Conversation Class Week 1 and 2 : Getting to Know You

Welcome

I'm Dale, your teacher. I wonder what questions you are going to ask me (and I will ask you?)
You can find out a little bit about me here :-)

When you meet someone for the first time what questions are OK to ask?
What things are OK to talk about? Which things are not OK to talk about?

Exercise 1

Decide if these questions and comments are POLITE (OK) ✓or IMPOLITE ✘(not OK) when you talk to someone for the first time ...

• What do you do for a living?
• Why don't you have any children?
• Tell me a little about yourself
• Whereabouts do you live?
• What's your street and house number?
• How old are you?
• Have you visited any other countries?
• Do you play or follow any sports?
• You're really good looking, you know.
• How long have you been in Australia?
• What shocking weather we're having!

Download this worksheet for you and partner to complete

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Exercise 2 : Practice Dialogue : Making Conversation (OUP)

Click here or on the picture above to visit the OUP site.

We will use this dialogue in class but you can also use it at home for your own practice.
Print the dialogue and change it to talk about you in your local area.

Exercise 3 : Watch Our ESL Soapie for the Semester ...

"Sisters and Brothers" (Living English / Australia Plus) 

Pay attention to what people say when meeting one another for the first time ...

 

Spelling Names

Watch these people introducing themselves and spelling their names ...



You can do some simple exercises about the video here. (from Real English - Lesson 6)

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Grammar : Past Simple for Talking about Ourselves
This week and next we will focus on the Past Simple for talking about ourselves just in the way Maria and Carmen did in the stories we read (Passages to English 2)

We need to know how to form the past with regular verbs (using -ed / d)

We need to know some irregular past verbs (eg. make ---> made)

We need to know how to form questions (using the helping verb "Did / Didn''t ...?"

Lots of exercises here (just do a few) (First English Org)

Many people new to English find the correct pronunciation of -ED difficult because it changes depending on the final sound of some verbs --- /id/ /t/ /d/

Here is a chart to help you ... (Woodward English)

Watch the video if you need to practice more ...


That's it ... see you next Wednesday!