when I think about it now… I could kill somebody, or smash my car, I could die myself. I thought I would never drive my car after drinking, but it was after a party. It was late at night, and I didn’t want to catch (ловить, поймать) a taxi. It is a terrible (ужасный) feeling. Now when I go out (выходить в свет) I never take my car with me.
Do you believe in love at first sight?	I do. Absolutely. I have just got engaged and I can tell you I have never been so happy in my life. I think my boyfriend and I can never be apart, even a single day. And he feels the same. I am a romantic, and I don’t want to change it. We know each other only a couple of months but we are sure it is time to get married.
What is the reason for all the problems of the society?	It is our ecology. We simply don’t think about it. We are killing the planet, and we refuse (отказываться) to notice this. We already have problems with drinking water and clean air. I am afraid to think about the future of my children. Everybody speaks so much about drugs, crime, terrorism, but if we forget about the Earth it will not be important any more. In 100 years it will be impossible to live at all.
There is a bank error in your favor – what do you do?	I will say nothing. Of course if the mistake is not too big. It is not my fault if banks can not work properly (должным образом). I will not even (даже) feel guilty (виноватый), not a bit. Banks rob (грабить) us every day, so I will not worry. I will wait for a week and if the money is still on my account, I will go shopping. What a wonderful dream – money from nowhere.
Can we judge a man by his looks?	It always happens. Take me, for example. I am a lady and people can’t take me seriously. They believe I have no intelligence (ум, интеллект), but how can they know it? In business men think that a lady doesn’t know anything at all. How stupid and primitive. So it is very hard to prove (доказать) that you are a specialist, that they are wrong.
What is the ideal holiday, to your mind?
What quality do you dislike about yourself?
Phil Smith, 23 years old, magician (фокусник) and children’s entertainer, single, no children
What is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?	I believe it was when I was unfaithful (неверный) to my girlfriend. I didn’t think she would find out (выяснить, узнать), but when she did it was such a scandal. I have never seen anyone who was so upset (расстроенный) and shocked. At that time I was 19 years old and I didn’t worry (волноваться) much, but now… Now I know much more about friendship and love, and I feel very ashamed (чувствовать ужасный стыд).
Do you believe in love at first sight?	Of course not. Love is just a myth. I fall in love (влюбиться) every day, and my love comes to an end very quickly too. I don’t expect (ожидать) too much from my girls – sex, breakfast, a visit to a disco, that is enough. But when a man thinks he is in love, he will get disappointed (расстраиваться) in the end. It will hurt too much.
What is the reason for all the problems of the society?	People are intolerant (нетерпимы). We hate everybody who is not like me and you. We hated negros, gypsies (цыгане), immigrants. Now we hate gays and lesbians. Or we hate the rich. We hate Arabs and think they are all terrorists. We blame (винить, обвинять) them for everything which goes wrong in life. It is not true and it is not good. Something must change in this world. But when – I don’t know.
There is a bank error in your favor – what do you do?	Oh, it just can’t happen, banks never make such (такой, такие) mistakes. Or if they do, you check (проверить) your account another day (на другой день) and the money is not there already. But if it happens to me, I will take the nearest plane (самолет) to Cuba. I will really love it.
Can we judge a man by his looks?	It is natural. The way we dress (одеваться) is what we are. If you look after yourself, if you have style in clothes, it means you want people to know what kind of man you are. What is so wrong (неверно) about it? I can look at a person and say if I like him or not. It is really not hard to do.
What is the ideal holiday, to your mind?
What quality do you dislike about yourself?