Monthly Archives: March 2020

Surprising Ways Studying ESOL Can Benefit YOUR Mental Health

Surprising Ways Studying ESOL Can Benefit YOUR Mental Health

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This is a guest post by Issy Wakefield. If you would like to contribute a guest post to PurlandTraining.com on a topic that is of interest to teachers and students of English, please contact us here!

One in four people in the United Kingdom will experience a mental health issue at some point in their life, with 75% of all mental health issues being established by the age of 18. With that said, there are many ways to cope with mental health issues, and studying ESOL can be one of them. From workshops to classes and even discussion practices, studying ESOL can provide several positive mental health benefits to those who might need them.

A creative escape

For many who experience mental health problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression, having an outlet is important to channel the feelings that come along with such conditions, and can help manage them through things like creative expression. Creativity is known to reduce stress, and can even help process trauma. Much like art or other creative hobbies, studying ESOL can become an outlet, or almost like an escape for getting a student’s mind off of anything that’s bothering them.

For those who need it, ESOL classes and workshops can become a creative outlet where they can study something they love and become passionate about it at the same time. This is because studying ESOL also gives students a chance to be creative on their own time. For instance, students can immerse themselves in finding the right study techniques for them, whether it be writing their own stories or reading their favorite material in English, making their own flashcards, or studying with a friend.

Meeting new people

Studying ESOL is a great way to meet new people, as well as a surprising way to benefit mental health. For example, meeting new people with similar interests can allow a student to make new friends, which can be especially beneficial for those who are experiencing social isolation, or other forms of bullying. Students who are bullied may face several consequences, such as headaches, feelings of fear, loneliness, and a low mood — and it’s far more common than one might think. In fact, 30% of young people are either a bully or are being bullied. Making new friends through ESOL studies can give students companionship and inclusion when they need it most, as the subject can connect students through activities such as workshops and class projects.

Continuing education

Continuing education through ESOL can not only give students a sense of accomplishment but can allow a student to grow personally by reaching a goal of self-betterment that can open doors both professionally and financially. Oftentimes, financial issues and low self-esteem fuel mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Achieving something like obtaining an ESOL certificate can act as a stepping stone to gaining employment opportunities, resolving financial problems, and working towards higher self-esteem and increased confidence.

Studying ESOL is a great way for students to gain the ability to communicate in a new language, though it can provide much more than that — especially for those who experience mental health issues like stress, anxiety, or depression. From being a creative outlet to being a resource for making new friends, there are many benefits involved.

Image: Sandra Seitamaa

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Let’s Talk About… Acting

Let’s Talk About… Acting

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Work with a partner or small group and practice your speaking and listening skills by talking about… acting.

New Vocabulary   Mark the stressed vowel sound in each word or phrase:

  1. actor
  2. actress
  3. amateur dramatics
  4. audience
  5. audition
  6. award
  7. drama school
  8. extra
  9. improvisation
  10. leading lady / man
  11. lines
  12. method acting
  13. part
  14. performance
  15. rehearsal
  16. supporting role
  17. typecasting
  18. understudy
  19. unemployment
  20. voiceover

Discussion Questions   Ask and answer them with a partner or small group:

  1. Do you use the gender-specific words ‘actor’ (male) and ‘actress’ (female) to describe people who act, or the word ‘actor’ for everybody? Why? In these questions we use ‘actor’ to mean both actor and actress.
  2. Are you a thespian? Do you act? What about amateur dramatics – creating community theatre in your free time? If not, would you like to? What do you think would be the challenges and rewards?
  3. Who is your favourite actor? Why? What have you seen them in? If you could spend the day with them, what would you do? Why are some actors famous and others never make it big?
  4. Do you know any actors in real life? What kind of people are they? Describe a typical actor’s lifestyle.
  5. Are actors pretentious? What kind of character is required to be a really great actor? Could you do it? What kind of actor would you like to be? Would you prefer to be a leading lady / man, or play a supporting role?
  6. Is the ability to act a useful skill in everyday life? Is acting really just lying? Are you a good liar?
  7. How many different kinds of acting can you think of? What is method acting? Is acting a dangerous job?
  8. How difficult is it to learn lines when preparing for a part? What about if you have a leading role in a Shakespearean tragedy? How do actors learn all those lines? What techniques would you use?
  9. Are you good at improvisation? When in life do we need to be able to improvise?
  10. What are the differences between acting on stage, acting in films, and acting on the radio?
  11. Is unemployment a problem for actors? Why? What kind of jobs do actors do when they are ‘resting’? If the majority of actors don’t become rich and famous, why don’t they just ‘pack it in’ and get a ‘proper job’?
  12. What would it be like to be an understudy – only playing the part if the main actor is unavailable?
  13. What skills do people learn at drama school? Is it easier than other forms of higher education?
  14. How long do actors need to spend in rehearsal for a theatre or film role? What happens during rehearsals?
  15. What is the relationship between the actor onstage and the audience at a theatre? What makes for an effective performance? Is it more rewarding to watch actors at the theatre, at the cinema, or on TV? Why?
  16. Have you ever thought about being an extra in a film or TV production? Why are extras required?
  17. Is typecasting a hazard for certain actors? Why do some actors get typecast?

English Idioms about Acting   Say a new sentence with each idiom:

  1. be a hard act to follow
  2. act your age
  3. an actor’s life for me
  4. be caught in the act
  5. be in the limelight
  6. break a leg!
  7. get your act together
  8. it’s curtains for you
  9. let’s get this show on the road
  10. life is not a rehearsal
  11. live up to the hype
  12. make a song and dance about something
  13. perform a disappearing act
  14. read somebody the riot act
  15. run the show
  16. something is waiting in the wings
  17. the show must go on
  18. upstage somebody

Discussion Situations about Acting   What would you do if…?

  1. You filmed your part as a zany robot for a blockbuster movie. It was great, but you were cut from the final edit.
  2. You are waiting for a car to take you to the Oscars, but it doesn’t show up and you can’t collect your award.
  3. You volunteer to act in an amateur dramatics production, but your fellow actors are really bad.
  4. You desperately want to go to drama school, but you can’t scrape together enough money for the fees.
  5. Your teacher at drama school believes you lack talent.
  6. You are cast in a dog food commercial – playing a poodle.
  7. You have an audition for a pirate film, but you lied on your resume about being able to sword-fight.
  8. You’ve been ‘resting’ for a while, and have no money left.
  9. On the morning of a lucrative voiceover gig, you wake up to find you have laryngitis.
  10. Due to a trilogy of hit movies, you’re typecast as a villain.
  11. The audience thinks your understudy is better than you.
  12. You forget your lines during a big moment on stage.

Talking about Pictures

  1. Describe the pictures below.
  2. Discuss them.
  3. Compare them.
  4. Create a quiz about them using different question types: comprehension, wh-, yes/no, true/false/unknown, etc.
  5. Improvise a dialogue or story.

Picture A:

Let’s Talk About… Acting - Picture A

Let’s Talk About… Acting – Picture A

Picture B:

Let’s Talk About… Acting - Picture B

Let’s Talk About… Acting – Picture B

Answers:

Let’s Talk About… Acting - Answers

Let’s Talk About… Acting – Answers

Note: vowel sounds are indicated with Clear Alphabet. For more about Clear Alphabet, please click here.

 Images: Pexels; Ionas Nicolae and Petra Hegenbart from Pixabay

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