Role-play

53. Imagine you work for an international organisation engaged in educational projects in developing countries. Now, it needs to make up a team of teachers to go to a remote quarter somewhere on Earth. You are put in charge of recruiting the staff, but you are staying in this country. You talk to a school head master/mistress who can afford to give you some names of teachers who might be covered, but the head teacher refuses to let others go as they are indispensable. It is logical to presume that those few won't make up a team – there must be somebody to take charge, somebody capable of analytical thinking, someone economical and good with his hands, and a level-headed peacemaker. All of them must be experts in their fields of learning. Pair off in your group. Assume roles and try to work out a solution. If there aren't any other lists of characters, take the 13 human archetypes from the text. The school head master elicits a list of four names, gives those workers favourable references and details of their qualifications. Those candidates must be checked. You have to see their photos. Over the conversation you discover some of their alarming personal traits. You finally feel that those candidates must be replaced. The project calls for a more scrupulous staffing policy, etc. After an extensive conversation you report to the class if a compromise has been achieved and how an acceptable solution was worked out.

54. Let’s say you work on a project. According to the Project Activity Schedule you hold a conference, which should have closed on Friday. However, its proceedings have been extended until next Monday and the participants are staying for the weekend. So, the project team feels obliged to arrange some social programme for the attendees. Now there is the Project Manager and you, the Leading Expert. You rack your brains over what you can suggest and whom. You have made acquaintance with all of the people and have an idea of their personalities. The manager sits on the money and he/she will decide what the Project can afford for certain groups and individuals. Invent some characters (the portraits below can be of help), or take the old ones. Think of what will be suitable for the staying conference participants and negotiate the opportunities with the manager, make decisions about tomorrow’s itineraries and then share your ideas with the class.

Additional Language Exercises

55. Translate the following compound adjectives and write down those with similar meanings on separate lists. Some words have been footnoted to ease the task.

    addle-brained, clay-brained, crack-brained, harebrained, hot-brained, rattle-brained, shallow-brained, weak-brained, giddy-brained,

    able-minded, base-minded, bat-minded, carnal-minded, civic-minded, closed-minded, ear-minded, even-minded, evil-minded, strong-minded,

    eye-minded, fair-minded, feeble-minded, large-minded, low-minded, narrow-minded, open-minded, single-minded, simple-minded, sober-minded,

    bull-headed, clear-headed, cool-headed, hard-headed, level-headed,

    cat-witted, dim-witted, fat-witted half-witted, hen-witted, keen-witted, nimble-witted, quick-witted, sharp-witted, slow-witted

56. Here are some more compound adjectives, which are formed from parts of the body. For example, heartgives us warm-hearted, kind-hearted, hard-heartedetc. Find out what they mean. Then read sentences I - 10. Complete each sentence with the appropriate adjective(s).

broad-minded, right-footed, narrow-waisted, cold-blooded, bigheaded, pot-bellied, red-faced, round-shouldered, sour-faced, cross-eyed, knock-kneed, slim-hipped, light-fingered, left-handed, double-breasted, strong-willed, bow-legged, empty-handed, dark-skinned, fair-haired

1. Bobby, if you go on staring at that magazine any longer, you'll go ... . Now either be ..., dear boy, and put it away or give it to me until the end of the lesson.

2. I am annoyed by ... people, looking as if tomorrow were going to be the end of the world.

3. One of my neighbours is terribly ... . Every time she comes round I have to keep a careful eye on my things, or they just disappear.

4. Henkinsis terribly ... , walking around as if he were holding his salary cheque between his knees. His wife's quite the opposite: ... , as if she had just got off a horse.

5. Harry would always buy ... jackets until he was convinced that one button was far more suitable for ... people such as himself.

6. Most ... boxers seem to win more easily against right-handers. I like everything about boxing except for those ... comments before the fight that he is the strongest and the contender will soon need a new face and such like.

7. The parliamentary committee was made up of liberal, ... people, who believed that capital punishment was nothing short of a ... murder.

8. They hired a new typist who is so ... and ... that she reminds me of a long thin wine bottle.

9. He was ... and ... , so people often mistook him for a Scandinavian.

10. The stands were putting up with the idea that Dynamo would leave the football pitch ... , when suddenly, to everybody's relief, Shevchenko scored with a powerful ... shot from outside the penalty area.

11. All of us go on holiday anticipating to return ... and beautiful, forgetting that we always come back ... and with peeling noses.