Song Activity
1. How would you define happiness?
2. Do you see yourself as a happy person?
3. Do you think that people very often blow their problems out of proportion?
Do you do that sometimes?
Happy,by Natasha Bedingfield
Correct the mistakes
Ooh.. Oooooohhh.
Landlord’s banging at my door cussing me out
Got fired of my job the night before
Can’t find out how
I’m gonna fix tomorrow away
If today’s still a hassle
Can you tell me what’s the point man,
It all feels meaningless
I hope that I could step away and breathe
This world’s trying to swallow me
Clear away the trouble inside my head
Fill in the blanks
[Chorus:]
Someone just ___________ me
That it’s ok now
What are you _____________ about
Got my ____________, got my __________, got my ____________
Got my ____________ got the _____________ above
Why am I making this ______________ on myself
When there’s so many______________ reasons I have to be _____________
Circle the right word
People lie/die, people hide, people try/cry, people fight
And they don’t know why
If fear/tears is all that we should fear
Then what are we so afraid of
Cause fear is only in our minds/heads
Someone please say...
[Chorus]
Fill in the blanks
Any day I’ll go bad _________________ bad
Everyone is against me and the______________ wants to fight me
Preparing to ______________ an enemy unseen
During my stressing I’m blinded to the ________________
That could be a _______________ if I’d be confessing that the enemy
I’m trying to beat is ______________ inside of me
But it’s ok now...what are you worrying about...
[Chorus]
Keep your grind on girl...it’s your love, it’s your world... [Repeat 2x]
[Chorus]
Discussion:
a. Do you agree when she says that our biggest enemy is inside ourselves?
b. Have you stopped from doing things because of fear?
c. What nationality do you think is the happiest? Watch the video and find
out.
Now read the transcript of a radio show about happiness.
Lots of different people come to see me at my church. Some of them want to
talk about getting married, or having their babies christened. Some have very
difficult personal problems and are extremely unhappy. Some want a cup of
coffee or tea. And some just want to talk.
I remember a few years ago, one of my regular visitors was what used to be
called “a gentleman of the road”. Today I suppose people would simply call him
a derelict or a bum – a homeless person. His name was Barney Teller. Barney
always asked for a cup of hot water – he always brought his own tea bag – and
got great pleasure from discussing what he called “philosophical questions”.
Once the question was “What is happiness?” The question caught me by
surprise; I´m not asked questions like that very often, and so I had to think
about it for a while. “Well, I began, “I suppose that for many people happiness
means having enough to eat, a warm place to sleep, good health, and enough
money for the basic necessities of life.” I was just about to go into matters of
spiritual happiness, when Barney interrupted me.
“Ah, but why is it that so many people wish they had more than just that?” he
asked. Why are they unhappy in spite of their four-bedroom houses,
dishwashers, electric can openers, battery-operated toothbrushes, color TVs,
new cars, and vacations to different places every year ? Are these things
necessities of life?"
Then Barney added that he personally was very happy, even though he had
nothing and had never looked for happiness. “I don´t wish I were rich or had
more money”, he said, “I don´t even wish I had a place to sleep tonight! I´ll be
happy as long as I can walk and breathe ... as long as I can be free”.
This made me think of a poster I´ve once seen – perhaps you´ve seen it, too.
But just in case you haven´t, I´ll describe it for you. The poster shows a
beautiful butterfly, with golden-red wings and this beautiful butterfly just
landed on someone´s shoulder and the poster said something like “Happiness is
like a butterfly – if you try to catch it, it´ll fly away ; but if you forget about
it and get on with your life, it may just land on your shoulder. And as I sat
there, that afternoon with Barney - this homeless man - I also began to think
of all those people I mentioned before, who came to me with their personal
problems, so many were looking for happiness and never finding it. Maybe I
ought to tell them about Barney sometime. And perhaps I ought to tell them
that they will never find happiness if they look for it. I mean, it only comes
when you least expect it, when you´re busy and when you´re not thinking
about how happy or unhappy you are at all.
GRAMMAR REVIEW
Even though / although & in spite of / despite :
1. Look at these sentences. Which one would you complete with in
spite of ? Which one requires even though ? Why ?
a) Why are they unhappy _______________ their four-bedroom houses, big
cars, and vacations to different places every year ?
b) Barney added that he personally was very happy, _______________ he
had nothing and had never looked for happiness.
2. Complete these sentences. Four of them can be completed with
in spite of or despite. The other four can be completed with
even though or although.
a) Some people aren´t happy _______________ they have money.
b) _______________ all his money, people say Paul was never really a happy
man.
c) _______________ Barney has nothing, he is always happy.
d) _______________ his poverty, he is never miserable and never feels
sorry for himself.
e) You´ve lied to me and even stolen from me. But_______________ this, I
still love you.
f) Do you mean you still love that man _______________ all the terrible
things he has done ?
g) _______________ his girlfriend was a thief and a criminal, John was still
madly in love with her.
h) I´m still not sure if I understand the difference, _______________ I
´ve just done an exercise on it.
