- •Let’s talk about family.
- •Let’s talk about your family. What is family for you?
- •Are there any things that you do with your parents together?
- •What will you ask your British friend about his family?
- •What can you advise people who want to have a close and happy family?
- •Nowadays an average family has one child. From your point of view, how many children should there be in a family?
- •Let’s talk about family traditions.
- •Let’s talk about family traditions. Why is it important to have family traditions?
- •Are you on good terms with your parents and grandparents?
- •What will you ask a British teenager about his relatives?
- •What can you advise people who want to have a good relationship with their parents and grandparents?
- •They say that parents and children have difficulties understanding each other because of the generation gap. What do you think about this problem?
- •Let’s talk about friendship and relationship with friends.
- •Let’s talk about friendship. What role do friends play in your life?
- •Do you agree that Belarusian secondary school provides a person with good knowledge? Why (not)?
- •Ask me whether I liked school when I was a pupil.
- •What can you advise a student who is not very good at languages to do to achieve better results?
- •Today some young people think that having a good education is not very important. Do you agree with them?
- •Let’s talk about studying at school.
- •Let’s talk about studying at school. What can you tell me about the place where you study?
- •Do you agree that our school gives a person a good start in life? Why (not)?
- •Ask me what kind of pupil I was when I was at school?
- •You are talking with a British student. What would you advise him to do to prepare for an exam well?
- •Today some young people want to study abroad because they believe that the level of education is higher there. Would you do the same?
- •7. School Traditions.
- •Let’s talk about school traditions. What traditions does your school have?
- •Does your school differ from any other school you know?
- •3. Ask your British friend about his school traditions.
- •4. Which school club would you advise your classmate to join?
- •5. Do you think it is easy to organize a good school party? What problems can you face?
- •Let’s talk about choosing a career.
- •Let’s talk about choosing a career. What would you like to become?
- •Does a person need to possess special qualities to become a good specialist in this or that particular field? Why?
- •What questions will you ask your future employer about your future job?
- •Give me some advice on what I need to think about when choosing a job.
- •Some people think that it is necessary to have a good command of a foreign language to get a good job. Do you agree with this?
- •Let’s talk about life in the city and life in the country.
- •Let’s talk about life in the city and life in the country. Describe your place.
- •Do you find your city/town/village a comfortable place for living?
- •What questions will you ask a person who decided to move to the country?
- •Your friend doesn’t know what to choose: to live in a city or in the country. Give him some advice.
- •They say that living in the country is better than living in a city. What do you think about this?
- •Let’s talk about different types of houses.
- •Let’s talk about different types of houses. Tell me about the house/flat you live in.
- •Do you know any recipes of our national dishes?
- •What questions will you ask a friend about his favourite dish?
- •Which national dishes can you recommend a tourist to taste in Belarus?
- •Let’s talk about the national cuisine of an English-speaking country.
- •Let’s talk about British national cuisine. What can you tell me about eating habits in Britain?
- •Do you know any traditional British dishes ?
- •What questions can you ask a British friend about their national cuisine?
- •Your British friend can’t stop eating fast food. Try to persuade him that is unhealthy.
- •Does British cuisine differ from Belarusian cuisine?
- •Let’s talk about shopping.
- •Let’s talk about shopping. Who does the shopping in your family?
- •Do you like shopping? Why (not)?
- •What questions will you ask your friend who has bought an expensive telephone?
- •What can you advise a person who wants to buy many things (clothes, foodstuffs, etc.) but has little time?
- •5.Parents usually give pocket money to their children. How do you usually spend your pocket money?
- •Let’s talk about leisure time.
- •Let’s talk about leisure time. What do you do in your free time?
- •Let’s talk about customs and traditions of Belarus.
- •Let’s talk about customs and traditions of Belarus. What can you tell me about your favourite holiday in Belarus?
- •Are you proud of our national holidays and traditions?
- •Do you find some British holidays and celebrations special? Why (not)?
- •What questions can you ask a British teenager about his birthday celebration?
- •What British festivals would you advise your friend to visit?
- •Nowadays more and more people are getting interested in customs and traditions of different countries. What do you think about it?
- •Let’s talk about modern means of communication.
- •Let’s talk about modern means of communication. What are they?
- •Is there any means of communication you can’t live without? Why (not)?
- •Let’s talk about sport.
- •Let’s talk about sport. What is your favourite kind of sport?
- •What do you do to keep fit?
- •What questions will you ask a professional sportsman?
- •Are there any sports clubs at the lyceum? Which of them will you advise your friend to join?
- •Some pupils try to skip pe lessons thinking they are of less importance than other school subjects. What do you think about it?
- •Let’s talk about fashion.
- •Let’s talk about fashion. What clothes do you prefer to wear in different situations?
- •Do you prefer fashionable clothes to comfortable ones? Why (not)?
- •What questions would you ask a fashion designer?
- •What can you advise a person who wants to change something about his/her style but doesn’t know how to do it?
- •5.A famous person once said: “Fashions come and go, style is forever.” What do you think about it?
- •Let’s talk about travelling and tourism.
- •1.Let’s talk about travelling. What role does it play in your life? (Do you like travelling? Why?)
- •2. How do you like to travel? (What means of travel do you prefer and why?)
- •3. What questions will you ask a tour guide on a tour to London?
- •4.You’ve visited some foreign countries. Which of them did you like most and would recommend your friend to visit?
- •5. Today people are tired of exotic countries and prefer to spend holidays in the countryside in Belarus. What can attract people to it?
- •Let’s talk about environment.
- •Let’s talk about environment. People say that our planet is in danger. Do you share this opinion?
- •What do you think people should do to protect the environment?
- •Are you weather dependent?
- •What questions will you ask your British friend about the weather in his country?
- •Your friend wants to know what climate change is caused by. Can you explain it to him?
- •They say there’s no bad weather, there are bad clothes. What do you think about it?
- •Let’s talk about Belarus.
- •Let’s talk about Belarus. What can you tell me about our Motherland?
- •Do you know any symbols of our country?
- •What questions about Belarus do you expect to hear from a British teenager?
- •What Belarusian sights would you advise a foreigner to visit?
- •Let’s talk about Great Britain.
- •Let’s talk about Great Britain. What do you know about this country?
- •What part of Great Britain would you like to visit? Why?
- •3)_What would you like to ask a British teenager about Britain?
- •4) Give me a piece of advice on what sights to see in London.
- •5)They say it’s important for a person to speak English nowadays because it is popular all over the world. What is your opinion?
Do you find your city/town/village a comfortable place for living?
I think that Mogilev is quite a comfortable place for living. It is a beautiful town and I love it very much. But, of course, though the beauty of nature and good facilities for living are important, there are things which we value much more. Our place is dear to us because there are people who care for us and who are dear to us. “There is no place like home”, an English proverb says, and really our home is always the best place for us.
What questions will you ask a person who decided to move to the country?
Your friend doesn’t know what to choose: to live in a city or in the country. Give him some advice.
I think it’s a matter of preference. If you want to escape from the noise of a big city and enjoy the beauty of nature, if you are tired of traffic jams and crowds of people everywhere, then you may choose the country. But you must bear in mind that you may soon be bored there as there are no sports clubs, theatres or discotheques. You must decide for yourself what is more important for you – quietness and the beauty of nature, a peaceful atmosphere or the opportunities and entertainments of a big city.
They say that living in the country is better than living in a city. What do you think about this?
Frankly speaking, I can’t decide for sure where it is better to live. Cities and towns offer better job and education opportunities, a wide choice of entertainments and various places of interest. On the other hand, those who live in big cities have to put up with crowds of people everywhere, constant noise and pollution and traffic jams. Life in the country has a number of advantages. First of all you can escape from the noise of big cities and enjoy the beauty of nature. Then there are no traffic jams and there is no pollution. Life is much safer and cheaper in the country. But on the other hand, life is sometimes quite boring there. There are no sports clubs, theatres, discotheques. There are no schools in some small villages and children have to travel a long way to school and back. Well, in my opinion, both the city and the country can be attractive places to live in as soon as they are well-preserved by people who live in them. People living in clean and beautiful places are happy there.
Let’s talk about different types of houses.
Let’s talk about different types of houses. Tell me about the house/flat you live in.
There are many different types of houses: detached, semi-detached and terraced houses, cottages, bungalows, mansions, etc. But in our country people mostly live in blocks of flats. Our family is not an exception.
I live in Mogilev (in Krichev) in Dimitrov Avenue (in Pervomayskaya Street, in Nepokoryonnykh Boulevard). Our flat is on the ground floor (the second floor) of a five-storeyed (nine-storeyed) block of flats. It’s a three-room (two-room) flat with all modern conveniences, such as central heating, electricity, gas, hot and cold running water and a telephone.
Our living room is quite large. We have a suite [swi:t] of furniture with a carpet to match. In the centre of the room there is a big pull-out table used when guests come. Near the window there are two arm-chairs and a sofa facing the TV-set.
The bedroom isn’t large. The walls are light pink. There are two beds, a bedside table, some chairs and a wardrobe in it. There is a grey rug on the floor between the beds. Mother and father occupy the bedroom and I have a room to myself.
My room isn’t large either. As a matter of fact, my room is my haven. I have everything I need in it. I live by the motto ‘My room is my castle’. It is a place where I can relax. When I want to be on my own, I can just shut my door and tell everyone not to bother me.
I try to keep my room tidy and cosy, but it’s not very easy as it holds most of my personal belongings. I’m sort of a hoarder, I think everything is worth keeping. As a result, my room is rather cluttered. But that is the way I like it.
There is a book-case, a writing-table, two chairs and a sofa-bed where I sleep at night. To the right of my sofa-bed there is a little table with a computer and an entertainment centre. I enjoy listening to music and playing computer games.
Our entrance-hall is small. There are two built-in wardrobes and a mirror there. The bathroom is down the hall on the right. The lavatory is near the bathroom.
Our kitchen isn’t very large. There is a gas-stove with an oven, a table, four stools, a refrigerator and a cupboard where we keep cups, plates and other dishes. The kitchen serves us as a dining-room. But when we receive guests or have our family celebrations we have meals in the living room.
The windows of our flat face the yard, so it isn’t noisy (face a busy street, so it is rather noisy).
Do you like the place where you are living now?
Our flat is quite an ordinary one, but I like it all the same. I think everyone loves his home. I think that it doesn’t really matter where we live. Our home is always the loveliest, the dearest and the best place for us, because we live with those who love us and who we love, and there is no place like home for us.
Ask me what my flat looks like.
Your friend wants to decorate his room. Give him some advice on how to furnish it.
I can give only general advice. I think everyone wants to have a cosy place to live in. So this is what my friend should bear in mind when furnishing his room. It is a place where he can relax, so it is better not to make it too cluttered.
How do you see an ideal house/flat?
I haven’t made up my mind yet what house or flat would be ideal for me. As for my future house I want it to be a flat in the centre of a big city. I think three rooms will be enough for me. And besides I want to have a summer cottage somewhere at the seaside. I want it to be a big modern one-storeyed house.
Let’s talk about Belarusian national cuisine.
Let’s talk about Belarusian national cuisine. What can you tell me about eating habits in your family?
They say you are what you eat. I quite agree with it. Our health depends on our eating habits. In our family we try to eat healthy food, not junk food. The first meal of the day is breakfast. A traditional breakfast in our family, and I think in many Belarusian families as well, is a cooked meal which may contain porridge, mashed potatoes with meat or an omelette. The most common drinks are some juice or a cup of tea or coffee.
For lunch I usually buy a bun or smazhanka and some juice at the lyceum cafeteria.
Dinner is the most substantial meal of the day. We usually have dinner at the lyceum canteen. It consists of 3 courses. We have chicken or cabbage soup for the first course, meat and vegetables for the main course and some juice or stewed fruit for dessert.
Supper is the time when all our family gather at table. Mother makes some salad, some fish or pasta. We drink tea and talk about our day.