Youtube Link!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL55JVDhywM

1. What is the video about?
2. What is your stand?

How to Narrate a story, incident, etc.

A useful skill in English is to be able to tell a story or an anecdote. Anecdotes are short stories about something that happened to you or to someone you know. (See our page on Describing stories in English for more information on types of stories.)
How to start
Traditional stories often start with the phrase "Once upon a time". However, if you are going to tell your story after someone else has already spoken, you can say something like:
That reminds me!
Funny you should say that. Did I ever tell you about…
Hearing your story reminds me of when…
Something similar happened to me….
How to tell your story
First of all, your story should be quite short. Try to keep it grammatically simple as well, so that it is easy to follow.
Make it easy for the listener to understand by using sequencing and linking words:
Sequencing words
These words show the chronological sequence of events.
First of all, I (packed my suitcase)
Secondly, I …. (made sure I had all my documents)
Previously (before that) ….. I changed some money.
Then… I (called a taxi for the airport)
Later (on)… (when we were stuck in traffic, I realised…)
But before all that… (I had double checked my reservation)
Finally… (I arrived at the wrong check-in desk at the wrong airport for a flight that didn't go until the next day)
Linking words
Use these words to link your ideas for the listener. Linking words can be used to show reason, result, contrasting information, additional information, and to summarise.
I booked a flight because….
As a result, I was late…
Although I had a reservation, I hadn't checked the airport name.
I made sure I had an up-to-date passport and I also took along my driving licence.
In short, I had made a complete mess of the holiday.
Tenses
We can use a variety of tenses to tell stories and anecdotes. Jokes are often in the present tense:
A man walks into a bar and orders a soda.
We also use the present tense to give a dramatic narrative effect:
The year is 1066. In medieval England people are worried that the king, Harold, is not strong enough to fight off a Norman invasion.
However, we generally use past forms to talk about past events. If you tell your story in chronological order, you can use the past simple:
I double checked my reservation. I packed my suitcase, and then I called a taxi.
Use the past continuous to describe activities in progress at the time of your story, or to describe the background.
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. We were driving along the motorway quite steadily until we suddenly saw in front of us the warning lights to slow down. We were heading towards a huge tailback.
Sometimes, you might want to avoid telling your story as one chronological event after the other. You can use the past perfect (simple and continuous) to add more interest to your story by talking about events that happened before the events in your story:
I double checked my reservation, which I had made three days previously.
I wanted to visit some friends who had been living in France for the last five years.
Vocabulary
Try to use a wide range of words to make your story more interesting. Remember that you can "exaggerate" when you tell a story, so instead of using words like "nice" or "bad", experiment with more interesting words, such as "beautiful", "fabulous", "wonderful", "horrible", "awful" or "terrible".
Finally – remember that you are telling a story – not giving a lecture. Look at the people listening, and try to "involve" them in the story or anecdote. Keep eye contact, use the right intonation and try to make your face expressive. You might also want to try practising a few anecdotes in the mirror before "going live". Have fun!

Task


1. How do you spell your full name using the Nato Alphabet?
2. Why is using the Nato Alphabet particularly handy over the phone?

Material for first exam- Oral Skills

1.     What are the four basic language skills?

2.     Categorise the four skills into two categories: receptive and productive.

3.     What are ice-breakers?

4.     Do ice-breakers differ from one culture to another? Give examples?

5.     The following diagram shows how people can start a conversation, keep it going and then end it (it applies to the Western culture).

Weather	Time	(Don’t) complain
Compliment	START A CONVERSATION	News events
Wh- Questions	Use elaboration technique	Be flexible
Be enthusiastic	KEEP IT GOING	Keep eye contact (body language)
Don’t interrupt	Have a sense of humour	Don’t gossip
Break eye contact (body language)	Use transition words (e.g. well, Ok, all right, etc.)	Re-cap or sum up
Politely say: “Nice meeting you.”	END IT	Apologise and say that you have an important thing to do.

 
Taboos in conversations with strangers: religion, politics, very personal questions, etc.

Useful university Vocabulary: department, faculty, credit hour, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, colleague, deadline, hand in.

Speaking Task 1: Questions and answers

You should be able to answer basic questions about yourself.

Speaking Task 2: Job Interviews

Possible questions:

1.      Why don’t you tell me something about yourself.

2.      Could you please talk about your education (graduation project, dissertation, etc.)

3.      Why should we hire you?

4.      What are your weaknesses?

5.      What are your strengths?

6.      Why do you want to work here?

7.      Why did you leave your previous job?

Speaking Task 3: Narration

You should be able to narrate a story, a movie, an incident, etc.

Speaking Task 4: Presentations

Avoid talking about politics and religion.

Useful idioms for everyday conversations:

(To) Hit the books: to study, “Sorry but I can’t watch the game with you tonight, I have to hit the books. I have a huge exam next week!”

(To) Hit the sack: to go to sleep, “It’s time for me to hit the sack, I’m so tired.”

(To) Twist someone’s arm: to persuade or force someone to do something, “Oh all right, you’ve twisted my arm, I’ll come!”

(To) Stab someone in the back: betray, “Did you hear that Sarah stabbed Kate in the back last week and got her fired.”

(To) Lose your touch: to no longer be able to do something as well as in the past, “I seem to have lost my touch with my children.”

(To) Sit tight: to wait patiently, “You’ll have to sit tight and wait for the results.”

(To) Face the music: to be confronted with the unpleasant consequences of one's actions, to face reality, “Mary broke the window and had to face the music when her father got home.”

The Most Frequent English Proverbs

This is a list of some of the most important and well-known English proverbs

(http://www.phrasemix.com/collections/the-50-most-important-english-proverbs)

How can you use proverbs to learn English?

It's good to know the really common English proverbs because you hear them come up in conversation all the time. Sometimes people say the entire proverb to give advice to a friend.
Learning proverbs can also help you to understand the way that people in English-speaking cultures think about the world.

·        Two wrongs do not make a right

·        The pen is mightier than the sword

·        When in Rome, do as the Romans

·        The squeaky wheel gets the grease

·        No man is an island

·        Fortune favors the bold

·        People who live in glass houses should not throw stones

·        Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst

·        Better late than never

·        Birds of a feather flock together

·        Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

·        A picture is worth a thousand words

·        There's no such thing as a free lunch

·        There's no place like home

·        The early bird catches the worm

·        You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs

·        God helps those who help themselves

·        A watched pot never boils

·        Beggars can't be choosers

·        Actions speak louder than words

First Exam:

10 Oral exam (at the end of the coming three lectures- five minutes each)

10 written exam next Monday or any other agreed on date (on the material we covered in class)

Written Task

Which proverb is most suitable for the following situations?

1.      Don't steal his pen just because he stole yours

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2.      Bill is a lazy student who never studies for exams. One day his friend Ali visited the flat of a group of hard-working students and found Bill studying with them. He asked Bill, “What! I cannot believe my eyes, is it you Bill studying?” Bill answered:

“Well, ------------------------------------------------------------------

3.      Mark is a dedicated employee but he has never been given a salary raise because he never asked for one. When he complained about it, one of his colleagues said:

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4.      You can't manage this all by yourself; ask for help because

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5.      You see a rude colleague making friends with another rude one, so you say:

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6.      The bus comes 15 minutes late and you want to stay positive, so you say:

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7.      Jane: “I asked Mary to lend me her bicycle, and she sent me this old, rusty one.

Lizzy: “Well, I guess --------------------------------------------------

8.      Don't just sit there staring at the phone while you wait for Lucy to call. A

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Written Task

Which idiom is most suitable for the following situations?

1.      It is almost 1:00 AM! I think it is time to ----------------------------------------

2.      I have two exams tomorrow, so I guess I need to -------------------------------

3.      You need to ------------------------------------ and wait for me.

4.      Because you failed the exam and then the makeup, I guess you need now to

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5.      A loyal person never -----------------------------------------------------------------

Written Task

Identify the linguistic and/or cultural errors in the following dialogues.

At the professor’s office

Student: Hey! What’s up professor? How is it going?

Professor: How can I help you?

At the Coffee shop

Me: So, do you ever plan on getting back into music?

Guy: What? (sharp “T” sound)

Me: (I repeated what I said, but slower)

Guy: I didn’t understand.

At your boss’s house (you are a Muslim)

A: What would like to drink?

B: Anything

A: Really?

At the bus stop

A: Nice weather today , isn’t it?

B: Yes, indeed. Better than yesterday for sure.

A: I am Jane!

B: I am Mary! Nice to meet you!

A: I like your dress. It is really pretty.

B: I would love to give it to you but it won’t fit you because you are fat.

Group Work

Work in groups to make a ‘mock interview’

YouTube video

Watch the video and try to answer the following questions:

Narrating a story (Example)

Little Red Riding Hood

Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature who was ever seen. Her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmother doted on her still more. This good woman had a little red riding hood made for her. It suited the girl so extremely well that everybody called her Little Red Riding Hood.

One day her mother, having made some cakes, said to her, "Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is doing, for I hear she has been very ill. Take her a cake, and this little pot of butter."

Little Red Riding Hood set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village.

As she was going through the wood, she met with a wolf, who had a very great mind to eat her up, but he dared not, because of some woodcutters working nearby in the forest. He asked her where she was going. The poor child, who did not know that it was dangerous to stay and talk to a wolf, said to him, "I am going to see my grandmother and carry her a cake and a little pot of butter from my mother."

"Does she live far off?" said the wolf

"Oh I say," answered Little Red Riding Hood; "it is beyond that mill you see there, at the first house in the village."

"Well," said the wolf, "and I'll go and see her too. I'll go this way and go you that, and we shall see who will be there first."

The wolf ran as fast as he could, taking the shortest path, and the little girl took a roundabout way, entertaining herself by gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and gathering bouquets of little flowers. It was not long before the wolf arrived at the old woman's house. He knocked at the door: tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

"Your grandchild, Little Red Riding Hood," replied the wolf, counterfeiting her voice; "who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter sent you by mother."

The good grandmother, who was in bed, because she was somewhat ill, cried out, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up."

The wolf pulled the bobbin, and the door opened, and then he immediately fell upon the good woman and ate her up in a moment, for it was more than three days since he had eaten. He then shut the door and got into the grandmother's bed, expecting Little Red Riding Hood, who came some time afterwards and knocked at the door: tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

Little Red Riding Hood, hearing the big voice of the wolf, was at first afraid; but believing her grandmother had a cold and was hoarse, answered, "It is your grandchild Little Red Riding Hood, who has brought you a cake and a little pot of butter mother sends you."

The wolf cried out to her, softening his voice as much as he could, "Pull the bobbin, and the latch will go up."

Little Red Riding Hood pulled the bobbin, and the door opened.

The wolf, seeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself under the bedclothes, "Put the cake and the little pot of butter upon the stool, and come get into bed with me."

Little Red Riding Hood took off her clothes and got into bed. She was greatly amazed to see how her grandmother looked in her nightclothes, and said to her, "Grandmother, what big arms you have!"

"All the better to hug you with, my dear."

"Grandmother, what big legs you have!"

"All the better to run with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big ears you have!"

"All the better to hear with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big eyes you have!"

"All the better to see with, my child."

"Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!"

"All the better to eat you up with."

And, saying these words, this wicked wolf fell upon Little Red Riding Hood, and ate her all up.