Практический курс английского языка.

1. Situation: Transport

Your English friend is coming to Rybinsk from Moscow and has phoned you how to get there. You and your friend have decided to give him (her) some advice on the best way to travel.

Discuss each possibility (i.e. train, coach (bus) taxi, steamer) taking into consideration time, money and comfort and any other important factors. Then make a decision.

2. Situation: Telephone Conversation

St.A: Your name is Emma Jones and you have a coursework (a home task worth 50% of the semester’s marks) which is due in within 5 days. You are having problems coping with it. It’s 8 p.m. and you are panicking. You phone your best friend Sarah for help. If she cannot help, you will need to phone your teacher, Mrs. Hartley. Decide who will make the phone call-be aware that she will be cross that you have left it so late…

St.B: Your name is Sarah Brown and you have a coursework (a home task worth 50% of the semester’s marks) which is due in within 5 days. You have spent all week working on it, but still feel uncertain. Your best friend Emma phones you to talk to you about the coursework. Suggest arranging to meet your teacher, Mrs. Hartley tomorrow morning – you both need help …

3. Situation: Means of Communication

You and your friend have just arrived in England where you will study for a year and already miss your relatives. Discuss the best way to contact them, taking into consideration price, length of time and availability.

e-mail: three pounds for half an hour at internet cafes and libraries, but available to students at universities and schools for free.

letters: 26p. Per letter, approximately two weeks delivery time.

telephone call: one pound per minute from telephone box, but may be cheaper from an English home.

What is your personal experience and opinion of each of these modes of communication?

4. Situation: Teaching Practice

St. A: You are a trainee at Rybinsk Teacher Training College. You have come to school for teaching practice and have teen told that you are going to teach the seventh formers. What would you like to ask your mentor about the class, the course-book(s), the tame-table, the planning of English lessons, etc.

St. B: You’re an English teacher and a from-mistress of the seventh from, a superviser of the student’s teaching practice. Tell the trainee about the aims of the practice, her responsibilities and what is expected to be done, characterize.

5. Situation: Person’s Character

Discuss the essential factors that help to mould a person’s character with regard to:

-back ground and environment (family, friends and acquaintances, etc);

-education, interest in learning;

-cultural standards (abilities and ambitions, literary, musical, artistic tastes);

-circumstances (adverse and favourable).

6. Situation: Person’s Character

There is an English saying “If only we could see ourselves as other see us, we would probably change our views.” Discuss this idea with your partner. Then speak about some ways and means by which a person’s character is revealed and estimated. Use the following points:

- appearance,

- speech characterization,

-manners and attitudes,

- likes and dislikes with regard to people and things.

7. Situation: Shopping

Discuss with your partner the type of clothes you like to wear, clarify your personal styles: name shops you prefer to do shopping at and justify your preferences.

Say whether you’ve ever made a mistake while shopping for clothes? (i.e. bought smth. that you have never worn, or smth. that you thought you liked in the shop, but later realized that it looked awful when you tried it on at home). Say what you did in such cases and how to avoid such annoying mistakes when you go shopping.

8. Situation: Food

Discuss with your partner the role of food in your life, name products of vital importance; pick out your most favourite and least loved food. Exchange opinions on each other’s choice. If you were on a desert island, which one dish would you choose to eat for the rest of your life? take turns and give us your recipes (do not forget to enumerate all the ingredients).

9. Situation: Free Time. Holidays

Two of you are planning a holiday in summer. Discuss whether you have got or not any previous holiday experience. Explain ideas about a successful holiday, then single out several points necessary for having an enjoyable holiday: place, time of year, length of holiday, company, money, accommodation, price, etc. Indicate your priorities.

10. Situation: Learning English

St. A: You are a mother of a 10-year old pupil who has problems with English (poor reading, spelling and speaking skills). You’ve come to school to ask your son’s teacher for advice.

St. B: You are a school teacher of English. Can you think of any qualities, hints and exercises that might help a pupil in language learning.

Have a discussion and come to a certain conclusion.

11. Situation: Further Education

You are both college graduates wishing to work at school and take further education at University.

Speak about your plans for the near future, your expectations and worries, what you think the ideal school’s priorities should be.

12. Situation: Schooling

A wealthy English couple are trying to choose a school where their son will study.

St. A: You are the father. Try to convince your wife to send the boy to a local comprehensive school. Speak about all the advantages and positive points of this kind of school.

St. B: You are an ambitions mother and think you can afford to pay for an academic education at a public school (compare the facilities, curriculum, in relation to classics, science, sport, computers, discipline and future prospects for a better career).

13. Situation: Travelling

You’ve made up your mind to spend a month after your last year at college together in the Crimea.

One of you suggests to travel there by train, the other tries to persuade her friend to fly by “Aeroflot” air-liner.

Discuss all positive and negative points of both ways of travelling, come to an agreement.

14. Situation: Pre-diploma Teaching Practice

Have a talk about your pre-diploma teaching practice at school: its aims and contents, how you planned your English classes, what visual aids were used, how you were feeling during the lesson, pupils’ reaction and discipline, your impressions and self-assessment.

15. Situation: Food

Discuss a menu for a college-leaving party. Make sure you think about people’s different likes and dislikes, cost, preparation time, drinks, and any other important factors you can think of.

Make your choice.

16. Situation: Teaching Practice

You are students of Rybinsk Teacher Training College and you are going to have teaching practice at the same school. You have been told that both of you will teach in the 7^th forms. Discuss the aims of practice, your responsibilities and expectations, things you would like to know about school, teachers and the seventh formers, speak about teaching practice as a part of education.

17. Situation: A Teacher of English

Give a talk on teaching English. Discuss:

• whether it is easy or difficult to teach English, why;

• which is the most important aspect – grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, why;

• what you like to teach; which aspects; why;

• what you could do to improve your teaching skills.

Speak about English and you, role of an English teacher at school.

Составители: Копотюк И.Г., Добина Н.И., Вишнякова Т.П., Слободская Ю.В.