FALL APART

Lead-in

  • If you could make one change to the place you currently live to make it more enjoyable, what would you change?
  • What is something you did last week that you are the proudest of?
  • Can you describe in detail your ideal ordinary day? 
  • Would you like to live like this your whole life? Why or why not?

Presentation

Pre

  • What is the importance of allowing yourself to feel sad? Why is it important?

Top Down

  • What is the main point of the text? Read it and find out.
  1. How to find happiness
  2. How to live one day at a time
  1. How to deal with sadness
  2. How to stop being sad
  1. How to find happiness
  2. How to live one day at a time
  1. How to deal with sadness
  2. How to stop being sad

The importance of Sadness

 

  • What is Sadness? What is its purpose in our lives?

During our childhood, sadness is there to communicate our distress and our caregivers respond by providing help or comfort while we cry. As we grow up, we learn of grief and betrayal and devastation, and very quickly sadness can morph into intolerable pain. The way our loved ones and society cope with sorrow will influence our willingness to let our sadness in. For example, it would be challenging to cry if you believed others saw you as ‘weak’ or if your friend told you there’s ‘nothing to cry about.

Perhaps it is no surprise that ‘the quick fix’ (i.e. medication) is so often sought so we can resume living our apparently perfect, productive lives. Anti-depressants were not designed to eradicate a universal, healthy emotion. I fear that our society is becoming intolerant of sadness, which is only reinforced through labels such as ‘weak’, ‘silly’, and ‘depressed’.

This social perception needs to change; no matter how long we try to avoid, criticise, or eradicate our sadness, it will always find a way to ‘connect’ and force us to listen. In the end, we need to feel sad.

  • Why should we let ourselves feel sad?

In its most simple form, we have two ‘brains’: The Emotional Mind and The Thinking Brain.

The Thinking Brain processes our life as a series of events whereas the Emotional Mind focuses on how we feel about what has happened. Every significant event needs to be processed by the Thinking Brain as well as the Emotional Mind. Feeling sad, angry, fearful, and joyful are essential features of our Emotional Mind, and they all have an important role to play when we emotionally process life’s events.

Sadness’ function is twofold: To let us know that we need to grieve and to seek out those who love and support us. But this is often ‘easier said than done’. Many of my clients tell me that they understand the role of sadness and why they need to let themselves feel it, but they are not sure how to connect with the feeling when they have avoided it for so long.

  • How can we connect with our own sadness?

Trust sadness: If you feel sad, then you feel sad. Sadness is there to help you. Own it, embrace it, and trust in it. Trust in sadness’ ability to guide you through your pain and grief, and you’ll be the stronger for it.
Give yourself permission: Make space for sadness to be a part of you and your experience. You may feel the urge to write down your feelings, keep a diary, write a letter to those who have passed or hurt you or speak with a confidante to help explore and validate your sadness.

  • How can we connect with others through sadness?

Vulnerability – Sadness is arguably one of the more difficult emotions to express to others because it requires vulnerability; to let our internal world be seen without the guarantee that someone will be there to support our experience.
Empathy – When we see someone else crying or in distress, most of us instinctually feel a pull towards that person; we want to help. To truly connect with that person, it isn’t about having all the answers or knowing the right thing to say; often it is about listening and just being there.
Communicate what you need – I like to believe that most of us would willingly support someone through their sadness if we only knew what to do or how to help. Reminders such as: “Don’t try to fix the problem, just let me feel sad for a while” or “Please hug me until I calm down” can help our helpers feel useful and confident in their support of us during our grief.

Adapted from source

Bottom Up

  • True or False?

Example: Sadness is useless. False

  1. Sadness can feel like intolerable pain.
  2. Our society is becoming intolerant of sadness, which is not reinforced through labels such as ‘weak’, ‘silly’, and ‘depressed’.
  3. Sadness has two functions: To let us know that we need to grieve and to seek out those who love and support us.
  4. Don’t trust sadness: If you feel sad, you have to at least try to get happy.
  5. It’s important to let people know what you need.
  1. Sadness can feel like intolerable pain. True
  2. Our society is becoming intolerant of sadness, which is not reinforced through labels such as ‘weak’, ‘silly’, and ‘depressed’. False
  3. Sadness has two functions: To let us know that we need to grieve and to seek out those who love and support us. True
  4. Don’t trust sadness: If you feel sad, you have to at least try to get happy. False
  5. It’s important to let people know what you need. True

Post

  • Do you agree with the text? Why or why not?
  • In what situations do you show people you feel sad? Why?
  • In what situations do you pretend to be happy even though you feel sad? Why?

Target Language

Idioms are groups of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that differ from the meanings of the words individually. Usually, idioms are not literal expressions.

Idioms to Express Happiness

  • To be over the moon
  • To make someone’s day
  • To be thrilled to bits
  • To be in seventh heaven
  • To be/feel on top of the world
  • To be/feel like a dog with two tails
  • To be on cloud nine

Idioms to Express Sadness

  • One’s heart sinks
  • To be broken-hearted
  • To fall to pieces
  • To fall apart
  • To be knocked sideways
  • To be down in the dumps
  • To be reduced to tears

Speculating

 

Whenever we don’t know the outcome of a certain situation or what’s about to happen, we can speculate.

  • My guess is (that) they will get married.
  • It’s likely/unlikely (that) they will get married.
  • Chances are (that) they will get married.
  • I wouldn’t be surprised if they got married.

Controlled Practice

  • Match the expressions with their literal meanings. There is one example.

  1. On top

  2. Tail

  3. Knock

  4. Tears

  5. Sink

  6. Cloud

(   ) Collide with (someone or something), giving them a hard blow.

(   ) Descend; drop.

(4) A drop of water that comes from your eye.

(   ) The hindmost part of an animal, especially when prolonged beyond the rest of the body.

(   ) On the highest point or uppermost surface.

(   ) A visible mass of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere, typically high above the ground.

  1. On top

  2. Tail

  3. Knock

  4. Tears

  5. Sink

  6. Cloud

(3) Collide with (someone or something), giving them a hard blow.

(5) Descend; drop.

(4) A drop of water that comes from your eye.

(2) The hindmost part of an animal, especially when prolonged beyond the rest of the body.

(1) On the highest point or uppermost surface.

(6) A visible mass of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere, typically high above the ground. 

Freer Practice

  • Complete the sentences according to your opinion.
    • It would make my day if…
    • I would fall apart if…
    • … problems never made me be…
    • To be on cloud nine I need to…
    • … always reduce me to tears.

Production

  • Look at the pictures and speculate what’s happening. Talk about them using the Target Language.

Example: My guess is that she broke up with her boyfriend and now is on cloud nine because he isn’t a good person.

Homework

Choose the best option to complete each sentence. 

Example: I am / are jumping of joy. < I am jumping of joy.  

  1. Winemakers am / are over the moon to be able to showcase the individual nuances within their vineyards. 
  2. People are getting tired of mass-produced items and flat-packs that eventually fall / fallen apart.  
  3. Our staff was / were reduced to tears when they surveyed the results at Redbridge Primary School. 
  4. Even though she was so sick, she still ignored how she was feeling to try and make / made my day better. 
  5. So here’s a selection of UK hotels where your well-trained canine companion will feel / be feeling like a dog with two tails. 
  1. Winemakers are over the moon to be able to showcase the individual nuances within their vineyards. 
  2. People are getting tired of mass-produced items and flat-packs that eventually fall apart.  
  3. Our staff was reduced to tears when they surveyed the results at Redbridge Primary School. 
  4. Even though she was so sick, she still ignored how she was feeling to try and make my day better. 
  5. So here’s a selection of UK hotels where your well-trained canine companion will be feeling like a dog with two tails. 

Connect the halves. There is one example.

  1. Having recently fallen in love with this style of…

  2. I saw a supremely talented artist reduced…

  3. It was more along the lines of a very…

  4. I’m delighted for him and I’m really and…

  5. In the end, rather than getting birthday…

  6. I’m a bit down in the dumps right…

(   ) music, I was in seventh heaven.

(   ) uncertain, wobbly romance that might fall apart at any second.

(   ) dumps, he was simply down in the dumps.

(   ) to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience.

(6) now but will be getting that dirt off my shoulders and doing my thing.

(   ) truly over the moon for what he’s achieved.

  1. Having recently fallen in love with this style of…

  2. I saw a supremely talented artist reduced…

  3. It was more along the lines of a very…

  4. I’m delighted for him and I’m really and…

  5. In the end, rather than getting birthday…

  6. I’m a bit down in the dumps right…

(1) music, I was in seventh heaven.

(3) uncertain, wobbly romance that might fall apart at any second.

(5) dumps, he was simply down in the dumps.

(2) to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience.

(6) now but will be getting that dirt off my shoulders and doing my thing.

(4) truly over the moon for what he’s achieved.

Use the idioms from the Target Language to complete the sentences.

Example: Cersei gets very down ____, starts putting on weight, and hits the bottle hard.  Cersei gets very down in the dumps, starts putting on weight, and hits the bottle hard.

  1. When you hear news like that your ____ to the bottom of your stomach.
  2. My husband is like a ____ about this holiday having never been on a cruise before!
  3. I refuse to sit down and watch my generation fall to ____.
  4. But the post is not just another business ____ sideways by the internet.
  5. You can feel on ____ world by setting your own goal and really going for it.
  1. When you hear news like that your heart sinks to the bottom of your stomach.
  2. My husband is like a dog with two tails about this holiday having never been on a cruise before!
  3. I refuse to sit down and watch my generation fall to pieces.
  4. But the post is not just another business knocked sideways by the internet.
  5. You can feel on top of the world by setting your own goal and really going for it.

Put the words in the correct order to make sentences.

Example: because has down in however, the dumps Texas ditched Virginia millionaire. Fred, a is for him > Fred, however, is down in the dumps because Virginia has ditched him for a Texas millionaire.

  1. fan / bits. / and / my / He / answers / that, / I’m / mail / because / I / to / thrilled / in / believe / personally / all
  2. just / in / we / which / eating / teenage / apart / at / early / were / thought / ways, / It / other / first / fall / began / she / wasn’t / her / typical / to / disorder, / behavior.
  3. be / issue. / that / political / and / guess / is / consider / to / making / it / avoid / both / dynamite / sides / My / to / this / will / an / try
  4. the same. / and / will / example / are / do / well / keeping / give / your / of / tidy, / eventually / things / If / you / an / organized / the / chances / adolescent
  5. of / my / some / have / been / of / why / the / have / So / wondering / I / down / friends / dumps. / in / been / sort
  1. He answers all my fan mail personally and I believe in that, because I’m thrilled to bits.
  2. It wasn’t just her eating disorder, she began to fall apart in other ways, which at first we thought were typical early teenage behavior.
  3. My guess is that both sides consider this to be political dynamite and will try to avoid making it an issue.
  4. If you give an example of keeping things well organized and tidy, the chances are your adolescent will eventually do the same.
  5. So some of my friends have been wondering why I have been sort of down in the dumps.

Find and correct the mistakes.

Example: If we won the championship, naturally we would get over the moon. > If we won the championship, naturally we would be over the moon.

  1. I felt on top of the world because I felt that I have achieved what I wanted to.
  2. It pulls no punches, so be prepared to be knoked sideways.
  3. It’s still not any easier every day is the same, I simply fell to pieces at the mention of your name.
  4. I’m not a high-maintenance kinda girl, so it’s usually the little things that really made my day.
  5. Now she’s up the moon that in the space of three years, she’s not only get herself a fascinating hobby but a husband and business as well.
  1. I felt on top of the world because I felt that I had achieved what I wanted to.
  2. It pulls no punches, so be prepared to be knocked sideways.
  3. It’s still not any easier every day is the same, I simply fall to pieces at the mention of your name.
  4. I’m not a high-maintenance kinda girl, so it’s usually the little things that really make my day.
  5. Now she’s over the moon that in the space of three years, she’s not only got herself a fascinating hobby but a husband and business as well.

Writing

Write about the best week of your life and the worst. Remember to use as much of the Target Language as possible.

Example: When I got a promotion that I really needed I experienced one of the best moments of my life, I was on cloud nine, but then…