Themenpool 23:
EXTREME
SITUATIONS
elaborated by: Laura Huber und Carina Meissl
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations
VOCAB LIST
“An extreme situation is a set of circumstances that departs from the
normal routine, and which may involve uncertainty, risk, time pressures
and critical choices that could mean the difference between life and death.
In such a situation, routine drills and procedures are insufficient, and
familiar modes are thinking are rendered ineffective. A feeling of
information overload, combined with emotional distress, create extreme
stress“
graduation
rock/ice climbing
operating theatre
mourning
cemetery
incubator
respect
violence
agony
bone marrow
blood donation
no-win situation
Abschluss
Felsen-/ Eisklettern
Operationssaal
Trauer
Friedhof
Brutkasten
Respekt
Gewalt
Todesqualen
Knochenmark
Blutspende
aussichtslose Situation
Feelings/ Emotions
joy
stress
fear
sadness
desperation
happiness
aggressive
(to) anger
(to) surprise
to feel
to be overcome with/by emotion
a deep/ strong emotion
to hide/ show your feelings/ emotions
depression
confusion
boredom
Freude
Stress
Angst
Traurigkeit
Verzweiflung, Hoffnungslosigkeit
Glücklichkeit
aggressiv
Zorn/ ärgern
Überraschung/ jdn. überraschen
fühlen
überwältigt sein von
tiefe/ starke Gefühle
Gefühle verstecken/ zeigen
Depression
Verwirrung
Langeweile
Love
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations
to fall head over heels in love
love at first sight
to love sb. to bits/ to death
sich Hals über Kopf verlieben
Liebe auf den ersten Blick
jdn. zum Fressen gern zu haben/ jdn. über
alles zu lieben
verliebt sein
wahre/ leidenschaftliche Liebe
Jugendliebe
Liebesehe
platonische Liebe
perfekte/ leidenschaftliche Liebe
mütterliche Liebe
übertriebene Mutterliebe
die Liebe deines Lebens
Elternliebe
pflegen/ sich kümmern
jdm. verfallen/ sich in jdn. vergucken
in jdn. verknallt sein
eine Affäre mit jmdm. haben
mit jmdm. (aus)gehen
bei jdn. zu leben
bei jdn. einziehen
to be love-struck
true/ deep love
first/ puppy love
love marriage
platonic love
perfect/ passionate love
mothering love
smothering love
love of your life
parental love
to care for
to fall for
to have a crush on
to have an affair (with)
to go out with
to live with
to move in with
Dealing with difficulties
to address/approach/deal with/face /solve/
tackle a problem or a difficulty
to identify a problem
to consider multiple solutions
to get into diffictuly/ trouble
to talk sb. out of sth.
to talk sth. through
to talk some sense into sb.
ein Problem angehen/ beheben
ein Problem erkennen
mehrere Lösungen
in Schwierigkeiten geraten
jdm. etw. ausreden
etw. durchsprechen
jdm. zur Vernunft bringen
(Natural) disasters
avalanche
earthquake
blizzard
thunder
tsunami
storm
hurricane
tornado
flood
heat wave
Lawine
Erdbeben
Schneesturm
Donner
Tsunami
Sturm
Wirbelsturm
Tornado
Flut
Hitzewelle
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations
Extreme anger: can make
one blind and irrational;
almost always has negative
outcomes when it is taken
on another person
Extreme hapiness: being
very happy about sth.,
combined with an
adrenaline rush over a
period of time
Extreme: of the greatest
possible degree or
intensity (e.g. extreme
pleasure, cold or danger)
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations
Exercise 1: Monologue

Describe what you see in the pictures and compare them

Imagine other extreme situations

Justify whether you would like to experience such a situation or not
Exercise 2: Monologue

Describe what you can see in the pictures and describe them

Imagine other extreme situations

Have you ever been in an extreme situation? (as well less tragic ones)
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations
Exercise 3: Writing
task
Write an opinion essay about people who take risks. In your essay you should:

Examine cases where people have taken risks

Analyse possible reasons for such a behaviour

Evaluate the possible consequences
Write an opinion essay about 400 words. Give your opinion essay a title.
Source: Prime Time 7, Unit 5, Page 76/4
Exercise 4: Reading
My sisters
keeper
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations
In my first memory, I am three years old and I am trying to kill my sister. Sometimes the
recollection is so clear I can remember the itch of the pillowcase under my hand, the sharp
point of her nose pressing into my palm. She didn't stand a chance against me, of course, but
it still didn't work. My father walked by, tucking in the house for the night, and saved her. He
led me back to my own bed. “That,” he told me, “never happened.”
As we got older, I didn't seem to exist, except in relation to her. I would watch her sleep
across the room from me, one long shadow linking our beds, and I would count the ways.
Poison, sprinkled on her cereal. A wicked undertow off the beach. Lightning striking.
In the end, though, I did not kill my sister. She did it all on her own. Or at least this is what I
tell myself.
When I was little, the great mystery to me wasn't how babies were made, but why. The
mechanics I understood—my older brother Jesse had filled me in—although at the time I was
sure he'd heard half of it wrong. Other kids my age were busy looking up the words penis and
vagina in the classroom dictionary when the teacher had her back turned, but I paid attention
to different details. Like why some mothers only had one child, while other families seemed
to multiply before your eyes. Or how the new girl in school, Sedona, told anyone who'd listen
that she was named for the place where her parents were vacationing when they made her
(“Good thing they weren't staying in Jersey City,” my father used to say).
Now that I am thirteen, these distinctions are only more complicated: the eighth-grader who
dropped out of school because she got into trouble; a neighbour who got herself pregnant in
the hopes it would keep her husband from filing for divorce. I'm telling you, if aliens landed
on earth today and took a good hard look at why babies get born, they'd conclude that most
people have children by accident, or because they drink too much on a certain night, or
because birth control isn't one hundred percent, or for a thousand other reasons that really
aren't very flattering.
On the other hand, I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle
of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to
hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious
genetic material. In fact, when Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever,
decided to ask my parents the truth, I got more than I bargained for. They sat me down and
told me all the usual stuff, of course—but they also explained that they chose little embryonic
me, specifically, because I could save my sister, Kate.
“We loved you even more,” my mother made sure to say, “because we knew what exactly we
were getting.”
It made me wonder, though, what would have happened if Kate had been healthy. Chances
are, I'd still be floating up in Heaven or wherever, waiting to be attached to a body to spend
some time on Earth. Certainly I would not be part of this family. See, unlike the rest of the
free world, I didn't get here by accident. And if your parents have you for a reason, then that
reason better exist. Because once it's gone, so are you.
Sources:
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations
Titelbild: http://img.izismile.com//img/img2/20090128/bonus/14/extrim_01.jpg
Definition:
Mountain parachuting: http://www.ftag.gr/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2014/06/Extreme_sport_from_rock_climbing_to_mountain_par
achuting.jpg
Felix Baumgartner: http://www.andilit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/felixbaumgartner-space-jump.jpg
Flood: http://images.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2013-10/Ueberschwemmung-inIndien/Ueberschwemmung-in-Indien-540x304.jpg
Storm: http://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/04/8b/d1/05/76271877.jpg
Quote “Extreme poverty…”: http://quotes.lifehack.org/media/quotes/quoteDaisaku-Ikeda-extreme-poverty-threatens-peoples-right-to-life-185578.png
My sisters keeper:
http://ebooksbeus.weebly.com/uploads/6/3/0/8/6308108/my_sisters_keeper__jodi_picoult.pdf
Themenpool 23: Extreme situations