2016-10-28 TOEFL: speaking question 3

Greg Malivuk
greg.malivuk@gmail.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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http://ed.ted.com/lessons/aphasia-the-disorder-that-makes-you-lose-your-words-susan-wortman-jutt
aphasia = without speech / without voice (a- means without)
paraphasia = “beside” speech (“nearby” words, substituted for the word you want)
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Speaking questions 3 and 4 have the same format: integrated reading/listening/speaking
- 45 seconds to read
- time to listen
- 30 seconds to prepare
- 60 seconds to speak
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Speaking question 3 is about a campus announcement and conversation
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Handout p. 343 (Cambridge) - Read the announcement and take notes. Then listen to the conversation and take notes about each person’s position.
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The question will be something like,
“The man/woman expresses his/her opinion about ____. State her opinion and explain the reasons she gives for holding that opinion.”


You should be able to predict that this question will be about the woman’s opinion, because she gives more details and reasons for her opinion in the conversation.
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She is against taking the new class.
- It will be a large class (she prefers a small class).
- It will include a lot of Hispanic literature, which she has already read (because she’s Hispanic).


You also need to summarize the announcement that they are talking about. (You can think of this as the introduction to your speaking.)
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Parts of a perfect response:
1 Summarize the announcement - “The announcement is about a class that will not be held. Students have a choice to take a class about the literature of minority groups or to drop that class.”
2 State the opinion - “The students are talking about the announcement and the woman says that she wants to choose another class instead of the literature of minority groups class.”
3 Lead-in - “She gives two reasons for this opinion.”
4 explain the first reason - “First of all, she wants the challenge of studying new material.”
5 detail or example for the first reason - “The new class includes a lot of Hispanic literature, but she has already read a lot of Hispanic literature and she doesn’t want to study it again.”
6 explain the second reason - “Secondly, the new class will be a large class.”
7 detail or example for the second reason - “She doesn’t feel comfortable with that because she prefers small classes so she can participate and discuss her opinion.”
(conclusion - if you have a few seconds left)
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p. 457 (Cengage) - Read the cell phone announcement and take notes. Then listen to the conversation and take notes. Answer the questions on p. 458.


p. 458 - Can you guess what a “Library Amnesty Program” is? (A program where students can return late books without paying the fine.)
Read the announcement and listen to the conversation.


In pairs, put together a good response to this prompt (with the 7 parts we listed above):
“The man expresses his opinion about the library’s amnesty program. State his opinion and explain the reasons he gives for holding this opinion.”
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BREAK
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Share your responses with the other group. Do they include all 7 of the key parts?
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Handout p. 348 (Cambridge) - Do this with the normal timing, and the other student in each pair gives a response.
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DELTA p. 287-290, Cambridge p. 350 (handout) - Record your responses to these four tasks.
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Listen to your own responses and choose which one you are most confident in.
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Listen to other students’ responses.
- What information from the conversation and the reading does the response include?
- Is the information accurate?
- Can the response be easily understood? Why or why not?
- Does the response answer the question effectively? Why or why not?
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DELTA p. 287 sample task:
- Make sure you explain the choices (“option 1” and “option 2”) when you summarize the announcement. (This will make it more clear what will be more convenient and what is too crowded.)
- When you explain the reasons, avoid using pronouns like “it” too much, becuase they can make it unclear what specific thing you’re talking about.
(Being vague or unclear is common for people who didn’t quite understand the listening. If you did understand it, you want the grader to know that you understood it.)
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Homework: bring some breakfast food on Monday (also bring anything we’ll need in order to eat it, such as napkins or paper plates and plastic forks). I will bring coffee.
	(If you don’t bring anything, you don’t get anything.)