EF p 85. The Conversation: Stress. Listening

 Do you think life today is more stressful than it used to be?

 

Sample answer:

I Do you think life today is more stressful than it used to be?
J I (1)____________ think it’s more stressful than it used to be, and I think a big part of that is, sort of, online culture and social media. (2)______________, everything you do is online, everyone can comment on what you’re doing. You’re, sort of, seeing yourself against – you’re pitted against everyone else in your career field, doing everything, the same things as you and, and you never, sort of, get satisfaction anymore, because you’ll do something and think you’ve done really well, and then you’ll go online, share it, look at what other people have done and then suddenly everyone else seems to be doing so much more than you.
Id I think it’s – using that phrase ‘pitted against other people’ is really interesting, because it, it sort of highlights the fact that life at the moment is more about being in competition with other people (3)_________ than achieving things for yourself. And I think you’re (4)_____________ right, it’s all about comparing yourself, this constant comparing, (5)____________ consciously or unconsciously, with other people. I (6)____________, I remember a time – I imagine you do as well – where things were slower, as well. The pace of life and the things that you did were slower so that was a different kind of stress. So, you know if you’d write a letter to achieve something you’d have to wait for that response and there was nothing you could do in between, (7)_______________ now you send an email, you’re expected to do a million things before you get a response and you’re expected to be reachable at all times, whereas before it was more about doing things because of need, rather than want, I think.
Jo Sure, sure. There’s no hiding place nowadays, that’s the problem, and you are so easily exposed to everybody around you and there’s reality shows and all sorts of things. People want to succeed so quickly, whereas many, many times, years ago, you, you (8)____________ never succeed that quickly, you would begin to build a career for yourself, or, um, meet people and, and then open yourself out to the outside world. But nowadays it’s like ‘Now. I want it now.’
Id Yeah.
Jo And it’s a need, rather than a want.
Id And I think the definition of success has changed as well.
Jo (9)_________________. 

KEY

 

 

 

1. definitely 

2. So

 

 

 

 

3. rather 

4. absolutely

 

 

 

 

 

5. whether 

6. mean

 

 

 

 

 

7. whereas  

8. would

 

 

 

 

9. Absolutely

EF p 84. Talking About Stress and Relaxation. Part 3. Listening

Not only can life at University be fun and exciting, but it may also be (1)________________.

 

Apart from feeling the stress of their studies, young people may miss the (2)_____________ they were used to getting when they were at home. 

 

When people are under the influence of stress they may find it much more challenging to (3)___________ information. 

Another source of stress is in some cases what (4)__________ students after they finish their studies i.e. (5)___________ to repay.

 

The five-minute free back (6)___________ are given in order to provide students with other stress reduction and wellness (7)____________. 

 

The stressbusters experiences help students complete the tasks at (8)____________.

 

 

 

 

KEY 

1. rewarding

 

 

 

 

 

2. support

 

 

 

 

 

3. recall 

4. awaits

 

 

 

 

5. loans 

6. rubs

 

 

 

 

7. resources 

8. hand

buster: (usually in compounds; often used in newspapers) a person or thing that stops or gets rid of something. Sp. que combate, destructor. E.g. crime-busters.

 

task at hand: the work someone is doing now. Sp. tarea en cuestión/ que nos ocupa. E.g. I need to concentrate on the task at hand. 

Script:

Part 3
I Are some age groups more susceptible to stress than others?
J Stress is a very democratic occurrence, so older people are stressed, college students are stressed, babies get stressed, 30-somethings get stressed, men are stressed, women are stressed, so, er, it’s hard to say if one group is more stressed than another.
I What makes students stressed? How does stress affect their lives or their studies, and what are the most stressful times in a typical student's life?
J College, and being a student can be really fun and exciting and rewarding. There are also a lot of stressors associated with it: there’s the studying, there’s the pressure to do well on exams so that you can get a better job and perhaps make more money. You are in a different environment that doesn’t have the same support that you used to have, especially if you were back home. Er, there is the social stress of needing to meet new people, and also for a lot of young people, especially those in their teens and twenties, we see a lot of mental, er, health issues arise and there’s a greater need to get help for, er, them while in school, but if you’re not with your usual support network, it’s even more challenging sometimes to do so. Stress makes it difficult to study, to focus, to concentrate. When you’re sitting down to take an exam and you studied really hard for the exam, and then all of a sudden you're having trouble remembering what you studied, stress can play a big role in making it more difficult for us to recall information. If you're doing a presentation, public speaking, that can be very stressful for a lot of students as well as professionals. In fact, still, public speaking is feared more than death by most people. Then there’s the financial stress of being in school, not only, er, not having a lot of money to spend on things that you want to do, fun activities, but what awaits you when you graduate, which for many, er, students is a lot of financial, er, stress and loans to repay. So being a student – great fun, and also can provide a lot of – great stress.
I You set up Stressbusters as an anti-stress programme for students. Can you tell us something about it and how it works?
J We train teams of students to provide five-minute free back rubs at events all over campus, all year long, and people on campus come to the events, and not only do they get an amazing stress-relieving back rub, but they also learn about other stress reduction and wellness resources on campus that we train our students to provide. And we have seen incredible reductions in feelings of stress, tension, anxiety, lowering of feelings of being overwhelmed, from before someone has the Stressbusters experience to after. We also find students telling us that they're better able to cope with their stressors and they're better able to complete the tasks that they have at hand after they have one of our Stressbusters experiences.