Describe a friend

 Describe a friend

Describe a friend

 

What is _____ name?

____ old are they?

Where ____ they live?

How _____ have you known them?

Where and when ____ you meet them?

What do they look _____? ____ they attractive?

What clothes do they like ____ wear?

Do they ____ a special style?

What ____ of hair do they have? Do ____ look after their hair?

_____ are their interests?

What do they love to get up _____?

What _____ their personality like?

Do you trust this person ____ every situation?

_____ they sociable? Shy?

Are they _____-working? lazy?

_____ do you like this person?

Do they _____ any strong opinions? About anything (food? music? other people?)

Is there anything _____ them you don't like?

Have you ever ____ a disagreement or fight with this friend?

Have you _____ had a dream about this friend?

What do you ______ your friend will be like in 20 years? 

Check

What is their name?

How old are they?

Where do they live?

How long have you known them?

Where and when did you meet them?

What do they look like? Are they attractive?

What clothes do they like to wear?

Do they have a special style?

What kind of hair do they have? Do they look after their hair?

What are their interests?

What do they love to get up to?

What is their personality like? 

Do you trust this person in every situation? If you lent them money would they pay you back? If you told them something private would they keep to themselves?

Are they sociable? Shy?

Are they hard-working? lazy?

Why do you like this person?

Do they like animals?

Do they like going out?

Do they like dancing?

Do they have any strong opinions? About anything (food? music? other people?) 

Is there anything about them you don't like?

Have you ever had a disagreement or fight with this friend?

Have you ever had a dream about this friend?

What do you think your friend will be like in 20 years?

Task

Log in here to practice describing people. The AI will try to make a drawing from your description. Give as much detail as you can.

 

Questions

Questions are NOT actually hard to form. For example:

Who?
When?
What?
Why?
How?
Where?
Which?

That's 7 questions made with only a single word.

Subject question formation:

SIMPLE PRESENT QUESTIONS:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
Where	do	you	work?
What	does	Martha	think	about the project?
How	do	you	like	your new apartment?
How many kids	does	Bob	have?

SIMPLE PAST QUESTIONS:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
How	did	they	learn	English so fast?
When	did	you	get home	from work yesterday?
What	did	the manager	think	about your idea?
Where	did	you	buy	that T-shirt?

PRESENT CONTINUOUS QUESTIONS:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
What	are	you	doing	at the moment?
Why	is	he	ignoring	me?
What time	are	we	meeting up	for dinner?
Who	is	she	dating	now?

PAST CONTINUOUS QUESTIONS:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
Who	were	you	talking	to on the phone?
What	was	Jim	doing	when you called?
Why	were	the children	eating	candy before dinner?
How	was	he	feeling	after the surgery?

PRESENT PERFECT QUESTIONS:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
How much money	have	you	spent	on clothes this month?
How long	has	your teacher	worked	at this school?
What	have	they	been doing	all day?
How long	has	the client	been waiting	for their order?

FUTURE QUESTIONS:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
Who	will	you	invite	to the party?
What	will	your parents	think	about your plan?
When	are	you	going	to clean your room?
Why	is	she	going	to quit her job?

MODAL QUESTIONS:

QUESTION WORD	AUXILIARY VERB	SUBJECT	MAIN VERB
What	would	you	do	if you had a million dollars?
How	could	we	improve	our English?
Where	should	I	go	on my next vacation?

Questions help us manage a conversation - steer it, control it, make it GO where we want it to.

If we find it tricky to articulate questions, it can be really hard to even think of them, and to develop a conversation fully. It ends up getting stuck in the mud.

Even native speakers may be quite limited in using different forms of question. 

Think of questions as the keys that open conversations up. Or the crane that lifts you out of the mud.

Insert the missing words, then use these questions to interview someone you don't know very well.

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When in conversation, be explorative and proactive. Prompt your conversational partners. Try to anticipate and direct the subject matter by asking interesting questions that lead the conversation somewhere interesting.

A well-known English teacher I once knew always used to ask her students this question at the end of a lesson:

"What questions did you ask today?"

Prompts like these elicit further input from a conversational partner. Use them!

Really?
Interesting.
Go on?
Okay.
Yes?
Great.

Continue.
Did you really?
Perfect.
Nice.
How terrible.
Oh.
And?
Then what?
So?
Crazy!
Amazing.
No!?
You're kidding, aren't you?
Funny. Keep talking!
Good one.
Good for you.
Of course.
No way!?
Ha ha.
Yeah.
Yeah?
Yeah!

Set yourself a simple goal. When you're talking in class and outside of class today, make sure you try using some new interjections and prompts.

Instead of saying "okay" and "yes" try saying something less predictable. You will find this helps the other person feel more heard.

Common grammatical blocks

Watch Emma's class:

How long time?

Now Watch Jade's class:

Did you forgotten the keys?


What kind of question is it? 

a yes/no question, a subject question, a tag question, a rhetorical question, an indirect question...?


Can you imagine a world without ... ?
What kind of life would we have lived without ... ?
You mean ... might not be the only ... ?
How could that possibly be better than ... ?
Wouldn’t you say ... ?
Is there anything you want to add ... ?
Does it make sense that ... ?
It was said ... , wasn’t it?

What's the general purpose of these questions?

 Practice your question formation here

And here

Reacting to questions

When someone asks you a question, try commenting on the question before you answer it.

Oh, it's funny you should ask me that because...

I was wondering if you'd ask me that.

I wasn't expecting that question.

That's an interesting question.

I like the question.

That's a tricky one

This question makes me feel happy because...

I was hoping you'd ask me that.

Oh not that question!

Hmmm. Let me think about that.

Can you be more specific?

Can you rephrase the question?

What do you mean exactly?

Good question.

Tough question.

Nice question.

Inventions - China / Greece

 

What is this invention?

Where was it invented?

Why?

What is this invention?

Where was it invented?

Why?

What is this invention?

Where was it invented?

Why?

What is this invention?

Where was it invented?

Why?

Dr Nakamats

1. Why does Dr NakaMats like to go underwater?

2. What happens 0.5 seconds before death?

3. Why did Dr NakaMats invent the underwater pen and notebook?

4. What is Dr NakaMats working on today?

5. What inventions has Dr NakaMats created using the underwater method?

6. What two things does Dr NakaMats say need to be balanced?

Do you think this creative method could work for all people?

kissing machine     lockdowns    lockdown isolation

blowing a kiss   uncomfortable

 

 

A Chinese start-up has invented a long-distance 1___________ that transmits users’ kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received.

 

MUA – named after the sound people commonly make when 2__________ – also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic.

 

The invention was inspired by 3___________. At their most severe, China’s lockdowns saw authorities forbid residents to leave their apartments for months on end. “I was in a relationship back then, but I couldn’t meet my girlfriend due to 4________,” said inventor Zhao Jianbo.

 

The device is available in several colours with the same unisex lips. It has received mixed reviews, with some users saying it was intriguing whereas others said it made them feel 5_________. Among the top complaints was its lack of tongue.

 

Match these synonyms with the words in bold

 

1.      Absence

2.     Not allow

3.     Fascinating

4.     Small new company

5.     Realistic

6.     Often

7.      Devices for detecting movement 

Read the following paragraphs:

A Chinese start-up has invented a long-distance kissing machine that transmits users’ kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received.

 

MUA – named after the sound people commonly make when blowing a kiss – also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic, said Beijing-based Siweifushe.

 

What is your gut reaction to this idea?

What might have inspired the inventors to create this device?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The invention was inspired by lockdown isolation. At their most severe, China’s lockdowns saw authorities forbid residents to leave their apartments for months on end. “I was in a relationship back then, but I couldn’t meet my girlfriend due to lockdowns,” said inventor Zhao Jianbo.

 

Does this information make you see the idea more positively?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The device is available in several colours with the same unisex lips. It has received mixed reviews, with some users saying it was intriguing whereas others said it made them feel uncomfortable. Among the top complaints was its lack of tongue.

 

What other criticisms can you imagine being made about this concept? 

 

 

 

 

Kahoots on inventions

Chinese, Greek or both?

18th or 19th Century?