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Bachillerato de Bellas Artes Prof. María Cecilia Carattoli

English 4th year

Addictions

1 SPEAKING

a) In groups, discuss these questions about the topic. Then, share your ideas with the
class:
 What is the difference between a habit and an addiction?
 What kinds of addictions do you know? Complete the mind map and number them in
order from the most serious to the least serious in your opinion. Justify your order.

Kinds of
addictions
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 Are your examples mentioned in the infographics? Do they follow the same order?

2 READING:

a) Can you name other addictions not included in the infographics?

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b) Read and answer T (true) or F (false). Correct the false information:

1. Alcohol is not legal for adults.
2. Some people have an addiction to legal drugs.
3. Addiction to food is when you can’t control when, what and especially why you eat.
4. People with an addiction to video games and technology do not have a social life
outside the virtual world.
5. People addicted to work can’t relax and enjoy their free time.

c) Guessing meaning of words from the context. Read the infographics again. Find
words that mean…
1. easily: _________ (first text)
2. something you can buy, get or use: __________ (1st text)
3. quantities: _____________ (1st text)
4. make less effective: ____________ (1st text)
5. to do something in a safe way, not in a dangerous way: ____________(1st text)
6. to stop doing something: ___________ (second text)
7. related to husbands or wives: ___________ (2nd text)
8. a piece of paper on which a doctor writes the details or information of the medicine
that a patient needs: ______________ (third text)
9. to continue to live or exist: ______________ (fifth text)
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d) Answer the questions:

1. Is addiction to smoking addiction to cigarettes?
2. Are all drugs illegal?
3. When is gambling an addiction?
4. Why do some people do compulsive shopping?
5. How do you know when working is an addiction?

e) Dictionary work: look up the meaning of these words in the infographics. Write the
meaning in Spanish and the type of word (noun, adj, etc):
1. lead to (1st text):
2. game of chance (4th text):
3. unable (4th and 5th texts):
4. sign(4th and 7th texts):
5. become(4th text):
6. deal with (5th and 8th texts):
7. intrude (6th text):
8. resource(7th text):
9. turn into (7th and 9th texts):
10. upset (7th text):
11. able(7th text):
12. develop (7th text):

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3 VOCABULARY
a) Word families: use the words in the box to complete the sentences. What kind of
words are they: noun, adjective, verb or adverb?

addiction addicted addictive addict

1. I can’t stop eating biscuits! They’re so _____________!

2. Some people are _______________ to their mobile phones. They never stop using
them.
3. An _____________ has a compulsive activity, for example, smoking, shopping,
working, etc.
4. When people lose control of their emotions, they can get an _______________.

b) Nouns for people who have an addiction. Read and complete the definitions with
words from the box:

workaholic alcoholic shopaholic chocoholic

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1. A _____________ is a person who can’t stop eating chocolate.

2. An _____________ is somebody who can’t stop drinking beer, whisky, champagne,
etc.
3. A _____________ is someone who has a compulsion to buy things to solve emotional
problems.
4. A _____________ is somebody who thinks about work all the time and who can’t stop
working, even in his or her free time.

c) Words ending in –ing

They can be gerunds or present participles. A gerund always functions as a noun. A present
participle can function as an adjective or verb. Sometimes, it’s not easy to know if they are
gerunds or past participles. Here is a general guide:

 Nouns ending in –ing

o can be the subject or object of the verb: Skating is an excellent sport. I like
skating.
o can be part of compound nouns: drinking water (water you can drink)
 We use the ending –ing for verbs
o in the Continuous tenses: Present Continuous and Past Continuous, for
example.
o after special verbs: like, love, enjoy, hate, not mind, start and stop.
 We use –ing after prepositions
 We use –ing after a noun in reduce relative clauses, to give more information
about the noun: The boy speaking on his mobile phone is my friend. (The boy who
is speaking on his mobile phone is my friend.)
 some words ending in –ing are prepositions: including
 We can add –ing to verbs to make adjectives:

worry (verb) worrying (adjective): The result of the survey about smoking is very
worrying.

c-1)What type of word is it: noun, verb or adjective? Write n, v or adj.

1. Smoking is not good for you.

2. He’s smoking his third cigarette this morning.
3. Some people become addicted to shopping.
4. I hate smoking!
5. Drug addiction is an alarming problem in young people now.

c-2) Find examples of words ending in –ing in the infographics. What type of words are they?

d) Words ending in –ly:

We add –ly to adjectives to make adverbs of manner: These adverbs indicate how people do
things or how things happen. They modify verbs and adjectives.
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quick – quickly

Slow down! You’re eating very quickly! It’s not good for your digestion.

Some adverbs are irregular:

Good (adj)-well (adv)

Fast (adj)-fast (adv)

d-1) Find examples of words ending in –ly in the infographics. What words do they modify?

d -2) Complete with an adverb of manner:

1. This exercise is very easy. I can do it ……………………………….. . (easy)

2. My dad loves driving but he drives very ................................ (fast)
3. Speak ………………………….., please. I can’t understand you. (slow)
4. In the library, you can’t talk ………………………………, (loud)
5. I can’t swim, I’m a terrible swimmer. I swim ……………………… (bad)
6. Can you play the guitar ………………………………? (good)
7. She's got a beautiful voice. She sings very ………………………………… (sweet)
8. Walk ………………………..! The bus is coming! (quick)
9. We’re studying very ……………………………….at school. (hard)
10. In fishing you need to wait ............................. (quiet)

d - 3) Write three sentences about you and two sentences about a person you know, using
an adverb of manner:

For example:

I like walking slowly because it is relaxing.

My teacher is very good. She explains patiently.

e) Prefixes and suffixes:

We can make opposite or negative adjectives with these prefixes:

 un- able ‡unable

 il- legal ‡ illegal
 non- smoker ‡ non-smoker

We can make nouns with these suffixes

-er: we add this suffix to verbs to indicate the doer of the action: smoker, player,
consumer

-sion: compulsion, obsession

-ness: sad – sadness, happy- happiness

-ty: anxiety
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We can make adjectives with these suffixes;

-al: chemical

-able: enjoy- enjoyable, cure- curable

-ive= related to, with a tendency to: compulsion –compulsive-ful: wonderful

-ous: anxious

g- 1) Choose a word from the infographics. Use a dictionary and find the prefixes and
suffixes to make a word family. Use them to make an exercise:

Example:

Complete the sentences with these words:

Obsess (v)- obsessive (adj/n)- obsession (n) – obsessively (adv)

1 He is a workaholic. He works _______________.

2 He is ______________ with videogames. He can’t stop playing them.

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4 GRAMMAR REVISION

Present Simple: affirmative, negative and questions

Remember:

 We use the Present Simple for permanent situations or actions, or for repeated and
frequent activities, for example, in your daily routine.
 In the affirmative form you add –s to all verbs in the 3rd person singular (he/she/it) and
to verbs ending in vowel (a,e, i, o, u)+y (plays) but you add –es to verbs ending in –o
(goes, does), -sh (washes), -ch (watches), -s (passes), -x (boxes) , and for verbs ending
in consonant + y, we change y for I and add es= ies (studies).
 Pronunciation of –s and –es: /z/ after vowel sounds and voiced consonant sounds
(with vibration of your vocal chords): listens /lisənz/, plays /pleiz/, goes /gəƱz/ ; /s/
after voiceless consonant sounds (with no vibration of the vocal chords): helps
/helps/, starts /stɑ:ts/ and /iz/ after the sounds /t∫/, /∫/, dƷ/, /s/, /x/, /z/: watches,
washes, changes, passes, fixes, exercises.
 In the negative form you add not to the part of the verb be (am not, is not/isn’t, are
not/aren’t) and for other verbs you add not to the auxiliary verbs (do not/don’t, does
not/doesn’t)
 Yes/no questions start with a verb: Are you in class? Can you play volleyball? Do you
like English?) and wh- questions start with an interrogative or question word:
What/where/when/etc.) Where are you from? Where do you live? What is your
favourite music group? Do you play a musical instrument?
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 To make questions, with the verb be use am, is or are. For other verbs use the
auxiliary verbs do or does and infinitive. With other verbs, for example, can, use an
infinitive.
 Prepositions go at the end in questions.

a)Complete with the verbs in the affirmative or negative form:

1. She _________ to the gym every day. (go) She __________ exercises for four hours.
(do)
2. My friends and I _______ football at weekends. (play)
3. He ____________ taekwondo every week. (practise)
4. We __________________ basketball at school (not play)
5. She __________________ breakfast but she __________ a big lunch. (not have)
(have)
6. I ___________________ Facebook because I ________________ it. (not have) (not
like)
7. We ____________ yoga classes at school. It ________ very relaxing. (have) (be)
8. My teacher __________ Internet to prepare her classes. (use)

b) Write questions for these answers. Ask about the underlined words:
1. Working is a problem when it becomes an obsession.
2. A smoker is addicted to nicotine in cigarettes.
3. Prolonged or excessive use of alcohol can lead to a problem with addiction.
4. The most addictive video games are those in which players take a role and interact
with other players.
5. Drug addiction includes legal and illegal substances.
6. Most people enjoy participating in a game of chance because they want to win some
money or a prize.
7. A food addict uses food as a way to deal with feelings of sadness, depression or
anxiety.
8. With Internet we can look for information, read news and blogs, and interact virtually
with people from all over the world.
9. Internet use turns into an addiction when an individual wants to be online all the time.
10. Some people go shopping to deal with emotional and other problems in their lives.

c) Talking about frequency:

 How often?
 Adverbs of frequency: always/often/usually/sometimes/hardly ever/never. We use
them before verbs, except for the verb be: I usually listen to music in the afternoon, I
am sometimes late to school.
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 Phrases of frequency: once/twice/three times/ four times/five times/etc + a

day/week/month/year. We use them at the end of a sentence: I go to the gym twice a
week.

c-1) Ask and answer in pairs. Answer using an adverb or a phrase of frequency:

1. How often/ you /online?

2. How often/ you /have a snack between meals?
3. How often/ you and your friends /do P.E. at school?
4. How often/ you/ go to the gym after school?
5. How often/ you/ play computer or video games?
6. How often/ your friends/ send you text messages to your mobile phone?
7. How often /your teachers/ use technology for your classes?
8. How often/ you / download music from Internet?

c-2) Compare your answers. Who do the activities in c-1 most often?

Present Continuous

Remember:

 Use the Present Continuous for actions that are happening at this moment or for
temporary actions or situations.
 We form the Present Continuous affirmative with the verb be (am/is/are) + verb
ending in –ing: I’m reading these notes. She’s listening to music.
 We invert the order in questions: first am/is/are and then the subject: Are you reading
these notes? Is she listening to music?
 We form the negative with am/is/are + not + -ing: I’m not reading now. She isn’t
listening to music
 Spelling: verbs ending in –e, drop the –e and add –ing: type – typing; verbs ending in
one vowel+one consonant, double the final consonant: chat – chatting;

a) Look at the photos. What are they doing? Write sentences with words in the box:

listen to music take a selfie look for information on Internet/do homework

write a text message sleep watch a video chat online record music
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b) In pairs, ask and answer Yes/No questions

about the photos.
c) Test yourself or your friend. Cover the
words. Choose a photo and say what they
are doing.

Present Simple or Present Continuous?

Note: verbs not normally used in the Continuous tenses:

- think, know, understand, mean, want

-like, enjoy, love, (not) mind, hate

-look, sound, taste, smell

a) Complete the dialogue with the verbs in the Present Simple or Continuous. Which photo
is the dialogue about?

Paul: Hi, Nick. It’s Paul here. Where ___________ you? (be)

Nick: Hi, Paul! I’____ at school. (be)

Paul: At school? What _______ you _________ there? (do)

Nick: Yes, I’m in the computer room. I ________________ (play) my guitar and I _____

__________(record) my new song.

Paul: _____ you _______ a new song? (have)

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Nick: Yes, ____ you ________ to listen to it? (want)

Paul: Ok! It __________ great! (sound)

Nick: Thanks, Paul, you’re a friend!

b) Imagine you are a friend of one of the people in the photos. You are phoning him/her
now. Choose a photo and write the dialogue.

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5 LISTENING

a) Listen to a student talking about Internet. What’s his opinion? Circle

1. He loves Internet.
2. He doesn’t like everything about it.
b) What does he do with Internet? Tick ()the activities he mentions:
 play games
 chat with friends
 watch videos
 download music
 buy food
 buy books
 get information
c) True or False?
1. Internet helps him do things quickly.
2. He doesn’t spend much time online every day.
3. He needs more exercise.
4. He thinks Internet can be dangerous.
5. He has no problem with putting his personal information online.

6 SPEAKING

1 Are you dependent on the Internet? Complete this table and show what you wrote to your
partner(s). Change partners and share what you heard.

How often do you… Answer Is this a problem?

check your e-mail before
doing other things?
really want to get online?
say “just a few more
minutes” when online?
lie about how long you spend
online?
choose the Net to going out
with friends?
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feel much happier after

logging on?

2 ONLINE: What do you like most? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner.
Change partners and share your rankings again.

 using e-mail
 do shopping
 social networking (Facebook, etc.)
 reading news
 finding out information
 chatting
 watching videos
 playing games
 listening to music
 downloading music

7 WRITING: How do you use Internet? How often? Use your ideas from exercises 6. 1 and 6.2
and write a paragraph (70 words minimum)