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Video: A Practical Guide to Taking Control of Your Life | Cate Hall | TED
A C1 lesson built around Cate Hall's TED talk on personal agency — the capacity to see and act on the freedom you actually have. Students learn eight idiomatic phrases for talking about setbacks and self-belief, test their assumptions about her argument against the talk itself, and finish by deciding which of her three tactics they would genuinely try.
Discuss the questions.
Read the sentences and match the phrases in bold with their meanings below.
a)It took him almost two years to get back on his feet after the company folded.
b)She is more than capable — what holds her back is a fear of looking foolish.
c)Most of us are blind to something in the way we come across at work.
d)I did not follow a word of that meeting, but I nodded along like everyone else.
e)He said he would do whatever it takes to finish the degree, even if it meant three more years of evenings.
f)Once the business had already failed, she felt she had nothing left to lose and applied anyway.
g)If you never court rejection, you will only ever aim at things you already know you can get.
h)Now that information is on tap, the skill that matters is knowing what to do with it.
Complete the gaps with the phrases from ex. 2. Then, choose four questions to ask your partner.
You may need to change the form of the verb.
a)What helps people after losing a job or a relationship?
b)What tends to when they want to change career?
c)Is there a habit of yours that you suspect you but colleagues can see clearly?
d)In which situations do you rather than admit you have not understood?
e)Have you ever wanted something enough to to get it?
f)Do people take better decisions when they , or worse ones?
g)When was the last time you had to by asking for something you probably would not get?
h)Now that expertise online, what is still worth learning properly?
Look at the questions in ex. 3 again and discuss the points below with a different partner.
Read the statements about the speaker's argument and decide if they are true or false. Then, watch the first part of the talk (to 02:37) and check your answers. Correct the false ones.
a)She says her life turned around because she became smarter and started working harder.
b)She defines agency as the capacity to see and act on the degrees of freedom we actually have.
c)She now runs a technology start-up that she founded herself.
d)She argues that intelligence and hard work are becoming more important over time.
e)She quotes a well-known investor saying that intelligence is now readily available.
Watch the second part of the talk (from 02:37 to 05:50) and answer the questions.
a)What do people in recovery call 'the gift of desperation'?
b)Why does she say that having nothing left to lose worked in her favour?
c)What approach did she take to meeting people after she left rehab?
d)How did losing her pride actually help her learn faster?
e)What example does she give of desperation driving a project forward?
Complete the notes with the practical advice you think the speaker is about to give. Then, watch the final part of the talk (from 05:50) and check your answers.
a)Tactic 1: assume that everything is .
b)Tactic 2: deliberately .
c)Tactic 3: seek .
Choose three of the situations below. Then, discuss the points that follow, using the phrases in the box.
Summarise what you took from the lesson using some of the points below and the phrases in the box.
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
The 8 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in one set.