Mind
over matter
Discussion
& reading activity
Mind
Idioms
Vocabulary
activity
How
books can open your mind
Discussion
and video activity
Mind
Reading
Discussion
& listening activity
Mind Maps
Discussion & video activity
Showing posts with label Mind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mind. Show all posts
Mind over matter
Discussion
& reading activity
1.Conversation:
- Read the explanation of the phrase“ Mind over matter”. What do you think? Is it true? How?
|
Mind over matter means that willpower can overcome physical
obstacles.
|
- How do you take decisions with your mind or your intution? Justify.
- Would you say the modern hyper-connected world is addictive to the mind or benefitial? Why?
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery said “I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.” What does it mean?
- Are things true because we believe in them? Why (not)?
2.Reading:
Article: American Physiological Society (APS)
|
Can you think your way to strength?
Anyone who has worn a cast knows that rebuilding muscle strength once
the cast is removed can be difficult. Now researchers at Ohio University have
found that the mind is critical in maintaining muscle strength following a
prolonged period of immobilization and that mental imagery may be key in
reducing muscle loss.
Strength is controlled by a number of factors -- the most studied by
far is skeletal muscle. However, the nervous system is also an important
determinant of strength and weakness. Brian C. Clark and colleagues set out
to test how the brain's cortex plays into strength development. They designed
an experiment to measure changes in wrist strength. Twenty-nine subjects wore
a rigid cast immobilizing the hand and wrist, for four weeks. Fifteen
subjects who did not wear casts served as the control group.
Of the group with wrist-hand immobilization, half were asked to
regularly perform an imagery exercise, imagining they were intensely
contracting their wrist for five seconds and then resting for five seconds.
They were verbally guided through with the following instructions:
"Begin imagining that you are pushing in as hard as you can with your
left wrist, push, push, push…and stop. (Five-second rest.)" This was
repeated four times in a row followed by a one-minute break for a total of 13
rounds per session and five sessions per week. The second group performed no
imagery exercises.
At the end of the four-week experiment, both groups who wore casts had
lost strength. But the group that performed mental imagery exercises lost 50%
less strength than the non-imaginative group.
According to the research team findings show that imagery attenuated
the loss of muscle strength provide proof-of-concept for it as a therapeutic
intervention for muscle weakness and voluntary neural activation.
Source:
adapted from American Physiological Society (APS). "Mind over matter:
Can you think your way to strength?." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 December
2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141231154012.htm>.
|
Are these
statements TRUE, FALSE, or NO INFORMATION WAS PROVIDED?
a)Researchers have found that regular mental imagery exercises help
preserve arm strength during months of immobilization.
b)Strength is controlled just by muscle.
c)The nervous system cannot determine strength and weakness.
d)The imagery exercise was performed everyday, several times a day.
e)The group that performed no imagery exercises didn’t know they would
have muscle loss.
f)In this study, researchers tested how the brain's cortex plays into
strength development.
What’s your
opinion on the research findings? For which purposes would you use this
information? Suggest any idea that you would like to experiment with.
Mind Idioms
Vocabulary
activity
English has
several idiomatic expressions related to dogs. These are a few popular ones.
|
Bear in mind : remember;
don't forget; keep it in mind...
Be in two
minds: be unable to take a decision.
Blow one's
mind: be amazed or astonished.
Bored/ Worry
out of your mind: a great deal.
Change your
mind: have a different opinion...
Get a load off
one's mind: not worry about something any more...
Give a piece
of one's mind: Scorn, criticize or censor someone.
Have a mind of
its own: Have your own opinions or work and behave independently..
Have/keep
something in the back of mind: remember or know vaguely.
Have peace of
mind: feel at peace, centered.
In one’s right
mind: thinking and acting logically.
Make up one's
mind: take a decision.
Mind one's p's
and q's: behave properly; to display good manners, pay
attention to details.
Mind your own
business: worry about one’s matters
Never mind: forget that...
Out of one’s
mind: Mentally ill, crazy.
Out of sight,
out of mind: one does not think about what one does not see.
Put one’s mind
at ease/ rest: relax, don’t worry.
Slip one's
mind: one cannot remember it; forget the thing.
Speak one's
mind: say what you think or believe in.
State of mind: basic attitude
or outlook at a point in time, the way you feel.
|
Exercise:
Complete
the following sentences with words related to the idioms above.
1.When we visited grandma as kids we had to mind our............................;
not like at home
2.Stop asking so many questions and mind your own...........................
3.This computer must have a mind of .................................-
it just does what it wants to.
4.You should put this problem ...................................of your
mind and concentrate on other things.
5.I was .................................. whether or not to come this
morning.
6.The movie was so slow we were bored out.................................................
7.Which one? The red or the blue one? .................................up
your mind.
8.After a tough year we need to go somewhere to have some .................................mind.
9.The concert .................................mind. It was awesome.
10............................................ mind the weather, we’ll
go to the beach anyway this weekend.
11.Dad was furious and gave us a piece of.................................
12.Finally news of his recovery ...................................at
ease.
13.You can’t be serious about dropping out of college. You’re not ....................................
mind
14.I'm not afraid of ...................................mind, even when
my opinions are not popular.
15.Ellen was in a terrible ........................................ when
she was interviewed for a job.
16.We were .....................................minds trying to find our
cat around the neighborhood.
17.First I wanted to wear a dress but then I ...................................mind
and wore pants.
18.Getting a job ............................................my mind. I
won’t be so finacially restricted.
19.I’m on a diet so I put away all candy, carbs and sodas. You know... ....................................out
of mind.
20.The teacher told his class to ..........................in mind that
the term exams were coming.
21.I can’t remember. Her name started with an A, I think. It just ................................my
mind.
How books can open your mind
Discussion
and video activity
Discuss the
following questions :
|
Video: TED Talk
What happens
when a dream you've held since childhood … doesn't come true? As Lisa Bu
adjusted to a new life in the United States, she turned to books to expand her
mind and create a new path for herself. She shares her unique approach to
reading in this lovely, personal talk about the magic of books.
Source:
https://youtu.be/6ibCtsHgz3Y
Length:
6.17 min
Watch the talk
and find the 10 mistakes in the notes below.
As a young girl in the 1990’s, Lisa trained to become a gymnast in
China. The government offered to transfer her to a school for athletes, but
her mother refused. Her parents wanted
Lisa to become a doctor like them. They believed a safe and well-paid job was one sure way
to richness. No matter if she liked the job or not.
However, Lisa had a dream to become a ballet dancer. She tried
everything to go to opera school but adults didn’t believe she was serious.
At 13, she realized she was too old and her dream would never come true.
So, Lisa turned to books and she found a family of writers and
musicians,
a role model of an independent woman, she learned to be efficient, and
she was inspired to study abroad too.
She came to the U.S. in 1985, and she continued reading. Books banned
in China, like "The Good Earth", The Bible which gave her an
epiphany, learning about listening to her parents instead of obeying them,
restarting their relationship.
The new culture also started her habit of comparative reading. She
found a map where China wasn't at the center of the world.
She started reading books in pairs, about people, who are involved in
the same event, or friends with shared experiences, the same stories in
different genres, or similar stories
from different cultures and her favorite books in many languages.
Books have given her a way to learn from people of the past and the
present.She should never feel lonely or powerless again.
She discovered that finding it was not the only purpose of a dream,
but to
get us in touch with where dreams come from, where passion comes from,
where happiness comes from. So because
of books, she is happy, living with a purpose and a clarity.
|
Mind Reading
Discussion
& listening activity
1.Read the text
below and discuss the topic with a partner or in small groups. Do you agree? Can
you provide a few examples?
Everybody, to a certain extent, has the ability to read others'
thoughts and feelings. We read body language and facial expressions, which
can reveal someone's basic emotions. That’s the way we are able to handle
social situations. We rely on our observations, memories and reasoning to
make educated guesses about what another human being has in mind or is going
to do.
|
2.Listening: “Scientists Say They Can Read Your Mind, And
Prove It With Pictures”
NPR report -
Length: 3.48 min
Listen to the
radio segment and say whether the statement below are TRUE or FALSE.
a)In the not-too-distant future everybody will be a mind-reader.
b)Some research shows that scientists can control a person’s actions.
c)A professor at UC Berkeley claims that he can see what's on your mind.
Although not in a literal sense.
d)In the future scientists will record signals and translate those
signals back into a picture of that a person sees.
e)Images from people's brains cannot yet be recorded and played back as
a movie.
f)The technology is still primitive.
g)The things someone looks at, the internal dialogue, the feelings... all
those things will be accessible in the future.
h)Through telekinesis, some patients can feed themselves.
i)An experiment proved that controlling a person with your mind is
possible.
Mind Maps
Discussion & video activity
Mind-maps were created by Tony Buzan, a memory expert. The basic
principle is that the mind dislikes linear note taking. In mind maps we start
in the centre of the page with related ideas branching out in all directions.
They can be a great technique for language learners.
|
Watch
and discuss the clip How To Mind Map by Celia Gates
- What do you think?
- How would you use mind maps for learning English?
- Would it work for grammar, vocabulary, speaking...?
Length: 4.24 min.
Source: https://vimeo.com/31965753
How To Mind Map from Celia Gates on Vimeo.
Imagine building “vocabulary networks”. This involves writing a single
word or a theme in the centre of the
page and linking words that go with it. For example, you can start with the
word WORK, and branch out terms like: employee, employer, staff, boss, chief,
work for, at, candidate, interview, application, etc. Include all the related words you can think
of and use a dictionary to help you. Mind-maps are even more effective if you
add little drawings and lots of colour.
Now
that you have learned the technique, try building a few mind maps of your own!
The Mind Issue - Solutions
Mind
over matter: Can you think your way to strength?
a)F (4 weeks) b)F c)F
d)F e)NIP f)T
Mind
Idioms
1. p's and q's 2. business 3. its own
4. in
the back 5. in two minds 6. of our minds 7. Make
8. peace of 9. blowed my 10. Never
11. his mind 12. put our minds 13. in your right 14. speaking my 15. state of mind 16. out of our 17. changed my 18. gets a load off 19. out of sight, 20. bear/keep 21. slipped
How
books can open your mind
As a young girl in the 1970’s
Her parents wanted Lisa to become an engineer like them.
A safe and well-paid job was one sure way to happiness
However, Lisa had a dream to become an opera singer
At 15, she realized she was
too old
She came to the U.S. in 1995
learning about honoring her
parents
and her favorite books in two
languages.
Books have given her a way to connect
with people
She discovered that coming true
was not the only purpose of a dream
Mind
Reading
a)T b)T c)F
d)F e)F f)T
g)T h)T i)T
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)