On yer bike! Cycling in Cambridgeshire

Read the article and note down the pros and cons of cycling. Do you agree or disagree?

Getting to know you

You are going to hear a conversation that took place during the coffee break in a language class. The conversation is between two English people, Jack and Lisa, studying Italian in England.

Listen and answer the following questions.

1. Did Liza study there last term? What about Jack?

2. Do Liza and Jack live near the school? Where do they live exactly?

3. Where is Liza from? How long has she lived here?

4. What does Liza do?

5. When did Jack leave St Philip’s school?

6. What does Jack do? Does he like his job?

7. Why does Liza want to learn Italian?

http://eoiutebo.educa.aragon.es/maripaz/gettingtoknow.mp3

Try to remember as much as you can about Jack and Lisa.
In pairs ask each other the following questions.

1. Were you here last year?

2. What about you?

3. Do you live near here?

4. Whereabouts exactly?

5. Where are you from?

6. So what do you do?

7. Why do you want to learn English?

Script

Talking about your best friend

Appearance

• How important is appearance for you?
• How important is appearance in our society?
• Do you think you usually make a good first impression? Why or why not?
• What do you think is most important- your clothes and general appearance, how you sound, what you say or think, body language....?
• Talk about the clothes you like wearing. Do you dress according to your personality?
•  Do you think people judge each other too much on appearances?

Taking a gap year/taking a year off

 Have your ever taken a gap year?

 Where and what did you do?

 If you could take a gap year what would you do?

 If you could spend a gap year anywhere in the world where would you go?

 What would you like to do there?

 What problems do you think you might have?

I can talk about diets

I never go on a diet; it's a waste of time. Diets list all the food that is good for you, but few people can keep them up. I haven't put on weight in twenty years. Here's why:

• I eat almost anything, but I don't eat a lot. And I don't eat junk food.
• I drink plenty of water. It's better for you than fizzy drinks, and cheaper too.
• I avoid snacks between meals because most of them are fattening.
• I've cut down on the amount of food I eat in the evening.
• I do/get plenty of exercise.

From Oxford word skills intermediate. OUP

List of Topics Second Term

Unit 3C: In the context of success and failure: Have you ever tried successfully or unsuccessfully to learn something.
Unit 4A: Schooldays
Unit 4B: Your dream house/ the place where you live.
Unit 4C: Friends
Unit 5B: Work-life balance
Unit 5C: My ideal job/ advantages and disadvantages of different jobs/personality and types of jobs.
Unit 6A: Shopping
Some tips :
In your student's book you have questionnaires in each lesson. Don't forget to revise those parts of speaking.
 In the workbook, you have a listening exercise. In most of these listening exercises you can listen to somebody talking about the subjects in the lesson.
Listening to them can help you improve your speaking, grammar and pronunciation.

Are you addicted to work?

Improve your speaking

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/tae_betterspeaking_archive.shtml

Taking our diet more seriously

Summary of the text on page 4 in your workbook.

Most people think that health is important and because of this, many are trying to eat more healthily.

For example: People in the UK are eating less salt and more low fat products,.

In America, fruit is now the second favourite snack.

In Japan cocoa is a healthy alternative to soft drinks.

Global sales are increasing for soy drinks and drinkable yoghurts.

Sales of bread, pasta and cereals are growing much more slowly.

People are becoming more interested in fresh fruit and vegetables.

"Farmers' markets" are getting more popular.

People are buying more products that are healthy, like fruit, salads, and nuts. They are also buying products that help the environment, like organic vegetables.

Are you also taking your diet more seriously? Explain your answer.

Work

Have you ever worked? What would be your ideal job for life?
Click here and you will find some vocabulary to help you speak about this topic.

Now listen to three people talking about their jobs. Note down the good and bad things about their jobs.
Tony
Richard
Sadie

Speaking Unit 1 Discussion

Click here to find some speaking activities.

How to greet people in informal contexts

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1142_greeting/page2.shtml

Appearance

Click here and you'll find some conversation questions about the topic of beauty and appearence.

Time to speak

Click here to find a sample sheet of the first part of the oral exam.
Click here to find a sample sheet of the second part of the oral exam.

Useful language: Requests, invitations and suggestions.

Invitations and suggestions

Would you like + infinitive?
Do you fancy + ing?
How about + ing?
Shall we + verb?
Let's + verb
Why don't we + verb?

Accepting
That would be nice.
That would be great.
Good idea!
Great idea!
I'd love to!
Fine.
Yes, ok.
That's a good idea

Refusing

I'm (really) sorry, but I can't, I'm + ing....
I'm afraid I can't. I have to ...
I'd love to, but I....
I don't really like ....
I'm afraid I'm a bit busy.
How about.... instead?
I'd rather not
I'd rather + verb

Make short dialogues with invitations and suggestions.
Accept some and refuse others.
Example: A Do you fancy going out for dinner?
B Yes, that would be nice.
A Where shall we go?
Practise with the following.

• going our for dinner
• stay in this evening
• go to a pub
• go to see a film
• go to a football match
• go to the beach for the weekend.

In pair discuss what to do this weekend.

Now, click here to use some of the expressions you have learnt.

Making suggestions quizz

Christmas

After listening to Darren talking about Christmas,

try to explain your feelings about Christmas and answer the following questions.

1. What is your best Christmas memory from when you were a child?

2. What do you most like about Christmas?

3. What do you like least about Christmas?

4. Do people generally become more positive and generous over the Christmas period? What about you personally?

5. Do you think Christmas has become too commercialized?

Speaking

• Marcadores más frecuentes para:-
- Dirigirse a alguien (Excuse me)
- Saludar (Hi there);
- Empezar a hablar (Well.....)
- Apoyar al interlocutor (Really? That’s interesting!)
- Reaccionar e interaccionar ( You’re joking! Kidding!; that’s incredible!
- Implicar al interlocutor ( I see, I know)
- Tomar la palabra ( In my opinion)
- Iniciar una explicación (so, basically)
- Mostrar duda (maybe, perhaps)
- Mostrar acuerdo (sure, no doubt, of course)
- Mostrar desacuerdo (Sorry but I don’t agree, I don’t know about that)
- Contradecir en parte ( I understand /I can see your point but ...)
- Clarificar las opiniones y reformular ( I mean, in other words)
- Pedir repeticiones ( could you say that again...)
- Presentar conclusiones (so, in conclusion)

How to improve your speaking

Better Speaking is all about how you can become a fluent, confident speaker of English. In the programmes we hear from learners of English from around the world and also from someone who specialises in teaching speaking, trainer Richard Hallows. Better Speaking is presented by Callum Robertson.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/tae_betterspeaking_archive.shtml