Your evidence, out loud
Say your two pieces of evidence to your partner — just the evidence, with no prediction attached. They guess what you are going to predict.
If they guess right, your evidence is doing its job.
Six phrases for getting from one prediction to the next. Match each to what it signals.
Three minutes, transcribed
Priya · three predictions about her town
The one I am most confident about is the station. They have been surveying it for two years and last month they fenced off the car park. It will reopen as flats. I would put money on it.
The second thing — and this one is less certain — is the market. Half the stalls are empty on a Tuesday now, and the ones that are left are the ones selling to tourists. I think it will probably survive, but not as a market for people who live here.
And this is where I could easily be wrong. I do not think the bypass will ever be built. They have promised it since before I was born. On the other hand, if the station really does become flats, the traffic argument gets much stronger, and then it might happen after all.
So those are the three. Flats, definitely. The market, probably, in some form. The bypass, probably not — unless the flats change everything.
Four questions about the structure of Priya’s three minutes.
1. She orders her three predictions from most confident to least. Why?
2. Every prediction has evidence before it. What does that change?
3. In the third prediction she argues against herself. Is that a weakness?
4. The last paragraph repeats all three in nine words. What is it for?
Where three minutes comes from
What fills the time
| Add | Question to ask yourself | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence | What have you actually seen or read? | 20 seconds each |
| A number or a date | How long, how many, since when? | 10 seconds |
| The counter-argument | What would somebody who disagrees say? | 25 seconds |
| A condition | What would have to be true for this to change? | 15 seconds |
| A ranking | Which of your three is strongest, and why? | 15 seconds |
| The summary | All three, in one sentence each | 15 seconds |
Five moves. Put them in the order Priya used them.
Build the three minutes
Task card · Planning · Individual · 6 minutes
Three minutes of speech from a page of notes. Words and phrases only — full sentences get read aloud and it shows.
A page with three blocks and four lines under each.
- Prediction one: the claim, two pieces of evidence, the modal and adverb you will use.
- Prediction two: the same, plus the phrase that marks it as less certain.
- Prediction three: the claim, the counter-argument, and the condition that would change your mind.
- A summary line: all three, one clause each, with one adverb apiece.
One to four words per gap. This is what your second prediction should sound like.
The second thing — and — is the market. Half the stalls empty on a Tuesday now. I think it survive, but not in the same form. , the council has just spent money on the roof, and people do not spend money on buildings they are about to close. the roof means anything, I am wrong about this one.
Three minutes, twice
Task card · Speaking · Round one · 3 minutes each
Your partner does not know your town. Notes on the table; you may glance at the three headings only.
Three minutes. Three predictions, ranked, each with evidence.
- Open with the one you are most confident about, and say why you are confident.
- Mark the second as less certain, out loud.
- On the third, argue against yourself and give the condition that would change your mind.
- One modal and one adverb per prediction, in the right order.
- Finish with the nine-word summary. If you run out at two minutes, add evidence, not predictions.
Listener’s job. Three columns, all three filled:
1. Where each prediction sits on the scale, from the words alone — not from what you already believe.
2. Every place will appeared after when, if, until or as soon as.
3. Two questions, written down before you ask them. Both correctly formed.
Between the rounds — three minutes, silent. Read the three columns. Did your listener place your predictions where you meant them to go?
If prediction two landed as "certain", your hedge did not work. Write down which phrase you will use instead, and nothing else.
Task card · Speaking · Round two · New partner · 3 minutes
Same three predictions, new listener, same clock, notes face down.
Three minutes with the hedge that failed replaced, and the evidence expanded where you ran short.
- No notes. You know the three by now.
- The prediction that landed in the wrong place is the one to watch.
- Your new listener keeps the same three columns.
- Compare the two pages afterwards. Column one is the one that should have changed.
What the columns caught
Five sentences from round one. Fix each.
1. When the survey will come back, we will know.
2. It won’t probably happen before 2035.
3. Do you think will the council pay for it?
4. I am worried that will be nowhere to park.
5. The market might to close next year.
Did they land where you meant?
Two questions about your own two rounds.
1. You reached two minutes and ran out. What is the fix?
2. Your listener put prediction two under "certain" when you meant "possible". What went wrong?
Before next lesson. Keep both listeners’ pages. Circle every place will appeared after a time word, and every question that came out inverted twice.
Next lesson is built out of exactly those two, and they are the last two errors standing between you and the end of A2.