Happiness

Happiness is a state of mind or feeling like satisfaction, pleasure, or joy. A variety of philosophical, religious, psychological and biological approaches have been taken to defining happiness and identifying its sources. Being happy isn't quite as simple as having money or being celebrity, despite what the media may tell you. Once you dig past the surface and get away from the superficiality, the true meaning of happiness becomes clear.

Nobody is happy all of the time, but some people are definitely more fulfilled than others and it does not seem to have much to do with material goods or high achievement. Being happy is suppose to be an easy task. However, looking around more carefully, you may realize that people living any kind of lifestyle may be happier than you or your friend.

There is a lot you can do to be happy. Firstly, you have to relax do not take everything too seriously. Then put a smile on your face, it has almost magical abilities to improve your mood. Look positively to the future, we cannot change the past, but we can enjoy the present. Finally, make someone else happy, the happiest people are those who are not selfish and demanding but those who are ready to give hand whenever you need it.

To sum up, everyone can be happy, just relax, and put a smile on your face, dance, sing and laugh as much as possible, for every reason and for no reason. If you do not feel like it, put on some music that you know will make you feel better, or watch or read something that makes you laugh.

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Happy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness

Richard Wiseman

Richard Wiseman is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. Wiseman started his professional life as a magician, before graduating in psychology. Professor Wiseman is known for his critical examination and frequent debunking of unusual phenomena, including reports of paranormal phenomena. His research has been published in numerous academic journals, reported at various conferences, and featured on television.
In 2004, Richard Wiseman took part in a preliminary test of Natasha Demkina, a young Russian woman who claims to have a special vision that allows her to see inside of people's bodies and diagnose illnesses.

Furthermore, Professor Wiseman has studied the principles of good and bad luck. He showed that both good and bad luck result from measurable habits for example, lucky people, by expecting good luck, might expend more effort in their endeavors, resulting in more success, reinforcing their belief in good luck. Moreover lucky people are more likely to look on the bright side of 'bad' encounters.

In 2001 Professor Wiseman led an international experiment to find the world's funniest joke. The study showed regional differences in humor, as well as variations between the sexes. According to its results, men preferred more aggressive and sexual jokes, while women preferred word play. Wiseman says that this is the joke that the most people found reasonably funny, and that it would be unreasonable to expect any joke to be equally understood.

This was the top joke in the UK
A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: "That's the ugliest baby that I've ever seen. Ugh!" The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: "The driver just insulted me!" The man says: "You go right up there and tell him off – go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you."

To sum up, Richard Wiseman is unique and special psychologist he made many interesting experiments and conclusions. He deserves to be one of the top psychologists... ever.



Interesting fact: Jokes containing 103 words are the funniest.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wiseman
http://www.laughlab.co.uk/

Learning languages

In our days it is ordinary to know more than one language. Most of the people know one or even two or three foreign languages. It becomes very popular because in these modern times people like to travel to other countries meet new people or search for job in abroad. Learning a new is not easy task it demands a lot of time and effort. Most people can learn most languages if they work with a sensible method for a reasonable period regularly.

Firstly, teacher is very important part of learning process. There is a plenty of ways how to help learning language. The basics of language is new words. Teacher should give tests of words and definitions regulary. Furthermore, grammar is also important becouse it helps to make the right order and usedge of words in sentences. Teacher should frequently give a task to write essay to check the progress.

Theoretical knowladge is good but it does not give opportunity to show creativitnes and practical skills at language. Teacher should give talking tasks in pairs or groups in order to make speech smother. Often power point presentation is wery useful for students becouse they can learn how to speak in front of the audience and show they creativitnes in process of making it.

The best way to learn new language is to go abroad. There you are made to talk in native language and after some time you will speak splendind. If you do not have opportunity to travel you can watch movies or talk with people who lives in that country trough telephone or computer.

To sum up, the key to the succesful learning of language is determination. If you are determined enough and use good method even the thoughest language can not stop you!

End-of-term self-assessment

Writing (a summary)
I think writing a summary it is the hardest and lest pleasant part for me because I find hard to concentrate on what I am doing and also I always put aside it for the last moment. On this semester I showed quite bad performance on this task.

Performance in ESP vocabulary tests
In the previous term, ESP vocabulary tests aspect was quite tough for me . I understood that I have to change my learning strategy and I did it. Now i am rewriting the most complicated definitions to the sheet and rewising it often. It helped me to think about the most important sentences. Therefore, now I find ESP vocabulary tests easier than before.

Performing in class dictations
There was no class dictations on this term.

Listening pracitce in class
On my opnion listening practice is the most interesting for me . At first term i found it difficult. I started listening various podcast and felt the improvement.

Listening to peers power pont presentations
I found it enjoyable at intersting to listen what friends have to say and show about various topics. Sometimes it could be little bit boring because some information is not new to us but i think it is good to revise.

Making power point presentation
I think making power point presentation takes a lot of time and effort. On the other hand I learn a lot of new information also i like to use my creativitnes and presentations helps me fighting with my fear of talking in front of people.

Short talks on ESP themes in class
Short talks is an easy task for me because i did a lot of practice in my past and also I have many ideas about interesting topics but hardest part for me is to remove my fear of talking in front of friends .

To sum up, this term was easier for me than the previous one because I’ve used to my classmates also I saw my mistakes after previous term and I tryed to correct them. There is lot of space to improve my skills and gain my confidence.

Phobia

A phobia is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. It is generally accepted that phobias arise from a combination of external events and internal predispositions. There are various kinds of phobias and several of them are claustrophobia and social phobia.
Claustrophobia is the fear of enclosed spaces. It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack. One study indicates that anywhere from 2-5% of the world population is affected by severe claustrophobia. Claustrophobia is typically thought to have two key symptoms: fear of restriction and fear of suffocation. However, claustrophobics are not necessarily afraid of compact areas themselves, but, rather, they fear what could happen to them should they become confined in this area. Often, when confined to an area, claustrophobics begin to fear suffocation, believing that there may be a lack of air in the area to which they are confined.
Social phobia is the third largest mental health care problem in the world it affects over 7% of the population. It is the fear of social situations that involve interaction or beeing judged and evaluated by other people. People with social phobia are many times seen by others as being shy, quiet, unfriendly, nervous. People with this phobia usually experience significant distress in situations like: when they are introduced to other people ,when they are teased or criticized also if they are watched or observed while doing something. The feelings that accompany social phobia include anxiety, intense fear, nervousness, automatic negative thinking cycles, racing heart, blushing, excessive sweating, dry throat and mouth, trembling, and muscle.
Hopefully, there is plenty of options how to help people who suffers from phobias.First one is the cognitive behavioral therapy it lets the patient understand the cycle of negative thought patterns, and ways to change these thought patterns. Another treatment is hypnotherapy coupled with Neuro-linguistic programming can also be used to help remove the associations that trigger a phobic reaction. Sometimes anti-anxiety or anti-depression medications can be used with other treatment. Some therapists even use virtual reality to help with condition.
Sigmund Freud had the siderodromophobia in other words the fear of train travel. On the trip from Freiberg the train passed through Breslau, where Freud saw gas jets for the first time, they made him think of souls burning in hell.
Johnny Depp has Clourophobia in other words fear or clowns. Depp told reporters once“Something about the painted face, the fake smile. There always seemed to be a darkness lurking just under the surface, a potential for real evil.”
In conclusion, phobias should be treated as soon as posible because as time goes by the phobia becomes stronger and stronger,so no one should hesitate to go to specialist if they fell irracional fear.









Be tough!

Writing a summary

As my works from this task shows it is most difficult part of ESP. Also my performance in writing summaries has improved just a little bit. I think the main reason is that I quite often start to do my homework on the last minute. I will try to write more summaries on the next semester.

Writing ESP vocabulary tests

I think this task become more difficult than in the beginning of the semester. This is still one of the easiest but very important part of learning ESP for me because I know meanings of the difficult words or phrases. I think my performance in tests has improved during this term. Unfortunately there is a lot of space to improve.

Making power point presentation

This task has good and bad points. Firstly I like theme of my presentation it is called „Science Evolves: The Past, the Present, and the Future“ there is a lot of information in the internet. On the other had this theme is very vide. Also I don‘t like talking in front of the class. I don‘t know if I have improved or not because I can‘t decide from one presentation.

Speaking on ESP themes in class

I think speaking helps to improve our communicational aspects of ESP. I don’t think that my discussion skills have changed this semester since I haven’t participated much in class discussions.

Listening practice

I think this task is the most interesting. It combines fast understanding and good knowledge of English language. I think my skills on listening task become better.

Contribution to weblogs

I don’t like this task at all because I don’t want to show my writings on the internet in order that everyone sees it. Moreover I have to rewrite all texts twice first text is for class second for E-Portfolios. Furthermore I have to write comments for other students and it takes time too because you have to read what your friend has written. My performance although didn’t changed this semester.