Category Archives: Speaking

Speaking is something you can hardly practise alone. But you can prepare yourselves to speak about a topic. The tasks in this category are all related to such preparation.

A better trade agreement

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What would you change about TTIP, and what would a better trade agreement between then EU and the US look like?

Yvette, Martina, Steffi, Jana

  • reduce tariffs on essential items such as medical equipment and drugs

Nina, Celine, Stefan, Julian

  • reduce tariffs on cars, pharmaceutical and agricultural products
  • preserve Germnan standards of consumer protection

Anna, Cindy, Maria, Kim

  • maintain tariffs to avoid competition of cheap foreign products with local ones
  • maintain consumer protection laws, especially with regard to pesticides in agriculture

Alexander, Nga, Nadja

  • fair prices
  • keep EU standards on cosmetics (no testing on animals)

Your travel plans

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Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park, London

Imagine a place you’d like to go to for your next holiday. Some sunny tropical island perhaps, or one of Europe’s capitals…

Prepare a mini presentation on the following points:

  • Your destination and what you are going to do there.
  • How you will get there, including the duration and cost of your journey. Tell us when your train/plane/coach/ship leaves and arrives and what subsequent means of transport you are going to use in your country of destination.
  • Where you will stay. Tell us what kind of accomodation you are going to use — hotel, hostel, bed and breakfast — and what it will cost.

Look up the information you need on the internet. You don’t have to talk about your return trip, one way is enough. It would be nice if you came back, though.

Well done

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Congratulations! You all did very well in the exam. It was amazing to hear some of you speak near-native English. You should do this in class more often, but then it seems to depend on the situation. Or perhaps I’m to blame for not giving you enough of a challenge. We may try to change that.

Anyway, here is someone who, unlike you, is still desperately struggling with the English language. I don’t normally poke fun at people, but this man deserves it because he said he was very competent at speaking English. (“Ich bin in Englisch, was das Gespräch angeht, sehr sicher.”) Indeed!


My favourite lines are

I’m glad to be here in this dossieranarchy

and

We have all chances to bring anarchy on a good way.

Do you think Mr Oettinger would have passed the exam? What mark would you give him?

Are you brand loyal?

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i like itWhich brands are you loyal to? Name one or a few and explain why you buy them and stick to them. If you’re not loyal to brands at all, give the reasons why.

Prepare to say 5 sentences in class next Monday.

Paths to sustainability

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Group 4

  • Changing the minds of people – how they think about the environment, economy etc. (Stephanie, Julia, Jessica)
  • We’re using 1.5 planets at the moment — limit growth. Establish a post-growth economy. (Louisa & sister)
  • Change our personal ways of life, get in touch. (Hanna, Max, Leon)
  • Understand that it’s our own responsibility to live sustainably. (Sebastian, Dominique)
  • Carry the change into politics, change laws. (Mona, Felicia)
  • Reduce working hours. Let more people work for less hours. (Maurizio, Kamil)

Group 3

  • Don’t use plastic bags anymore. (Niklas, Clemens, Thomas)
  • Set a limit for the private use of cars. (Julian, Yvette)
  • Go by public transport instead of using your own car. (Johannes, Robert)
  • Change the minds of lots of people. (Is knowledge enough?) (Nga, Vanessa, Nadja)
  • Reduce emissions (of CO2 etc.) (Frank, Pascal, Paul)
  • Serve regional meals in schools so as to support local communities and stay healthy. (Madlen, Josefine)
  • Separate waste. (Michelle, Chaima, Viktoria)

Describing a brand

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Well-Known World Brand Logotypes

Source: http://www.vroomseo.ie

Your homework for Monday, 5 October:
Pick a popular brand (one your fellow students are likely to know) and prepare a short presentation about it.

Your description should answer the following three questions:

  • What kind of products are marketed under the brand?
  • Who buys (or is expected to buy) the products?
  • How would you describe the image and qualitites of the brand?

If you have the Market Leader Course Book at hand, have a look at page 6, exercise A3. You will find some adjectives there which you can use to describe brands.

And here are some expressions you can use to talk about brands:

  • I’m going to talk about a (car/computer/fashion/…) brand.
  • The brand comprises … (list of products)
  • The brand’s target group are …
  • The brand stands for … (+ noun)
  • The brand is said to be … (+ adjective)
  • The brand has a reputation of being … (+ adjective)

Prepare yourselves to say 3-6 sentences in class.