Episode 1. The Challenge is Set

Contents

 

Preface …............................................................................................. 3

The Race …......................................................................................... 5 

The Emperor's New Clothes …............................................................ 33

Thought for the Day …........................................................................ 43

The English We Speak. Catch-22 ….................................................... 48

Modern-day Empires …........................................................................ 49

World Business Report ….................................................................... 58

 

 

Preface

    This manual is intended for the intermediate level of English learning at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and has been developed for students mastering English speech in its oral and written varieties. The set of tasks provided proceeds from listening to authentic materials through their imitation and reciting by heart to using them in personal contexts.

    The audio recordings were borrowed from BBC podcasts which are available on-line and off-line. They are as follows:

1/ The BBC play The Race in 10 parts. Available at: http: //www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/drama/the-race

2/ Tales of Hans Christian Andersen. The Emperor's New Clothes. Available at:

http: //www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/subjects/english/hans_christian_andersen/tales/emperors_new_clothes

3/ Thought for the Day by Rev. Dr. Michael Banner. Available at:

https: //www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00szxv6/episodes/downloads

4/ The English We Speak. Catch-22. Available at:

http: //www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/russian/features/the-english-we-speak/ep-180611

5/ Point of view. Modern-day Empires by John Gray. Available at:

https: //www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09wvy20

6/ World Business Report. World Health Organization classifies gaming addiction disorder. Available at: https: //www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06bg07n#play

    Rather than aiming at a general understanding of the recorded materials the assignments offered in this book focus on a accurate perception, a full understanding and the writing down of the recorded texts verbatim without any dependence on a written script. Doing such activities students develop their ear, activate their cognitive mechanisms of predicting, guessing and forming meaningful utterances in a given context. At the same time they are making use of intonation as a means of structuring the information content of texts. Intoning the written script is an important stage of preparing for its reading and then retelling.

    The language exercises arrange some guided practice of difficult language units: sounds and their clusters, intonation elements (nuclear tones, heads, accidental rise, logical and emphatic stress), grammar patterns, synonymous vocabulary items.

    The speech exercises encourage students to use the phonetic, lexical and grammatical material being practised in new contexts, to convey personal opinions and share life experience. The application of the active material is also expected in translation tasks.

    The tasks also imply raising students' awareness of stylistic varieties of speech. In doing tasks they deal with dialogues and monologues, fairy-tales, public speeches and sermons, reading and spontaneous speaking.

    The author hopes that in the course of their work on the audio materials students will be able to improve their listening and prepared speaking skills, their pronunciation, enlarge their vocabulary, activate their grammar structures and develop a stylistic feeling for language varieties.

 

The Race

Episode 1. The Challenge is Set

 

Listening Task

Language Exercises

Transcribe and pronounce the words

Route, chime, desperately, fortune, yacht, climb, globe-trotting.

 

Read the word combinations. Do both the notional words get stressed?

The Houses of Parliament; Big Ben; bus route, Oxford Circus, a career change, Mount Everest, a gap year, a life adventure, travel writing.

 

Speech Exercises

Turn the conversation of the four people from Episode 1 into a dialogue between Phil and Tom. Write it down and act it out.

Try to recollect a case from your experience when someone came up with a crazy idea and wanted to talk you into realizing it. What was it about? How did you respond? How was it sorted out?

Listening Task

Language exercises

Explain what is implied by

 

- Start the clock!

- I'm so pleased that I have someone to 'show me the ropes', as it were.

- Thanks to you, it's plain sailing.

- I'm learning how to sail but my best skills are in the galley, making tea.

- Mayday! Mayday!

- We don't need to abandon ship just yet.

- We need to head for dry land.

 

Speech Exercises

1/ Describe The Mermaid as if you were Phil.

Listening Task

Language Exercises

Speech Exercises

1/ Describe the tenth day of the voyage as if you were a) Phil; b) Pete.

2/ Act out the dialogue between Phil and Sophia.

3/ Have you ever seen a rough sea? How can it be described? What may happen to ships in the storm? Use some appropriate words and phrases from the episode.

4/ Have you ever been caught in the rain? Describe your condition and actions with the help of the vocabulary from the episode.

5/ How can the title of the episode be interpreted in a direct and indirect way?

6/ Find the geographic names mentioned in the episode on the map. Describe the present location of the yacht and the rout it might have taken to reach this destination.

 

Episode 4. All at Sea!

Listening Task

Language Exercises

Speech Exercises

1/ Imitate the argument between Phil and Pete about Sophia's smuggling.

2/ Reproduce Phil and Sophia discussing the necessity to land and take Pete to the hospital.

3/ Speak about Day 22 as if you were Phil. Do you find it a hard day of the journey?

4/ Describe the problem the travellers have with the satnav system. Have you ever been let down by a piece of equipment?

Episode 5. All at Sea

Listening Task

Language Exercises

Speech Exercises

 

1/ Imitate the conversations: a) between Phil and the local man; b) between Phil and Sophia on discovering the theft of the boat.

2/ Was Day 35 a hard one for the crew of the yacht? How many unpleasant episodes took place on that day?

3/ Why was Pete displeased with Sophia's steering the yacht?

4/ What might have happened to the Mermaid? What do you think the travellers would do to find it?

5/ Imagine a conversation between one of the crew and a local policeman who is willing to help them find the boat.

Episode 6. Find our Yacht!

Listening Task

Language Exercises

Speech Exercises

Listening Tasks

Language Exercises

 

Speech Exercises

 

Episode 8

Aye aye, Captain Phil! Day 50

Listening Task

Language Exercises

Speech Exercises

1/ Speak as if you were Phil. Describe the situation you faced at Port Morseby.

2/ Imitate the conversation between Phil and Pete (Sophie) discussing the best way to get some cash in order to replenish the supplies.

3/ Prepare a report which Phil was likely to videotape when he was at the steering wheel.

4/ What are the advantages of cash and credit cards? Do you think it possible for people to get rid of cash in the future?

 

 

Episode 9. Plain Sailing

Listening Tasks

Language Exercises

Speech Exercises

1/ Speak as if you were Phil who is giving an account of the trip on day 61, in Tahiti (after he returns to the yacht with purchases).

2/ Speak as if you were Sophie who is analyzing the recent changes in Phil's character.

3/ Make up a dialogue between Phil and Pete planning their activities on returning to Great Britain.

4/ The travellers started to make plans for their life in Britain long before they got there. Do you think it is good to plan your activities well in advance? What do English and Russian proverbs say about it? (For instance, “Don't sell the bear's skin before you've caught it).

Episode 10. The Last Leg

Listening Task

Language Exercises

Speech Exercises

The Emperor's New Clothes

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Transcribe the words

Said, excited, chamber, whole, course, chink, lovely, sound, laughter

 

Part 5

Transcribe the words

Spread, demand, stare, rap, drain, invisible, disaster, resign, empire, either, cheer, bow.

 

3/ Comment on the phonetic processes in the underlined segments

for himself, the Emperor, carry on, joined in, quite brilliant, on the stage

 

Part 6

Transcribe the words

cheering, peer, keyhole, scissors, thread, announce, outfit

 

Part 7

Transcribe the words

squeeze, tight, fasten, button, buckle, laces, fetch, gloves, magnificent, purple

Part 8

Transcribe the words

palace, crowd, scared, procession, praise, design, bare, quiet

Final Discussion

Transcribe the words

Christian, descent, Pentecost, distribute, occur, miracle, solidarity

 

Answer the questions

1/ Have you read the book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller? When was it written and what is it about?

2/ Do you know any more examples to illustrate a situation when a person is caught in a vicious circle which may be called a Catch-22 situation?

3/ Why do you think the phrase has become so common?

 

6/ Go to The English we Speak podcast and find out the meaning of another set phrase presented there. Sum up the information in a short report. Present it in class as if you were a teacher or a linguist.

 

Form adjectives from nouns

empire, Europe, experiment, Belgium, significance, nation, Syria, colony, precedence, paradox, democracy, rhetoric, elite, ideology, authority (2 adjectives).

 

Copy down the second part of the essay and intone the text. Do a little research and calculate the average length of the intonation group measured in stressed words. Prepare to read the passage aloud.

 

Express your own point of view on the problem of modern empires. Do you share John Gray's opinion? Do you think that only imperial states can enjoy power and prosperity? Why are modern-day empires considered to be short-lived?

 

World Business Report

 World Health Organization Classifies Gaming Addiction

 

Compare the prepared speaking (or even reading) of the journalist and the spontaneous responses of Mrs. Palmer and Mrs. Twist. Write them down and intone the texts. Compare the types of nuclear tones, pitch range, pauses and tempo.

Contents

 

Preface …............................................................................................. 3

The Race …......................................................................................... 5 

The Emperor's New Clothes …............................................................ 33

Thought for the Day …........................................................................ 43

The English We Speak. Catch-22 ….................................................... 48

Modern-day Empires …........................................................................ 49

World Business Report ….................................................................... 58

 

 

Preface

    This manual is intended for the intermediate level of English learning at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and has been developed for students mastering English speech in its oral and written varieties. The set of tasks provided proceeds from listening to authentic materials through their imitation and reciting by heart to using them in personal contexts.

    The audio recordings were borrowed from BBC podcasts which are available on-line and off-line. They are as follows:

1/ The BBC play The Race in 10 parts. Available at: http: //www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/drama/the-race

2/ Tales of Hans Christian Andersen. The Emperor's New Clothes. Available at:

http: //www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/subjects/english/hans_christian_andersen/tales/emperors_new_clothes

3/ Thought for the Day by Rev. Dr. Michael Banner. Available at:

https: //www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00szxv6/episodes/downloads

4/ The English We Speak. Catch-22. Available at:

http: //www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/russian/features/the-english-we-speak/ep-180611

5/ Point of view. Modern-day Empires by John Gray. Available at:

https: //www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09wvy20

6/ World Business Report. World Health Organization classifies gaming addiction disorder. Available at: https: //www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06bg07n#play

    Rather than aiming at a general understanding of the recorded materials the assignments offered in this book focus on a accurate perception, a full understanding and the writing down of the recorded texts verbatim without any dependence on a written script. Doing such activities students develop their ear, activate their cognitive mechanisms of predicting, guessing and forming meaningful utterances in a given context. At the same time they are making use of intonation as a means of structuring the information content of texts. Intoning the written script is an important stage of preparing for its reading and then retelling.

    The language exercises arrange some guided practice of difficult language units: sounds and their clusters, intonation elements (nuclear tones, heads, accidental rise, logical and emphatic stress), grammar patterns, synonymous vocabulary items.

    The speech exercises encourage students to use the phonetic, lexical and grammatical material being practised in new contexts, to convey personal opinions and share life experience. The application of the active material is also expected in translation tasks.

    The tasks also imply raising students' awareness of stylistic varieties of speech. In doing tasks they deal with dialogues and monologues, fairy-tales, public speeches and sermons, reading and spontaneous speaking.

    The author hopes that in the course of their work on the audio materials students will be able to improve their listening and prepared speaking skills, their pronunciation, enlarge their vocabulary, activate their grammar structures and develop a stylistic feeling for language varieties.

 

The Race

Episode 1. The Challenge is Set

 

Listening Task

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