WRITING & SPEAKING: AREAS WE NEED TO WORK ONIn this issue of Intermedio 2 you will find advice for writing effective compositions and some tips for building your self-confidence as an English speaker.

Traditionally Spanish students have usually failed the speaking part of an

exam because they never got enough practice. These days writing seems to be

a new problem area. Solutions lie in the two other skills: reading and listening.

Reading is critically important for a very simple reason: there is vocabulary

that we only use in written English. In Spanish we seldom pronounce words like

no obstante, and certain idioms (e.g. esto es pan comido) are not used on a

daily basis. It is far more likely for us to come across those expressions in the

written form. The situation is not any different in English. Students don’t usually

hear expressions like furthermore and terms such as elated, which are almost

exclusively confined to the written register. So if we want to improve our voca-

bulary (and our syntax) we need to open a few books.

Af for the speaking skills one can say the exact same thing. We will never

get used to words or structures of our target language if we are not exposed to

it in some form. The key here is exposure and practice. It has been calculated

that a 18-month-old child uses around 3,800 (three thousand eight hundred)

language units per day (a “day” being 12 hours). Now that’s a lot of practice!

So it is as simple as this: you want to write well? Read more. You want to

speak better? Listen and practice more often.

[1]

We love to fill in the blanksIt is beyond our control, isn’t it? We get this amazing satis-faction from filling out gaps.Is it sheer horror vacui?

INTERMEDIO 2Mach 28, 2011

Written byRodolfo de la Peñafor his belovedstudentsat EOI Laredo

Reading foreign magazines is a fun

way of being exposed to real language

7 tips for making people believe your spoken English is really good

Show acceptable pronunciation

People react well to good pro-

nunciation. It’s a bit like looking good

when you go to a party.

Use restrictive expressions

If you say things like in my expe-

rience, or as far as I know you show

tact and hint at your experience/

knowledge.

Remember fillers

When you can’t think of the word

you can always “buy time” by saying

the thing is, you know, I mean, what

I’m try to say is, etc.

Don’t innovate. Imitate

If you are certain that the usual

verb-noun combination is to keep a

diary or to keep animals in cages (we

saw that on March 10) go ahead and

say it. Don’t try to think of it yourself.

You can be speechless

When you don’t know what to

say you can always say that you’re

at a loss for words. The expression

I’m speechless works every time (un-

less you are asked something ob-

vious like your name).

Express uncertainty

Only idiots always speak matter-

of-factly about everything. Try to

sound like you’re not totally sure

about everything. It shows modesty

and elegance.

Resort to general but not

slangy terms

DNA can be described as a thing

or stuff. Substance or material are

definitely better and, if you can say

deoxyribonucleic acid... well, that’s

impressive. But we will often find we

can’t think of the exact term so be

ready to employ words like: device,

material, tool or group.

[2]

THINGS WE DO

In order to learn English 1. Jose spent some weeks in Dublin. Of course not everyone can do that in March.

2. María Jesús meets with a native speaker in San-toña.

3. Others are happy just coming to class every single day.

We’re ready fo face a fire

ARE YOU A WEIRDO?On March 15 we discussed the fascinating world of weirdos. Do you remember?

Dictionaries define weirdo as a

person whose dress or behavior

seems strange or eccentric. Of cour-

se this doesn’t quite solve the pro-

blem. It simply forces us to ask our-

selves just what we understand by

strange or eccentric.

Strange, weird, bizarre

At any rate, one thing is clear.

Intermediate students are supposed

to have already mastered basic

oppositions such as cold/hot and

happy/sad. Yes. You are now on a

whole new level which demands the

use of more expressive vocabulary

like, for instance, the pairs freezing/

boiling and overjoyed/devastated. By

using these extreme adjectives you

show accuracy and avoid abusing

the adverb very or making funny fa-

ces.

Advice

If you need to use an extreme

adjective ( but suddenly find yourself

in a tight spot. You can:

1. Say extremely or really and

then use a basic adjective (e.g. He

was really excited about the trip).

2. Use a softener like

kind of or sort of (e.g. It

was kind of uncomfortable

but I didn’t complain).

3. Use a superlati-

ve (e.g. He was one of

the most obnoxious

men I’ve ever seen).

Cultural note

In the U.S. diversity is not new

and tolerance to surprising or striking

attitudes is in many respect genuine.

This time I don’t mean to tolerance to

race or ethnic background (which can

still be an issue in certain areas) but

to the fact that in the USA one is

allowed to be peculiar in ways that

might be looked down on in Europe.

The softened expression kind of

weird makes it all the more obvious.

In the US, if you love M&Ms or Star

Wars and choose to decorate your

office with M&Ms or Star Wars me-

morabilia it’s peculiar but socially ac-

cepted because it shows a part of

who you are. And if you have a Ro-

lling Stones fetish and decide to wear

a Rolling Stones tie at work you may

develop a reputation for being a

diehard Stones fan but you are not

necessarily classified as a weirdo.

Even nerds and geeks have their own

kind of chic. So one has to be truly

bizarre to deserve that description

(weirdo). In Spain, however, anybody

who stands out from the crowd be-

cause of a peculiar preference is ea-

sily described as a friki, a pirao or a

chiflao. By the way, a freak is a per-

son who is obsessed with or unusua-

lly enthusiastic about a specified inte-

rest. You may like the film Avatar and

yet not be a freak. Now, if you decide

to get married all painted in blue and

insist that your husband-to-be put

should do the same thing, well, you

might be a freak or even a weirdo. I’ll

give you that.

[3]

Do you think this guy is

weird?

Some expressions we saw in the classroom

stockphrase, former, high-heeled,

catch-up, reunion, T-junction, V-

neck, billboard, creepy, a piece of

cake, dead easy, odd number...

Topics we dealt with• Probability• Paranormal phenomena• Jobs

Our favorite neologism

Telepathetic: a person with the

ability to communicate the wrong

message by using telepathy.

PRONUNCIATIONvillage, vintage, women, ticket, busy, image, bis-cuit

What do these words have in common? If you know the answer, act on it.