E-05.02 Continue Oral-Skills Instruction Describing & Solving Problems

English in Everyday Life: Problems & Solutions

WorkLife English: Competency-Based Listening/Speaking, Book 2 Chapter 2.  Tapescript 

10 + 2 = 12 pp

Who It’s For: American-English (Teachers & Helpers of) High Beginning & Above  Students Still “Getting Into” Listening Strategies, Pronunciation Exercises, Group & Pair Tasking, & Oral-Skills Activities That Are “Competency-Based”

Why It’s Useful: Like Chapter 1 (E-05.01) of WorkLife English: A Competency-Based Listening/Speaking Book 2: English in Everyday Life, Chapter 2 contains an Opener,  Vocabulary, and four Parts—two of which are based on prerecorded Conversations (the texts of which appear in attached AudioScript segments). Pronunciation sections aim attention at (Complex) Vowels + (Ordinal) Numbers.  In Activities, text users converse about “Problems & Solutions,” the main theme of E-05.01.  While doing so, they fill in Calendars with plans and make appointments.

What You’ll Do: 

[1] In the page 15 Opener, notice that the instructional aims of the material are to help learners attain these Competencies: Understand & Describe Problems; Suggest, Accept, & Reject Solutions; Express Understanding; Use Calendars for Scheduling. Grammar in Focus topics are “the Simple Present” / “Kinds of Nouns.”  On the Vocabulary page, there are illustrations to match with sentences about problems. 

[2]  On pages 17-18, speakers discuss common everyday “problems”—housing, money, studies, transportation.  Show that you understand the Audio by responding True  or False to comprehension statements.  Notice some “Words & Sounds” typically inserted into Conversations.  Match problem descriptions to suggested solutions.

[3]  In Part Two / Pronunciation (pages 18-19), hear a “Schedule for a Week” in which the Complex Vowels  and Ordinal Numbers predominate.  To improve your ability to enunciate clearly, repeat and practice words / sentences with these.  

[4] Part Three / Listening & Speaking Skills Audio contains typical exchanges working people might have when trying to find a time and place to get together.  At first, you / your students may or may not “hear” the insertion of little words like a / an / the in fluent dialog, but eventually, you / they might.  For real-life practice, (participants) make appointments with classmates to enter into your / their social “Calendar.”

 [5] Part Four / Communication gets pairs of learners together in (guided) dialogs about (typical or real) problems they have and how to solve them.