.Communicative Skills: asking for , giving and responding to opinions, interrupting , expressing lack of understanding , expressing purpose

1. Communicative Skills
:
Asking for , Giving, and Responding to Opinions

3. Asking about and expressing opinions

Dialogue: Al, Chen, and Wang are English
teachers chatting in the office at a school in
China.

(listen especially for how people ask for and
express opinions.)

4. Focus Point:
Asking about and expressing opinions

Al: Mr. Chen, how do you feel about teaching English in
primary schools?.

Chen: I think children should start studying English as
early as possible. Young children are more excited
about learning a new language.

Al: What do you think about it, Mr. Wang?

Wang: Personally, I don't think it is such a good idea. I
suppose it is good to start learning a language early; but
only if there are enough good teachers.

5. Focus Point:
Asking about and expressing opinions

Focus point. Asking about opinions:

"How do you feel about + (gerund or noun)"

"What do you think about +(gerund or noun)"

6. Focus Point:
Asking about and expressing opinions
• Focus point.
• Expression opinions:
"I think that..." Also "I feel that..." "I believe that ..."
-- "should" For opinions. "Personally"
Emphasizes that this is a personal opinion, thus
making his disagreement with Mr. Chen seem
less sharp and direct.
• "I suppose that..." Indicating reservation.

7. Focus Point:
Asking about and expressing opinions

Other points to note:

"as early as possible"
The "as ___ as ___" pattern often causes
problems in China.

Adjective + preposition: "excited about"

8. Focus Point: Politely expressing disagreement
Dialogue:
Anne and Mick are arguing politely over
whether cats or dogs make better pets.
(Listen especially for how they indicate
disagreement.)

9. Focus Point: Politely expressing disagreement

Anne: I think that cats usually make better pets than dogs. /
For one thing, they are quieter.

Mick: That may be true, but sometimes they make a lot of
noise crying at night.

Anne: For another, cats are more affectionate.

Mick: Really? I don't think so.

Anne: Of course they are. They always love to sit on your
lap.

Mick: That's just because they want something from you.

Anne: Yes, but they are so sweet about it.

10. Focus Point: Politely expressing disagreement

Focus point: Step: Disagreeing: (When disagreeing
politely, Westerners will often first agree with part of
someone else's opinion before disagreeing. "Yes, but...."
patterns are very common.)

For introducing counter-arguments "Yes, but ...." "That's
true, but...." "I agree, but...."

For expressing reservation "That may be true, but...." Also "I
suppose that's true, but ..."

For complete disagreement: "I don't think so." "I disagree."
"I'm not sure I agree." Often prefaced by "Really?"

11. Focus Point: Politely expressing disagreement

Other points to note:

"I think that...." For expressing opinions.

"For one thing...." "For another...." Common expressions for
introducing a reason.

Note that the plural form is used when speaking about
nouns in general. Ex: "Cats usually make better pets than
dogs do."

"That's just because..." Just = only. Often used to minimize
something.

Verb + preposition: "to want something from somebody"

Adjective + preposition: "sweet about (something)"