How Wolves Change Rivers

When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States after being absent nearly 70 years, the most remarkable "trophic cascade" occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do wolves change rivers? George Monbiot explains.


What does it eat?

Wolf

Antelope

Fox

Bear

Beaver

Raven

Song bird

Bald eagle

Muskrat

Mice

Elk

Deer

Salmon

Coyote

Learn 12 words:

12 terms

Watch:

True or False

1. A trophic cascade is an ecological disaster.

2. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone after not being there for a long time..

3. There were not enough deer in the Yellowstone Park

4. The wolves changed the behaviour of the deer.

5. The deer started to avoid the valleys because of the wolves.

6. The birds started attacking the deer

7. The height of the trees started to go down.

8. The bears started to kill each other

9. The rivers became deep and began to flow faster

10. There are now too many wolves in the park.

 

How Wolves Change Rivers

Fill in the gaps and then check:

Look through the text and underline or highlight examples of

 

Past perfect simple

Comparatives and Superlatives

How Wolves Change Rivers

One of the most exciting scientific f___________ of the past half century has been the discovery of widespread trophic cascades. A trophic cascade is an ecological process which starts at the t_____ of the food chain and tumbles a___ the way down to the bottom. And the classic example is what happened in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States when wolves were r______________ in 1995.

Now, we – we all know that wolves kill various s___________ of animals, but perhaps we’re slightly less aware that they g______ life to many others.

Before the wolves t________ up – they’d been absent for 70 years – the numbers of deer (because there had been nothing to hunt them) had built up and built up in the Yellowstone Park and d_________ efforts by humans to control them they’d managed to reduce much the v____________ there to almost nothing. They had just g_________ it away.

But as soon as the wolves arrived, even though they were few in number they started to have the most remarkable e_______.

First, of course, they killed some of the deer but that wasn’t the major thing. Much more significantly, they r___________ changed the behavior of the deer. The deer started avoiding certain parts of the park – the places where they could be trapped most easily – particularly the valleys and the g________ and immediately those places started to r_____________. In some areas, the height of the trees quintupled in j____ six years. Bare valley sides quickly became forests of aspen and willow and cottonwood. And as soon as that happened, the birds started m________ in. The number of songbirds and migratory birds started to increase g_________. The number of beavers started to increase because beavers like to eat the trees. And beavers, like wolves, are ecosystem engineers. They c_______ niches for other species. And the dams they built in the rivers provided h__________ for otters and muscrats and ducks and fish and reptiles and amphibians.

The wolves killed coyotes and as a r________ of that, the number rabbits and mice began to r_____ which meant more hawks more weasels more foxes more badgers. Ravens and bald eagles came down to feed on the carrion that the wolves had left. Bears f___ on it, too. And their population began to rise as well partly also because there were more berries growing on the regenerating shrubs. And the bears r__________ the impact of the wolves by killing some of the calves of the deer.

But h_____ where it gets really interesting.

The wolves changed the behavior of the rivers. They began to meander less. There was less e_______. The channels n_________. More pools f_________. More riffle sections. All of which were g______ for wildlife habitats. The rivers changed in r_________ to the wolves. And the reason was that the regenerating forests stabilized the b______ so that they collapsed less o_____. So the rivers became more fixed in their c_______.

S___________, by driving the deer o____ of some places, and the vegetation recovering on the valley side, there was less s____ erosion because the vegetation stabilized that as well. So the wolves, s______ in number, transformed n___ just the ecosystem of the Yellowstone National Park – This huge area of land… b___ also, its physical geography.

Pronunciation focus

ly

particularly

similarly

immediately

slightly

dipthongs

stabilized

trophic

erosion

Yellowstone

v

vegetation

valley

wolves

recovering

Second syllable stress

effects

regenerating

transformed

erosion

immediately

particularly

ju:

reduced

reintroduced

huge

population

Animals and Nature

 

1
It is a small bird from New Zealand with soft, brown feathers. It cannot fly and uses its long beak to find food. It is active at night.

2
It is a black and white animal that lives in China. It mainly eats bamboo and spends many hours eating each day. It is usually calm and moves slowly.

3
It lives in Australia and moves by jumping on its strong back legs. It uses its tail to keep balance. It carries its baby in a pouch on its body.

4
It lives in the ocean and has a wide, flat body. It often hides under the sand to stay safe. It can use its tail to defend itself.

5
It lives in very hot and dry deserts. It has one or two humps that store energy. It can survive for a long time without drinking water.

6
It is a powerful animal that people often ride or use for work. It can run fast and travel long distances. It eats grass and needs a lot of space.

7
It is a long animal with no legs and smooth skin. It moves by pushing its body along the ground. Some types are poisonous, but many are harmless.

8
It is a farm animal that is good at climbing steep rocks. It eats grass, leaves, and other plants. It often has horns and can be very curious.

9
It is a large farm animal that lives in fields. It eats grass and produces milk for people. It usually lives in groups with other animals.

10
It is a strong bird that flies high and hunts for food. It has excellent eyesight to spot small animals. It catches its food with sharp claws.

11
It is a sea animal that is known for its intelligence. It lives in groups and communicates with sounds. It swims quickly and often jumps out of the water.

 

Parts of animals

udder       snout       horn       tusk       claw       beak
paw      tail       wing      antenna       fin       flipper 
shell     fur      whisker     gill      fang     trunk     hoof
feather   scales     antlers      pouch     hair     wool




Types of animals

a predator   a pack animal    a mammal    a reptile
an amphibian     a grazing animal     a rodent
an insect   a sea bird     a scavenger     a domesticated animal
an ape     a flightless bird   





Animal habitats

Habitats - what animals live here?

The desert

Reefs

Rainforest

The city

Mountains

The deep ocean

The beach

The arctic

Antarctica

The moon

Grammar: Comparison

Comparatives review

less beautiful than
more beautiful than

easier than
smaller than


the most (longer) adj
the least (longer) adj

the adj + est

the + irregular adj
e.g. worst, best...




Basic animal vocabulary:

24 items (A2)

Kahoot (A2)














What animal is "man's best friend"?

Pollutionwildlifeendangeredspeciesconservationprotectionclimatechangeenvironmentallyfriendlyrecyclerainforestprimateschimpanzeeecologyfarmingresearchbiodiversityeagleloggingdeforestationpoachingthreatenedconservationisttourismeducationprogrammenationalparkshabitatwetlandsdestruction

Nouns:

continent
population
breed









Pronunciation:

(With some vocab from the workshop script)








zzzzuuuu (not tzu or joo or jzu!)

zoo










l / r

really interesting










v /r

favourite









r / z

differences









str / st

strongest








st / st  / nd / lz (consonant shift)

fastest land animals









ai / ng / r / nd

lazing around








kst

next










str / ks / ng

stretching and exercising










au / ( zh - television, unusual)

enclosure










r / r / nd

run around









l


definitely









ks / pt

except









r / ntl

apparently










l / ntly / r / nd (consonant shift)

I'll definitely recommend it

How to speak so that people want to listen

What do the words above mean?

Give some typical examples

According to Julian Treasure these are 7 deadly sins of speaking.

Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? In this useful talk, the sound expert demonstrates the how-to's of powerful speaking — from some handy vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy. A talk that might help the world sound more beautiful.

Script

The human voice: It's the instrument we all play. It's the most powerful sound in the world, probably. It's the only one that can start a war or say "I love you." And yet many people have the experience that when they speak, people don't listen to them. And why is that? How can we speak powerfully to make change in the world?

What I'd like to suggest, there are a number of habits that we need to move away from. I've assembled for your pleasure here seven deadly sins of speaking. I'm not pretending this is an exhaustive list, but these seven, I think, are pretty large habits that we can all fall into.

First, gossip. Speaking ill of somebody who's not present. Not a nice habit, and we know perfectly well the person gossiping, five minutes later, will be gossiping about us.

Second, judging. We know people who are like this in conversation, and it's very hard to listen to somebody if you know that you're being judged and found wanting at the same time.

Third, negativity. You can fall into this. My mother, in the last years of her life, became very negative, and it's hard to listen. I remember one day, I said to her, "It's October 1 today," and she said, "I know, isn't it dreadful?"

It's hard to listen when somebody's that negative.

And another form of negativity, complaining. Well, this is the national art of the U.K. It's our national sport. We complain about the weather, sport, about politics, about everything, but actually, complaining is viral misery. It's not spreading sunshine and lightness in the world.

Excuses.

We've all met this guy. Maybe we've all been this guy. Some people have a blamethrower. They just pass it on to everybody else and don't take responsibility for their actions, and again, hard to listen to somebody who is being like that.

Penultimate, the sixth of the seven, embroidery, exaggeration. It demeans our language, actually, sometimes. For example, if I see something that really is awesome, what do I call it?

And then, of course, this exaggeration becomes lying, and we don't want to listen to people we know are lying to us.

And finally, dogmatism. The confusion of facts with opinions. When those two things get conflated, you're listening into the wind. You know, somebody is bombarding you with their opinions as if they were true. It's difficult to listen to that.

So here they are, seven deadly sins of speaking. These are things I think we need to avoid. But is there a positive way to think about this? Yes, there is. I'd like to suggest that there are four really powerful cornerstones, foundations, that we can stand on if we want our speech to be powerful and to make change in the world. Fortunately, these things spell a word. The word is "hail," and it has a great definition as well. I'm not talking about the stuff that falls from the sky and hits you on the head. I'm talking about this definition, to greet or acclaim enthusiastically, which is how I think our words will be received if we stand on these four things.

So what do they stand for? See if you can guess. The H, honesty, of course, being true in what you say, being straight and clear. The A is authenticity, just being yourself. A friend of mine described it as standing in your own truth, which I think is a lovely way to put it. The I is integrity, being your word, actually doing what you say, and being somebody people can trust. And the L is love. I don't mean romantic love, but I do mean wishing people well, for two reasons. First of all, I think absolute honesty may not be what we want. I mean, my goodness, you look ugly this morning. Perhaps that's not necessary. Tempered with love, of course, honesty is a great thing. But also, if you're really wishing somebody well, it's very hard to judge them at the same time. I'm not even sure you can do those two things simultaneously. So hail.

Also, now that's what you say, and it's like the old song, it is what you say, it's also the way that you say it. You have an amazing toolbox. This instrument is incredible, and yet this is a toolbox that very few people have ever opened. I'd like to have a little rummage in there with you now and just pull a few tools out that you might like to take away and play with, which will increase the power of your speaking.

Register, for example. Now, falsetto register may not be very useful most of the time, but there's a register in between. I'm not going to get very technical about this for any of you who are voice coaches. You can locate your voice, however. So if I talk up here in my nose, you can hear the difference. If I go down here in my throat, which is where most of us speak from most of the time. But if you want weight, you need to go down here to the chest. You hear the difference? We vote for politicians with lower voices, it's true, because we associate depth with power and with authority. That's register.

Then we have timbre. It's the way your voice feels. Again, the research shows that we prefer voices which are rich, smooth, warm, like hot chocolate. Well if that's not you, that's not the end of the world, because you can train. Go and get a voice coach. And there are amazing things you can do with breathing, with posture, and with exercises to improve the timbre of your voice.

Then prosody. I love prosody. This is the sing-song, the meta-language that we use in order to impart meaning. It's root one for meaning in conversation. People who speak all on one note are really quite hard to listen to if they don't have any prosody at all. That's where the word "monotonic" comes from, or monotonous, monotone. Also, we have repetitive prosody now coming in, where every sentence ends as if it were a question when it's actually not a question, it's a statement?

And if you repeat that one, it's actually restricting your ability to communicate through prosody, which I think is a shame, so let's try and break that habit.

Pace.

I can get very excited by saying something really quickly, or I can slow right down to emphasize, and at the end of that, of course, is our old friend silence. There's nothing wrong with a bit of silence in a talk, is there? We don't have to fill it with ums and ahs. It can be very powerful.

Of course, pitch often goes along with pace to indicate arousal, but you can do it just with pitch. Where did you leave my keys? Where did you leave my keys? So, slightly different meaning in those two deliveries.

And finally, volume. I can get really excited by using volume. Sorry about that, if I startled anybody. Or, I can have you really pay attention by getting very quiet. Some people broadcast the whole time. Try not to do that. That's called sodcasting,

Imposing your sound on people around you carelessly and inconsiderately. Not nice.

Of course, where this all comes into play most of all is when you've got something really important to do. It might be standing on a stage like this and giving a talk to people. It might be proposing marriage, asking for a raise, a wedding speech. Whatever it is, if it's really important, you owe it to yourself to look at this toolbox

Now let me just put this in context to close. This is a serious point here. This is where we are now, right? We speak not very well to people who simply aren't listening in an environment that's all about noise and bad acoustics. I have talked about that on this stage in different phases. What would the world be like if we were speaking powerfully to people who were listening consciously in environments which were actually fit for purpose? Or to make that a bit larger, what would the world be like if we were creating sound consciously and consuming sound consciously and designing all our environments consciously for sound? That would be a world that does sound beautiful, and one where understanding would be the norm, and that is an idea worth spreading.

Discuss

What is one thing you want to improve about your own speaking?

 

Watch:

How to speak so that people want to listen

Part 1: 7 deadly sins

1.  Gossip: speaking ____ of someone who isn't present.

2. Judging: no one likes to be judged and founding _____

3. Negativity: easy to ___ into this.

4. Complaining: the ______ ____ of the UK

5. Excuses: some people have a ____________

6. Lying: Embroidering and e________ become lying

7. Dogmatism: the confusion of ____ with _____

Pause

Are you guilty of any of these sins?

2:38

Part 2: 4 foundations

"Hail": to greet or acclaim with enthusiasm.

Pause

What do you think the 4 letters stand for?

H

A 

I 

L

Honesty needs to be tempered with _____

What two things can you not do at the same time?

Part 3: the toolbox

How do politicians use register?

What voice timbre do we prefer?

What is prosody? What is an example of bad prosody?

Pause:

Can you guess the last 4 tools?

P___

S___

P___

V_____

What is sodcasting?

Pause

Part 4: Warming up

Try the warm up.

Finally:

What is Julian's idea worth spreading?

Lead-in Questions (Before Watching)

1. What makes someone a good speaker?

2. Do you like listening to people who complain a lot? Why or why not?

3. Have you ever stopped listening to someone because of the way they spoke?

4. What is more important: what you say or how you say it?

5. Do you think silence is important in conversations or speeches? Why?

6. Are you usually confident or nervous when speaking in front of people?

Guiding Questions (While Watching / After Watching)

1. What is the speaker’s main message?

2. What are some reasons people stop listening to others?

3. Which of the “seven deadly sins of speaking” can you remember?

4. Which bad speaking habit do you think is most common?

5. What does “HAIL” stand for?

6. Which part of “HAIL” do you think is most important? Why?

7. What are some ways to make your voice more powerful or interesting?

8. Why does the speaker think silence is important?

9. What warm-up exercises does the speaker demonstrate?

Productive speaking task

The seven sins are:

• gossip
• judging
• negativity
• complaining
• excuses
• lying
• dogmatism

 

Prepare a short talk 

• What is this bad speaking habit?
• Why do people do it?
• How does it make listeners feel?
• How can we avoid it?
• Have you experienced it?

Keep it simple and personal.

 

While listening, answer:

• Which deadly sin did they talk about?
• What speaking technique did they use well?
• What was one good idea or example?

Monitor

·  good volume

·  clear pronunciation

·  eye contact

·  pauses/silence

·  variation in tone

Types of Courage

• • Spiritual
  • Social
  • Moral
  • Emotional
  • Intellectual
  • Physical

   

   

  ·         __________ courage – Feeling fear yet choosing to act, especially at the risk of bodily harm or death.

  ·         _________ courage – Facing rejection, criticism, or ridicule from others, and expressing one’s true self.

  ·         _________ courage – Standing up for one’s beliefs in the face of overwhelming opposition, and acting ethically and responsibly.

  ·         _________ courage – Following one’s heart, being vulnerable and authentic, and coping with distress and adversity.

  ·         _________ courage – Challenging old assumptions and understandings, seeking new knowledge and insights, and acting on them.

  ·         _________ courage – Exploring one’s purpose and meaning in life, and connecting with a higher power or a greater cause.

   

 

 

Role Play Card 1

Situation:

You are a starting player on your school’s championship team. The final game is scheduled on one of the holiest days in your religion. Observing this day is deeply important to you and your family.

Your coach says college scouts will be watching. Your teammates are counting on you. Some of them are already frustrated and saying you’re putting your beliefs above the team.

If you play, you compromise something sacred to you.
If you don’t play, you may lose future opportunities and disappoint your team.

Ask the other student:

What should I do? How do I handle this situation?

---

Role Play Card 2

Situation:

You accidentally discover that a popular teacher has been secretly changing grades for certain students so they can stay eligible for sports. You weren’t meant to see it — but now you know.

Everyone loves this teacher. Reporting it would cause serious consequences. If people found out you were the one who spoke up, you might lose friends or be labeled a snitch.

If you say nothing, the unfairness continues.

Ask the other student:

What would you do if you were me? Should I get involved?

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

Role Play Card 3

Situation:

Your class is debating a controversial issue. Nearly everyone strongly supports one side. You’ve done research and believe there are serious weaknesses in the popular opinion.

You know that if you speak up, people may roll their eyes, argue aggressively, or assume you’re just trying to be difficult.

If you stay quiet, your perspective won’t be heard.

Ask the other student:

Should I speak up or stay quiet? How would you handle it?

---

Role Play Card 4

Situation:

You’re on a hiking trip when you hear someone crying for help. A person has fallen down a steep slope and appears injured. The area looks unstable and dangerous.

Emergency services have been called, but they won’t arrive for at least 30 minutes.

You could try to carefully climb down to help — but you might get hurt too.

Ask the other student:

Should I try to help right now, or wait? What would you do?

---

Role Play Card 5

Situation:

There’s a new student at school who sits alone every day. Some of your friends make jokes about them behind their back.

You’ve thought about sitting with the new student, but you know your friends will tease you or question why you’re doing it.

Nothing extreme is happening — just quiet exclusion.

Ask the other student:

Is it worth the social risk to include this person? What should I do?

---

Role Play Card 6

Situation:

You’ve been feeling overwhelmed and anxious for months. You pretend everything is fine, but it’s getting harder to manage.

In your family, people don’t really talk about feelings. You’re afraid that if you open up, you’ll be told to “toughen up” or that you’re overreacting.

But staying silent feels exhausting.

Ask the other student:

Should I tell someone how I’m really feeling? How would you start that conversation?

 

 

Aims:

Looking closely at personal student writing. Improving personal writing.
Looking closely at punctuation and how it can produce greater impact.
Learning how to showcase your knowledge of English in a piece of writing.
Learn to use adjectives imaginatively and effectively.
Adding a personal tone to you're writing.


Roller coasters - by Belén

“Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because that's the one that is going to require the most from you.”
- Caroline Myss*

Discuss the quote

1. In what ways has this been true in your own life?

2. In what ways is this true in learning a foreign language?

3. Is it always true? Should you “always go with the choice that scares you most”?

4. Do you have any irrational fears – such as a fear of roller coasters? Flying? Cockroaches?

 Reading my B2 student Belén’s text:

 

Rollercoasters

A risky situation I've been in? I couldn't think of any at first. My life is kind of boring, I guess. In every opportunity I get, I prefer to play it safe rather than explore the unknown. After an exhaustive search, the only thing that crossed my mind was when I overcame one of my biggest fears — rollercoasters.

As an asthma sufferer, I was scared of having an asthma attack while riding a roller coaster. The chances were small, but still I wasn't quite sure about it. The opportunity to ride one of these giant monsters came when I visited the Universal Studios theme park almost three years ago.

I had promised myself I wouldn't ride anything with the label "life-threatening" (a label that I made up, of course) but there I was, waiting in the line to ride 'The Incredible Hulk Coaster'. I still don't know how I ended up there, to be honest. After what it seemed like an hour, we reached the top before the ride really starts: a place where the train stops for 3 seconds. A perfect opportunity to regret all your life choices that had led you to that one, I may add.
Discuss the bold and underlined bits with your partner.

Last section - how has Belén used punctuation and paragraphing for impact?
But then, during the one-minute ride, nothing happened. No asthma attack. No messed-up lungs. I survived that. And I have to say that I loved it. Thanks to that I now have a love for rollercoasters and I'm willing to try bungy jumping while I'm here in New Zealand.

Sometimes it's best to be a little adventurous in life. You never know what comes afterwards.

- Belén Machado

Reread the text: can you recall what adjectives were used?


A _____ situation I've been in? I couldn't think of any at first - my life is kind of _____ I guess. In every opportunity I get, I prefer to play it safe rather than explore the unknown. After an ______ search the only thing that came to mind was when I overcame one of my biggest fears: roller coasters.

As an asthma sufferer, I was scared of having an asthma attack while riding a rollercoaster. The chances were ____, but still I wasn't quite sure about it. The opportunity to ride one of these ____ monsters came when I visited the Universal Studios theme park almost three years ago.

I had promised myself I wouldn't ride anything with the label "___-_______" (a label that I made up, of course) but there I was, waiting in the line to ride 'The Incredible Hulk Coaster'. I still don't know how I ended up there, to be _____. After what seemed like an hour, we reached the top before the ride really started: a place where the train stops for three seconds. A ______ opportunity to regret all your life choices that had led you to that one, I may add.

But then, during the one minute ride, nothing happened. No asthma attack. No ______ lungs. I’d survived. And I have to say that I loved it. Thanks to that I now have a love for roller coasters and I'm ______ to try bungy jumping while I'm here in New Zealand.

Sometimes it's best to be a little ________ in life. You never know what comes afterwards.


What alternative adjectives could have been used?


What do these have in common?

I guess
As an asthma sufferer
I may add

And I have to say

What do they add to the text?

 

Task:

Write about a time in your life when you were afraid to do something, but you did it anyway.

1. What was the thing you were afraid to do? Talk about the general situation at the time.

2. Why were you afraid?

3. What did you do? How did you overcome your fear or worry?

4. What was it like to do the thing you'd been afraid of doing?

5. Did you learn something from all of this?

Useful language:

challenge

challenging / ed

out of my comfort zone

to overcome, to get over a fear

to try

to take a risk

to play it safe

to feel scared, worried, anxious, nervous, disturbed

to feel relieved

to feel excited, surprised

When, after, before, during, while, afterwards, beforehand, at that moment, in the end, at the beginning, after a while

If I hadn't.... I would never have...

Lime Biting - by Selina

I'm grateful for all these experiences which I was allowed to make,
Even for the bad ones, which I take
When I look back to these memories 
I've got a smile on my face
Thank you for all travels, excursions, memories my friends
It was a great race

Now the race is finished for me and also for a few of you
Enjoy one last time the Sky Tower's view
Not wonder yourselves - What would? Which is? What could be next?
Remember you are the writer of your personal text
Nobody likes goodbyes
Parting is basking clear
My personal advice is, c'mon guys drink one last beer
 
Please don't be sad to leave, be happy about what you had,
No one can take this from you, so smile, don't be sad
I am sooooo thankful to all you for this beautiful time
To say goodbye is like biting in a lime 
Safe travels everyone, good luck whatever you are going to do,
Okay okay enough - one last thing: 
I'll always remember you

- Selina

Giving Advice

 

Noelia: Argh, this is ______ ridiculous! 

Paul: Susan again? 

Noelia: Yeah, Susan. She _____ keeps emailing me about things that have nothing to do with work and nothing to do with me. What do you think I _______ do? 

Paul: Well, if I ______ you, I'd email and ask her to stop _________ them.

Noelia: I'm not sure that's a good idea. I have to be careful _______ I say as she's quite an important client. 

Paul: Erm, I'm not sure then. _________ you could try talking to Yuna about it?

Bob: Er .. why don't you try ________ nothing?

Noelia: Sorry? 

Bob: Perhaps you could _______ … do nothing? 

Noelia: Really? I'm not too sure about that.

Bob: Well, I remember this guy I used to work with, Mark, and he kept emailing again and again and again, about all sorts, mostly _________ to work. Well, I kept _________ politely and he kept ________ them. In the end, I stopped ________ to his emails unless they were only about work. 

Paul: And what happened? 

Bob: He stopped sending them. It's a bit like _______ faced with a dangerous snake. If you move quickly, it'll bite you, but if you _______ very still and do nothing, eventually it'll move away and leave you alone. I had to learn the hard way. 

Giving advice

B2 Speaking - asking for, giving, receiving advice

 Brit Council B2 Speaking

thanks

Perhaps

Why

should

if

could

sure

tried

work

that's

1. Well, ____ I were you

2. Perhaps you ____ just

3. All in a day's ____.

4. I'm not sure _____ a good idea.

5. I'm not too _____ about that.

6. So, I _____ what you suggested and

7. All _____ to you.

8. _____ you could

9. _____ don't you

10. What do you think I _____ do? 

 

Noelia: Argh, this is just ridiculous! 

Paul: Susan again? 

Noelia: Yeah, Susan. She just keeps emailing me about things that have nothing to do with work and nothing to do with me. ___________________________

Paul:________________, I'd email and ask her to stop sending them.

Noelia: ____________________. I have to be careful what I say as she's quite an important client. 

Paul: Erm, I'm not sure then. ___________________ try talking to Yuna about it?

Bob: Er .. ________________ try doing nothing?

Noelia: Sorry? 

Bob: ____________________… do nothing? 

Noelia: Really? ______________________

Bob: Well, I remember this guy I used to work with, Mark, and he kept emailing again and again and again, about all sorts, mostly unrelated to work. Well, I kept responding politely and he kept sending them. In the end, I stopped replying to his emails unless they were only about work. 

Paul: And what happened? 

Bob: He stopped sending them. It's a bit like being faced with a dangerous snake. If you move quickly, it'll bite you, but if you keep very still and do nothing, eventually it'll move away and leave you alone. I had to learn the hard way. 

 ___

Noelia: Hey, Bob. Have you got a minute?

Bob: Yeah.

Noelia: _________________________  I only responded to Susan's emails about work for a few days. Then guess what?

Bob: The irrelevant emails stopped. 

Noelia: Yes! Now she only sends me work-related ones.

Bob: Well, that's very good news.

Noelia:_______________, Bob.

Bob: Any time, Noelia, any time! __________________ Ahh!