Hi all,

Welcome to your ‘Dare to Speak B1’ blog. Here I will keep a record of the main points of what we did in class, suggest homework activities to prepare for the next class, and post useful links and self-study options.

Looking forward to getting to know each of you.

Best wishes,

Mark

Class 1:

Sorry for the delay in posting, I promise to be more prompt in the future. This is what we went through last Tuesday:

Getting to know you:

• Why are you here? Why now?
• What do you want to get out of the class?
  • Improve your vocabulary – business, travel, general
  • Fix general problems
• What subjects are you most interested in?
  • At a dinner party what would you talk about besides work?
  • What kind of podcasts do you listen to?
  • What do you like to read? Newspapers, non-fiction? Fiction? What kind of fiction do you like to read?

Some of subjects I heard you mention in your groups were:

• • Health and Lifestyle – diet, exercise, cooking, health issues
  • Politics – state of the world, concerns, vision of the future
  • Sport – Skiing,
  • Travel – best travel destinations,
  • Pets – are you a cat or a dog lover?

If you think of any more please don’t hesitate to add them in the comments section. For tomorrow I will bring some topics of my own, but from next week all selections will be made by you :).

Looking forward to seeing you all again.

Beset,

Mark

Class 2 – Emotions:

Vocabulary:

Sit on the fence – to be undecided, to choose not to commit to a point of view

By Friday at the latest – deadline.

I’m originally from Poland.

I’m between jobs at the moment.

Met up with some friends

Went swimming / went for a dip – I swam in the ocean last week.

I was swimming when suddenly I saw a shark fin.

Happy belated birthday!

Useful question phrases:

“I don’t understand, what does (that word) mean?”

“What does (Swedish word) mean in English?”

“I didn’t hear you properly, can you explain that again more clearly.”

“Sorry, I didn’t get that. Can you repeat what you said / can you say that one more time.”

“Can you speak a little more slowly, please.”

“How do you pronounce that word?”

“How would you say that sentence in the past?”

Class 2 – Let’s talk about … emotions!

In these discussions and with all future ones your favourite word is ‘Why?’. I want to hear this word many times during the class 😊.

• When was the last time you were annoyed at/with someone at your job/school?
  • What happened? How did you respond? Do you wish you had reacted/acted differently? Do you have any ‘coping strategies’ to deal with anger?
  • What is the difference between ‘annoyance’ and ‘anger’. How do they feel in the body?
• Do you have a film where you sobbed uncontrollably? Not simply a few tears and a sniffle, but deep body shaking sobs? If not, why not? Do other art forms excite your emotions more than movies? Name them.
• Do you think that men are less emotional than women, or is this just a social construct? By that I mean, is it innate – are they born with it?
• Do you know any good jokes? If so, please share (though be careful 😉). What kinds of things make you laugh?
• Are there any kinds of food that disgust you, even though other people seem to like them? What kinds of things do you like to eat, that most others aren’t so keen on?
• Do you have any “guilty pleasures”? Are you willing to share them with the class?
• Is being ‘calm’ an emotion or just the lack of emotion?
• Is there anything coming up in your life that you’re very excited about?
• What kinds of music do you respond to emotionally? What songs make you want to get up and start dancing?

“I tried to offer her some ‘constructive criticism’, but she didn’t take it well.”

/tsh/ – chair

/dz/ – jazz

Above is a copy of everything I wrote down in class today. If you have any questions let me know.

As I said in class, Karin and Maria will find and share articles from a magazine or newspaper (or any media outlet really) that they will share ‘by Friday at the latest’ ;). We will discuss both posts next Tuesday in class.

Have a great weekend.

Best,

Mark

Class 3:

Vocabulary:

It was a snap decision. – a spur of the moment decision

We went sightseeing.

Well-known / famous for being the birthplace of Wagner

Sing in a choir

Her brother lives in Småland

Motivate / energise

When I got married …

I like listening / to listen to music

My upbringing / my childhood (more specific if necessary)

Hi all,

Apologies again for posting so late, I was down with the flu all week. Thankfully, I’m well enough to come to class today so I’ll see you all later.

Class 4 “Exercise”:

Exercise: (try to use ‘carry out’, ‘give up’, ‘find out’ in your discussion)

1. Do you get enough exercise? Do you think you do enough?
2. Do you warm up before you exercise? Do you stretch properly afterwards?
3. What form of exercise do you enjoy most?
4. What are the potential health benefits of exercise in your opinion?
5. Is there a form of exercise that you haven’t attempted yet that you would like to try out?
6. Do you have any examples of when exercising went horribly wrong? Are you able to share your experience with the group?
7. Is there too much pressure on people these days to be ‘body beautiful’, or to exercise ‘like an Olympian’?
8. What forms of exercise do you hate and avoid at all costs?
9. Is it as important to train your brain as much as it is to train your body?

I work out three times a week – do weight training (or general training)

Affect (v) – to change the condition of something

Effect (n) – the result of a change on something

Make up: invent / fabricate – “it was all a lie, he made it up”

Go off: food past its sell-by-date – “This milk has gone off” (undrinkable) /

Explode, as in when a bomb ‘goes off’

Find out: discover – “to find out the truth about some matter”

Make out: distinguish / to identify “I can’t make out if it is a plane or a bird from this distance”

Carry out: to plan and then cause to happen – “to carry out an investigation”, “to carry out a survey”

Hi,

Anna and Cindy will bring articles for next week. See you all soon.

Best,

Mark

Class 4 “Exercise”:

Exercise: (try to use ‘carry out’, ‘give up’, ‘find out’ in your discussion)

1. Do you get enough exercise? Do you think you do enough?
2. Do you warm up before you exercise? Do you stretch properly afterwards?
3. What form of exercise do you enjoy most?
4. What are the potential health benefits of exercise in your opinion?
5. Is there a form of exercise that you haven’t attempted yet that you would like to try out?
6. Do you have any examples of when exercising went horribly wrong? Are you able to share your experience with the group?
7. Is there too much pressure on people these days to be ‘body beautiful’, or to exercise ‘like an Olympian’?
8. What forms of exercise do you hate and avoid at all costs?
9. Is it as important to train your brain as much as it is to train your body?

I work out three times a week – do weight training (or general training)

Affect (v) – to change the condition of something

Effect (n) – the result of a change on something

Make up: invent / fabricate – “it was all a lie, he made it up”

Go off: food past its sell-by-date – “This milk has gone off” (undrinkable) /

Explode, as in when a bomb ‘goes off’

Find out: discover – “to find out the truth about some matter”

Make out: distinguish / to identify “I can’t make out if it is a plane or a bird from this distance”

Carry out: to plan and then cause to happen – “to carry out an investigation”, “to carry out a survey”

Class 5: Health & Happiness

1. Is there anyone at work/school that you do not get along with? Why not?
2. Do you have any examples of hobbies that you started but then gave up? Do you regret the decision?
3. Are you good at sorting out problems at work or at home? What is your technique?
4. When was the last time you were held up in traffic? What do you do? Do you get easily frustrated?
5. Have you carried out any home improvements recently or in the past? What did you do? Do you enjoy renovating in general?
6. Where do you go when you want to find out about things to do at the weekend?

 

Food and its impact on our health:

Anna’s Questions:

Some questions to discuss:

1. What is the importance of diet for health?
   2. What are your dietary habits?
   3. Do you know what BMI is?
   4. Do you eat a special diet when you exercise?
   5. What is a healthy diet?
   6. Do you think dietary supplements are useful?
   7. What should you avoid when eating?

Cindy’s Questions:

Some questions to discuss:
• Do you have a sweet tooth?
• Do you have any favourite dessert?
• How often do you consume processed food?
• Does the amount of sugar that we eat have an effect in our health or mood?
• How can we reduce the amount of sugar in our daily life?

Vocabulary:

Make excuses – find reasons not to do something

I’m going to take it up again – to restart an old habit or hobby

I wouldn’t have taken the project on if I didn’t love it.

To delegate – to get someone else to do it

There’s a traffic jam. I’m stuck in traffic.

A queue – a line of people waiting for a service

Go on a diet – change eating habits in order to lose weight

Stuff your face – eat slovenly, greedily

Guilt – have a bad conscience about something

In the mood for sweets

Crave sweets

Forbidden fruit – the thing you desire that you cannot have

Addicted to sugar

Do you have a guilty conscience? – feel bad about something you’ve done

________________________________________________________

Class 6:

Here is a good list of collocations – English Collocations

VERB-PATTERNS—tables – look through this list and we’ll go through it in more detail next week.

Social Media (Collocations)

1. Do you enjoy taking a nap after you’ve eaten a large meal?
2. Do you find it easy to make difficult decisions or is it difficult for you?
3. When was the last time you had/caught a cold? Did you still go to work?
4. Do you find it easy to pay attention in meetings or in class (especially my classes)?
5. Are you good at keeping secrets? Are you someone that people tell their secrets to?
   1. Preposition + verb (+ ‘ing’)
6. If you make a mistake, do you admit to it or do you make excuses? Why do you think it is that people find it so hard to admit when they are wrong?
7. Do you often give/pay people compliments or is it difficult for you?
8. People say it is impossible to make a difference regarding Global Warming, and that individual action can have no real effect on the problem. What do you think?

 

• I gave an answer, but I was wrong/right.
• Catch a train / a lift
• I take the train to work everyday.
• Give your opinion / say what’s on your mind
• If you’re not afraid of giving your opinion
• Do you take responsibility for your own mistakes?
• Cognitive dissonance
• To chat someone up – to seduce someone
• Take control of …
• Lost track of time
• (opposite) keep track of time
• Break down and admitted she had a problem with something
• Keep/stay in touch with (someone)
• Low self-esteem
• Work up the courage
• Take a break
• Make an adjustment
• Make a point of doing …

 

• Old enough to see through it – good phrasal verb 😊
• He has a lot of time on his hands – a lot of free time with nothing to do.
• He’s a gamer.

Class 7: Verb Patterns

• What do you enjoy ___________ (do) at the weekend?
• Do you often put off _________ (do) tasks or do you mostly take care of them straight away?
• Have you ever tried to give up __________ (do) something you knew was bad for you, but couldn’t do it?
• Have you ever put your foot down and refused _________ (do) a task at work? What was it? What did you do?
• When was the last time you helped someone (to) move house?
• Have you ever said something mean to someone that you regret saying (say)? Can you talk about it?
• How often do you leave home and forget to turn (turn) the lights off?
• Have you attempted to learn (learn) a new skill but gave up because you found it too difficult?
• Have you ever remembered doing (do) something that others have said happened differently? They say that it’s a figment of your imagination.

Lose (my) temper – get very angry.

Slip of the tongue – tell a secret, give away a surprise

Put (my) foot in it – say something without thinking

Comes to mind – to remember something

I do it on purpose – with meaning, intentionally

I did it by mistake (by accident).

I intended to start …

Put off doing my homework

Verb + preposition + verb + ‘ing’

I’m looking forward to seeing you next weekend.

__________________________________________________

Hi,

Since I was nearly a half hour late (as I had a ‘brain burp’), for the last class – which is in 13 days – I will be in class from 15:30. If you can come at that time we’ll have an extended 2 hour class to finish up the course, where I will answer any questions you have and talk about other ways (outside of class) that you can improve your English.

Have a great week everyone :).

Best,

Mark

Class 8: Last of the Course

Curious, compassionate, caring ­- three ‘C’s

No unsupervised computer time

A sign of good faith on my part

Work / Life Balance: How to get the most out of life.

• What do you think about the advice in the video?
  • Reframe rest – focus on the present moment
  • Create clear boundaries
  • Negotiate for time
  • Don’t worry about ‘reputation’
• What tips do you have to improve your work/life balance?
• How do you think this differs between cultures?
• What does it mean to ‘reframe’?
• ‘Allomothering’ – anthropology

 

Work / Life Balance:

• How do you rest? Could you do better?
• What tips do you have to get the most out of your free time?
• Can you make demands at work if you feel they’re necessary?
• Do you feel you need to make changes in your life to have a batter balance?

Improving our rest time:

• Avoid looking at TV, computers or phones before going to bed – at least 30 mins
• We need to get a good night’s sleep
• Put things in your calendar
• Mindfulness
• Take things for granted

Hi all,

Have a great summer and maybe I’ll see some of you again in the Autumn. I will upload the email handout that I have in a little bit.

Hope the course helped you in some way, and that you have an idea of what you need to do to improve even further.

All the best,

Mark

email english