➔ What PART OF SPEECH are the words/phrases in

bold?

➔ Discuss their MEANING.

(fold) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

➔ Match them to their synonyms below:

(adj) inactive

(noun) a person who does not work hard enough

(idiom) stop judging yourself so severely

(adj) loose

(phr. v) work less hard than is necessary

1
SPEAKING: Ask and answer the following questions in
pairs/groups:

1. When was the last time you CUT YOURSELF SOME

SLACK? Why?
2. Have you ever GIVEN/CUT SOMEONE SOME SLACK?
Why?
3. Should all students who underachieve academically
be considered as SLACKERS?
4. Should SLACKING OFF and procrastinating be
equated? Why? Why not?
5. Mention some of the reasons an employee might
SLACK OFF.

SPEAKING: Ask and answer the following questions in

pairs/groups:

1. When was the last time you CUT YOURSELF SOME

SLACK? Why?
2. Have you ever GIVEN/CUT SOMEONE SOME SLACK?
Why?
3. Should all students who underachieve academically
be considered as SLACKERS?
4. Should SLACKING OFF and procrastinating be
equated? Why? Why not?
5. Mention some of the reasons an employee might
SLACK OFF.

2
WORD FORMATION

I feel _______________________ tired and lack energy. (SLUG)

The _______________________ days of summer are quickly approaching!

(LAZINESS)

Soldiers must not remain stationary in _________________________ vehicles

for long periods. (IDLE)

Minor medical ______________________ rarely results in a successful legal

claim. (NEGLECT)

Mellow is a sweet, ______________________ dog, as his name suggests.

(EASE)

WORD FORMATION

I feel _______________________ tired and lack energy. (SLUG)

The _______________________ days of summer are quickly approaching!

(LAZINESS)

Soldiers must not remain stationary in _________________________ vehicles

for long periods. (IDLE)

Minor medical ______________________ rarely results in a successful legal

claim. (NEGLECT)

Mellow is a sweet, ______________________ dog, as his name suggests.

(EASE)

3
IDIOMS

(informal / disapproving)

idle (idiom) (informal)

get off your (informal)

get off your (informal)

(informal / disapproving)

(informal / disapproving)

4
THE ELLEN SHOW It's Time to Procrastinate

● There’s a pun with two words that are homophones.

Which words are those?

● What does Ellen imply by sayingS “WE LAZY”. What’s

the joke?

THE ELLEN SHOW It's Time to Procrastinate

● There’s a pun with two words that are homophones.

Which words are those?

● What does Ellen imply by sayingS “WE LAZY”. What’s

the joke?

5
LISTENING: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator - Tim
Urban | TED-Ed

Pre-watching:
Match words and definitions:

1. to bump it up a) (before nouns) related

to a government
2. civil b) a student’s main subject
at college or university
3. deadline c) a piece of writing or a
talk on an academic subject
4. government d) polite
5. major e) a long piece of writing
that is the final part of an
advanced university degree
6. a paper f) a way of working
7. thesis g) to increase the speed
8. whole-nighter h) a specific time or dateby
which you have to do
something
9. work flow i) a whole night that you
spend studying while you
are at university

6
While watching:

a. Watch the talk from 0:00 until 2:45. Summarize what

you have just heard using the words from the first
activity.

b. Students watch and listen from 2:45 until 3:38 and fill
in gaps in the text:

No, no, it was very, very bad. Anyway, today I’m a

(1)……………………………. guy. I write the blog Wait But Why.
And a couple of years ago, I decided to write about
(2)……………………… My behaviour has always perplexed the
non-procrastinators around me, and I wanted to explain to
the non-procrastinators of the world what
(3)……………………………… in the heads of procrastinators, and
why we are the way we are. Now, I had a
(4)…………………………………. that the brains of procrastinators
were actually different than the brains of other people.
And to test this, I found an MRI lab that actually let me
(5)…………………….. both my brain and the brain of a proven
non-procrastinator, so I could compare them. I actually
brought them here to show you today. I want you to take a
look carefully to see if you can notice a
(6)……………………………. I know that if you’re not a trained
brain expert, it’s not that obvious, but just take a look,
OK? So here’s the brain of a non-procrastinator.

7
 Matching task: 1g; 2d; 3h; 4a; 5b; 6c; 7e; 8i; 9f

Gap-fill: (1) writer-blogger; (2) procrastination; (3) goes on; (4) hypothesis; (5) scan; (6)
difference

things stay civil

pull an all-nighter - pull two all-nighters
paper due
I’d bump it up in the middle months
I’d kick it up into high gears