13.5 Skills Presentation

Read the passage below, and answer the questions.

‘Of course,’ he continued, taking another mouthful of steak, ‘I’ve always been good at sports. I’m a brilliant footballer, you know - in fact, I’d say I was very good at ball games in general. I’m not bad at skiing, either. The funny thing is, my brother’s completely different. He ... I say, I’m not boring you, am I ?’

She covered the yawn with her hand. ‘Oh no,’ she managed to say, ‘I’m fascinated. Do go on.’

‘Yes, well, my brother ...’ he washed the steak down with some Perrier water, ‘he was always hopeless at football... and he’s a useless skier. Not very good at tennis, either. But he’s terrific at chess. Very good at using his brain, you know. Of course, I don’t know one end of a chess board from the other. I think I take after my father - he’s a fantastic footballer, you know, and he’s quite a good tennis player, too. But then he’s not bad at chess, either ...’ He stopped, obviously puzzled that his father was good at doing so many things. She was silent.

‘Well,’ he said at last, ‘that’s enough about me. Tell me - what are you good at ?’

She smiled. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘People tell me that I’m a very good listener ...

Complete the table below to show how good the man, his brother and his father are at the activities mentioned in the passage

	Very good	Good	Quite good	Not very good	Very bad
The man
His brother
His father

Now use the information in the table to talk about how good the three people are at each activity. Make two types of sentence for each answer, where you can.

Example He’s brilliant at (playing) football.

He’s a brilliant footballer.

13.6 Asking favours Practice

Example: You have been invited to a fancy dress party.

A: Are you any good at dressmaking?

B: Not bad. Why?

C: I want someone to make me a Dracula costume.

D: Oh. Then you want to ask Ann. She’s fantastic at dressmaking.

Work in groups. Have similar conversations, asking the others to help you in different ways. You:

1. have just moved into a new house

2. have got some people coming to dinner

3. are organising a variety show for charity

4. are starting up a small business

13.7 Jobs

Practice

What different things do these people have to be good at?

a barman in a nightclub

an astronaut

an au pair girl

a spy

a teacher

Could you do these jobs ? Why/Why not ?

Writing

Imagine that you are applying for one of these jobs.

Write a short letter of application, including information about what you are good at.