Your starting position
Speaking · Diagnostic · Before any model
Imagine that your neighbourhood can change one thing over the next five years.
Start speaking within the first minute. Explain the future you want, who would benefit, and one difficulty you would have to address.
- Take 30 seconds to choose a change, then speak for 90 seconds without a prepared script. Your partner listens without correcting.
- Swap roles. Each listener asks one follow-up question and writes a one-sentence summary of the proposal.
- Save three sentences from your first attempt and one question you could not answer easily. Keep them for comparison in Lesson 6. A fictional neighbourhood is welcome.
Two proposals, one empty building
The neighbourhood forum · Original fictional classroom text
The old station office has been empty for three years. A neighbourhood group can reopen it for a six-month trial, but it cannot do everything at once. The question is not simply which project sounds most exciting. The group must decide what improvement it wants to see, whose experience will count, and what would make it change direction.
Mara favours a shared workshop. “What we need is a place where practical knowledge can move between generations,” she says. Volunteers could help residents repair ordinary household objects, and younger people could learn from older neighbours. She would have the front room fitted with benches before opening. However, she admits that enthusiasm alone will not keep the doors open. If the organisers had asked about availability earlier, they would have a clearer volunteer timetable now. The workshop might reduce waste, but nobody has yet measured how much.
Ivo prefers a digital study room. He argues that technology can widen access when people also have someone to ask for help. The computers in the nearby library are often booked, according to the forum’s own notes. His plan would provide quiet desks and supported evening sessions. “Only when we know who is being excluded can we judge whether the project is working,” he says. An attendance total would tell him how busy the room was; it would not explain why some residents never came. He wants short conversations with non-users as well.
Both speakers accept a trial and a review. Mara proposes tracking repairs and volunteer hours. Ivo proposes asking whether users completed the tasks they came to do. Neither claims that a single project will solve every local problem. Their disagreement concerns which need deserves attention first and what evidence would justify continuing. The group will choose one main use, state a condition for changing it, and publish a short explanation of the trade-off.
Read for the decision and its limits. Use only the information in this fictional forum text.
1. What decision does the group face?
2. What weakens Mara’s proposal at this stage?
3. Why does Ivo want to speak to non-users?
4. Which conclusion is supported?
Noticing · One minute
The text uses familiar B2 language to manage an argument.
Find one expression of uncertainty and one link that changes the direction of a paragraph.
- Say what each expression does for the reader.
- Do not just name a structure: explain which claim it limits or connects.
Can the listener follow the relationship?
Retrieve the tools already taught across B2
| Job in an argument | Example from this situation | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Focus the priority | What we need is a reliable timetable. | The focused idea must actually matter to the claim. |
| Make a condition prominent | Only when the trial ends can we compare the results. | After initial only when, the main clause has auxiliary–subject order. |
| Limit certainty | The workshop might reduce waste. | A possible benefit is not a measured result. |
| Link a response to a proposal | The study room needs evening staff. This requirement limits its opening hours. | Name the idea behind this when the reference might be unclear. |
| Distinguish general and specific reference | Technology can help. The computers in this room need support. | Carry forward Unit 35’s class-versus-member distinction. |
Choose the wording that expresses the intended relationship. This is retrieval; log any uncertain choices for later lessons.
1. The room could help, but its benefit is not yet known. Choose the accurate claim.
2. The priority is reliable support, rather than buying more equipment. Which sentence focuses that priority?
3. Choose the clear link: “The workshop depends on volunteers. ___ may be difficult during holidays.”
4. Choose the grammatical version of the prominent condition.
Prosody · Say the contrast
Read “The workshop might reduce waste. However, we still need a reliable timetable.”
Use a clear sentence boundary and stress the contrast between the possible benefit and the remaining requirement.
- Your listener states the benefit and the limitation separately.
- Repeat with the opposite emphasis: make the benefit your final point without changing the facts.
Build a precise proposal
Match the expressions, then explain two using the station-office proposals.
Use one word in each gap. The prompts specify the intended form so this checks construction rather than guessing a writer’s preference.
1. Complete the wh-cleft: What the group needs a clear review date.
2. Use although: the proposal is attractive, it needs a staffing plan.
3. Complete the modal perfect: The organisers should consulted volunteers earlier.
4. Complete the mixed conditional: If they collected responses last month, they would know more now.
5. Use can after initial only when: Only when we compare outcomes we decide fairly.
6. Use a relative pronoun: We need a system includes residents without internet access.
Agree on a future worth testing
Forum simulation · Pairs or three roles
The group has 60 fictional planning credits for the trial. Choose one main project and at most one addition from the planning sheet.
Agree on a workable six-month proposal, or state the precise issue still preventing agreement.
- Prepare for three minutes. Each person selects a priority: practical learning, digital access, or dependable staffing. Use the input rather than inventing facts about results.
- Discuss for six minutes. Explain your choice with a reason and a limitation; respond to another priority; ask a question that could change your decision.
- Use familiar B2 resources where they serve the message: a focused priority, a cautious prediction, a past lesson or a clear condition. You do not need to force every structure into one speech.
- In four minutes, draft a joint 80–100-word decision: main project, optional addition, total credits, who benefits, a trade-off, one review criterion and a condition for changing course.
- Use the final two minutes to read the decision aloud and check that another person can restate it accurately. Save it beside your opening baseline.
Planning sheet · Invented figures, not real costs
| Choice | Planning credits | Constraint |
|---|---|---|
| Shared workshop — main project | 42 | Volunteer availability still needs confirmation. |
| Digital study room — main project | 46 | Opening hours depend on staff support. |
| Coordinator support — optional addition | 12 | Helps organise the timetable; does not guarantee a full rota. |
| Outreach and feedback — optional addition | 10 | Helps collect missing perspectives; does not guarantee participation. |
Find the point where your argument needs help
Choose the more useful revision, then apply the same check to your group’s decision.
1. “We held ten sessions, so everyone benefited.” What is the best response to this claim?
2. “We chose the workshop. This is difficult.” Which revision makes the problem explicit?
Save the evidence for Lesson 6
Compare your first three sentences with the final decision.
Identify one stronger connection between ideas and one recurring difficulty worth revisiting.
- Underline the claim, circle a supporting reason, and draw an arrow from each this or they to what it means.
- Revise one ambiguous reference or unsupported certainty. Record the original, the revision and your reason.
- A partner checks whether the revision keeps your intended meaning. Keep a language question for the unit error log.
Listen for a future, a reason and a limit
Exit ticket and informal-input bridge
This unit’s bridge is one accessible 80,000 Hours podcast episode and one TED talk on futures.
Before leaving, write your current answer to the lesson’s question in two connected sentences and plan when to sample the episode and talk.
- Choose a topic you can follow. Begin with three to five minutes of the episode and a short section of the talk; use a transcript or captions when available.
- Record each title, speaker and date. In your own words, note one proposed future, a reason for it and an uncertainty or limitation the speaker acknowledges.
- Notice one expression that links ideas or limits a claim. Record whether you heard emphasis or a pause that helped you follow the argument. You may also note that the sample gave no limitation.
- Bring your notes to Lesson 2. If online access is unavailable, use the fictional forum text as today’s fallback and arrange an accessible listening sample with your teacher. All lesson activities run offline.