Points to consider

• Before starting your report, consider who you are supposed to be, according to the topic, and who the report is addressed to. This will help you decide on the style of the report, e.g. You work for a travel agency. Your boss has asked you to write a report... This means you are an employee in a travel agency and that your report will be addressed to your boss; therefore it should be formal in style.

• Decide on the main heading of the report, then carefully plan the information you will include in your report and divide it into sub-headings.

• Present tenses should be used in survey reports to introduce generalisations. Use a variety of reporting verbs such as: state, report, agree, claim, complain, etc., to introduce reported speech.

• Use expressions such as: one in five, seven out of ten, thirty per cent of the people questioned, the majority of those questioned, a large proportion of, a minority of, etc. to report the results of the survey.

• Facts may be supported by generalisations, e.g. Fifty-five per cent of young people go to the cinema at least twice a month, (fact) This indicates that the cinema is still quite a popular form of entertainment among young people, (generalisation)

• Survey reports include facts and generalisations. Facts can be presented in the form of percentages (ten percent, two in ten, three out of ten. etc) or proportions (the majority/minority, a significant number, a large/the largest proportion, by far, a small number, etc.)

• Generalisations are statements which help clarify the facts. They can either precede or come after facts. Depending on this position, facts and generalisations can be linked by using verbs either in their active or passive form, as shown in the examples:e.g. Only twenty per cent of students take post-graduate courses. This indicates/illustrates/ implies/shows that most students prefer to pursue a career rather than to continue their studies, or Most students prefer to pursue a career rather than continue their studies. This is indicated/illustrated/ implied/shown by the fact. that only twenty per cent take post- graduate courses.

• Useful Language for Survey Reports

To introduce: The purpose/aim of this report, As requested, This survey was carried out

To generalise: In general, Generally, On the whole

To introduce other people's opinions: Many people consider, Some people

argue/believe/ claim

To conclude/summarise: In conclusion, All things considered, To sum up, All in all

Subtopic 2: Gestures comprehension

1. Identify some universal hand gestures by completing the Universal Hand Gesture chart.

MEANING	HAND GESTURE
1	Pressing the palms together and resting the head on the back of the hand while closing the eyes as if sleeping.
2	patting the stomach with the hands
3	taking the hand and making a circular motion over the stomach.
4	Using the hand and making a circular motion over the stomach.
5	rubbing the hands together.

2. Derive the meanings of gestures at the pictures (activity 13.3 D)

3. Can you guess the nonverbal body language the faces below are communicating?

Body Language Quiz