Time to Talk
I. What would you say in each of these situations?
Aims: skills – speaking
Level: intermediate
Organization: teams, groups or class.
1. You arranged to meet your friend last night but you completely forgot. You meet him/her this morning.
2. You need to speak to your friend urgently. When you phone, his/her sister tells you that he/she is out.
3. You want to smoke but there are other people present in the room.
4. You are standing outside your school and somebody asks you the way to the nearest post office (museum, park, theatre).
5. You drop a lit cigarette on your trousers and burn a hole in them.
6. Phone the railway station. You want information about trains to and from Moscow tomorrow.
7. You’ve just finished having a meal in a pizzeria. Ask for the bill.
8. When the bill arrives it seems ridiculously high. What do you say to the waiter?
9. You bought a dress/suit yesterday but it doesn’t fit you. You go back to the shop where you bought it.
10. You’ve lost your bag. Ring the police.
11. You aren’t coming home for dinner tonight. Ask your parents for permission.
12. You are on a late night bus. You suddenly realize you haven’t got enough money to pay the fare.
13. You are at a party. You’re bored and you want to leave. What do you say to the person you’re with, and to the person who is hosting it?
14. You want to book a room in a hotel.
15. You intend to help a blind person to cross the road.
16. You ask someone to give you back something they’ve taken.
17. You ask someone to help with lifting something heavy.
II. Dilemmas. Organization: small groups
Procedure: the students role-play the situations in small groups: one of them is the person with a problem, the other members of the group are counsellors. Later the groups describe the conclusions they reached.
1. Your car has a puncture, and you have just discovered that the spare tyre is flat. You are alone on a lonely road; night is falling.
2. You have noticed your best friend cheating in an end-of term exam. A lot of kids cheat, but you and your friend have always been against it, up to now.
3. Your parents prefer your younger brother to you: they buy him more new things, and generally discriminate in his favour. If you protest, they get angry.
4. Your boyfriend/girlfriend said he/she couldn’t come out with you this evening because of work; but you’ve just seen him/her coming out of a cinema hand in hand with another boy/girl.
5. You and your friend are mountain-climbing; you have been caught in a sudden thick fog, and are lost.
6. Your mother has had a stroke and is semi-paralysed. She hates the idea of going into an institution, but needs constant care. You cannot afford a nurse, and do not want to give up your job.
7. Someone close to you, of your age, has got a fatal disease, and the doctors say there is no hope. She has asked you to help her end her life now.
8. You have been offered a well-paid job by a rich employer, and badly need the money; but people have told you that his business is dishonest.
9. You tried using an illegal drug for the first time, at a party a year ago – hated it and haven’t touched the stuff since. But someone who saw you at the party threatens to tell the police if you don’t pay them off.
10. A friend, while driving you in his car, hits someone crossing the road, and knocks them down. You told him to stop; he said the person wasn’t badly hurt, and drove on.
11. You felt really ill last night, and rang your boss. He was very nice, and told you to take the day off. Today, you get up late, and now – at 10 a.m. – feel perfectly well.
12. You have put on a lot of weight, none of your clothes fit, and your doctor says you must diet. But you feel OK, and enjoy your food – also, you have to eat out a lot in уour job.
III. Gossips
Organisation: groups
Procedure: half of the group are unsuspicious neighbours, people who tend to impute good intentions to others. The rest of the group are typical gossips, people who like to spread rumours.
1. At 5 a.m. you saw the McKennons’ daughter come back home. A young long-haired boy was with her.
2. At 7 you saw Mr. Davis leave home. He was carrying two heavy-looking suitcases and he had a bandage over his forehead.
3. At 8 you saw a man entering the Davis’ house. Mrs. Davis looked very happy to see him. They hugged effusively on the doorstep.
4. At about 9 a police officer called at the Smiths’. He was inside for about half an hour.
5. At about the same time, Mrs. Browing, who lives alone and leaves for work at 8, took the rubbish bag out. She was wearing her dressing gown.
6. At about 10, when you were leaving home to do the shopping, the Wilsons’ son bumped into you, didn’t even say “good morning” and ran on. A much older boy was chasing him. He was shouting something about a window but you didn’t catch quite what it was.