Lead-in

  • List and describe 5 examples of typical Brazilian food.
  • What is your favorite typical Brazilian food?
  • What is a typical Brazilian food everyone likes but you?

Presentation

Pre

  • What did you eat the last time you ate at a restaurant? When was it?
  • Have you ever taken a gastronomic trip? 
    • If so, where was it and how was the experience?
    • If not, where would you go? Talk about it.

Top Down

  • What would be a good title for the text? Read it and find out.
  1. The best restaurants in Brazil
  2. The best culinary destinations in southern of Brazil
  1. The best culinary destinations in Brazil
  2. The best food Brazil has to offer
  1. The best restaurants in Brazil
  2. The best culinary destinations in southern of Brazil
  1. The best culinary destinations in Brazil
  2. The best food Brazil has to offer

Exaggeration: why we make a mountain out of a molehill

In French, we have an expression to describe a situation where someone makes too much of a minor issue: “C’est une tempête dans un verre d’eau.” It’s a storm in a glass of water. Funnily enough, British people talk about a storm in a teacup, and American people talk about a tempest in a teapot. Dutch people say: “Van een mug een olifant maken.” Turning a mosquito into an elephant. In Turkish: “Pireyi deve yapmak.” Making a camel out of a flea. It’s fair to say exaggeration is pretty universal. But why?

The many faces of exaggeration
Overreacting, catastrophizing, magnification, maximizing, overplaying, overblowing… We have many words for exaggeration. However, all forms of exaggeration mostly fall under three categories.

Cognitive distortions. These unconscious mental processes cause people to perceive reality inaccurately. Distorted thinking patterns can lead to overestimation (exaggerating the likelihood of an event) or catastrophizing (exaggerating the importance of an event). While most people experience cognitive distortions, exaggeration as a form of cognitive distortion is most common in emotionally-charged situations, where it may help cope with anxiety by giving the individual an inflated sense of control. For instance: “I was always top of my class in literature, I don’t need to prepare for this writing competition” (overestimation) or “Everyone thought my presentation was terrible, I will never gain the respect of my teammates, and I will never get a promotion” (catastrophizing).

Manipulation. Exaggeration can also be a more conscious process. At a young age, children start amplifying achievements and obstacles in order to seek attention. “Exaggerating what one feels by magnifying the emotional expression: this is the ploy used by the six-year-old who dramatically twists her face into a pathetic frown, lips quivering, as she runs to complain to her mother about being teased,” writes Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence. Other forms of manipulation such as bragging and boasting are common at all ages to seek attention. When used to “manipulate” someone, exaggeration is not necessarily intended to hurt the other party. For instance, many friends use flattery and inflated praise among themselves as a form of bonding, and adults tend to praise children to increase their self-esteem (which may backfire but is rarely done with bad intentions).

Pathology. Finally, exaggeration can be caused by mental disorders and pathologies. Exaggerated all-or-nothing thinking is extremely common in depression. Narcissists display a grandiose sense of self-importance. And catastrophizing is associated with paranoid behavior.
While the pathological forms of exaggeration require professional support to regulate, exaggeration caused by cognitive distortions or manipulative behaviors can be managed with a conscious effort.

  • How to spot and stop exaggerating

Exaggeration is such a natural behavior, it can be hard to catch yourself or others doing it. While most exaggeration doesn’t lead to bad outcomes, it’s good practice to try and be more aware of it and to consciously try to make our statements as objective as possible. Here are five ways you can spot and manage exaggeration.

Be careful with adverbs and qualifiers. Whenever you hear yourself or someone else say “incredibly” or “the best” or similar qualifiers, ask yourself: do these add value to the statement? Are they a true reflection of reality? It’s much harder to exaggerate when forcing ourselves to cut the fluff.
Consider more realistic synonyms. Are you “starving” or just “hungry”? Are you “exhausted” or just tired? Is the challenge you are facing “impossible” or just “difficult”? Swapping words can make your statements closer to reality. Added bonus: when you do think a task is impossible, people will tend to take your warning more seriously.

Be comfortable with vulnerability. It’s okay to admit we don’t know or to say we don’t have anything of value to add to a conversation. Instead of trying to impress your interlocutor, focus on building an authentic connection. This will create a virtuous circle by avoiding a ping-pong game of exaggeration, where each person tries to top what the other said.

Correct yourself. Even if you make a conscious effort to not exaggerate, you will sometimes catch yourself embellishing a story or bragging about an accomplishment. This Redditor gives a good example: “That book was so amazing I read it in two days… No, actually, it took more like two weeks, but I was so immersed and enjoyed it so much, the time flew by.”

Ponder why you exaggerated. Even if you sometimes exaggerate, it’s good practice to reflect on the reason why you did it. Maybe you exaggerated your skill levels with your boss because of a lack of self-esteem, or you gave inflated praise to a friend to make them feel better.

Self-reflection is not about shame or guilt: don’t be judgemental, just kindly consider the reasons behind your reaction. Sometimes, you will realize it was one of the rare times exaggerations may have been helpful. Either way, it will make it easier to manage in the future.

Modified from source

Bottom Up

  • True or False?

Example: The text only mentions Brazilian food. False

  1. Some nationalities mentioned in the text are African, Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese, and Arabic.
  2. The text mentions moqueca as from Bahia and explains that it is cooked fish tempered with color tints of urucum.
  3. The world’s best cheese bread can only be found in Bahia and Minas Gerais.
  4. Seafood is more common in Florianópolis than in the other cities mentioned.
  5. Brazil is known to have the same particular flavor in every dish.
  1. Some nationalities mentioned in the text are African, Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese, and Arabic. True
  2. The text mentions moqueca as from Bahia and explains that it is cooked fish tempered with color tints of urucum. False
  3. The world’s best cheese bread can only be found in Bahia and Minas Gerais. False
  4. Seafood is more common in Florianópolis than in the other cities mentioned. False
  5. Brazil is known to have the same particular flavor in every dish. False

Post

  • In your opinion, which of the cities mentioned have the best food? Why?
  • What is some typical food of your hometown? 
  • If you move out of your city, which restaurant are you going to miss the most? Why? 

Target Language

Words Ending in ‘age

Practice the pronunciation of the following nouns:

  • advantage
  • luggage
  • average
  • message
  • courage
  • package
  • image
  • village
  • language
  • marriage
  • sausage
  • encourage

Emphasizing & Exaggerating

Useful expressions to emphasize opinions and ideas:

  • She was so beautiful!
  • What makes him really angry is being told what to do.
  • Professor Xavier is the most intelligent person in the whole universe.
  • The thing I love the most about this city is by far the weather.
  • He showed such a good performance that he was promoted within his first year in the company.
  • He played a really iconic character.
  • That’s an absolutely terrible thing to say to your parents!

Controlled Practice

  • Match the traditional dishes to their meaning.
  1. Bagel
  2. Cuy
  3. Bunny Chow
  4. Tarator Soup
  5. Koshari
  6. Jerk Chicken
  7. Lamington
  8. Pie Mash and Liquour

(   ) Minced beef pie, mashed potato, and a parsley sauce known as liquor.

(   ) A chunky snack consisting of a lump of bread stuffed with curried meat and vegetables.

(   ) Guinea pig meat.

(   ) A cube of sponge cake coated in chocolate and dried coconut.

(   ) A cold summer soup, usually consisting of yoghurt, oil, water and various vegetables such as cucumber and garlic

(   ) A dense bread roll in the shape of a ring, made by boiling dough and then baking it.

(   )  Grilled chicken marinated in a spicy sauce.

(   ) A National vegetarian dish consisting of a mix of pasta-tomato sauce-lentils-rice-onion and chickpeas.

  1. Bagel
  2. Cuy
  3. Bunny Chow
  4. Tarator Soup
  5. Koshari
  6. Jerk Chicken
  7. Lamington
  8. Pie Mash and Liquour

(8) Minced beef pie, mashed potato, and a parsley sauce known as liquor.

(3) A chunky snack consisting of a lump of bread stuffed with curried meat and vegetables.

(2) Guinea pig meat.

(7) A cube of sponge cake coated in chocolate and dried coconut.

(4) A cold summer soup, usually consisting of yoghurt, oil, water and various vegetables such as cucumber and garlic

(1) A dense bread roll in the shape of a ring, made by boiling dough and then baking it.

(6)  Grilled chicken marinated in a spicy sauce.

(5) A National vegetarian dish consisting of a mix of pasta-tomato sauce-lentils-rice-onion and chickpeas.

Freer Practice

  • Complete the sentences according to your own ideas.
    • I was traveling and stopped to eat… because…
    • I need to stop eating… because…
    • As a rule, forgiving someone is an act of…
    • Some people need to remember…
    • Avoiding problems is… 
    • Going to… is an experience that…
    • I need to go… mainly because…
    • Once, to avoid a problem, I…

Production

  • Use transition expressions to describe the food and the service of the 3 best restaurants you’ve gone to and of the worst one.

Example: The best restaurant I’ve been to is a small restaurant in Goias. Generally speaking, it is…

Homework

Connect the words from the first column with the words from the second

Example: Mean it > Mean it as

  1. Open to
  2. Put someone
  3. Take something
  4. Think someone
  5. Walk away
  • from the debate
  • to the heart
  • criticism
  • down
  • has a point
  1. Open to
  2. Put someone
  3. Take something
  4. Think someone
  5. Walk away
  1. criticism
  2.  down
  3. to heart
  4. has a point
  5. the debate

Match the collocations with their respective definitions.

  1. To be open to criticism
  2. To be under attack
  3. To mean it 
  4. To mean it as
  5. To put someone down
  6. To take something to heart
  7. To think someone has a point
  8. To walk away from (a debate)
  • To agree with a person’s specific argument
  • To avoid a situation because it’s difficult to deal with or does not give you any advantages
  • To feel upset about something someone said about you
  • To say something seriously
  • To criticize people in public to make them feel stupid or inferior
  • To be strongly criticized
  • To say or write something with a specific intention
  • To be prepared to listen to people’s negative opinions
  1. To be open to criticism
  2. To be under attack
  3. To mean it 
  4. To mean it as
  5. To put someone down
  6. To take something to heart
  7. To think someone has a point
  8. To walk away from (a debate)
  1. To be prepared to listen to people’s negative opinions
  2. To be strongly criticized
  3. To say something seriously
  4. To say or write something with a specific intention
  5. To criticize people in public to make them feel stupid or inferior
  6. To feel upset about something someone said about you
  7. To agree with a person’s specific argument
  8. To avoid a situation because it’s difficult to deal with or does not give you any advantages

Using the expressions from the previous exercise, complete the sentences.

Example: When I said I loved him I meant it as platonic love.

  1. She told me she was crazy to express her point, that’s why I couldn’t understand when she ______________.
  2. I’ll never understand why people insist on __________________. It is so embarrassing passing through this kind of situation.
  3. Marie needs therapy! Every little thing someone says to her she ___________________.
  4. Did you warn the employees about the feedback session today? They need to be ______________.
  5. Chris told Kevin yesterday he changed his mind. Maybe he _____________________.
  1. She told me she was crazy to express her point, that’s why I couldn’t understand when she walked away from the debate.
  2. I’ll never understand why people insist on put others down. It is so embarrassing passing through this kind of situation.
  3. Marie needs therapy! Every little thing someone says to her she takes it to heart.
  4. Did you warn the employees about the feedback session today? They need to be open for criticism.
  5. Chris told Kevin yesterday he changed his mind. Maybe he thinks someone has a point.

Put the words in the correct order to make sentences.

Example: very / Dave / to / criticism / doesn’t be / open / seem / to > Dave doesn’t seem to be very open to criticism.

  1. on / we / usually / each / don’t / other / Mondays / see
  2. might / In / you / try / future / to / the / more / little / a / polite / be
  3. shouldn’t / you / offended / be / mean / it / compliment / a / they / as
  4. feel / am / when / I / stand / honest / people / they / because / being / under / can’t / are / just / I / attack.
  5. down / their / It’s / put / not / to / because / people / nice / looks / of
  1. We don’t usually see each other on Mondays.
  2. In the future you might try to be a little more polite.
  3. You shouldn’t be offended. They mean it as a compliment.
  4. I can’t stand when people feel they are under attack just because I am being honest.
  5. It’s not nice to put people down because of their looks.

Which sentences are wrong?

  1. Why you always take what he says for heart?

  2. I mean what I say last night.

  3. Euclides mean that he said as a serious statement, not a joke.

  4. If things get loud, just walks away from the debate.

  5. It’s hard to admit this, but I think you have valid point.

  1. Why do you always take what he says to heart?

  2. I meant what I said last night.

  3. Euclides meant what he said as a serious statement, not a joke.

  4. If things get loud, just walk away from the debate.

  5. It’s hard to admit this, but I think you have a valid point.

Writing

Write a letter to a friend who needs the tips on taking criticism gracefully. Remember to use as much of the Target Language as possible.