Your six places
Name your six places, in the order you will walk past them. Just the names, in order. Twenty seconds.
A tour has a shape. Put the five moves in the order that makes it followable.
A model, and the rubric
Ninety seconds — Rui
Right, so I am starting at my front door. The whole thing takes about eight minutes, and it is a loop — I finish back here.
Out of the door and left. There is a bakery immediately on the left, and two doors down from it, on the same side, there is a launderette. Directly opposite those two, across the road, there is a small park with a playground in it.
At the end of the road, on the corner, there is a chemist. Turn right there and go along the main road for about two minutes. There are three or four shops on this stretch and a bus stop right outside the chemist — that is the 42, which goes to the station.
You can walk to the station in fifteen minutes if you would rather. You cannot park anywhere on this road between eight and six unless you have a permit.
Then take the first right and you are back at my door.
The rubric — four criteria
| Criterion | What it means | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Followability | A stranger could draw it from the audio alone | 30% |
| Precision | Number, side or relation on every place | 25% |
| Accuracy | There is/are agreement, prepositions, can/can't | 25% |
| Shape | Start, time, route, can/can't, finish | 20% |
Mark Rui against the rubric.
1. How many places does he name?
2. What does he say in the first fifteen seconds that makes the rest followable?
3. Find his least precise phrase.
4. Is that a problem?
The joins, and the sound
Tour joins
Five phrases. They buy thinking time and keep the listener oriented — which is exactly what a voice note needs.
The epenthesis check, second treatment. A tour is full of past-tense-shaped words and hard endings. Say each of these and stop dead — no vowel after the final consonant:
left · walked · stopped · crossed · past · first
Record yourself saying the six. If you hear lefty, walkid or firsti, do it again before you record the tour.
Match each join to the moment in the tour it belongs to.
Draft the skeleton
One word per gap. A skeleton tour — fill the structure, not the content.
Right, so I am at my front door. The whole thing about ten minutes. Out of the door and right. There a newsagent immediately on the right, and two down there is a chemist. Directly , across the road, there two cafés. At the of the road, turn left and go the main road for a minute. You get a bus from there to the centre.
Four sentences a voice note cannot afford. Rewrite each one so a stranger could draw it.
1. There is some shops near there.
2. The café is in front of the park, across the road.
3. Walk in the road for a bit.
4. There are a bus stop.
Record, listen, record again
Task card · Recorded performance
A 90-second voice note touring your neighbourhood, sent to someone who has never been there.
Take two must beat take one on at least two rubric criteria. Take two is what goes in your portfolio.
- Take one (5 min) — six places, no script, no restarting. Bullet points only, if anything.
- Listen once (3 min) for the one error family you chose at the end of Lesson 6. Count it.
- Listen again (3 min) against the rubric. Could a stranger draw it?
- Take two (5 min) — same six places, fixing only what you found.
- Then (4 min) — your partner or teacher listens to take two and draws it, live.
Answer after listening to take one, before recording take two.
1. Which criterion was weakest?
2. Did you say how long it takes, in the first fifteen seconds?
3. What will you change in take two?
The drawing, and three questions
Look at the drawing your listener made from take two. Find the first place it diverges from what you meant. Everything after that point is a consequence, not a separate error.
Then they ask you three questions about the neighbourhood — the syllabus calls this "partner replies with questions", and answering them is half the task.
Answer from the drawing in front of you.
1. Where does the drawing first diverge?
2. Their three questions — could you answer them?
Before the unit task
One question.
1. Next lesson you write 100 words instead of speaking 90 seconds. What has to change?
Before Lesson 8. Keep take two. Do not re-record it.
Bring three photographs of your neighbourhood — your own, taken on your phone. Next lesson you describe a partner's neighbourhood from theirs.