TRINITY EXAM MATERIAL FOR ISE II - Personal values and ideals

Personal values and ideals 

Suggested Questions

1. What do you think of discrimination and does it exist in your country? 
2. In your country what is the major religious belief?
3. If you could recycle more would you? 
4. In your country are people losing the ability to be compassionate? 
5. Tell me some of the personal values you have? 
6. What things do you believe in? 
7. What do you think would be the best thing about volunteering? 
8. Would you like to volunteer? 
9. What are your ambitions, hopes and fears?
10. Are family and friends important to you?
11. What do you think are the best and worst traits a person can have?
12. Is there anyone (family member/friend or a famous person) that you admire for his or her values and ideals?
13. What values do you think are important in work? (in a job)
14. What is the worst injustice for you?
15. Do you think that discrimination and prejudices still exist in your country?
16. Is freedom of speech a basic human right?
17. Do you think that the television is a means to influence young minds?
18. What motto do you live by?
19. What are your ambitions, hopes and fears?
20. Is beauty better than intelligence?
21. Wealth or health?  What is better?
22. How do you feel when someone steps on you to reach their goals?
23. How would you feel if a friend divulged your secret?
24. Do you believe in "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?
25. How do you feel about injustice ?
26. What can be done to help victims of terrorism?
27. How did the Tsunami in Japan affect you?
28. Is freedom of speech a basic human right?
29. What is the worst injustice for you?
30. Do you think it is moral to be prejudiced?
31. Do you think that television is a means to indoctrinate and influence young minds?
32. What maxim do you live by?
33. How would you have felt if you had been a victim of a terrorist attack ?
34. Is it good to be ambitious?  Are you?  Why could it be bad to be ambitious?
35. What is more important to you honesty or loyalty?
36. What do you consider a better feature,  generosity or  miserliness?

Personal Values and Ideals vocabulary

• tolerance - consideration
• discrimination
• work
• freedom - liberty
• friendship - loyalty - honesty - trustworthiness - reliability
• moral  -  a moral dilemma -
• code/ creed/ ethics/ rules/ beliefs
• family - love - respect/disrespect
• selfish/selfless
• environmental
• wealth/poverty
• ethical - moral values -principles
• consumption - consumer society
• compassion (for people in need/ charity)
• environmentally-friendly
• principles
• honesty/dishonesty
• betray/lie to/ double cross
• integrity/hypocrisy
• loyal/ trustworthy

TRINITY MATERIAL FOR ISE II - SOCIETY AND LIVING STANDARDS - Discussion questions)

Discussion questions

1. Should governments use the welfare system to encourage people to live within two parent families?
2. At what age should a son or daughter be permitted to leave home?
3. Should young people be allowed to buy contraceptives as soon as they reach puberty?
4. Should the age of consent be the same for both gays and heterosexuals?
5. Should gays and heterosexuals have the same right to join the armed forces?
6. Should abortion be available to women on demand?
7. Should euthanasia be available to people in great pain who want to die?
8. Is it possible to pass effective laws against racism?
9. Do you believe in a high tax economy (e.g. Sweden) which distributes money to education and health or a low tax economy (e.g. the U.S.A.) where people make private provision for good services?
10. Do you have a vision of a better society? What changes would you make?
11. Do you think genetic engineering should be used to create good citizens?
12. What do you think are the characteristics of a good member of society?

1. Which type of school did you go to and did you enjoy it?  
2. Is there equal opportunities in education?
3. How long have you been learning English and why do you think it is important? 
4. If you moved to a bigger city what would you miss from your home town? 
5. Is it better to work with people to prevent diseases or treat them after they have the disease? 
6. Do you think living standards are good where you live? 
7. Which customs in your country do people from abroad enjoy? 
8. Which aspect of life in your country might be difficult for people from another country? 
9. Have you ever been to a country where you found certain aspects of life difficult? 
10. What festivals do you celebrate in your country? 
11. What are some of the customs you don’t like in your country? 
12. Which customs in your country which are associated to food? 

TRINITY MATERIAL FOR ISE II - SOCIETY AND LIVING STANDARDS - 2

2.  Society and Living standards

The meaning of "society " may have a different idea depending on  place and time. Life and customs  vary considerably from country to country, so,  what is considered the norm in one place, may be an obscenity  in another.   In Spain, during the Civil War, there was a feeling of community because civilians helped one another out. 

When the war ended, the Welfare State was founded. People were provided with free eye-tests, glasses, medicines and dental check-ups . There was a sense of the strong helping the weak.  In time prosperity became more obvious.  However, in Spain, there was no freedom of speech, as there was a dictatorship.

By the end of the 1950s, many people were purchasing washing machines and televisions. Some were even buying their own flats.  

The consumer society was  born. Politicians told people that the citizens had never had it so good.  But while young people the 1960s challenged  the conventional view of society in the Uk and France,  Spanish students could not express their views.  If they expressed their views in public, they would be arrested.

Spain was undergoing an enormous change in the 70s, democracy came in 1978, and with it, many freedoms, for instance, no longer was it a crime to be gay, nor were single mothers despised.

Today, people show greater tolerance towards different family structures such as single parent families and there is a wider acceptance of different races and sexual orientations . However, trust is in short supply, judging by the number of security alarms fitted to our houses and cars and the emergence of neighbourhood watch schemes as  social institutions.

By the 1990s Spain was living a permanent fiesta, the crisis in the 80s gave way to prosperity in the 90s.  Everyone was buying a house, banks were lending money with hardly any collateral, people were borrowing more than they could afford to pay back.... Spain was heading for disaster.   

And here we are, in the year 2015, still suffering the hangover of the madness of the 1990s, with salaries that are reduced by an ever increasing tax burden and rising prices.   Serious cutbacks in education and the health service is proving too much for the Spanish society, once again, there is a feeling of doom.   However, politicians keep saying that the economy is improving.  

TRINITY MATERIAL FOR ISE II - SOCIETY AND LIVING STANDARDS - 1 Women and society

1.  Women and society

The role of women in society has fortunately changed through time. In fact, it is, although slowly, still changing. Not too long ago, women were seen as housewives only, in charge of cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. They used to live inside the same four walls. Had  society not changed, women would have continued in the kitchen.  Today, the situation has changed considerably. A growing open-minded society together with new values have allowed women to jump into a more active social life.

This has not happened all of a sudden and men and women are not equal either, but we have come. Now, women can study, travel and work the same as men do. They have voice and are determined to make themselves heard in any field such as in the fields of science, politics, education... and so on.   They can reach personal fullfilment.

But not everything is happiness. There are several obstacles women have to face. For instance, not being taken completely seriously. Certain jobs or duties are still seen for men,  and women are thought to be weaker and not suitable for them. Another problem women come across is the need to find a balance between work and home, which is often not easy whatsoever.

In my opinion, women are doing very well despite all the adversity, and they are not weak but on the contrary, strong and as many of them have already shown, very capable of great things.

TRINITY MATERIAL FOR ISE II - Public Figures Past and Present

Public Figures Past and Present

Vocabulary

WORLD OF POLITICS AND RELIGION	THE PERFORMING ARTS AND FASHION	WORLD OF SPORTS
the President and the vice president Leader of the opposition Cabinet minister Shadow Cabinet minister MPs (Members of Parliament) Lord Mayor General Secretary and union representatives The Pope Jesus	Film directors and producers Actors and actresses Singers Presenters Models Designers	Footballers/ football players Racing car drivers or motorcyclists Athletes chairmen of football clubs Sports promoters Sports commentators Heros

1. Which public figure do you admire most and why? (Can be dead or alive)
2. Does your country have any famous historical figures? What did they do?
3. Who is the most important public figure in your country at the moment?
4. Do you think that celebrities earn too much money these days?
5. Should celebrities have the right to a private life?
6. What do you imagine are the main advantages and disadvantages of being famous?
7. Do you think that all politicians are corrupt?
8. Who is the most important public figure in your country at the moment?
9. Tell me about someone well-known who you admire.
10. Are celebrities worth the money they're paid?
11. Are all politicians corrupt?
12. Tell me about a famous artist who has influenced you.
13. Who are the most famous historical figures in your country? What did they do?

PRESENT:

Stephen Hawking's: is one of my idols because he’s one of the most tenacious person you could ever meet. He is a very famous scientist that studies space. When he was 19 years old, he had a problem in one cell  that controls  body movement; since then, he can't move his body, he is paralyzed from his head to his feet, he can only move his arms fingers.So, he is not able to talk that's why he has got an intelligent wheelchair with which he can speak and move. Despite his problems he is one of the most intelligent person in the world. The thing I like the most about him is that he always has a smile even when the things are going bad.

Belén Esteban: she is a negative influence for me, because she is always shouting or crying, she is a woman without qualifications, who has a very good salary only for criticising other celebrities, she goes from one program to another doing only the same thing and earning a lot of money. When I see her I always laugh, she has had a lot of cosmetic surgery done but she is uglier than before.

PAST:

Nelson Mandela: he was a determined man who fought to make the black people have equal  rights just like the whites in South Africa.  He spent many years in prison for expressing his views and being an activist.  He was a defender of black people's rights, especially Africans. He spent 27 years in prison and after that he became  South Africa's  president. He is an example for everyone to follow,  He died in 2008 but he is not forgotten.

Gloria Fuertes: she was a famous Spanish   writer who was born in Madrid and she loved writing for children, she is important for me because I started reading with one of her books, so she was the one who taught me how to read and the one who introduced into the “reading world”.  She died in 1998, but her stories live on.