Speakup in Class, BARRY SEARS: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT – Issue 280

You Are What You Eat

Source: Speak Up
Language level: Advanced
Speaker: Mark Worden
Standard: British accent




 

BARRY SEARS: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT – Issue 280

For more info http://englishtips-self-taught.blogspot.com/2011/02/you-are-what-you-eat.html all credits for SPEAKUP

BEFORE YOU READ.

TASK 1. Speaking. With your partner(s) discuss these questions.

a)    What is your general attitude towards diets and dieting? Why?

b)    Do you think diets create more problems than solutions, or is it the other way round? Why?

c)    Have you ever tried a diet? Why (not)? If so, was it successful?

d)    How many kinds of diets do you know about?

e)    What do you know about “the Zone Diet”?

TASK 2. Glossary. It is a good idea to familiarise yourself with the vocabulary in the glossary before you do the reading TASKS. Work with your partner(s). Try this idea:

a) Cover the Portuguese words/phrases and look at the English words/expressions only. Do you know any of these words/expressions in English? Write your ideas. Check them with other members of the class.

b) Look at the glossary and check your ideas. How many are correct?

c) Test yourself and/or your partner(s). It is not important to memorise the vocabulary, but to be familiar with it. 

READING

TASK 3.  Prediction. You are going to read the first 4 paragraphs of the article about Barry Sears and the Zone Diet. The following keywords and phrases are included in the text (in this order). Work with your partner(s) and predict what the text will be about. Make some notes.

scientific method

Heart disease

diabetes

cancer

cheap carbohydrates

cheap vegetable oils

type 2 diabetes

neurological disorders

life expectancy

personal reasons

bad genes

30 years ago.

TASK 4. Reading for Specific Information. Read the first 4 paragraphs only of the article as quickly as possible and find answers to TASK 3. Compare ideas with your partner(s). How many were correct?

TASK 5. Prediction #2. Before you read the rest of the article, work with your partner and try to predict the answer to these questions. Make some notes.

a)    What does the scientific establishment think of the Zone Diet today?

b)    Why did the establishment change its views on Dr. Sears?

c)    What is the main cause of obesity in America, according to Dr. Sears?

TASK 6. Reading for detailed information.  Now read the rest of the article and find answers to TASK 5. 

 

 

AFTER YOU READ

TASK 7. Speaking and writing. Discuss some/all of these questions with your partner(s). If you like, you can write your opinions for homework and show them to your teacher.

a)    What do you think of The Zone Diet? Is it scientifically right or not? Why?

b)    Would you be prepared to try it? Why (not)?

c)    Do you think it is yet another diet, amongst the thousands that exist and appear every year? Why (not)?

d)    Do you think following the diet could be dangerous, due to insufficient data on long-term effects?

e)    Do you think the idea of Toxic Fat Syndrome should be taken seriously? Why (not)?