DISCUSSIONS A to Z_Intermediate.pdf

dgements

I would like to dedicate this book to myLMici^ntosF^nd to

all my students who were a great inspiration behind this

project. The following people in particular came up with

some really good ideas, gave me interesting pieces of

information and suggested various books to read: Massimo

Malcontent!, Francesco Marconi, Giovanni Mandorino

(and all at Tecsiel), Guja Vallerini (and all at Intecs), Maria

Turchetto (known to her cult followers as the Great

Turchett), Paolo Ghiretti (legal eagle), Rita Sacchelli, Marco

Delato, Antonella Pasotto, Giulia Gestri, Antonella Giani,

the Giuliani family, the Marino family, Marina Calafa,

Isabella Sbrana, Luca Belloni, Elisabetta Marchetti, Ilaria

Merusi, Cristiana Toccafondo, Emanuela Ghisoifi, Luca

Ferrami (musical inspiration), Luciana Fusar Poll (medical

consultant), Giovanni Cozzi, Barbara Bargagna, Monica

Ciampi, Paolo Bassi, Andrea Ceccolini, Carlo Bellanca,

Claudia Rege Cambrin, Luca Zamboni, Sergio Marchetti,

Guido Coli (and all at LIST), Gianluca Soria, Patrizia Caselli

(and all at SIAS). Thanks also to LIST SpA for technological

support, to International House in Pisa, in particular Chris

Powell, Paola Carranza, Lynne Graziani and Antonia Clare,

and to Tau Pei Lin, Honor Routledge and Acayo Marcheline

Lam for their voices and ideas. A special dedication to Adele

TuUoch for giving me a social conscience, and thanks and

love to Andreina Marchesi, Tommaso Wallwork and all my

family, and to Rupert Burgess and Tom Southern.

I would also like to thank the following people at

Cambridge University Press: Jeanne McCarten, Geraldine

Mark, Noirin Burke and Isabella Wigan.

Particular thanks are due to the following institutions and

teachers for their help in testing the material and for the

invaluable feedback which they provided: David Barnes,

The British Institute of Florence, Italy; Jon Butt,

International House, London; Bob Hastings, Eurolingua,

Cordoba, Spain; Marianne Hirtzel, I.L.A., Cambridge;

Anne McKee and Sue Noel, Chambre de Commerce,

Pontoise, France; Tony Robinson, Eurocentres, Cambridge;

Michael Turner, Chelsea and Holbom School, Barcelona,

Spain.

The author and publisher are grateful to the following

individuals and institutions who have given permission to

use copyright material. It has not been possible to identify

the sources of all the material used and in such cases the

publisher would welcome information from the copyright

owners. HarperCollins Publishers for the extracts on p. 17

from Tlie Healing Power of Colour by Betty Ward and the

extract on p. 29 from Sociology by Haralambos; Litde Brown

& Co (UK) for the extract on p. 19 from TTie Colour of Love

by Y. Alibhai-Brown; Margaret Pauflfley for the illustration

on p. 19; Popperfoto for the photographs on pp. 19, 51 and

65; excerpt on p. 25 from 1984hy George Orwell, copyright

1949 and renewed 1977 by Sonia Brownell Orwell, reprinted

by permission of The Estate of the late Sonia Brownell

Orwell, Martin Seeker and Warburg Ltd and Harcourt Brace

and Company; Time Life Syndication for the extract on

p. 31 from Time Magazine, 17 June, 1991; Oxford

Cartographers for the maps on pp. 34 and 35; Addison-

Wesley Longman for the extract on p. 35 from The Peters

Atlas of the World by Professor Peters; IIK Hamomisl (or llic

extract on p. 35 from The Economist, 25 March, 1989; Dc

Geillustreerde Pers BV, Amsterdam for the extracts on pp. 43

and 92 from The World of Wonder, Stampa Alternativa

(Collona Mille Lire) for the extracts on pp. 42 and 43 from

Papalagihy Tuiavii di Tiavea; The Red Cross for the extracts

on pp. 50 and 51; Focus for the extract on p. 55 from Focus,

February 1995; Guinness Publishing for the extracts on pp.

60 and 61 from TTte Guinness Book of Numbers; The Trustees

of G.P. Wells Deceased for the extract on p. 65 from /? Short

History of the Worldby H.G. Wells; Transworld Publishers

(UK and Commonwealth rights) and Writers House Inc.

(US and Canada rights) for the extract on p. 65 from A Brief

History of Time by Stephen Hawking; The Ancient Art &

Architecture Collection for the photographs on pp. 67 and

85; Telegraph Publications for the extract on p. 69 from The

Group for the extract on p. 77 from Gurdjiejf: Essays and

Reflections on the Man and His Teaching; Millfield, Somerset

for the extract on p. 77 from their school prospectus; Panes

Pictures for the photographs on pp. 79 and 101; Virgin WH

Allen pic for the extract on p. 85 from TheArtofLivinghy

Princess Beris ICandaouroff; Mark Read/Time Out for the

photograph of Big Ben on p. 85; Patina for the Swatch on p.

85; Piatkus Books (UK and Commonwealth rights) and Or

Lillian Glass (US and Canada rights) for the extract on p. 93

from Confident Conversation; Brinbo Books for the

illustration from Take a closer look by Keith Kay on p. 95;

Plenum Publishing Corporation for the extract on p. 97

from Sex Roles, Vol 26, May 1992; William Heinemann Ltd

(UK rights), HarperCollins Publishers (Australia and New

Zealand rights) and Simon & Schuster (US and Canada

righ'ts) for the extract on p. 99 from How to Win Frinds and

Influence People by Dale Carnegie; Ravette for the extract on

p. 101 from TheXenophobe's Guide to the English; Rogers,

Coleridge & White Ltd, 20 Powis Mews, London Wll IJN

for the extract on pp. 101 and 102 from My Beautiful

Company for the extract on p. 103 from A Long Walk to

Richard Greenhill for the photograph on p. 109; Solo

Syndication Ltd for the extract on p. Ill from The Daily

Mail, February 15, 1993; Respect For Animals for the

illustration on p. 11.

Illustrations by Dave Bowyer: pp. 15 (top), 25, 41, 57, 63, 71;

Graham Cox: pp. 13, 15 (bottom), 37, 43 (top), 45, 47 59,

73, 75, 87 (bottom), 89, 105, 107; Gary Wing: pp. 9, 11, 12,

23, 39, 43 (bottom), 49, 65, 81, 83, 87 (top), 91, 93, 95, 97

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Summary for t hose in a hurry

• Other uses: Don't think that you have to use this book just

for discussions. Some ideas could lead you on to other areas:

vocabulary, grammar, composition writing, etc.

• Flexibility: Be flexible. Choose your own path through the

book. Select and adapt the tasks to suit your students' needs.

Rework the exercises or use them as models for your own

ideas.

• Comments: Please write to me at Cambridge and let me

know your opinions and criticisms on the book, or e-mail

me: adrian@list.it .

• Structure: There are 26 topic-related units - one for each

letter of the alphabet. Topics overlap between units, which

means that you can pass from one unit to another giving

your students a sense of thematic continuity.

• Level and use: 'Intermediate' covers an incredibly wide

spectrum of levels. You may find that you have to skip some

exercises (e.g. some of the hstening and reading passages) as

they may be too difficult for your intermediate class. This

shouldn't, however, mean that you can't proceed with the

discussion - the discussion questions which follow the

reading passages don't presuppose having read the text itself

Use the book both for back-up material to your coursebook,

or independentlyjas the basis for a conversation course.

Nearly all of the exercises can also be exploited with more

advanced classes.

• Choosing exercises: Don't feel you have to do every

exercise from every unit. Combine exercises from various

units as you choose both from this book and from

Discussions A~Z Advanced {which has many exercises that

can be exploited at lower levels too). Don't follow the order

of the exercises unless you want to (or unless advised in the

teacher's notes), though you might like, to begin with the

first exercise in Appearances and end with the Fun with

English section in English. Use the Subject index and

Links index to find related exercises in other units.

• Timing: Exercises vary in length from five to about ninety

minutes depending on your students' level and interest in

the topic. Don't impose any rigorous time limits unless you

have to, but don't persevere with a discussion that's getting

nowhere. However, it is important that students feel they

have completed an exercise and been linguistically

productive in the process.

> Personalisation: Try and relate exercises to current events

and things relevant to,your own students' lives.

I Taboo: Some topics may be sensitive for your students -

they are marked with a %. Don't let this put you off doing

them unless you're sure they will react badly. If you think

they might, make sure you have back-up material ready (for

example, exercises from the Quizzes or You units).

Discussion groups: Most of the discussion exercises work

best in pairs or small groups. Explain to students that you

won't interrupt them while they talk (unless you notice

them repeatedly making the same mistake), but that you'll

note down mistakes they make for analysis at a later point.

In any case, before embarking on an exercise you should

anticipate any vocabulary and grammar problems that are

likely to arise, and revise these beforehand if necessary.

With more reticent classes you may need to drill or feed

them with relevant structures useftil for the specific

discussion task.

Speaking

Most exercises on the student's page consist of a set of

questions to discuss. When these questions are preceded by

an introductory reading passage they should not be treated

as comprehension questions but as a springboard to

discussion. If you see no logical ordering in the numbering

of the questions let students read all the questions, and then

just select the ones they wish to discuss. Alternatively divide

students into small groups and ask them to discuss only the

first five often questions, for example. Those who finish

their discussion quickly can be asked to move on to the

other questions, whilst the more loquacious groups are

given enough time to finish their debates.

Don't let students think they have to stick to answering the

questions directly. Let them float around the questions and

bring in their own ideas.

Questions not discussed in the lesson can be set as titles for

compositions for homework; or written summaries can be

made of those questions that were answered during the lesson.

Reading

Most of texts are authentic and come from a variety of

sources; some have been condensed or slightly modified.

They have been kept deliberately short and are not designed

to develop specific reading skills. Encourage students to

guess:

• where the texts come from - newspapers, scientific

journals, women's magazines, letters, interviews, literary

works.

• why they were written - to inform, instruct, convince,

advise, shock, amuse, deceive.

• who they were written for - age group, sex, nationality,

specialist, casual reader

• when they were written (where applicable).

Although the aim of the text is not to act as a

comprehension exercise, students should obviously

understand most of what they read. Before photocopying,

underline in pencil any parts that you feel are essential for

an understanding of the text. Check the meaning of these

before going on to look at the text in more detail.

Introduction

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: