Unit 7, Exercise 3b.
Listen to an American teenager, Jackson, talking to his friend Olivia about a Conflict Resolution Programme at his school.
Answer the questions.
SPEAKER 1: A study carried out among US teenagers shows that a growing percentage of them see fighting as the only acceptable way to resolve disagreements. 33% of junior and senior high school students said that when they were really angry there was no way they could control themselves. 41% said that if they were challenged, they would fight and that avoiding fights was a sign of weakness. And what is most alarming is that one in three high school students said they had been in a physical fight in the past year.
SPEAKER 2: I can't listen to this any more.It's exactly the same at our school.
SPEAKER 3: Really? Well, it's not like that at ours. Probably because we've got this conflict resolution programme.
SPEAKER 2: A what programme?
SPEAKER 3: Yeah, that's what I thought when I first heard about it. But it's really cool, you know.
SPEAKER 2: What is it all about, then?
SPEAKER 3: Well, it's basically what the name says. A programme we're doing with a psychologist that helps us to resolve conflicts.
SPEAKER 2: So, how does it work, I mean how does the psychologist work with you?
SPEAKER 3: Well, for example, we had this situation recently where one of my friends got into a fight with another boy.
SPEAKER 2: What was the fight about?
SPEAKER 3: Well, he was standing in line at the canteen, and the other boy bumped into him which wasn't really his fault as someone else had pushed him. There wasn't much of a reason really, but suddenly they were really angry and if one of the teachers hadn't stepped in, who knows, there might have been some serious fighting. And it's not the first time something like this has happened.
SPEAKER 2: Uh huh. So what did the psychologist do?
SPEAKER 3: Well, the first thing he taught us was that conflicts and disagreements are a normal part of life ...
SPEAKER 2: Right.