A Single Life

Warm-up
A riddle: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, three legs in the
evening, and no legs at night?
What are the different stages of life?

Label the life timeline with ages and life stages:

A child a baby an adult/a grown-up a toddler in your twenties
in your thirties middle-aged retired a teenager youngster

Birth childhood adolescence adulthood parenthood middle age old age death
0-1 1-2 13-17 18+ 20-30 3-12 30-40 40-60 60-65+

Childhood/Youth
to grow up
“Grow up!” = Stop acting like a child
to rebel
to learn how to walk/talk/etc.

Adulthood
to adult (very informal) = to do things like a responsible adult e.g. buy a house, get a driving
licence, pay the bills, be good at your job, etc.
to settle down
to get older What emotions do you
to graduate (from university) associate with each stage of
to get engaged / married / divorced life?
to have kids
pregnant (adj.) What are the advantages and
to go grey / to get grey hairs disadvantages of the following
stages of life: childhood;
Old age adolescence; adulthood;
to retire parenthood; and old age?
to get sick
to use a walking stick / walker / wheelchair
the elderly / senior citizens
to make a will
to die
a funeral
a widow (f.) / widower (m.)
to cremate
ashes (n.)
 https://vimeo.com/225249697

We are going to watch a short

film about the different stages of life. As you
watch you should try to identify the different
stages and also identify the objects which
represent each stage.

Storytelling
You are going to write a plot summary for the video.
• Remember to use sequencing words.
• You should try to use the appropriate narrative tenses e.g. simple past and past continuous,
past perfect...
• Mention the relationship between the record and her age.
• When she plays the song, what happens? What are her
emotions at each life stage?
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think the film is called “A Single Life”?
2. What’s the film’s message?
3. How does the film make you feel?
4. “Without football, my life is worth nothing.” (Cristiano Ronaldo) What would you say
instead of football?
5. “I am not afraid of ageing, but more afraid of people’s reactions to my ageing.” (Barbara
Hershey) What is worse – ageing or people’s reactions?
6. Is a person’s age important in your culture? How is it important?
7. Do you ever give advice to people who are younger than you? What advice could you give
to an eighteen-year-old?

Homework:
Watch ‘Life is NOT a journey’ by Alan Watts.
https://youtu.be/rBpaUICxEhk
English and Spanish subtitles

A Single Life by Happy Camper featuring Pien Feith

(https://youtu.be/HjmGUXr32I0)

You might think your time is never ending
But a single life is what you're getting
And you should get it right
Is what I'm saying
But go ahead and try
Just a single life
You know there won't be a second time
Slow down, take it slow before you gotta go
Beware, if you blow it, you know you gotta go
Slow down, take it slow before you gotta go
You know you gotta go
Slow down, take it slow before you gotta go
You know you gotta go
Time and again you're trying to stall
But the ending is inevitable
Time and again you're trying to stall
But the ending is inevitable
Slow down, take it slow before you gotta go
Beware, if you blow it, you know you gotta go
Slow down, take it slow before you gotta go
You know you gotta go
Slow down, take it slow, you know you gotta go
You know you gotta go
Just a single life
You know there won't be a second time
Just a single life
You know there won't be a second time
(Slow down, take it slow before you gotta go)
You know there won't be a second time
(Beware, if you blow it, you know you gotta go)
Just a single life
(Slow down, take it slow before you gotta go)
You know there won't be a second time
(You know you gotta go)
You know you gotta go

Vocabulary

Go ahead – continue
Slow down - decelerate
Take it slow – go slowly
Blow it – fail
Stall – try to delay something