Twenty-four units of vocabulary, ninety seconds
Without looking at anything: name as many things as you can from Units 1 to 3. Places in a town, geography words, time markers, irregular past forms. Ninety seconds, out loud.
Your teacher counts. This is a recall test of your own three units, and the number is worth knowing.
Six things you have met before. Match each to the unit that taught it.
Someone who asks, and someone who does not
Conversation A
Rui: What did you do at the weekend?
Elsa: I went to my sister's. Nothing special.
Rui: Oh, right.
Elsa: …
Rui: …Well, I stayed in.
Conversation B
Rui: What did you do at the weekend?
Elsa: I went to my sister's. Nothing special.
Rui: Where does she live?
Elsa: About two hours away, near the coast.
Rui: Nice. Did you go by train?
Elsa: No, I drove. It took four hours because of the traffic.
Rui: Four hours? That's awful. Did you stay the night, then?
Elsa: I did, yeah. We ended up staying up until two talking about our mother.
Both conversations start with exactly the same two lines. Answer from what happens after that.
1. What does Rui do differently in Conversation B?
2. Elsa's first answer is identical in both. So what makes Conversation B longer?
3. Rui says Four hours? That's awful. What is that doing?
4. Count Rui's questions in B. What tense are they all in, and what word do they all contain?
The three follow-up moves
What Rui actually does
| Move | Looks like | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Ask for detail | Where does she live? Did you go by train? | Gives them somewhere specific to go |
| React | Four hours? That's awful. Nice. | Shows you were listening |
| Echo and extend | Did you stay the night, then? | Builds on what they just said |
The rule for the rest of this unit. Never accept a first answer. One follow-up minimum, every time. Nothing special is not the end of a topic — it is the beginning of one.
Match each of Rui's lines to the move it is making. Two of them are the same move.
Build the questions
One word per gap. These are the follow-up questions — you will need them in twenty minutes.
A: I went to a concert on Saturday.
B: did you go with?
A: My brother.
B: you enjoy it?
A: Not really, it was too loud.
B: didn't you like it?
A: I could not hear anything.
B: long did it last?
A: Three hours.
B: Three hours? you stay to the end, then?
A: No, we . We left after an hour.
Build the question. Put the parts in the order English demands.
Six questions minimum
Task card · Speaking · Diagnostic
Find out what your teacher did last weekend. All of it.
Six questions minimum, and a follow-up after every answer. Your teacher gives short, unhelpful answers on purpose.
- They will answer Nothing much and Just stayed in until you make them say more.
- Use at least two Wh- questions, two yes/no questions, and two reactions.
- Then report back: three things you found out, in the past simple, third person.
Two decisions, made now rather than mid-question.
1. Which is right?
2. They said they went to the cinema. Which follow-up is best?
The count
Your teacher counted your questions. Answer before you hear the number.
1. How many questions did you ask?
2. What was hardest?
3. How often did you follow up after an answer?
Before Lesson 2
One question.
1. Someone says Nothing special. What do you do?
Informal input, before Lesson 2. One All Ears English episode on weekend small talk. Write down every question the hosts ask each other — exactly, word for word.
Five questions is enough. Copy them, do not summarise them: next lesson we look at how they are built, and a paraphrase loses the thing we are looking at.