Changing appearance the objectives of the lesson

ACTIVITY 1.GROUP DISCUSSION. Reading comprehension. Students read the text (silent reading) and give a title for it. The whole group discusses the topic giving their own opinions, T accepts all answers.
Objective: to enable students to read the passage and exchange their opinions/ideas with other students and discuss.

Why paint? A fortune is being made in the industry of cosmetics. Make up is a must for ladies and for some reason there seems to be a worldwide attempt by people to be someone other than themselves. Make-up actually conceals certain parts of a person's features - obviously features that one would like to conceal - like wrinkles - and brings out the features that one would like to show to the world - like a beautiful pair of eyes. In every society some form of make-up exists as well as accessories which are calculated to make women beautiful. However, what is considered beauty in some parts of the world differs from other parts. Those of us who had the opportunity to see 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' an excellent movie, would have been surprised at what the bushman hero had to say when he saw a white woman for the first time. His verdict was that she was the ugliest woman he had ever seen, and he made the remark because of her complexion and size. To the bushman, small and dark is beautiful. Make-up is not new. In ancient Egypt, China, India, and perhaps in all early civilizations, it was a thriving industry. Women just have to dress attractively, or do a whole host of things to get the attention of the men. Strange though it may seem to the modern man, men used to used to use make up too. During the middle ages when it was fashionable for men to be elegant, men used to compete with women to look beautiful - though they still drank and fought and did other inelegant deeds. The fashions of the day did a lot to bring out the beauty of the men. Men wore wings and powered their faces to look beautiful. In indigenous cultures men wore, and still wear, make up. This is mostly paint. We are used to seeing Native Americans wearing war paint, but that was not the only reason that men painted themselves. There are different types of paints - or make up - for different events. The smearing of color on the face and body is supposed to signal something. An example of a carry over of this practice to modern times is the applying of henna on the hands and feet, by Malays and Indians who are newly wed. In the animal world, strangely enough, it is the male that wants to look beautiful. It is the peacock that has the beautiful tail feathers, the peahen is plain. In the chicken, the cock has a much better plumage than the hen. The more graceful goldfish is the male. Among those who attract by voice rather than looks, it is the male who sings. The singing canary is male and so is the bullfrog. The reason for all the flaunting of beauty is simple: attract the female and then mate. The female does not have to look beautiful at all, she makes a choice as to who to be attracted to. Among the species where beauty does not seem to matter, like cattle and horses, the males fight it out to attract the females. The role in all nature is the same, the female naturally attracts the male and it is the male who has to make himself attractive - in any way he knows.