Love Actually is the title of a film that is often shown at Christmas time.
In this section we look at family celebrations and a condition called hypercopresence.
You’ll have the opportunity to find out more about this condition, and to find out if you, or anyone in your family suffers from it!
This lesson contains 8 steps and an evaluation. Work them through step by step.
Step
Activity
Introduction
Find out what you already know.
Step 1
Speaking
Discuss romantic places with a class mate.
Step 2
Words
Pronounce words and match their definitions in the exercise.
Step 3
Watching
Watch a video and fill in the gaps.
Step 4
Reading
Read the text, choose the best situation.
Answer the questions. Write down your ideas.
Step 5
Writing
Write down your thoughts about Christmas day with family.
Discuss with classmate.
Step 6
Grammar
Grammar desk and exercises about Superlatives of Adjectives.
Speaking
Choose which of the places are romantic places and write down your idea of three romantic places.
Train stations ..........
Parks ..........
Your living room ..........
Airports ..........
Playground in your town/village ..........
Football ground ..........
..........
..........
..........
Love story speak and listen
First read loud the sentences of the love story yourself.
Speak
I don’t need a romance novel because my life is a love story.
Harry and I met at work about nine years ago. From the moment we met, I knew he would be the love of my life. He asked me out on a date, and I accepted it. We had a lot in common, so we hit it off straight away.
We fell madly in love. We realized we wanted to make a commitment to each other.
After a few months, Harry proposed to me and, of course, I accepted his proposal. We got married in March 2005. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, whom I love unconditionally.
Listen
Now watch and listen to this ‘love story’. Did you pronounce it correctly?
Words and their meaning
In this step, you are going to do exercises with adjectives.
In the first exercise are you looking for the right description or explanation.
In the second exercise, you have to put the correct word in a sentence.
Step 3 - Watching
Watching
You’re going to watch the beginning of the film Love Actually.
Do the exercise.
Step 4 - Reading
Reading
Do you have regular family get together? Or does your family meet just once a year?
Do you suffer from hypercopresence? Do you know what that is?
Read the sentence and choose the best situation to illustrate hypercopresence.
Quickly read the first paragraph and check your answer.
Everyone comes to our house at Christmas – it’s such a lovely time spending time with my family.
We usually go to Grandma’s for Christmas. We have a big family and it can be really stressful. There are lots of people, and lots of noise and then Mum always argues with Uncle Brad. Every year!
Christmas is a time of giving and that is what I love most about it. Everyone giving something to someone else. It’s really great.
Read the text.
So THAT'S why families fight so much at Christmas! Strict schedules and cramped conditions cause 'hypercopresence'
1. Families fight at Christmas because of a condition which afflicts them when they are forced to live in close quarters having spent all year apart, scientists claim 'hypercopresence' occurs when families are in each other's pockets 24 hours a day even though they have not seen each other in months. Over Christmas they have to share the same house, the same bathroom and have to put up with young children stampeding around the place.
2. Family members become crankiest when their autonomy has been taken away from them by the tight schedule of walks, meals and games. Professor Melanie Booth-Butterfield, a communications expert at the University of West Virginia, said that rows occurred when people tried to 'strike out' and reclaim their independence.
3. She said that hypercopresence happens when you get what she called a 'large dose of family at once'. Professor Melanie Booth-Butterfield likened the phenomenon to a long distance relationship - only instead of your lover coming home, you have to spend Christmas with your family. She said: 'When you are in a relationship you expect to be together some of the time. You don't tend to expect to be together 24/7. Hypercopresence happens when things are very controlled and scheduled; you are together in the car, the hotel room, always with other people. It's the idea that you are too close and you can't get away from people. 'Instead of having autonomy to be able to get away when you want you have to coordinate with other people.'
4. Professor Booth-Butterfield said that pressures at Christmas time came from what she called the 'ABCs'; alcohol, bathrooms and children. The more people there are and the smaller the house was, the more pressure there was likely to be. People who are more individualistic will find hypercopresence more of a strain more quickly, she said.
5. Professor Booth-Butterfield said: 'With alcohol people start to drink early and alcohol lowers your inhibitions. Humour and behaviour in general may become more over the top. 'There may be extra friction when some family members are drinking but others aren’t You have normal social drinking, then you add these other factors and it can lead to conflict.'
6. Bathrooms create tension because there is often a queue, especially in the morning. Professor Booth-Butterfield said: 'Normally you can shower for as long as you want but at Christmas there is pressure to get out of the shower. 'With children there is a great potential for pressure, especially during holiday times. Kids can be active and loud and unruly. Parents put extra pressure on themselves with family that the kids perform well, that they look good and have good eating manners. The kids add to the number of heads under each roof. Also parents pressure their kids into acting well.'
7. Professor Booth-Butterfield said that there were a number of tactics families should use to avoid this kind of tension, starting with lightening up and not taking offence so easily. A big tip is that you should have multiple conversations with relatives during the year and not one big talk over Christmas. She said: 'There are ways to have similar conversations so it's not a huge: 'I've been waiting to talk to you about this'. Another tip is to balance family time with autonomous time and letting relatives go off and do their own thing is vital. This also gives them time to vent their frustrations to their partners or brothers and sisters. Professor Booth-Butterfield urged families to loosen up their schedule and not to cram in so much.
8. She said: 'Think about the sequencing, ask when people are arriving and loosen up the timing of things. Simplify things too and give people different responsibilities. Have different people take responsibility for different aspects of Christmas. 'One person could do breakfast, another does lunch. Even things like doing the laundry can help. There's tremendous pressure on the host family. Assigning responsibilities to everyone is a good is a good idea, even the kids. Chances are they have responsibilities when they are at home.'
9. On the tricky subject of mobile phones, Professor Booth-Butterfield said it was 'not realistic' to ask young people to have them off all the time. She said there was some research which pointed to 'generational differences' when it came to mobiles and that younger people used social media to keep in touch with their friends. A compromise would be to suggest having some time when people can use phones and some time when they can't, Professor Booth-Butterfield said.
Answer the four questions.
(par 2) Why do people argue over this period?
(par 5) What is the shower an example of? Can you think of another example?
(par 6/7/8) What are the suggestions to avoid tension?
De onderstaande antwoorden moet je zelf nakijken; vergelijk jouw antwoorden met de goede
antwoorden, en geef aan in welke mate jouw antwoorden correct zijn.
De onderstaande antwoorden moet je zelf nakijken; vergelijk jouw antwoorden met de goede
antwoorden, en geef aan in welke mate jouw antwoorden correct zijn.
De onderstaande antwoorden moet je zelf nakijken; vergelijk jouw antwoorden met de goede
antwoorden, en geef aan in welke mate jouw antwoorden correct zijn.
In this section we have looked at family celebrations and a condition called hypercopresence.
Hypercopresence is a fancy name for this condition: when people are in each other’s pockets, 24/7, and feel they can’t get away from one another. It’s like a large dose of family, all at once…
Family relationships inevitably take a hit when family members spend an extended period of time in close proximity with one another, such as family holidays or annual celebrations like Christmas.
The lockdown in 2020 due to coronavirus has also brought a host of new pressures and challenges to our everyday family life. How about you? How has Corona effected your life until now?
Writing assignment
Write a letter to a friend in England you cannot visit now during the corona crisis lockdown.
Write about how you experience this period of lockdown!
Answer (at least three of) the questions below in your letter to him.
- How is the Coronavirus effecting your life?
- What have you learned about yourself during this lockdown?
- How has social distancing changed your life?
- What do you miss most about your life before the pandemic?
- Do you and your family experience greater conflict during a time of self-quarantine, or is it 'Love actually'
and is the pandemic bringing your family closer together?
Write your letter in about 300 words.
Evaluation
Fill in the schedule and answer the questions below.
Activity
interesting
not interesting
easy
difficult
known
new
Step 1 - Speaking
Step 2 - Words
Step 3 - Watching
Step 4 - Reading
Step 5 - Writing
Step 6 - Grammar
Step 7 - Words
What have you learnt in this period?
Answer the following questions:
Did you feel confident about how the lesson would go? Why/ why not?
Which activity went very well / not so well / not so well as you expected?
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Van dit lesmateriaal is de volgende aanvullende informatie beschikbaar:
Toelichting
Deze les valt onder de arrangeerbare leerlijn van de Stercollectie voor Engels voor havo, leerjaar 4 en 5. Dit is thema 'Love, friendship and relationships'. Het onderwerp van deze les is: Love Actually. In deze les wordt tijd spenderen met familie tijdens feestdagen besproken en aan de hand van de film Love Actually komt de term 'hypercopresence' aan bod. De grammaticaopdracht gaat over Superlatives of Adjectives.
Leerniveau
HAVO 4;
HAVO 5;
Leerinhoud en doelen
Engels;
Eindgebruiker
leerling/student
Moeilijkheidsgraad
gemiddeld
Studiebelasting
3 uur en 0 minuten
Trefwoorden
arrangeerbaar, engels, familierelaties, feestdagen, h45, hypercopresence, love actually, stercollectie, superlatives of adjectives, tijd spenderen met familie
Love Actually h45
nl
VO-content
2021-11-08 09:06:10
Deze les valt onder de arrangeerbare leerlijn van de Stercollectie voor Engels voor havo, leerjaar 4 en 5. Dit is thema 'Love, friendship and relationships'. Het onderwerp van deze les is: Love Actually. In deze les wordt tijd spenderen met familie tijdens feestdagen besproken en aan de hand van de film Love Actually komt de term 'hypercopresence' aan bod. De grammaticaopdracht gaat over Superlatives of Adjectives.
arrangeerbaar, engels, familierelaties, feestdagen, h45, hypercopresence, love actually, stercollectie, superlatives of adjectives, tijd spenderen met familie
The subject of this lesson is 'Love Actually'.
Speaking
Words and their meaning
Watching
So THAT'S why families fight so much at Christmas! Strict schedules and cramped conditions cause 'hypercopresence'
Writing
Grammar
