Chunks for conversation

We use these expressions to keep the conversation flow. Choose some of them to use in the speaking paper. Be careful! Some of them are too informal! Which ones would you pick?

Stating an opinion

In my opinion...
The way I see it...
If you want my honest opinion....
According to Lisa...
As far as I'm concerned...
If you ask me...

Asking for an opinon

What's your idea?
What are your thoughts on all of this?
How do you feel about that?
Do you have anything to say about this?
What do you think?
Do you agree?
Wouldn't you say?

Expressing agreement

I agree with you 100 percent.
I couldn't agree with you more.
That's so true.
That's for sure.
(slang) Tell me about it!
You're absolutely right.
Absolutely.
That's exactly how I feel.
Exactly.
I'm afraid I agree with James.
I have to side with Dad on this one.
No doubt about it.
(agree with negative statement) Me neither.
(weak) I suppose so./I guess so.
You have a point there.
I was just going to say that.

Expressing disagreement

I don't think so.
(strong) No way.
I'm afraid I disagree.
(strong) I totally disagree.
I beg to differ.
(strong) I'd say the exact opposite.
Not necessarily.
That's not always true.
That's not always the case.
No, I'm not so sure about that.

Interruptions

Can I add something here?
Is it okay if I jump in for a second?
If I might add something...
Can I throw my two cents in?
Sorry to interrupt, but...
(after accidentally interrupting someone) Sorry, go ahead.
OR Sorry, you were saying...
(after being interrupted) You didn't let me finish.

Settling an argument

Let's just move on, shall we?
Let's drop it.
I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.
(sarcastic) Whatever you say./If you say so.

Here are a few more expressions you can use. Be careful! Some of them might be too strong! Which ones would you choose?

Asking for Opinions

What do you think?
What's your opinion?
What are your ideas?
Do you have any thoughts on this?
How do you feel about this?

Agreeing

I agree (with name).
So do I.
Me too.
Me neither. (Agreeing about a negative idea.)
I don't either. (Agreeing about a negative idea.)
You're/he's/she's right.
That's right.
Good idea.
I think that's a good idea.
That's a good point.

Giving Opinions

I think ...
I don't think ...
I believe (that) ...
I don't believe (that) ...
In my opinion, ...
I feel (that) ...
Disagreeing

I don't think so.
I think that's not right.
I have a different idea.
Yes, but...
(I'm sorry, but) I don't agree (with that/with name).
(I'm sorry, but) I disagree (with that/with name).


Asking for Opinions

What do you think?
What's your opinion?
What are your ideas?
Do you have any thoughts on this?
How do you feel about this?

Agreeing

I agree (with name).
So do I.
Me too.
Me neither. (Agreeing about a negative idea.)
I don't either. (Agreeing about a negative idea.)
You're/he's/she's right.
That's right.
Good idea.
I think that's a good idea.
That's a good point.

Giving Opinions

I think ...
I don't think ...
I believe (that) ...
I don't believe (that) ...
In my opinion, ...
I feel (that) ...

Disagreeing

I don't think so.
I think that's not right.
I have a different idea.
Yes, but...
(I'm sorry, but) I don't agree (with that/with name).
(I'm sorry, but) I disagree (with that/with name).

Rounding off our first months

Howdy!

If you still haven't done all the papers in test 1 and 2, you still have time to catch up with work. Next week we're moving on to tests 3 and 4. To be more precise, reading and use of English! You'll also get feedback on the oral tests!

Reading about different topics such as traveling, cultures, careers, places and professions is a good way to prepare for the oral test and the writing tasks.

I recommend you visit the websites suggested and do the exercises.

Explore the site and have fun!

Cheers,
Teresa

Speaking - PAPER 5

Dear candidates,

Most of you have already had the chance to experience the PAPER 5 in the past two weeks. It is indeed a very challenging task and that's why we will repeat it two more times before the big day. Here's a useful tip for this type of task:

Do use some of the expressions we learned on Monday 28. And when you use them do sound natural and don't overuse them. Examiners don't want to hear two or three expressions at a time. Be subtle!

Rehearsing ( in the good sense ) will do you no harm, so it's a good idea to think of ways to insert some of those expressions in everyday speech.

That's what we will do next class!

Native speakers will use them here and there!

One thing that you can do is watch a talk show on Youtube (David Letterman, for example) and observe what speakers say to keep the conversation going. How do they agree or disagree with each other? Bring your findings next class.

Food for thought!

Have a nice holiday!
Teresa

Key to task done in class

Here's the key to the exercise on verbs of speculation:

Exercise 1: Here are the five sentences that were incorrect. I've corrected them for you:

1. 1. I can't find my keys. I think I might have left them on my desk at work.

3. Sally's not answering the phone. She might have gone away for the weekend or perhaps she's just gone to the shops.

6. ... or it might not be the right size. Who knows?

7. Jim can't be going out with Sue; she's just got engaged to Doug.

9. It's a shame Mark hasn't come. He must have decided to stay at home.


Exercise 2: possible answers

1. He must have been running/He could have overworked last night
2. He must be on a diet/He's definetely on a diet/He could have eaten too much/He might have already eaten lunch/He might have a stomachache
3.THere must be something going on/There might be a parade today/The subway trains might have stopped working
4. She can't have watered them/There must have been a heat/She could have forgotten to water them/She must have left them in the sun for too long
5. THere might have been a crime/ Some neighbor might have seen something/Someone might have been murdered
6. He must have had a promotion/He might have received good news/It seems he has received good news/He can't have lost his job/ He could have won some money
7. Something must be going on/Something must have happened/ Those people might have seen something
9. you must have forgotten where exactly; this neighborhood is very safe/Your car might have been towed away/ Your car must have been towed away --- this is non parking zone/You might have parked it somewhere else you don't remember/You could have left your car in the parking lot (it is safer there) but you didn't!/You can't have parked your car here (look! it's not even a parking spot!)/They could not have towed your park away

Preparing for PAPER 5 - Speaking

Speaking is fundamentally an act that involves at least two participants. And because it is spontaneous, its outcome is unpredictable. Since it is part of our everyday lives, we should reflect on how we carry on a conversation in Portuguese to have a better understanding of what examiners expect us to do in the speaking test.

Along with speech, we use gestures, intonation, eye contact (a feature of our culture)and even our clothes say a lot abou our points of view and perspectives. It is the same in English. Here are some features of spoken language:

It is spontaneous;
In friendly conversations, we interact with our interlocutor and do everything possible to keep the conversation going;
We say 'hum hum' for example to show that we are listening;
we ask questions to know more details and build our speech on what our interlocutor has said, that is, they say something and we complement it;
gestures and facial expressions are there;
intonation is used to emphasize meaning: I bought ONE jacket, not TWO.
We make sure our voice is loud enough so that our interlocutor can hear us;
Use of 'fixed' expressions, for example, 'To my surprise...' 'not to mention...'

These are only a few features of spoken language and English and Portuguese speakers share these features. Eye contact for example is not a feature of some cultures, where speakers would be offended by that.

In this part of the test the candidate should convey ideas clearly and naturally and though there should be no rehearsal of longer sentences or whatsoever, it is always a good idea to have some expressions on the tip of our tongues to use when the situation requires us to do use them. Native speakers use them all the time so we should do the same and insert them in our speech.

In part 2 of the speaking test you are supposed to talk about photographs. Here are some expressions you can use:

Well ...
Let me see...
What else can I say?
Is there anything I can add to that?
I'm not quite sure, but I think...
I haven't thought about it before, but perhaps...
I don't really know, but I think...

We use these expressions to 'buy time' when we don't know exactly what to say. Remember that ideas come to mind at the moment we are speaking and we may need some time to elaborate on them before we actually say things.

Here are more expressions we can use especially in part 3 (collaborative task)

In opinion,...
To my mind...
From my point of view...
Personally, I think...
I strongly believe...
I totally agree...
I think so, too.
I agree up to a point.
I really don't agree.
I completely disagree.

Note that these expressions are used to talk about your opinion. Which ones sound less assertive?

Throughout the speaking test you are going to evaluate things and the words interesting, boring, good and bad are very common in everyday English. In fact, they are so common that they have become commonplace and you should avoid using them as they have lost much of the impact. What other words could we use to replace them? Here are a few suggestions:

GOOD - pleasant, agreeable, exceptional, excellent,satisfactory, sound, splendid, ,gratifying, superb, valuable, worthy, favorable, tip-top, neat, bad, awesome,super, respectable, positive, congenial,praiseworthy, pure, outstanding ...

INTERESTING -absorbing, appealing, affecting, amusing, amazing, captivating, beautiful, compelling, charismatic, attractive, impressive, intriguing, inviting, enthralling, stimulating, stirring, engaging, enchanting, thought-provoking, unusual...

BORING - dull, commonplace, dead, uninteresting, flat, colorless, prosaic, mundane, interminable, a drag, a bummer, unvaried, stuffed, wearisome, trite, stale, zero,spiritless, monotonous, routine, frivolous, repetitious, lifeless, tame, tedious,...

BAD - abominable, awful, horrible, careless, cheap, defective, erroneous, falty, crummy, downer, dreadful, incorrect, gross, icky, unsatisfactory, unacceptable, substandard, lousy, junky, inferior, off, poor, rough, imperfect, amiss, atrocious, mean, deficient, ...

As you can see, meanings for 'bad' can range from 'inferior' to 'atrocious'. Because 'bad' is so generic, it has taken different connotations along time. To be more precise we should use other words, but be careful when using them. Some words can be used to determine people while others can't. The possible combinations of a word are called 'collocations' and English speakers would accept the following:

The professor delivered a flat speech and the audience lost interest.

but would they accept

The professor delivered a tame speech...

Find out!

Well, most dictionaries give collocations. Why don't you look a few of these words up and include examples in your glossaries?

See you soon!
Teresa

Breaking news about our book!!!

It has just been confirmed that the book for this semester is:

FIRST CERTIFICATE IN ENGLISH 1 (updated exam)

Make sure you buy a copy with answers and that contains the updated exam papers.

This book contains four past tests, that is, FCE tests that were used in previous years. Each test contains five papers:

PAPER 1 - Reading
PAPER 2 - Writing parts 1 and 2
PAPER 3 - Use of English
Paper 4 - Listening
PAPER 5 - Speaking parts 1,2,3 and 4

Most of the book will be used in class, so it's important that we all have the books next week (August 24).

FIRST CERTIFICATE IN ENGLISH 1 should be available at SBS this week. If you're looking for another option, try DISAL bookstore on Real Grandeza street.

Please visit their websites for more information and contact:

www.sbs.com.br
www.disal.com.br

In the meantime feel free to explore the blog and leave your comments if you like. Don't forget to read the older posts as they contain useful information on all the papers.

Please check our February post on the set texts for the FCE. In the FCE exam you can read one or two books and write about them in PAPER 2 if you like. PAPER 2 part 2 contains 4 tasks, which may be a letter, a story, a report or an article and the 4th task is about one of the books you have read. I recommend that candidates read the books in order to have one more option in the writing paper in case they run out of ideas (or inspiration, as you might say) when attempting to do the other tasks.

In other words, it's just one more card up your sleeve!

Have a nice week!

Teresa

Our message to newcomers!

Welcome to our blog! If it's your first visit, feel free to explore it. Make sure you read the older posts as they contain useful tips for all the exam papers. In our first class we focused on the importance of context, coherence and cohesion in both written and oral communication (with focus on papers 1, 2, and 5). We also had an overview of all the papers:

PAPER 1 - READING
PAPER 2 - WRITING
PAPER 3 - USE OF ENGLISH
PAPER 4 - LISTENING
PAPER 5 - SPEAKING

Next class we will focus on Papers 3 and 4.
Looking forward to meeting you again next week!
Cheers,
Teresa