CiC3-TB

Sounding Natural Note: React with echo questions

meaning of what you say. Avoid either extreme, and your English will sound much better! N OTES FOR PAGE 74 Guided Speaking Practice • Play audio track #2-40 while students listen and follow along. • For low-level students, it may help to go over the substitution vocab before they begin reading. Lots of typical free time activities are covered here. Hopefully students will see something that applies to them. • If you have time, have pairs of students come up with an additional line of content. Pick a few good ones to perform their new content for everyone to hear. How about you? • Give time for students to make notes about what they like to do in their free time in general, and also if they did that during the last break. • Remind everyone to ask for help if needed: How do you say~ in English? This could come in handy because many students will not know how to pronounce foreign place names correctly. • Model the dialog with several students. Feel free to switch up the open and closed forms of each question as you talk with your students. • Have students practice the model dialog with several classmates. Having them stand up while speaking can help them stay focused. N OTES FOR PAGE 75 Sounding Natural Note: Find common ground by talking about yourself • Here is another spin on Golden Rule 3. In this note, the importance of using reaction expressions when talking about yourself is emphasized. • Have the students listen to the audio track or else follow along a transcript that you provide from them. • For extra practice, have pairs of students read out the “bad” and “good” dialogs to see what it feels like. Notes for Teachers: Unit 5 78

• This note shows how echo questions can be used as a reacting strategy. A fun exercise to review the importance of having proper intonation is included. Again, the idea here is to push students to either extremes, hoping that they find a happy medium that more resemble how they actually speak outside of class. English transcript of audio track 2-39 Echo questions are a conversation strategy that helps you improve conversations in several ways. First, by repeating a keyword or phrase with a rising intonation, you can give yourself time to think of an answer. In addition, echo questions are often used as reactions to show interest in what your partner says. As with all reactions, however, saying them with proper intonation is essential. This is because HOW you say a word affects its meaning. To review this point, let’s practice in the following way: With a partner, read the following dialog three times: first with a flat, monotone intonation, then with an over-the-top enthusiastic intonation, and finally with your normal, friendly voice. Have fun! For example: A: I play guitar in a rock band during my free time. B: A rock band!? Wow, that is so cool. Sounds boring and lifeless, doesn’t it? Next, try going the other way and read the dialog with an overly enthusiastic voice: A: I play guitar in a rock band during my free time. B: A rock band!? Wow, that is so cool. Wow! That’s too genki! Finally, read the dialog in your natural, positive voice- not too drab, and not too excited: A: I play guitar in a rock band during my free time. B: A rock band!? Wow, that is so cool. We hope you had fun with this exercise! Remember- how you say words, your intonation, influences the