To Start You Talking

Előszó

On Aims and Method
Aims
This book is designed to develop fluency in speech. It is not a course book but each unit presents three dialogues with drills designed to practise the pronunciation and structural items frequent in everyday speech. The units are based on topics which often arise in sustained talking.
The first aim of this book is to start students talking along guided lines on subjects of generai interest, either amongst themselves, or in a more formai classroom situation. The difficulty of conducting a satisfactory ' conversation "j class with intermediate or advanced students has been feit by most teachers experienced in this field. The reason appears to be twofold: finding a suitable subject for conversation, and devising an effective means of conducting the lesson. Dull subjects invariably fail to elicit from the class much verbal response and the teacher finds it hard to motivate the students into participation. Conversely, a ' good ' subject can lead to an excessive response which the teacher is not able to control. A f'ree exchange of ideas and a discussion may ensue but the primary aim of the lesson, which should be to teach the students to express themselves correctly in spoken English, may be totally ignored. Clearly, the choice of a suitable subject for oral practice in the classroom is imperative. Use has been made in this book of the topics listed in the régulations for the Cambridge Lower Certificate Conversation test. This does not imply, however, that the book is limited to students preparing for this examination. It is intended for any intermediate or advanced learner of English in need of spoken English practice. In général, the book is designed to give aural-oral practice in spoken English —the approach which it is hoped teachers" and students will employ when using the units.
A second aim is to provide the student with information about these topics, with particular reference to Britain. The British background has been chosen since it provides an opportunity for students from different countries to make comparisons with their own institutions. Much of this background is provided through illustrations as well as the topics of the dialogues themselves. The information contained in the dialogues should be regarded as a stepping stone to further discussion on the subject, whether in more général terms or in relation to the student's own country. The language used in the dialogues has been graded to suit this level with an emphasis on items frequent in everyday speech.
A third aim is to give listening and speaking practice in English structure and phonology. Each dialogue is followed by a set of drills designed to practise some of the pronunciation and structural items found in the dialogue. Vissza