Act Out a Dialogue

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. You are staying at your foreign friend’s house. You would like to go to a sports centre. Discuss what kind of sport you can do and on what days you are going to do it.

A: David, is there a sports centre near here?

B: Yes. There’s a good place near Newmarket Road. It’s got a gym.

A: Fantastic! Is there a swimming pool?

B: Yes, there are two pools. There’s a children’s pool and a big pool.

A: Good. There’s a big pool near my house in Moscow. I go there every week. Is there a tennis court in the sports centre?

B: Yes. There are five tennis courts. But there aren’t any indoor courts.

A: Mmmm… I can’t play tennis very well. Are there tennis classes?

B: Yes, there are tennis classes in the afternoon.

A: Can you play tennis?

B: Not very well. To tell the truth, I am terrible.

A: Well, let’s go to the tennis classes together.

B: That’s a good idea, but … on what days? I’m busy on Fridays and Saturdays.

A: Is Sunday afternoon OK?

B: I think it isn’t a good idea to have classes on Sundays.

A: And what about Monday afternoon?

B: Well, let me think … Monday’s fine with me.

A: Great. That would be lovely.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. You are going to take some language courses. Your friend thinks you don’t have to learn foreign languages because it’s hard and time-consuming. Moreover, he/she insists that you can always ask an interpreter to help you if it is required. You are not of the same opinion. Consider some arguments to back your idea and prove that learning languages is very important.

A: I am going to take more language courses this year. I’d like to learn French.

B: You can’t be serious. Why study French? It’s so difficult! You will have less free time.

A: You know, French is important for my future job. I wish I had a job in some French company like l’Oreal.

B: OK, but don’t you think that they would prefer to ask an interpreter if they need any help working with foreigners? Professional interpreters will be more helpful anyway, won’t they?

A: I have to admit that at present I’m not very good at French but I hope that courses may improve that situation. I’m sure, my future employers will appreciate my wish to study. Any specialist who speaks two languages is more valuable.

B: I am not sure that you need it. It’s a waste of time and money to take more courses.

A: Oh, I disagree. I think learning languages is enjoyable. I like my language studies and have enough time for doing grammar exercises, reading books and practicing pronunciation.

B: I’d rather do sports instead.

A: That’s not the point. Languages are more important for my career.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. You are a reporter who is interviewing a famous foreign singer. Find out at what age he/she started his/her career? Why he/she chose this type of music. Ask the singer to tell about his/her plans for the future.

A: Today, Christina is our special guest. Hi, Christina, you look fantastic! Happy birthday!

B: Hi, thanks.

A: May I ask you how old you are today?

B: Sure. It’s my 27th birthday, you know.

A: Not that old for such a successful stage career. Your work has earned you numerous awards including five Grammy Awards. Incidentally, Christina, where were you born? New York?

B: Actually, I moved to New York much later but my hometown’s Pittsburgh.

A: Pardon?

B: Difficult? P-I-double T-S-B-U-R-G-H.

A: Ah, I see now. At what age did you start to perform? I wonder if you were a child star.

B: It’s true, actually. I’ve wanted to perform as long as I can remember.

A: Why did you choose pop music, not classic music, for instance?

B: I admired musicals when I was a child. By the time I was five I had learnt to sing all the songs from The Sounds of Music and was performing the songs at parties.

A: Then you joined “The Mickey Mouse Club”, didn’t you?

B: That’s right. At the age of 12, I started to appear on the show. I had to sing, dance and act …

A: And there were other future stars on the show, as far as I know, including Britney Spears, J.C, and Justin Timberlake.

B: Yeah, and that’s when I decided that I loved singing most of all.

A: Christina, could you tell us about your plans?

B: Well, I am going to release an exclusive video on my official website.

A: Thank you, Christina. It was really nice of you to come to the studio on your birthday.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. Discuss what it means to be successful: whether a person should be born with certain character traits, have the right background, go to university or get married successfully. Give your arguments. Ask your friend if he/she is of the same opinion.

A: In my opinion, it is very difficult for young people to choose a career and become successful. I think a person must be very ambitious, hard-working and intelligent if he or she wants, say, to start a company. Do you agree?

B: Yes, sure. But it is not enough just to have a set of some personality traits. I think it’s important to get information about career areas which have the best future.

A: You’re right. Well, and you don’t need to be a genius to predict that such areas as tourism, business, professional services, the media, information technology, and biosciences will offer lots of job opportunities. In my opinion, young people should go to university to study information technology if they want to be successful.

B: I totally agree with you. Moreover, everybody should have computer skills, don’t you think?

A: That’s true. Of course, not everybody needs to become a computer expert, but they should really consider improving their IT skills.

B: Okay, can you suggest some more career-related things?

A: Well, companies need people who can work cooperatively and get on well in a team. Good communication skills are very important. You also need to speak at least one foreign language nowadays. Cultural awareness is also important. Companies need specialists who feel comfortable working with people from other countries and coping with cultural differences.

B: Right. Communication is another key skill in people’s career.

A: I hope young people will get all the necessary skills to become successful.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. Your foreign friend often goes to McDonald’s. Try to persuade him not to go there because fast food is not healthy. Give some arguments. Tell you friend about a healthy diet.

A: Actually, I consider McDonald’s a highly unhealthy meal. And what do you think about that?

B: Well, I think I’m addicted to it. I can eat five cheeseburgers and five orders of French fries every day. Yummy.

A: Good gracious! I saw a documentary about a guy who ate nothing but McDonald’s for one whole month. Then this poor guy was monitored by a doctor. He was really a mess with his blood tests revealing nothing but bad news. Besides, he gained lots of weight.

B: I don’t believe it. Food is food. A Big Mac has only 540 calories. People just think that a burger MUST be bad.

A: That’s not the point. McDonald’s is the worst place to eat. Have you ever just stood at the counter and watched how much food actually gets fried? It’s extremely dangerous with all the dioxins increasing the likelihood of cancer. Your body will let you know when you get older and it’s going to be awful.

B: That’s absolutely wrong. I actually believe that McDonald’s is the healthiest of fast foods. They offer fresh fruits and good sources of protein through menu options such as Caesar salad, fruit and walnut salad, and low-fat milk. As for dressings that come with the salad, one could always use less than half of what is given.

A: But it’s a trap. The thing is that most people can’t stop eating too much at McDonald’s.

B: I can.

A: You’d better eat well-balanced meals. At your age, you need grain foods like cereals and vegetables, especially green and orange ones. You need fruits every day. You should have milk and other calcium-rich foods. Of course, you need meat, but not burgers. You should eat beans, fish and nuts containing iron. This is what I call a well-balanced diet.

B: Do you mean that only this diet is the key to a healthy life?

A: Certainly.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. Your foreign friend believes that computers have a negative effect on health. You are not of the same opinion. Try to make your friend change his/her mind. Give some arguments in favour of using computer in our everyday life.

A: What do you think about computer health risks?

B: I think we are at risk of injury when we use computers every day.

A: Are you kidding?

B: As far as I know, thousands of children have already had medical problems associated with the operation of computers.

A: What are they?

B: Prolonged computer use causes neck and back pain. If children play computer games every day, they can also develop incorrect posture.

A: You’re right, but parents should control how long their children play computer games.

B: And what about eye strain? I always have sore eyes when I work on my computer.

A: Obviously, you should stand up and regularly take breaks. You can even do some exercises. Anyway, you can’t do without your computer, can you?

B: I’d better go out and do sports instead of sitting in front of my computer. Computers have made us passive and unhealthy.

A: But computers are everywhere, whether we go to reserve a train ticket or to a supermarket. This is because they are faster and help us complete our work without mistakes. We have to develop good computer skills.

B: I am against computers. They can pose some huge problems. We shouldn’t depend on a machine.

A: I don’t think you are being fair. One more benefit of the computer age is that children are becoming smarter. They can even do their homework on-line. I think it’s very helpful.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. You are going to celebrate City Day to commemorate Moscow’s anniversary. Your foreign friends will join the celebration. Discuss how to arrange the celebration with your teacher.

A: We are going to have the Moscow Day celebration on the 1st of September. What about arranging a school performance?

B: That’s a good idea. We are going to invite our American guests to celebrate with us. Don’t you think it’s a good idea?

A: Sure. This event will help them to learn more about Russian history and traditions.

B: I think we should invite our war veterans.

A: Great. The older generation and young people will get together on this day. I’ll phone the veterans union and ask veterans to visit us.

B: OK. Then I will choose what our participants are going to perform.

A: Shall we ask Ann and Vladimir to be the emcees of the concert?

B: Yes. They will come in half an hour and see what is in the program. Maybe we will need two rehearsals …

A: Shall we arrange some snacks and tea for our guests and participants?

B: Why not? We can organize everything in our school canteen. They can make enough tea and pastry for everybody.

A: Who is going to decorate the assembly hall?

B: I don’t know. Can I ask you a favour? I think you can do it with your friends.

A: Actually, I can ask my friends to help.

B: And don’t forget to set up all the necessary equipment and the lighting.

A: Everything will be okay. I promise.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. You are going to visit an English-speaking country in October and stay there for about one week. Your foreign friend comes from this country. Ask him/her what kind of weather they are having in October, whether it is changeable, and what clothes you should take with you.

A: I’m so happy. You know, I am going to Great Britain this October.

B: Great! How long are you going to stay there?

A: Well, I have a one-week tour around Great Britain. We are visiting London, the Lake District, and Edinburgh.

B: Fantastic! I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

A: Could you tell me what the weather is like in England and Scotland in October?

B: A bit of everything, really. Sometimes it’s sunny and sometimes it’s rainy.

A: Is it cold?

B: It depends. In Scotland, it starts to snow in November. In the Lakes, the weather is surprisingly pleasant at that time of the year. In London, it’s warm, about 15ºC, but you have to take your umbrella when you go out. It’s often rainy and cloudy.

A: Are there showers?

B: There may be a couple of showers in the afternoon.

A: Could you, perhaps, give me some advice about what clothes to take with me?

B: Well, obviously, you should take warm clothes like sweaters, jeans and jackets. You also need walking shoes if you want to walk in the mountains or somewhere in the country.

B: Thank you very much.

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. Your foreign friend feels depressed. Try to find out what are the reasons for his bad mood and what you can do to help him/her. Give advice how to deal with this problem.

A: Hey, I wonder why you look so upset. Could you tell what has happened?

B: You see, recently I told my friend that I have known for about a year and a half that I liked her. She said she didn’t know what she felt for me and told me to wait to think about it.

A: And what did she tell you then?

B: Nothing. I asked her about three times if she wanted to say “no”. And I asked her not to worry about it.

A: I see that you are totally confused and feel uncomfortable about her answer.

B: That’s right. I need to hear a “yes’ or a “no”.

A: Don’t worry! It’ll be all right.

B: I am really depressed. I saw her hanging around with my other guy friends.

A: I know that you are upset, heartbroken and feeling really down at the moment. But you have to get back on the horse, pick yourself up and not let this affect you. Your friend is just one girl out of millions. If you shy away from talking to other girls or from being sociable, you may never meet the girl that is right for you. Take my advice, it’s not the biggest problem in your life. Got it?

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Act out a dialogue with your teacher. You are doing a project about an English-speaking country with a friend. Discuss what information you are going to include in your project, why you have chosen it, and say what each of you is responsible for.

A: Shall we think over our assignment, Irina?

B: Sorry, what assignment are you talking about?

A: We have to do a project about Australia. Don’t you remember?

B: A project? Maybe I’ve missed something … but I am in favour of doing it. I like Australia. It’s a unique country.

A: I think we should start with Australia’s geographical position.

B: You’re right. Let’s suggest a discussion. Anyone could present views whether Australia is a continent or an island. This will add interaction to our presentation.

A: OK. Then you will tell about Australia’s wildlife, especially, about its endemic species.

B: Sure. I have some great photos of kangaroos, koalas, and crocodiles.

A: I hope you won’t forget to prepare slides for our presentation.

B: Don’t worry. I’ll do everything properly.

A: I can find some information about population in Australia. I have done some studies of all the emigration to this country. I think I will also look into the present situation with Aborigines. It could be discussed with the class.

B: And what about music?

A: I’ll ask George to bring some CDs of Australian musicians. He’s got a great collection of CDs.