CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Профильное обучение: психология

Texts for Reading

UNIT I

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS

School psychologists have specialised training in both psychology and education. They use their training and skills to team with educators, parents, and other mental health professionals to ensure that every child learns in a safe, healthy and supportive environment. School psychologists tailor their services to the particular needs of each child and each situation.

VOCABULARY:

Read the dialogue:

I – interviewer
PF – Professor Finney

I: Professor Finney, as a child psychologist who specialises in educational psychology, you must have to deal with quite a wide range of problems faced by adolescents.

PF: That’s right. My research has focused on the learning difficulties of young children, especially the way their friends and family affect their performance at school.

I: And what is it that makes some pupils succeed and others fail?

PF: Well, research suggests that if you get on well with people and are well-liked, it builds your self-esteem, your self-respect and this helps you make the most of your abilities.

Translate the following sentences:

1. Детские психологи, которые специализируются в образовательной психологии, должны иметь специальную подготовку как в психологии, так и в педагогике.

2. Все родители хотят, чтобы их дети учились в безопасной, здоровой и поддерживающей их среде.

3. Мой брат – школьный психолог. Его исследования сфокусированы на проблемах, с которыми сталкиваются подростки.

4. Школьные психологи направляют свои усилия на то, чтобы каждый ребенок мог реализовать свои возможности.

5. Работа школьных психологов с детьми помогает детям достигнуть успеха.

UNIT II

AUTISM

Autism is a brain disorder that typically affects a person’s ability to communicate, and form relationships with others. Isolated in worlds of their own, people with autism appear indifferent and are unable to form emotional bonds with others. People with this brain disorder can display a wide range of symptoms: many are incapable of understanding other people’s thoughts, feelings and needs. Often, language and intelligence fail to develop fully, making communication and social relationships difficult. People with autism are often painfully sensitive to sound, touch or smell.
Children with autism do not follow the typical patterns of child development. And parents may feel sorrow that their hopes and dreams may never materialise. But gone are the days when people with autism were isolated, typically sent away to institutions. Today, many youngsters can be helped to attend school with other children. Methods are available to help improve their social, language and academic skills.

VOCABULARY:

Answer the following questions:

1. Is autism a brain disorder? What ability does this brain disorder typically affect?

2. How do you understand this expression: “Isolated in worlds of their own”?

3. Why is communication difficult for people with autism?

4. Do children with autism follow typical patterns of child development?

5. Why do parents of children with autism often feel sorrow?

6. Can children with autism be helped to attend school with other children now?

7. Is it possible to help improve social, language and academic skills of children with autism?

Translate the following sentences:

1. Его неспособность общаться – это не результат плохого воспитания, а следствие психического нарушения, которое называется аутизм.

2. Формирование эмоциональных связей с окружающими – серьезная проблема для людей с аутизмом.

3. Моя сестра всегда была болезненно чувствительна к громким звукам.

4. Он всегда умел понимать проблемы других людей, их мысли и чувства, и это всегда привлекало к нему людей.

5. Он вдруг понял, что его надежды и мечты никогда не воплотятся в жизнь.

6. Прошли те дни, когда люди с аутизмом обычно были изолированы.

UNIT III

DEPRESSION

Depression is an illness that affects over 10 million Americans every year. It can affect anyone at any age. It occurs in every racial, ethnic and religious group and in both sexes, although women report symptoms of depression about twice as often as men. As many as one in 5 Americans will suffer with some degree of depression during their lifetimes. Elderly people may get depressed over physical problems, retirement or loss of beloved ones. Middle-aged adults may become depressed when children leave home or goals begin to seem out of reach. Young adults may become depressed as they struggle with new responsibilities. Married people may get depressed more often than singles, due to the interpersonal conflicts of married life. Children, even babies can also suffer depression. It’s often related to family conflicts, and symptoms usually pass quickly.
There are a broad range of symptoms of depression: general slowing down, neglect of responsibilities, poor memory, inability to concentrate, emotional emptiness, hopelessness, loss of sexual desire, loss of self-esteem, and suicidal thought or actions.
Depression is an illness that affects how you feel. It involves your mood, your thoughts and your behaviour. It affects the way you eat and sleep, the way you feel about yourself, the way you relate to the other people and the way you think about things.
Treatment of depression, as with the most illnesses, is most effective when it’s begun early. Most depression can be successfully treated without hospitalisation. The methods of treatment include psychotherapy and medication.

VOCABULARY:

Answer the following questions:

1. Do women report symptoms of depression more often than men?

2. What are the symptoms of depression?

3. Why do married people get depressed more often than singles?

4. What are the reasons of depression of elderly people?

5. What are the reasons of depression of middle-aged adults?

6. Children, even babies can also get depressed, can’t they? Why?

7. Can depression be treated?

Translate the following sentences:

1. Депрессия – это болезнь, которая поражает людей из любой расовой, этнической и религиозной группы.

2. Женщины страдают от депрессии почти в два раза чаще, чем мужчины.

3. Выход на пенсию может быть причиной депрессии.

4. Школьный психолог помогает избегать межличностных конфликтов в классах.

5. Обычно симптомы депрессии у детей проходят быстро.

6. Потеря полового влечения может привести к суицидальным мыслям и поступкам.

7. Лечение депрессии, также как и большинства других заболеваний, наиболее эффективно, если оно начато в начале заболевания.

UNIT IV

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

We receive information about the world around us through the senses. We have at least eleven senses, but the five main ones are taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight. Each of these senses supplies a different quality of information about our environment, but they normally work in harmony to give us a complex multi-dimensional impression of the world.
So far we have named the five basic senses but these are not the only means that man has for receiving information. The sense of touch, for example, can be divided into four separate sub-senses of pressure, pain, warmth and cold. Each has its characteristic receptors and there are varying concentrations of receptors in the body. The ends of the fingers have a large number of pressure receptors, but the back of hand has very few.
The brain is the control centre and nerves resemble message lines, transmitting information from our senses to our brain.
What we sense we interpret, and this psychological process is called “perception”. By perception we mean the process by which we become aware of and interpret or identify the sensation we receive. There are a lot of factors that influence our perceptions. Inheritance seems to be one factor. Learning is another influence. Learning may be defined as changes in behaviour as the result of past experience. Perception depends on what we are used to, what we expect, and the context of our experience.

VOCABULARY:

Answer the following questions:

1. How do we receive information about the world?

2. How many senses do we have? What are they?

3. How do we get a complex multi-dimensional impression of the world?

4. Which process is called ‘perception’?

5. Is inheritance one of the factors that influence our perception? What are the other factors?

6. How can “learning” be defined?

7. What does perception depend on?

Translate the following sentences:

1. Информацию об окружающей среде мы получаем через наши чувства, которых более десяти, но основные пять – это зрение, слух, вкус, осязание и обоняние.

2. Когда все наши чувства работают в гармонии, мы получаем сложную многомерную картину мира.

3. Нервы – это линии связи, передающие информацию от органов чувств к мозгу.

4. Много факторов влияют на восприятие (перцепцию).

5. Наследственность и обучение – два основных фактора, влияющих на восприятие.

6. Обучение – это изменение поведения в результате прошлого опыта.

7. Восприятие зависит от содержания нашего жизненного опыта.

UNIT V

MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, a book written by John Gray reveals new strategies for reducing tension in relationships and creating more love by first recognition in great detail how men and women are different.
One of the biggest differences between men and women is how they cope with stress. Men feel better by solving problems while women feel better by talking about problems.
The most frequently expressed complaint women have about men is that men don’t listen. Either a man completely ignores her when she speaks to him, or he listens for a few minutes and offers her a solution to make her feel better. He is confused when she doesn’t appreciate this. She wants empathy, but he thinks she wants solutions.
The most frequently expressed complaint men have about women is that women are always trying to change them. When a woman loves a man she feels responsible to assist him in growing and tries to help him improve the way he does things. She thinks she’s nurturing him, while he feels he’s being controlled.
Most of our complex emotional needs can be summarised as the desire for love. Men and women each have six unique love needs that are equally important. Men need trust, acceptance, appreciation, admiration, approval and encouragement. Women need caring, understanding, respect, devotion, validation and reassurance. Men typically give in relationships what men want, while women give what women want. Both men and women feel they give and give but do not get back.
A man thinks he scores high with a woman when he does something big for her, like buying her a new car. He thinks he scores less when he does something small. But women keep score differently. When a woman keeps score, no matter how big or small a gift is, it scores one point; each gift has equal value.
What to do if a man and a woman do not understand each other? Only try to understand.

VOCABULARY:

Answer the following questions:

1. Who wrote the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus?

2. What is this book about?

3. What is the most frequently expressed complaint women have about men?

4. What is the most frequently expressed complaint men have about women?

5. Why do men and women often think that they give and give but do not get back?

6. What do usually men need in relationships?

7. What do women usually need in relationships?

8. What to do if a man and a woman do not understand each other?

Translate the following sentences:

1. Психолог помог нам снизить напряженность наших отношений.

2. Психолог научил меня справляться со стрессом.

3. Он полностью игнорировал мои проблемы.

4. Он высоко оценил нашу работу.

5. Все эти аспекты равно важны.

6. Все женщины нуждаются в заботе.

7. Не пытайся изменить меня!

8. Не имеет значения, насколько велик или мал твой подарок.

9. Ей так нужно твоё сочувствие!

10. Нам всем нужно одобрение, восхищение и поддержка.

UNIT VI

MOTIVATION AND PERSONALITY

American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, in a book entitled Motivation and Personality (1954) put forward one of the best known theories of motivation. In his theory, he presents a hierarchy of needs. He identified certain basic human needs and classified them in an ascending order of importance. Basic needs were at the bottom of the hierarchy, higher needs at the top. His classification is given below:

Physiological needs

These were things required to sustain life like food, water, air, sleep etc. Until these needs are satisfied, Maslow believed, other needs will not motivate people.

Security needs

They are the needs to be free from danger, physical pain and loss of a job. They include the need for clothing and shelter.

Social needs

A human being needs to belong to a group, to be liked and loved, to feel accepted by others and to develop affiliations.

Esteem needs

After people have satisfied their social needs, they want to have self-respect and to be esteemed by others. They have a need for power, status, respect and self-confidence.

Self-actualisation needs

These are the highest needs, according to Maslow. They are the desire to develop, to maximise potential and to achieve one’s goals.

Maslow said that people satisfied their needs in a systematic way. When a need had been met, it stopped being a motivating factor. For example, if a person was starving, he would not be too concerned about security and social needs. But once he had enough food, he would start thinking about those other needs.

VOCABULARY:

Answer the following questions:

1. Have you ever heard the name of Abraham Maslow?

2. What is Abraham Maslow famous for?

3. What does Maslow present in his theory?

4. How did Maslow classify certain basic human’s needs?

5. What needs are at the bottom of the hierarchy?

6. What needs are at the top of the hierarchy?

7. When does a need stop being a motivation factor?

8. In what way do people satisfy their needs?

9. What do you think about Maslow’s theory?

10. What other theories of motivation do you know?

Translate the following sentences:

1. Создатель наиболее известной сейчас теории мотивации – американский психолог Абрахам Маслоy.

2. Согласно теории Маслоy самоактуализация находится на вершине иерархии человеческих потребностей.

3. В теории Маслоy человеческие потребности расположены в порядке возрастания важности от физиологических потребностей до самоактуализации.

4. Согласно теории Маслоy пока физиологические потребности не удовлетворены, иные потребности не мотивируют людей.

5. Каждому человеку необходимо чувствовать принадлежность к определенной социальной группе и быть любимым.

6. После удовлетворения социальных потребностей, человек обычно хочет уважения, статуса и власти.

7. После того, как потребность удовлетворена, она перестает быть мотивирующим фактором.

8. Если человек голодает, он не будет очень заботиться об удовлетворении других потребностей.

Compiled by Natalya Fedotova