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
|
Politely say:
“Nice meeting you.”
|
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
You can't manage this all by yourself; ask for help because
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
You see a rude colleague making friends with another rude one, so
you say:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
The bus comes 15 minutes late and you want to stay positive, so you
say:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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:
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.
