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. 

song

Write about your favorite song at the moment.
Say:
When did you hear it first?
Who is it by?
What you you like about it?
What kind of music was it?

Write a minimum of 215 words and 4 comments. Upload the video if you like.

I find it very hard to think of one song since I love music and I am always listening to different things. I think I am listening to a number of songs at the moment. For example  blue Hawai, Richard Ashcroft, Inti Illimani, Coco rosie, God is an autronaut, Victor Jara, etc. So I'll choose a song that I really like and have liked for a while. I listened to this song by chance a couple of years ago. The song is by a British artist I really like. That is Damon Albarn (ex front man of Blur, Gorillaz,  The good the bad and the queen). He played in Chile last year and it was brilliant.
This song is called "Everyday robots" and belongs to his last album. I like this song because I think it reflects on current society and the relationship of humans and cel- phones. How so many people become engrossed on their phones and don't pay attention to what is going on around them. How so many people behave like robots or zombies as they go around. I think this is a very true and concerning phenomenon.
I would say it belongs to the genre of alternative rock but  I am not sure if maybe it is clasified as Brit Pop. Anyway, I like it a lot. Enjoy it.

Website wed 2

Pressie

If I had to think of one in particular, I guess it would be difficult to give an answer, however, and since I don’t want to be incoherent, I will. I remember one morning on my birthday that my husband (my boyfriend back then) woke me up and gave me an envelope. At the time I thought “What a weird present, is it money?” Then I opened it and I realized it was a plane ticket. I remember I was a bit shocked; really, it was a plane ticket with hotel and everything to go to Buenos Aires the weekend after. I did no show much enthusiasm at the time since I had been waiting for something different, I suppose. However, I think this has been one of the best weekends ever. I had never been to Buenos Aires before and we had a wonderful time. We went to the typical sights; we also went to a tango club (and tried to dance!). I spent hours in libraries and got a few books for much better prices. I suppose what I liked the most, was the fact that people are so nice there. Being a capital city, it is a completely different attitude towards others. Less hostile, I think.  Also, in general the ordinary people in the streets seem so knowledgeable about their history, culture and that is really nice. It seems like culture is everywhere. I really enjoyed it. Now it is one of my nicest memories.

Write about a present you received.

Say:

What it was,

Who gave it to you,

Why you liked it,

Where it is now.

Anything else you find relevant.

Write a minimum of 210 words and 1 comment on my blog and 3 comments on your classmates’ blogs.

Video 2 Wed Nov 12th

A JOB YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO IN THE FUTURE

Record a for 2 minute mobile phone video presentation* about a job you would like to do in the future.

Say:

What the job is,

Why you would like to do this job,,

What qualities or skills you would need to do this job,

What type of reward or job satisfaction you would get from doing this job.

Mention anything else you think is important.

Remember if you read you will not have a pass mark. Practice makes perfect.

 ALL IN ONE TAKE.

I started watching it as a child from about 8 years old. I remember both my sisters loved it so I just sat with them and it was all good. It is about this blond girl with very big (not surprising now!) green eyes. I remember it was a very dramatic Japanese Anime. “Candy” was an orphan girl who was adopted and treated badly. Moreover she falls in love with this amazingly handsome character “Anthony” (I fell in love, too!) and he dies!! Yes, he dies!! I suffered so much.  Later she moves to London and meets “Terri” who is the opposite of Anthony (the latter is rebellious). The thing is this love is not meant to be and they keep splitting because he wants to become an actor.

I think it was on every evening for around half an hour.

I suppose I enjoyed it because it was full of adventures and things seemed pretty exciting, but mostly because I would sit there with my sisters and we would drink our milk and eat toast on those evenings while watching the show. I couldn’t wait for the next day to come. Just to watch it again! I know it is very "ñoño" to write about this but I couldn't think of anything apart from "erase una vez el hombre" which seemed a bit serious for children...

What about you?

Write about a TV programme you enjoyed watching when you were a child:
Say:
What it was called,
What it was about,
When it was on,
Why you enjoyed it.
Mention anything else you think is important. Write at least 210 words. Leave a comment on 4 of  your classmates' blogs.

A good friend.

Remember today you post ouside the classroom but points count as usual :)


Hi everyone:
I'd like to talk about a good friend of mine. I met Ivonne in around 2000 because she was my sister's classmate at Uni and they were pretty close. Later, my sister left to live in the UK and I didn't see Ivonne again until around 2005. I am not sure how we got in touch again but I am glad we did because I feel she is really nice company. I like talking to her about anything because most of the time she has wise words to tell me. Plus, she has a great sense of humor and is a very active woman.
I'd say we have various things in common. We like music and arts in general, and we share our sense of humor & love for animals. We don't eat them! I really enjoy our evening meetings to have a drink and play music. Ivonne plays the guitar magnificently and can pick like few people I have met. But she is very humble about her guitar playing and that is nice too.
She is a lawyer, but one of the smart ones who will always tell you about the details of the legal actions you take. Furthermore, most of the time she knows what is going on with the laws they will pass or if they already passed them and how they affect us. It is a pity we don't see each other very often. Maybe 4 or 5 times a year.

Write about a good friend of yours:
Say:
Who it is,
How you met,
What things you have in common,
How often you see your friend.
Put up a picture if you like (Mine is pending!)
Write at least 200 words. Leave a comment on 4 classmates' blogs .

Blog Assessment +

Blog Assessment +

Dear all,

On this post I will explain  AGAIN :) how the blog work will be assessed.

First of all, I'd like to remind you TRANSLATORS are NOT allowed. You will get a 1.0 on the post.

The objective of writing the blog is improving your English level by making the effort of thinking in English. You can use wordreference.com or a different dictionary  to find words you need or ask your teacher if you don't find them. This is a good way to learn.

The marks go as follows

Every class you get 2 points for posting and writing comments in class.

If you post and comment within 48 or outside the classroom you get 1 point.

No post , no points

This corresponds to mark 1 =50%

Mark 2 = 50%, corresponds to a linguistic evaluation of 3 post during the semester.

Well, to me celebrations are most of the time a reason for fun. I remember one time in 2003 I was invited to the city of San Juan in Argentina, and it was something more or less spontaneous so I just got a couple of things and left. When we got there, we were received by some friends’ family members and after a while left to meet some friends of my friends. The following day was December 31. They told us they would have a little celebration and we were invited, too. Since I was a pescetarian, I told my friend that my (back then) boyfriend and I would only eat salads. She said “no worries”.

On the actual 31, I just grabbed a couple of trousers, a T- shirt and left. I remember I was kind of excited to celebrate New year’s eve in Argentina.  We got to the place and realized it was not a small party. There were many tables and many barbecues. We had a few glasses of champagne and chatted to different people. To my surprise, the starter for the evening was half a chicken, YES, half a chicken per person. I could not believe it. When they saw we would not eat, they said. "No problem, we’ll sort if for you". Half an hour later, someone arrived with the biggest fish I’ve ever seen in a barbecue. Massive, just for my boyfriend and I, which we had to eat since it had been bought especially for us. The meal was really nice with a lot of friendly people. Then midnight arrived, and I don’t think I had ever greeted and hugged so many people at a party before.

All in all, it was a really memorable occasion. We talked, we danced, and we laughed and had a grand time with a bunch of strangers.

Write about a memorable celebration you can remember.

Include:

When/Where you were

Who you were with

What you did

What made it special

Include any other info you can

Write a minimum of 170 words. Write a comment on your teacher's blog and 3 comments on your classmates’ blogs. Add a picture if you like.