Writing Listening Reading Speaking Tasks

8/14/2019 Writing Listening Reading Speaking Tasks

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WRITING TASK

Description of graphs

VERBS/EXPRESSION

To rise

To increase

To go up

To double

To reach a peak / dip

To drop

To decrease

To decline

To fall

To reach the lowest point / to hit the

lowest point

To reach a decline

To hold / remain steady

Remain the same

To be constant

To reach a plateau

To level off

To fluctuate

A fluctuation

ADJECTIVES/ADVERBS

Gradual / gradually

Steady / steadily

Slight /slightly

Gentle / gently

Dramatic / dramatically

Steep / steeply

Sharp / sharply

Considerable / considerably

Significant / significantly

TIME EXPRESSIONS

For the period

Since 1970

For the years

Over the five years period

Between 1980 and 1990

In 1987

By the beginning of

By the end of

WRITING TASK


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Making a short essay Linking

words & useful language

INTRODUCTION

First of all, I would like to say that

The first thing to consider when

discussing about x is that

Theres no doubt that

One of the main arguments put

forward for x is that

I strongly agree / disagree with the

statement that

Although some people say that, ,

I believe that

BODY

o General expressions:

It can generallyobserved that

However

In addiction to

In support of

In fact

It has been observedthat

o Expressions for giving

reasons and examples from

knowledge or experience:

Firstly,

Firstly I want to

consider that,

The most important

point is

The next most

important point is

Secondly,

Next,

One / an example /

Illustration of this is

A clear example of this

is,

BODY (follow)

o Expressions for giving

reasons and examples from

knowledge or experience

(follow):

I can illustrate this withan example from my

own experience such

as

A clear demonstration

of the fact arise from

o Expressing point of views,opinions:

I (firmly) believe that

Im convinced that

I believe in

It seems to me that

I tend to think that

It is generally acceptedthat

Im strongly inclined tobelieve that

o Rejecting or refusing anargument:


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Im unconvinced that

I dont believe that

It is hard to accept that

Theres little evidence

to support the fact that

It is unjustifiable to saythat

[argument]. But Imstrongly inclined tosuspect that

o Defining / explain better:

By this I mean

By I mean In other words

On the other hand

This is to say that

To be more precise

Here Im (not) referringto

CONCLUSION

To sum up

Overall

In the final analysis

Finally

In conclusion

To conclude

Ultimately

While

Although

Despite the fact that

Admittedly

Certainly

I would conclude by saying that

o Describing a process:

When you describe a process from apictorial form like diagram, tables andso on, you must keep the samestructure for the essay:

[Intro]

[Body]

[Final summary]

But, you must often use the passiveform:

[positive sentence] To be + Pastparticiple

[negative sentence] To be + not+ Pastparticiple.

________________________________

EXAMPLES OF USE OF THE LINKINGWORDS:

1 ) I dont believe that Internet is auseful source for children. Theres toomuch uncensored material.

2) I dont believe that running is goodfor you. Your body will get manyphysical injuries

3) On the past working life of the peoplewas focused around a single careerpath. By this I mean that, for example,

after the graduation the people got ajob in their sector and

4) Nowadays the life of all motherstends to be very busy by the work, andtheir child need of day care assistance,although a good stuff should be thespecial attentions that a mother onlycan give.Or: assistance. Certainly, is it truethat a good stuff .

5) A benefit of having too much cars incities is a fast building of more road,despite of an increase in car users.Or: more road, despite the fact thatan increase in car users makes thecities very busy.

DONT FORGET WHEN YOUWRITE AN ESSAY

DONT GO OUT OF TOPIC

!Important is :


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- reading carefully the topic- organize ideas- make sure of having an intro,

body and conclusion. All in

250 words.- avoid repetitions

DONT FORGET WHEN YOUWRITE, IN GENERAL

MAKE SURE OF HAVING:

[INTRO]1*

[BODY]

[FINAL SUMMARY]2*

*for a graph:1*: you must write what the graph isshowing about;2*: you must summarizing theinformation and make comparisons ifrelevant.

________________________________________

VOCABULARY:

Wickedness:

Astride

To sink

Stake

Nest

Whom

Crackle

Scorched deck

To slip (slipped)

Tremble Dreadful

Fractious

Shards

Unceasingly

Jabbed

Bewailed

Siege

To stifle

Hallmark

Likelihood

Redoubts Cusp

Slanted

Splayed

Lexicon

Siege

Warfare

Digging

Saps Dug

Pummeling

LISTENING TASK

Basic concept

In listening you must be very carefulin getting these things:

Whos speaking?

Wheres the conversation? Whats the topic?

Why are they speaking?

IMPORTANT: during a conversationyou must get the speakingsituation (i.e: study moment,during a lesson, walking on a road),who are the speakers (i.e:students, strangers, principalsschool), the topic of theconversation (i.e: the main reasonfor speaking)and the reason forgetting a conversation, for exampleasking for the hours of the next

lecture, and this is you can note intoa conversation by the tone of thevoice (voice calm, voice of a peoplein a hurry), something emotiverelated.

Getting specific information

In a conversation, when werelooking for some particularinformation, we must gettingobviously:

The context


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Whore the speakers

The topic

But not only, in fact we must listencarefully for:

Names Nouns

Places

Numbers (i.e.: phone numbers,driving licence, home address)

Dates

Hours (from to ) am, pm.

TIPSfor solving the specific task, wemust:

Look at the table and seeing iftherere pics or logos, these areuseful for getting the context;

Look for the type of infos, likenumbers and so on.

Identifying detailDuring a conversation thereresome other specific informationlike details.Listening describing words wecan get specific details about atopic or an object.So, some describing words arerelated to:

o Sizeo Coloro Ageo Shapeo Type of material

o Number of x (x= people,cars)

Some words like: stripes, spots,handle, curved, straight, point,

pointed are useful for describingor identifying an object.

TIPSfor solving the task we must:

Underline the infos

Look at the pics

Make an association infos - pics

Identifying main ideas

This is the core of aconversation. In fact for gettingthe main ideas of a conversation,we must enter ideally into theconversation and replacing oneof the people speaking: you are

one of the listeners!

So, as previous seen, veryimportant:

Getting the context or situation

You are one of the listeners!

Selecting the interestedinformation

The intonation of a speech

During a conversation pay attentionto the intonation of speech.Different intonation = differentmeaning of a speech.

Signpost words

In written task youve the linkingwords, here youve the signpostwords. Their function is to introduceideas, to make comparisons and soon.Here we go:

- Leading towards a comparison- Leading towards a contrast or

opposite


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- Introducing an example of whatwas said earlier

- Suggesting cause and effect orresult

- Providing additional information

- Setting out the stage of a talk.

Summarizing, into a conversationweve to consider:

- CONTEXT- WHO ARE THE SPEAKERS- INTONATION AND VOICE

STRESS- SIGNPOST WORDS.

Reading task

Every time that you must deal witha reading situation dont forget the5 main basic questions to askyourself:

THE 5 QUESTIONS

- What type of text is it?(scientific, novel, newspaper

article)- Who was it written for?(everyone, special public )

- What the subject?- Why was the text written?

(divulgation)- Why would somebody read the

text? (the reason for reading it)

These are important questions toask yourself at every article,

here start a sort of textinteraction!

Getting information fromthe text

As in listening task you must be ableto get some specific information by

recognizing the so called keywords, here is the same, by keysentences.

o Match the headings

Look at the title and,if therere, sub -headings, pictures

Ask yourself the 5

questions Go to the exercise

section and askyourself: what must I do?

Read the instructionvery carefully

Go to the text andparaphrase

Underline the keywords / sentenceswho may help you

Come back to theexercise (list ofheadings) and matchthe suitable one.

Skimming process must be usealways, but very useful inparagraphing exercise.

Labelling a diagram

In some exercise you must give ademonstration of getting veryspecific details and, therefore,completing a diagram.

So, here are some tips:

Look the text for

pictures, headings 5 questions


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go to the exercisesection: What must Ido?

Back to the text

You must isolate the

portion of the articlewhere spoken aboutthe diagram (savetime)

Skim the selectedportion

Underline any keywords or sentencewho can help you

Put the keyword into

the diagram

Identifying main supportingideas

This is the first hardest part of thetest. In fact you must, quickly as youcan, recognize ideas and supportingpoints (examples that make moreclear a previous idea).

So, here some tips:

Look at the articlefor pictures,headings, sub headings (if thereare)

Ask the 5questions

Identify main ideasand relatedsupporting points bykey words orsentences. Usually asupporting point isan example or asentence that helpsyou make more clearthe text.So it can begin with:

For example, Itcould be seen by Xprocess and so

on. However,something that giveyou a more clearexplanation.

Identifying opinion/attitudesand making inferences

The second hardest part is thisone, but with if we stay veryconcentrated and calm, thegame is well done!

o Identify fact, opinion and

claim:

TIPS

Look at the text fortitle, pictures,headings, sub headings and so on

Ask the 5questions

Underline keysentences or wordswho can helps you into do so.

A fact isrecognizable, forexample by: is avariation in, it isa reflex caused by, thats notunder;

An opinion by: I findplaying to X verydifferent from

A claim by: Basedon our findings. :are likely to beminimal.


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Reading task (continue)

o YES , NO AND NOT GIVEN:

TIPS:

Read very carefullythe rubric taskinstruction

NO = claimexpressed in thequestion is theopposite of the viewin the passage

NOT GIVEN = you

can find nothingabout this idea in thepassage

The questions will bepresented in theorder in which theanswers occur in thetext

Underline the keywords on thequestions

Come back to thetext and look for thekeywords

If you find them, in aparaphrasing way aswell, check if is YESor NO

If you dont findinformation, then isNOT GIVEN

Summarizing, into a readingsituation we must do, for everyarticle:

- Look at the title, pictures,headings, sub headings

- Ask yourself the 5 questions,this help you to interact with thetext

- Go to the rubric instruction and

read it very carefully

- Come back to the text and getthe related information for doingthe task

Documents

Writing Listening Reading Speaking Tasks