1. Get Speaking!
Improving your communication skills and confidence in English
ADAPTED FROM www.splendid-speaking.com
UNIT 1
The Splendid Speaking Course
Volume 1 Unit 2 ’Active Listening’
TOTAL ENGLISH
Splendid Expressions
‘Travel’
Unit 19: Hobbies and Interests
Task: Discussion Skills: Active Listening (3-4 minutes)
Topic vocabulary 1. Introduction: Your teacher has given you the following instruction:
To develop an interest in
To take up a hobby
To be mad about
To be fascinated by
Task
To be a fan of
To be into
What’s your partner into? Sport? Music?
To be a keen
(collector/gardener)
International cuisine? Or are they a
To be hooked on complete couch potato? Find out more about
To do something in your
spare time a hobby or interest your partner has.
To be time consuming
To do something purely for
pleasure
To make money out of an 2. Planning: You should both spend a minute or two making notes on the
interest
kind of questions to ask. Think about the following subjects:
To be rewarding What their interest is.
To dabble in lots of things
Why/How they first became interested in it.
What it is about the hobby or interest they enjoy.
Typical reply questions
3. Task Focus: Focus on listening carefully to your partner and showing
Do/Have/Are you?
interest by responding to things he or she says. Use reply questions and
Don’t/Haven’t/Aren’t you?
expressions, perhaps followed by a comment on what your partner has
Really?
said. For example:
Seriously?
A) “I always look around second-hand shops for any old records.”
Never?
B) “Do you? I’ve got a friend like that. You can find some real bargains if you’re
You’re joking?
lucky, can’t you?”
Do you think so?
Is that so?
4. Language: Tick any of the language on the left you want to use.
Task: Presentation (2 minutes)
Prepare a short presentation describing a hobby or interest you have. Give
your audience a taste of what it is you like so much about it.
The natural tendency when giving presentations is to rush. Try to pace
yourself so that the audience is able to follow your talk more easily. Focus on
Listen to Ana from the following:
Austria and Jonas from
S wi t z e r l a n d p r a c t i s i n g
a c t i ve l i s t e n i n g . S e e t h e  Try to speak more slowly than you would normally speak.
Ma r c h a r c h i ve s  Take regular, deep breaths.
( I n t e r vi e w 1 9 ) a t :  Pause for a second or two between sentences and especially after a point
s p l e n d i d- s p e a k i n g . c o m you want to emphasize.
ESTEFANÍA ADVANCED LEVEL