Fear

Unit 7 Fear

Listening Recognizing organizational Before you listen

phrases
1 Direct the students’ attention to the Think about
Listening for problems and box. Check their understanding of the terms,
solutions particularly fear of being laughed at. Give students
Vocabulary Suffixes -ful and -less time to complete the questionnaire individually.
Pronunciation Managing questions 2 Have the students form groups, and ask them to
discuss their answers. Ask groups to share their
Pronunciation Sentence stress
best advice with the whole class.

Discussion point Global listening

Ask students to look at the picture and imagine how Ask students to use their monolingual dictionaries
they would feel if they were the person in the picture. to check the meaning of the words in the Academic
Then ask students to share their ideas. Make a list of keywords box. Give them time to write the words,
the feelings on the board. You could keep a tally next pronunciation, and part of speech in their vocabulary
to each feeling, or ask for a show of hands to get a notebooks. Give students time to read the Recognizing
general understanding of the most common feelings. organizational phrases box. With books closed, ask
Ask the students to discuss the questions, using the a student to summarize the main point. Ask other
sentence frames to help them get started. Photocopy and students to recall the phrases.
cut out the unit 7 Useful language page to provide some
extra support. After students have discussed the three Extension activity
questions, have them share their answers with the class. With books closed, hand out the phrases from the
Recognizing organizational phrases box on large
Extension activity pieces of cardboard. On the board, draw an outline
Write your own answers to questions 1 and 3 on the of a page and divide it into three parts. Write
board, mixed in with a few other things people can introduction, main body, and conclusion in the three
be afraid of. Ask students to guess which answers are parts. Ask students to stick the phrases on the board in
your real answers. Give some background information the correct part of the “page.”
as they guess the correct answers.
Remind students about the importance of prediction
and how it can help them understand when they
Vocabulary preview listen. Give students time to read the sentences and
number them in the order they think they will hear
Encourage the students to use their monolingual
them. Students can compare their answers with a
dictionaries to help with any new words. After
partner before checking them with the class.
checking answers, give them time to write the words,
the part of speech, and the word stress in their
vocabulary notebooks. AUDIO SCRIPT  2.03
Presenter:  Hello, everyone. Today I’m going to talk
Answers about the fear of public speaking. First I’ll discuss some
interesting facts about the topic. Then I’m going to
1 a   ​2 b   ​
3 b   ​
4 a   ​
5 b   ​
6 b   ​
7 b   
provide five tips for overcoming this fear. I hope you
​8 a   ​
9 b
find these helpful. Finally, I’ll tell you where you can get
more information on this topic. Please hold all questions
until the end. So first here are three facts about the fear
Listening 1  Fear of public speaking of public speaking. The first one is that, according to
Word count 691 some surveys, it is the number one fear people have.
It’s even more common than the fear of dying. In fact,
Background information about 75% of people say they have this fear. I know I’ve
experienced this fear, although not today! The second
The fear of public speaking affects many people. It
fact is that men and women are affected equally. That
triggers physical symptoms, such as the “fight or flight” may not be surprising, but what is surprising is that men
adrenaline rush. The fear can also affect a person’s are more likely than women to find ways to overcome
speech by making the voice shake. There are several it. And third, having this fear can have a negative effect
strategies for dealing with this fear, including those on your career if you don’t do anything about it, and
outlined in the audio. even impact other aspects of your life. The good news is

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 Close listening

Fear
that you’re not powerless. You can do something about
it. Let’s now look at some tips for confronting this fear. Present the symbols and abbreviations to students.
There are several things you can do. One—start small. Then give them a few minutes to review them. Ask
Find a few friends to practice with, and then practice students to get a partner and test each other by giving
again with a larger group. If you start small, you will
either the symbol / abbreviation or the meaning. After
build up your confidence and be successful. I have
spoken with many people about this and they all say
listening, allow students to compare answers with
the same thing. The actual size of the audience makes their partner before checking them with the class.
no difference. When you actually do speak publicly,
just imagine the group is small. Two—be prepared. I Answers
think this is one of the most important points. Knowing Facts
your material will give you confidence and reduce 1. #1 fear; more common than dying
your fear. If you don’t know your material, you will be 75% of people have this fear
nervous and possibly get lost. Practice your presentation
2. men & women affected
for a reasonable amount of time, and time yourself.
men ↑ likely than women to find ways to overcome
Also, have more material prepared in case you finish
early—nothing excessive, just a little extra. Three—don’t 3. neg affect on career
memorize. No one wants to hear a memorized speech. Overcoming fear
If I’m being truthful, it’s boring for the audience and 1. start sm 2. be prepared 3. don’t mem 4. reduce
shows you lack confidence. Just remember the main
stress 5. engage the aud
points and examples. Four—reduce stress. For many,
the minute just before you speak is the most fearful. Find Addl info
out what works for you. Close your eyes. Stretch. Laugh. Recommended reading: Preparation = Confidence
Do whatever is most useful. Try what some athletes do. by Ricardo Lopez
They visualize a positive outcome and breathe deeply to
reduce their stress. Five—engage the audience. Before
you begin your presentation, chat to a few people in
the audience. This shows you are friendly and relaxed,
Developing critical thinking
and also, you can look these people in the eye to help
you connect with the audience. It’s essential to engage Supporting critical thinking
the audience as a whole as well. Make the talk
One aspect of critical thinking is the ability to put
interactive rather than a monologue. Take questions
yourself in someone else’s position. Asking students to
from the audience. If the audience is involved, you will
have time to organize your thoughts as well. Finally, I give advice to someone with a problem (in this case,
said I’d provide you with some additional information. the fear of public speaking) which they themselves may
There are a lot of resources out there for this kind of not have helps students understand others more.
thing. There are books on overcoming fears in the local
library or at any bookstore. I would recommend a book Encourage students to use their monolingual
called Preparation Equals Confidence by Dr. Ricardo dictionaries to check the meaning of any words in the
Lopez. He has all this information and more on his Ways of overcoming fears box. Have the students form
website, and you can even post questions there. Let me groups and ask them to discuss the questions. After
conclude by saying these five tips will work for you. the discussion, have students share their answers and
Start small, be prepared, don’t memorize, reduce stress, advice with the whole class.
and engage the audience. If you have other things
that have been successful for you, please share them
with others. Don’t let your fear impair you in any way
Listening 2  Phobias
and never panic. Always be calm. That concludes my Word count 786
presentation. Thank you very much. Let’s open it up and
see if you have any questions. Yes? Background information
Student: Yes, thank you for taking my question. Why A phobia, from the Greek word phóbos, is an
shouldn’t someone memorize a presentation? Wouldn’t
extremely strong fear of an object or a situation.
that build confidence?
To be a phobia, the fear has to be strong enough to
Presenter: I think I already answered that. No one change the way the person lives their life. For example,
wants to hear a memorized speech because it’s, frankly,
someone with a fear of spiders would avoid going into
boring. It’s OK to memorize the key points, but avoid . . .
situations where they might see one. The fear is usually
irrational; it is highly unlikely that the thing which is
feared would actually hurt the person.
Answers
1 b   ​2 h   ​
3 c   ​
4 e   ​
5 a   ​
6 f   
​7 g   ​
8 d

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 Before you listen
Fear
Host:  I see.
1 Direct the students’ attention to the pictures. Ask Dr.:  I had a patient recently that had a terrible phobia
two or three students to report back to the class of elevators. Let’s call her Maggie. One problem
about the discussions they had with their partner. Maggie faced was that a recent job promotion required
her to move her office from the first floor in her building
2 Give students time to describe their experiences to
up to the tenth floor. She was certain that the elevator
a partner. would break while she was inside, and she’d run out
of air, or the elevator would fall. Her friends tried to
Extension activity reason with her, but it was pointless. She had a strong
People often enjoy telling and listening to these kinds of fear of elevators.
experiences. Have the students form groups, and ask Host:  That’s awful! So have you treated Maggie’s
them to tell each other their experiences. If there are problem? Were you able to find a solution?
some very confident speakers in each group, ask them Dr.:  We were successful, but it took some time. The
to relate the most interesting experiences to the class. first step was that Maggie needed to realize she
needed help. Surprisingly, people are sometimes very
reluctant to seek help, or don’t know where to get
Global listening help. Phobias may be painful, but are almost always
treatable. It’s much easier than people think. Maggie
After students listen, give them time to discuss their and I did some relaxation techniques together. These
answers with a partner. techniques were useful because they helped her avoid
the physical symptoms. I taught her to take slow, deep
AUDIO SCRIPT  2.04 breaths. Then she was able to think more rationally
Host:  Hello and welcome to this week’s podcast of To about the situation. We then discussed each thought
Your Health. I’ve invited Dr. Kristin Patterson, expert on that scared her. It was interesting that she never actually
phobias, to speak with us today. Good morning and experienced a problem with an elevator. And we
welcome. talked about how it’s always possible to breathe in an
Dr. Patterson:  It’s wonderful to be here. elevator. I was worried that she might also have a fear
of closed places, but this wasn’t the case.
Host:  Let’s start out with a definition. What is a phobia?
Is it merely a fear of something? Host:  So how did Maggie get to the point where she
could take the elevator to work?
Dr.:  A phobia is more than just being fearful. Everyone
has certain fears. This is normal and a good thing Dr.:  She had to face her fears. After talking about
because a reasonable fear of something dangerous her fears and learning to relax, she started to watch
helps keep us safe. There’s a reason to be afraid of the elevator. She just watched people getting on and
some snakes, for example. But this is not a phobia of off, smiling and talking with others. The next day, she
snakes. A phobia is unreasonable and excessive. You watched it again. But then we stepped in the elevator,
fear a snake because it may be harmful. A phobia of together. It didn’t go anywhere—we just let the doors
snakes, on the other hand, may mean that you can’t open and close several times. She was nervous, but by
go hiking for fear of seeing a snake. You become breathing deeply and relaxing, she was in control. The
frightened of seeing a snake on TV or at the zoo. next day, we repeated the first two steps, and then finally
You feel powerless because a phobia impairs you. It took the elevator up, but only one floor. We repeated this
seriously impacts your life. over several days, adding one floor each day.

Host:  Are phobias common? Host:  So did she get to her new office?

Dr.:  Yes. During their lifetime, more than 10% of people Dr.:  She did. I went to her office on the tenth floor and
will develop a phobia. One of the most common called her. I suggested she go into the elevator. She went
phobias is the fear of public speaking. Speaking in front in, she pressed the tenth floor button, and two minutes
of others is stressful for many of us. But there are many later she stepped out of the elevator. By doing all of those
other kinds of phobias, such as the fear of water and things, she’s been able to overcome her phobia. It took
fear of spiders. just a few days. Now, about that spider in your closet …

Host:  Oh, I’ve always hated spiders! Host:  Um, oh, I’m afraid we’re about out of time. Join
us on our next podcast when we talk about –
Dr.:  You do? Does this impair your day-to-day
activities? Dr.:  I think you have a fear of facing your fear. Let’s
discuss that before we talk about your fear of spiders
Host:  Uh, well, I saw a spider in my closet and haven’t and …
opened it for two weeks.
Dr.:  You may have a phobia of spiders. We can work
on how to overcome that a bit later. So, how do people
react when they’re confronted with a phobia? Often a Answers
person will have a racing heart, difficulty breathing, elevators spiders
or a sick feeling. Other people with phobias may feel public speaking water
helpless and start to panic. snakes closed spaces

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 Close listening

Fear
move her office from the first floor in her building up to the
Ask the students to study the Listening for problems and tenth floor. She was certain that the elevator would break
solutions box. Write Problems and Solutions on the board while she was inside and she’d run out of air, or the
and build up a map around them. With books closed, elevator would fall. Her friends tried to reason with her,
but it was pointless. She had a strong fear of elevators.
ask students for the phrases. Write them in the correct
place on the map. Add Listen critically as the third main
feature of the map, and elicit the key point from the
box (listen for well-supported reasons / arguments). Answers
1 phobias
Direct students to the words in the Academic keywords
2 It keeps us safe.
box. Ask them to use their monolingual dictionaries
3 It impairs them.
to check the meaning. Then have the students write
4 10%
the words in their vocabulary notebooks.
5 He hasn’t opened his closet.
1 Give students time to read the questions before 6 It varies. Some people have a racing heart,
listening to the audio, and then time to discuss difficulty breathing, or a sick feeling. Others may
their answers with a partner. Then have students feel helpless and start to panic.
check their answers with the whole class. 7 elevators
8 Her new job was on the tenth floor.
AUDIO SCRIPT  2.05
Host:  Hello and welcome to this week’s podcast of To
2 After listening, ask students to discuss their ideas.
Your Health. I’ve invited Dr. Kristin Patterson, expert on
phobias, to speak with us today. Good morning and Then have them listen to the audio again to
welcome. confirm their answers.
Dr. Patterson:  It’s wonderful to be here.
Host:  Let’s start out with a definition. What is a phobia? AUDIO SCRIPT  2.06
Is it merely a fear of something? Host:  That’s awful! So have you treated Maggie’s
problem? Were you able to find a solution?
Dr.:  A phobia is more than just being fearful. Everyone
has certain fears. This is normal and a good thing Dr.:  We were successful, but it took some time. The
because a reasonable fear of something dangerous first step was that Maggie needed to realize she
helps keep us safe. There’s a reason to be afraid of some needed help. Surprisingly, people are sometimes very
snakes, for example. But this is not a phobia of snakes. A reluctant to seek help, or don’t know where to get
phobia is unreasonable and excessive. You fear a snake help. Phobias may be painful, but are almost always
because it may be harmful. A phobia of snakes, on the treatable. It’s much easier than people think. Maggie
other hand, may mean that you can’t go hiking for fear and I did some relaxation techniques together. These
of seeing a snake. You become frightened of seeing a techniques were useful because they helped her avoid
snake on TV or at the zoo. You feel powerless because a the physical symptoms. I taught her to take slow, deep
phobia impairs you. It seriously impacts your life. breaths. Then she was able to think more rationally
about the situation. We then discussed each thought
Host:  Are phobias common?
that scared her. It was interesting that she never actually
Dr.:  Yes. During their lifetime, more than 10% of people experienced a problem with an elevator. And we
will develop a phobia. One of the most common talked about how it’s always possible to breathe in an
phobias is the fear of public speaking. Speaking in front elevator. I was worried that she might also have a fear
of others is stressful for many of us. But there are many of closed places, but this wasn’t the case.
other kinds of phobias, such as the fear of water and
Host:  So how did Maggie get to the point where she
fear of spiders.
could take the elevator to work?
Host:  Oh, I’ve always hated spiders!
Dr.:  She had to face her fears. After talking about
Dr.:  You do? Does this impair your day-to-day activities? her fears and learning to relax, she started to watch
Host:  Uh, well, I saw a spider in my closet and haven’t the elevator. She just watched people getting on and
opened it for two weeks. off, smiling and talking with others. The next day, she
Dr.:  You may have a phobia of spiders. We can work watched it again. But then we stepped in the elevator,
on how to overcome that a bit later. So, how do people together. It didn’t go anywhere—we just let the doors
react when they’re confronted with a phobia? Often a open and close several times. She was nervous, but by
person will have a racing heart, difficulty breathing, breathing deeply and relaxing, she was in control. The
or a sick feeling. Other people with phobias may feel next day, we repeated the first two steps, and then finally
helpless and start to panic. took the elevator up, but only one floor. We repeated this
over several days, adding one floor each day.
Host:  I see.
Host:  So did she get to her new office?
Dr.:  I had a patient recently that had a terrible phobia of
elevators. Let’s call her Maggie. One problem Maggie Dr.:  She did. I went to her office on the tenth floor and
faced was that a recent job promotion required her to called her. I suggested she go into the elevator. She went

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 1 Have students check their answers with the class.
Fear
in, she pressed the tenth floor button, and two minutes
later she stepped out of the elevator. By doing all of those
things, she’s been able to overcome her phobia. It took Answers
just a few days. Now, about that spider in your closet …
Host:  Um, oh, I’m afraid we’re about out of time. Join -ful -ful and less -less
us on our next podcast when we talk about – truthful harmful / harmless pointless
beautiful powerful / powerless worthless
Dr.:  I think you have a fear of facing your fear. Let’s discuss careful / careless
that before we talk about your fear of spiders and … helpful / helpless

Answers
2 After checking answers with the whole class, ask
realizing she needed help
students to start a new page in their vocabulary
relaxation techniques
notebooks with the title Suffixes: -ful and -less. Have
deep breathing
them create a diagram, including all the words
talking about what scared her
with the suffixes from this section.
watching the elevator
standing in the elevator answers
taking the elevator up only one floor 1 wonderful 5 stressful
taking the elevator up one floor at a time 2 fearful 6 successful
taking the elevator to the tenth floor 3 harmful 7 pointless
4 helpless 8 homeless

Developing critical thinking 3 Give students a few minutes to discuss the

questions in groups. Then ask two or three
Supporting critical thinking students to share their answers with the class.
An aspect of critical thinking is the evaluation of the
work of others. Students need to develop the skills SPEAKING  Presenting a problem
to assess the strengths and weaknesses, based on you overcame
reason, of the work of others. In order to do this, they
need to draw on information about the topic, their Grammar
understanding of the situation, and their assessment of
Ask the students to read the Grammar box. Ask
the outcome. In question 1, students are practicing these
questions to check students’ understanding.
skills in relation to Dr. Patterson’s work.
1 Have students work individually to complete the
1 Have the students form small groups, and ask sentences. Monitor and check the form.
them to evaluate the techniques. Encourage
students to provide supported arguments and answers
reasons when giving their answers. 1 have talked 4 ’ve never felt
2 Remind students of the listening text Fear of 2 hasn’t admitted 5 haven’t met
public speaking. Ask them if they think there is a 3 has given 6 has gotten
connection between this listening text and Phobias.
Then ask them to discuss the questions in groups. 2 Check that students understand the phrases in the
After groups have discussed the questions, have first column. Then have them mingle, and ask and
them share their answers with the whole class. answer the questions. Encourage them to extend the
conversation. Monitor and take language notes to
This is a good place to use the video resource Fear of use in feedback at the end of the exercise.
animals. It is located in the Video resources section
of the Digibook. Alternatively, remind the students
about the video resource so they can do this at home.
Pronunciation skill
With books closed, use the text in the Sentence stress
Vocabulary skill box as a dictation. Read the text slowly, but naturally,
making sure you pause in the correct places, and that
Before reading the Suffixes: -ful and -less box, give
you use natural sentence stress. Students read through
students a text. Write the two suffixes on the board
the box and compare it with their text.
and elicit words that use them. If students don’t say all
the words from the box, give them the root word and 1 Ask the students to work in pairs to identify the
ask them to decide which suffix fits. Then ask them to stressed words. Encourage students to say the
read the box to check the answers. sentences aloud, experimenting to find the natural-
sounding stress.

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 STUDY SKILLS  Increasing confidence

Fear
AUDIO SCRIPT  2.07
1 Doctors can help people with phobias. when speaking
2 Alice saw the little snake and screamed loudly.
3 I am helping my friend with his fear of water. Cultural awareness
4 I didn’t know you were afraid of flying.
Many individuals find speaking in formal situations,
5 Phobias are powerful, but very treatable.
such as presentations, nerve-wracking. These activities
can have different roles across cultures, so students
answers may have had very little experience of giving their
1 Doctors can help people with phobias. own opinion formally and verbally. Some may only
2 Alice saw the little snake and screamed loudly. now be seeing that it is an expectation in the English-
3 I am helping my friend with his fear of water. speaking academic world.
4 I didn’t know you were afraid of flying.
5 Phobias are powerful, but very treatable. Getting started
2 Ask students to say the sentences individually, Give students a few minutes to answer the questions
and then together with the whole class. Encourage individually. Then ask them to discuss their answers
them to look up and say the sentences, rather than with a partner. Finally, ask two or three students to
read them from the page. share their answers with the whole class.

Speaking skill Scenario

Elicit the parts of a presentation (for example, After students have read and discussed the scenario,
introduction, main part, conclusion, and questions). have them share their ideas with the whole class.
Ask if students can think of any problems with the
questions part of a presentation (for example, people possible Answer
interrupting the main presentation, the presenter not Paulo has focused on turning his nervous feelings
knowing the answer or having already answered the into positive energy, and he has identified that he
same point). Have the students give suggestions for feels more confident if he is organized. He also
dealing with these problems (for example, say at the acts confident, even when he isn’t feeling confident.
start that the time for questions will be at the end). However, he speaks too fast and he should try to slow
Direct students to the Managing questions box, and down. Also, he should try to speak during group
have them read the information. discussions instead of being silent.
Have the students form small groups to complete
the task. Monitor and take language notes to use in Consider it
whole-class feedback at the end of the exercise.
When you elicit feedback, encourage students to
support their opinions with reasons.
SPEAKING TASK
Brainstorm Over to you
Direct students’ attention to the picture and ask one Monitor the discussions and elicit feedback.
or two students to describe what it represents. Put
the students into groups for the task. Monitor the Extension activity
brainstorm and encourage as appropriate. Students can record the number of times they had to
speak formally in English in a week, challenges they
Plan experienced, tips they used, and positive outcomes.
At the end of the week, students can share their
1 Ask students to choose a problem in pairs and to
experiences.
take notes.
2 Ask students to use their notes to prepare a
presentation. Extra research task
There are many quizzes about fear on the Internet.
Speak and share They are usually light-hearted and explore the things
During the mini-presentations, take language notes we may fear, even if we don’t realize it ourselves.
and do whole-class feedback at the end. Have students do an Internet search for fear quiz.
Use the photocopiable unit assignment checklist on
page 94 to assess the students’ speaking.
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