Deceptive appearances: seeing looks in a new
light
When Lizzie Velasquez was
in high school, she found a video of herself on the internet: “The World’s
Ugliest Woman,” the eight-second clip called her. It attracted thousands of
comments - some of them suggesting she “do the world a favour” by killing herself.
Instead, the now 25-year-old became a motivational speaker. Last year, she
presented a TED talk about her experiences. Viewed by millions of people around
the world, its core question was: what defines you? As a result of an extremely
rare syndrome preventing her from gaining weight and building muscle, Lizzie’s
appearance deviates significantly from the norm. After being ridiculed online,
her public refusal to allow the way she looks to define her went viral. Today,
she is a minor celebrity and the author of two books. (Source: You can read the complete article here) Watch Lizzie’s famous Ted Talk and answer the following questions:
1.How would you describe Lizzie?
Choose adjectives to describe her personality.
2.Sum up Lizzie’s first day of school.
How did she feel?
3.In which ways was Lizzie bullied in
school? What did she decide to do?
4.Lizzie has a great sense of humour,
can you remember any of the jokes she makes during her speech?
these adjectives might be useful to describe characters:
Strong-willed: determined to behave in a particular way, even if other people disagree with them. Self-conscious: shy and easily embarrassed because they think that everybody is looking at them and judging them. Laid-back: relaxed and appearing not to be worried about anything. Open-minded: happy to accept ideas and ways of life that are different to their own. Self-centred: only interested in themselves and their own activities. Narrow-minded: people who don't want to accept new ideas or opinions that are different from their own. Easy-going: people who aren't easily upset, worried or annoyed by problems or other people's actions. Big-headed: people who think they are more important or cleverer than they really are. Bad-tempered: often annoyed, angry or impatient. Absent-minded: people who tend to forget things. Level-headed: calm and able to make sensible decisions in difficult situations. Self-assured: people who have confidence in their own abilities.
