oral interaction practice

Hello
Here is some help to practice for the oral interaction test that will be held next week. Remember you need a partner for this activity. It is a good idea to decide on it now.

Giving your opinion
Giving your opinion neutrally

"I think…."


"I feel that…."


"In my opinion…."


"As far as I'm concerned…."


"As I see it…."


"In my view…"

Giving a strong opinion

"I'm absolutely convinced that…."


"I'm sure that….."


"I strongly believe that…."


"I have no doubt that…"


ASKING for SOMEONE'S OPINION

"What do you think (about /of X)?"


"What's your view (on)?"


"How do you see the situation (of)?"

Agreeing and disagreeing
Agreeing

"I think you're right."
"I agree with you."


Strong agreement
"I couldn't agree with you more."
"You're absolutely right."
"I agree entirely."
"I totally agree."


Agreeing in part

"I agree with you up to a point, but..."
"That's quite true, but..."
"I agree with you in principle, but..."


Disagreeing

"I'm not sure I agree with you."
"(I'm afraid) I don't agree."
"(I'm afraid) I disagree."
"(I'm afraid) I can't agree with you."
"(I'm afraid) I don't share your opinion."

Note that when you disagree with someone, you can often sound
more polite by using a phrase such as "I'm afraid..."

Disagreeing strongly

"I don't agree at all."
"I totally disagree."
"I couldn't agree with you less."

Keeping a conversation going
Making comments

"No!" - to show surprise
"I don't believe it!" - to show surprise
"Wow!" - to show admiration or surprise
"That's incredible / amazing / unbelievable" - to show great
interest in the subject of conversation
"How awful / terrible" - to show sympathy with someone else's bad
news

Asking questions

"Really?" - to show surprise
"And you?" - when someone asks you how you are
"Did you?" - can be used to encourage someone to tell their story.

For example, "I saw her last night" "Did you?" "Yes, she was with one of her friends, and she...."

post 14-12

Dear students:

Sorry not to come. Please post on the blog
This is our last post this semester. I'll give you a couple of choices to decide on one.

   How do you feel about English as a Lingua Franca? How do you feel about this being the official language versus French from 1066 to the 1500s, or Latin earlier. Develop your ideas.

  Write about the coolest blog in the class. Evaluate, layout of the blog, texts written, general participation.

Write about your semester in general. The highs and lows and anything else you find relevant.

Choose one of the topics and 


- wordcount: 250
- make comments on 3 of your partners' posts.

Wednesday 7 for absent people

Go to
www.guardian.co.uk
Choose an article or piece of news that you find interesting.
Write 200 words and say

Why you chose it
What new things you discovered
why you think it is important
Anything else you find relevant.

Today's post

Write about an ambition you have. Even if it is something simple.

Say:

What your ambition is,

Why you would like to achieve this ambition,

Who or what inspired your ambition,

What it would mean to you to fulfil your ambition.

Mention anything else you think is important.

Write a minimum of 230 words and comment on 4 different blogs. You have 24 hours. Thank you

Video 3

This is a 2 minute recording of yourself talking to the camera. All in one take. And prepared in advance for this is not a reading test.

Video 3:  An Ambition you have

Record a 2 minute mobile phone video presentation* about an ambition you have.

Say:

What your ambition is,

Why you would like to achieve this ambition,

Who or what inspired your ambition,

What it would mean to you to fulfil your ambition.

Mention anything else you think is important.

Today we will have a little practice for the test

Reading:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/reading1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_reading2.htm

Listening:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part1.htm

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_listening_part2.htm

Vocabulary:

http://www.examenglish.com/PET/pet_vocab.htm

Once you finish, write a review on the areas that were more successful and those you need to work more on. Write a minimum of 100 words and 1 comment.

a special spot

It is very difficult to think of one amazing place because I have been lucky enough to visit many places, and also because I appreciate natural beauty. Once place I really fell in love with was the region of Aysen in the south of Chile. I was there in September this year. I visited because an ex -student of mine wrote to me a few years back and told me he was living there.  That is when I googled the surroundings of Cohyaique.  I was there with my mom and my husband last September and we had a lovely time. I was there for 4 days and we visited different sites but I’ll refer to one I had in mind.

Coyaique itself is not a particularly nice town, it’s just Ok. But if you drive for less than 10 minutes away from the center, you are in a beautiful national park with nice woods and a beautiful lagoon. If you are willing to spend a day out of town, you can drive down carretera austral for a few hours and you get to “General Carrera’s lake”. This is such amazing scenery all the way. As you go down the road you see a number of birds, snowy peaks, flourishing  green vegetation, very few people. It was probably one of the nicest car rides I have had. The best was the destination, though.

Capillas the marmol “Marble chapels” is located towards one of the ends of lago general Carrera. You need to get to a town called “Puerto tranquilo” and from there,  it’s a 10 minute boat ride.

The capillas are some amazing rock (limestone) formations that come from the bottom of the lake and go all the way up forming some caves. The shape of the rock has been caused by wind and erosion.  The patterns on the rocks are so special and on sunny days, the water looks turquoise.

I strongly recommend this place as one of the most beautiful spots on the planet.

Write about an amazing place you have visited.
Include
When were you there.
Who were you with.
What you liked about it.
if you would recommend it
Write a minimum of 250 words, 1 comment on your teacher's blog and 3 comments on your classmates' blogs. Put a picture if you want.