Preparation for the exam: oral expression & interaction; listening practice ("men are the weaker sex"; families")

Good afternoon everyone,

Today I've started sending off my feedback on your oral presentations (if you haven't received it yet, you'll receive it shortly, don't worry).

Two of the most common comments are (i) that you didn't include enough information (the presentation was incomplete) and (ii) that you didn't use the grammatical structures and/or vocabulary we've seen in class.

As you know, in two weeks' time we have our first evaluation session. As regards speaking, you will be asked to talk about one of the topics we've covered in class:

• Food, eating habits
• Ordering at a restaurant
• Families and relationships
• Stereotypes and differences between men and women
• Money, stress, quality of life
• Changing your city (Slow cities)
• Comparing cities and means of transport

How can you prepare for this at home? Well, take one topic and think about all the things you could say about it. As the exam will be done in pairs, think also about relevant questions that you could ask your partner.

Once you have the ideas, the content, think about the best ways to express them in English. Remember that you are expected to use the grammar and vocabulary we've been working with in class. And, please, use also the expressions we have seen to express our opinion, agree and disagree.

Here you have two links where you can listen to Yvonne and Rob discussing two of the topics we've seen in class. You also have activities and vocabulary:

• Men are the weaker sex

• Families

(This series of podcasts is called "6 minute English", and you can subcribe to it).

See you on Monday / Tuesday!