The Reading / Listening - Fidgeting - Level 5

A third of us could have a mental health condition we don't know about. It is called misokinesia – the distress caused by watching people who fidget. Fidgeting is making small movements repetitively, especially with the hands and feet. People fidget because of nervousness or impatience. Misokinesia sufferers can have an "intense hatred" of people tapping their fingers, clicking a pen, or twiddling their hair. Misokinesia is like a condition called misophonia. This is a great dislike of other people's noises, such as heavy breathing, throat clearing or loud eating.

The study is from researchers in Canada. They interviewed 21 people in a misokinesia support group. The researchers concluded that misokinesia can be so distressing as to be "life limiting". Sufferers can have extreme feelings of rage, torture and disgust. One sufferer said: "If I see someone tapping their fingers on a desk, my immediate thought is to chop their fingers off with a knife." A clinical psychologist told the BBC that "violent images might pop into the head" of misokinesia sufferers. She said people can be triggered by the tiniest of things.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Fidgeting - Level 4 or  Fidgeting - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ewl757d2ko
  • https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/sex-husband-became-excruciatingly-painful-023102460.html
  • https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0313169


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. A third
  2. Fidgeting is making small
  3. People fidget because
  4. an intense
  5. tapping their
  6. a great dislike of other
  7. heavy
  8. throat
  1. people's noises
  2. fingers
  3. clearing
  4. movements repetitively
  5. of us
  6. hatred of people
  7. of nervousness
  8. breathing

Paragraph 2

  1. a misokinesia support
  2. misokinesia can
  3. have extreme feelings
  4. tapping
  5. A clinical
  6. violent
  7. pop
  8. triggered by the tiniest
  1. be so distressing
  2. images
  3. their fingers
  4. group
  5. of things
  6. into the head
  7. of rage
  8. psychologist

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A third of us could have a (1) ________________________________________________ we don't know about. It is called misokinesia - the (2) ________________________________________________ watching people who fidget. Fidgeting is making small movements repetitively, especially with the hands and feet. People fidget because of (3) ________________________________________________. Misokinesia sufferers can have (4) ________________________________________________ of people tapping their fingers, clicking a pen, or twiddling their hair. Misokinesia is like a (5) ________________________________________________. This is a great dislike of other people's noises, such as heavy breathing, (6) ________________________________________________ loud eating.

The study is (7) ________________________________________________ Canada. They interviewed 21 people in a misokinesia support group. The researchers concluded that misokinesia can be (8) ________________________________________________ to be "life limiting". Sufferers can have extreme feelings of rage, (9) ________________________________________________. One sufferer said: "If I see someone tapping their fingers on a desk, my immediate thought is to (10) ________________________________________________ off with a knife." A clinical psychologist told the BBC that "(11) ________________________________________________ pop into the head" of misokinesia sufferers. She said people can be triggered by the (12) ________________________________________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Athirdofuscouldhaveamentalhealthconditionwedon'tknowabout.Itis
calledmisokinesia-thedistresscausedbywatchingpeoplewhofidget.F
idgetingismakingsmallmovementsrepetitively,especiallywiththeha
ndsandfeet.Peoplefidgetbecauseofnervousnessorimpatience.Misoki
nesiasuffererscanhavean"intensehatred"ofpeopletappingtheirfinge
rs,clickingapen,ortwiddlingtheirhair.Misokinesiaislikeaconditioncall
edmisophonia.Thisisagreatdislikeofotherpeople'snoises,suchashea
vybreathing,throatclearingorloudeating.Thestudyisfromresearcher
sinCanada.Theyinterviewed21peopleinamisokinesiasupportgroup.
Theresearchersconcludedthatmisokinesiacanbesodistressingastob
e"lifelimiting".Suffererscanhaveextremefeelingsofrage,tortureandd
isgust.Onesufferersaid:"IfIseesomeonetappingtheirfingersonadesk
,myimmediatethoughtistochoptheirfingersoffwithaknife."Aclinicalp
sychologisttoldtheBBCthat"violentimagesmightpopintothehead"of
misokinesiasufferers.Shesaidpeoplecanbetriggeredbythetiniestofth
ings.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You