6
Picture yourself
Unit objectives
CD 1 Track 15
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(These are invented monologues.)
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Reading and Use of English Part 5: skimming; understanding the text before tackling multiplechoice options Writing Part 2: writing a review: planning, using advanced vocabulary Reading and Use of English Part 2: with clues and without Listening Part 3: listening for detail, opinion and attitude Speaking Part 3: comparing different ways of dealing with the task, using advanced vocabulary; strategies for dealing with the second part of the task Grammar: avoiding repetition Vocabulary: adjectives to describe personality; adjective–noun collocations (2)
Starting off 1 As a warmer Students work in small groups. • With books closed, ask students: Why is important to have photos of yourself? Do you like having photos of yourself at home or on your computer? Why (not)? • With books open, ask students to look at the self-portraits and discuss the question: How are portraits different from photos? (Suggested answers: Portraits are a subjective impression of the sitter, whereas photos are a more mechanically produced image and therefore more superficially accurate; portraits don’t give an image of someone at a precise moment but an image built up during the time taken to paint the portrait; portraits only include what the artist decides to include so that nothing is accidental.) 2
Ask students to take notes while they listen. Suggested answers Speaker A: 1 Speaker B: 5
Speaker C: 3
A: This portrait is one which I started from a photo of myself actually, but after a time I came to the conclusion that photos aren’t that good when you’re trying to be creative. You know, I found myself sort of imitating the photo and that wasn’t very satisfying. So I switched to drawing in front of a mirror instead. Anyway, I like this self-portrait because I think it says reveals a bit about me, like that I’m quite neat, for example, perhaps a little unadventurous in the way I dress – not like most artists – but I think I’ve captured quite a sincere and thoughtful expression on my face. Also, I think I look quite sort of approachable, not at all threatening, someone it’s nice to be around. At least I hope so. B: You know, I’ve done quite a few portraits of friends and classmates and so on, normally from photos, and people are usually quite complimentary about them, but you should have heard some of the things my friends said about this one! ‘We never see you concentrating like that!’ ‘You’re not like that at all – you’re looking really serious!’ You see, I did the drawing in front of a mirror as a sort of experiment to see if I could do a self-portrait from life like Rembrandt or Dalí or someone, and I found I kept having to move my head, so my hair kept getting in the way and I got quite frustrated. It took me hours! Still, I’m quite proud of the way my eyes turned out, sort of thoughtful and sincere. C: I’ve been looking at quite a few self-portraits recently because this one didn’t turn out at all. Most artists look like they’re really concentrating hard and you don’t catch them smiling much. In this one I look sort of uptight, moody, even a bit aggressive or perhaps a bit self-conscious. I’d just come back from holiday and my face was pretty tanned. I found it really hard to capture that tanned look compared with my fair hair in a black-and-white portrait. I’d like to look more relaxed, though. 3
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Answers A approachable, neat, nice to be around, not threatening, sincere, thoughtful, unadventurous B really serious, sincere, thoughtful C a bit self-conscious, aggressive, moody, uptight
