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Unit 1
Speaking task: Describing people
The first steps in improving your FCE mark it to focus on vocabulary.
Circle which words you believe are stronger or less common.
Strong Muscular Clever Smart
Tiny Small Thin Slender
Nice Generous Elderly Old
Hard-worker Dedicated Healthy Athletic
Fat Obese Dependable Helpful
Conservative Shy Heroic Brave
Happy Content Talented Dynamic
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People you may have to describe:
Spouse Siblings Half-brother
Sisters-in-law Fianc Cousins
Stepbrother Hero Neighbor
Offspring Sports star Singer
When you are asked to describe someone, you should focus on three
areas: mind, body, and action.
Example: Please describe your mother-in-law.
Sample answer: My mother-in-law is clever, slim, and often gossips with
our neighbors.
Mind
Body
Behavior
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If you cannot find synonyms to replace the word, add adjectives or adverbs
instead.
Example: He is tall.
He is quite tall. Soft voice
He is extremely tall.Strong voice
He is outrageously tall. Showing shock or amazement
***Note: Do not choose vocabulary words which are too difficult to
pronounce!
The next step is to improve coherence and cohesion. Can you explain your
ideas and link sentences to increase understanding and rhythm? Look atthe following sentence:
My mother-in-law is clever, slim, and often gossips with our neighbors.
There are three ideas:
a. Clever
b. Slim
c. Gossip
You must be able to state your idea and support your ideas by explaining
or giving examples. Ideasupport
Example: My mother is clever. For example, she was able to fix my
motorbike without using any tools.
Next link other ideas. Ideasupportlinknew ideasupport
Example: My mother is clever. For example, she was able to fix my
motorbike without using any tools. In addition, she is quite slim for a
Vietnamese girl. An average girl in Vietnam weights around 45kilos;
however, my dear mom is around 30 kilos. Interestingly, she often gossips
with our neighbors. They often talk about shopping and complain about
their husbands.
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Use the following vocabulary to do the task below:
Attractive Polite Generous
Optimistic Arrogant Pessimistic
Selfish Get along with Look up to
You could also use vocabulary from your book or the other
table.
Describe a family member you often spend time with:
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Describe one of your cousins:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
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Seem Appear May/Might
Would Could Must
Describe this person.
Sample answer: This individual appears to be quite strange. For instance,
he has a frightening smile. Also, I dont know anyone that would stand in
such a way.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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Describe the people in the photo.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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Describe these photos using the word box.
Celebration
Joyful
Seem
Appear
May
Content
Slender/slim
Tiny
Obese