Communicative Skills – Speaking

 

	This Project has been funded with support from the European Commission.  This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission can not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

 

Make and respond to simple statements

• How do you do?

How do you do?
(“how do you do” is just a greeting, meaning “hello” and the answer is the same)

• How are you today?

There are several possible answers:

• Excellent, thank you.
• I am fine, thank you.
• So-so, thank you.
• Not so well, I am afraid.
• I feel awful.

• Where are you from?

I am from …. (the city, region, country you come from).

• How old are you?

I am …(the number of your years)

• Where do you live?

I live in … (your address)

• What would you like? (frequently asked in restaurants, bars, shops)

I would like a/an … (plus a noun)
I would like to … (plus a verb)

 

Ask and answer simple questions on familiar topics

• Do you like …?

Yes, I do / No, I don’t.

• How is your mother/father/ wife/husband…?

He/she is fine/excellent/so-so/not too bad, thank you.

• What would you like to do?

I would like to go shopping.
I would like to sleep. I would like to have a nap.
I would like to eat/drink something.

• What are you good at?

I can paint and draw.
I can repair sinks.
I can build a house.
I can fix/repair your car.

• What is your profession?

I am a plumber/carpenter/shop assistant/engineer/lawyer.

 

Grammatical elements – present tense continuous

Form of the tense:

Am/are/is + present participle
Affirmative: I am watching a film now.
Negative: I am not drinking beer now.
Interrogative: Is she sleeping now?

Main uses of the tense:

• For actions happening now (this very moment)

E.g. He is eating a cheesecake now.

• Longer action in progress

E.g.  I am learning today for the English test.

• Action that will happen in the near future

E.g. We are meeting the president tonight.

• For irritating actions with “always” or “constantly”

E.g. She is always smoking when she sees me.

 

Describe yourself and your family

If you want to be hired by a manager, you have to sell your image, that is to know how to describe yourself.

The manager’s question can be:

Can you describe yourself in two or three phrases?

Imagine looking yourself into a mirror; it is time to describe what you see:

I am tall/short. I am 25 years old and I live in my beautiful, old town. I am thin, my hair is black and I have green eyes. I am thin and pretty.

I am hardworking, intelligent and I love working in teams.

When describing your family, you must mention the names of your other family members, their age, their profession, some details regarding their physical appearance and some hobbies and interests.

Let’s see two examples:

She is my cousin.                           She is my sister.
Her name is Helen.                        Her name is Mary.
She is twenty-six.                          She is thirty.
She is a teacher.                            She is a waitress.
She has long hair.                      She has short hair.
Her hair is dark.                           Her hair is blonde.
She likes cooking.                        She likes skating.
                           

 

Say what you like and dislike

According to different topics, you can express your likes and dislikes:

Sports
I like/I don’t like playing …(the name of the sport – football, basketball, tennis, badminton etc)
Politics
I like/I don’t like …(politicians, a specific name, parties, ideologies)
Meals
I like/I don’t like … (soup, beef, pork, chicken, milk, tea etc)
You can combine likes and dislikes:
I like coffee but I don’t like coffee and milk.

Describe hobbies and interests

First of all, we have to give a short list of hobbies. Life without a hobby can turn you into a robot.

When we are young, we like to:

• Collect stamps
• Collect badges
• Take up different sports
• Watching cartoons

Later on, when adults, we can have different hobbies:

• Gardening
• Exploring exotic countries
• Cooking
• Rice sculpture
• Body painting

When we talk about interests, we can say that we may be interested in:

• Cosmetics
• Body building
• Fashion
• Jewels
• Natural remedies

When describing hobbies and interests, we must explain why that particular hobby and why that sudden/old interest.
E.g. I am interested in fashion because my sister is a photomodel and she was the cover of a fashion magazine.
E.g. My hobby is gardening because I love flowers and trees very much. I always enjoyed taking care of them.

Give short basic descriptions of events

Speaking about your day at work:
Today, I had a lot of work to do at the office. My boss sent me to the bank with some documents and I had to wait for an hour to deliver them. When I came back,  I had to write several e-mails to our suppliers to order new products. It was a busy and tiresome day.

Grammatical elements: modal verbs

May, can, and must are among the most important modal verbs.

MAY is used to:

• Ask for permission

E.g. May I open the door?

• Express future possibility

E.g. Tom may become a very important politician.

CAN is used to:

• Express ability

E.g. He can ride a bike.

• Express inability

E.g. He cannot drive a bus

• Ask for permission

E.g. Can I tell him the truth?

• Express a request

E.g. Can you help me with my luggage?

MUST is used to:

• Express necessity/obligation

E.g. You must go to Spain.

• Express prohibition

E.g. You mustn’t give him the book.

 

Exercises

• Describe a house (how many rooms, the name of the rooms, what furniture is in each room etc)
• Describe a person (general appearance, size, weight, height, colour of eyes, hair, what clothes he/she wears, what kind of person he/she is)
• Fill in the blanks with either present tense simple or present tense continuous:

  He …………………………….to the radio now. (listen)
  She often …………………….…..in the garden (work)
  This week I …………………………….. a composition. (write)
  Every spring, the wind ……………………..very hard in this region (blow)

• Think of a dialogue between you and your future mother-in-law, who wants to know more about you.
• For easy English conversations go to:

http://www.agendaweb.org/listening/real-english-conversations.html