Sixty seconds about you
Talk first, tidy up later. Do not prepare and do not write anything down.
Tell your teacher about yourself for one minute. Start now — the clock is already running.
You will do this again in Lesson 8. Today is the photograph we compare it with, so an imperfect minute is more useful than a rehearsed one.
Before you listen to anyone else: when an English speaker introduces themselves, what order does the information usually come in? Put your prediction in place.
Three people, ninety seconds each
Read all three before you look at the questions. Do not stop at words you do not know.
Marina · Santos → São Paulo
My name is Marina. I am from Santos, on the coast, but I live in São Paulo now. I work in a hospital — I am a nurse. I have one brother and I do not have children. On my days off I swim, and I watch a lot of films. I do not really like cooking, so I eat out most nights.
Tobias · Hamburg → Berlin
I am Tobias and I live in Berlin. I am from a small town near Hamburg. I teach maths at a secondary school. I have two daughters — they are eight and eleven. I get up at half past five, because school starts early here. In the evening I usually run, three or four times a week.
Priya · Manchester
My name is Priya. I am from Manchester and I still live here. I study architecture, and I work in a café at weekends. I do not have any brothers or sisters. I hardly ever watch television — I read instead.
Notice three things before your teacher explains anything:
- Three verbs do almost all the work in all three texts. Which three?
- Was your predicted order in Phase 01 right? Which speaker breaks it?
- Two speakers say how often they do something. Find both, and look at where the word sits.
Now check what you noticed. Nothing here has been taught yet — a wrong answer costs you nothing.
1. Which three verbs carry almost every sentence in the three introductions?
2. Priya breaks the usual order. What does she leave until last?
3. Tobias says I usually run. Priya says I hardly ever watch television. Where does the frequency word sit?
4. All three speakers use the present simple. What are they describing?
The seven questions
You cannot introduce yourself into silence. Someone has to ask — and today that someone is you.
Question words, and what each one buys you
| Word | Asks for | Example |
|---|---|---|
What | a thing or an activity | What do you do? |
Where | a place | Where are you from? |
Who | a person | Who do you live with? |
When | a time | When do you start work? |
Why | a reason | Why do you live in São Paulo? |
How often | a frequency | How often do you swim? |
How many | a number | How many brothers do you have? |
Match each question word to the single kind of answer it demands. One of them is the only one that cannot be answered with a fact.
The one rule that breaks Portuguese speakers. In English the question word comes first, then do or are, then the person. Always in that order.
Where do you work? ✓ · Where you work? ✗ · Where works you? ✗
Portuguese lets you ask Onde você trabalha? with no auxiliary at all. English does not. This is the single most common error in this unit.
Build the interview
Accuracy first. You will need these exact questions in the next phase.
One word per gap. Elena is being interviewed for a language-school placement — write the question words she was asked.
A: is your name?
B: Elena.
A: And are you from?
B: I am from Porto.
A: do you do?
B: I work in a bookshop.
A: do you live with?
B: My sister.
A: does the bookshop open?
B: At ten, every day except Sunday.
A: How do you go back to Porto?
B: Twice a year.
A: only twice?
B: Because the train is expensive.
Every sentence has exactly one error, and every error is the auxiliary rule from Phase 03. Rewrite the whole question correctly.
1. Where you live?
2. What time you start work?
3. How many brothers you have?
4. Where are you work?
5. Why you live in São Paulo?
Interview, then report
The questions were the practice. This is the point of them.
Task card · Speaking
Interview your teacher. Then report what you found out.
Ask at least seven questions, one with each question word from Phase 03. Take notes — you cannot report what you did not write down.
- You ask, your teacher answers. Do not let them ask you anything back until you have all seven.
- Then close your notes and report: Her name is… She is from… She lives in…
- Report for one minute, in the third person. That is the hard part, and it is deliberate.
Reporting frame. Take the frame, not the words — filling it in with your own interview is the task.
Her name is ___. She is from ___, but she lives in ___ now. She ___ (work / study). She has ___. In her free time she ___. She ___ (frequency) ___.
One decision to make before you open your mouth. Your notes say work in a hospital. You are talking about someone else.
1. Which is correct?
2. And the negative?
What broke
Name it now and Lesson 6 has something to repair.
Answer honestly. Nobody scores this and your answer changes what Lesson 6 contains.
1. During the interview, which was hardest?
2. And in the report — what happened most often?
Your error log starts today. Your teacher wrote down every mistake in this lesson. You will see that list again in Lesson 6, and you will fix it yourself.
Between now and next time
Close everything else. Match each question to the answer it produced today.
Informal input, before Lesson 2. Listen to one episode of Easy Stories in English (beginner level, around fifteen minutes). You are not studying it. Just note two things the narrator says about a daily routine.
Bring the two things to Lesson 2. We start with them.