Language Learning- Opinions

Language Learning- Opinions

Learner training and the language of opinions practice

Read through the following ideas for studying English and mark each one with a tick for good ideas and a cross for bad ideas (not thinking about it too much, just going on your first impressions). If there are several ideas on one line, rank each one.

• Arranging a conversation exchange
• Doing exercises in self-study grammar books and vocab books
• Drawing pictures of the words you want to learn
• English language exams
• English language exercise videos
• Finding a pen friend
• Getting tipsy (= a little drunk) before speaking English
• Going to an English pub and starting conversations
• Having a foreign boyfriend or girlfriend
• Having English radio on in the background while you are doing your housework
• Keeping a diary in English
• Keeping a list of language to learn, and going through it several times a day
• Labelling things in your house or office with their English names
• Learning a famous speech or poem in English by heart
• Learning and using the phonemic script
• Learning as many words as you can of one category, e.g. 100 animal words
• Listening to audio books/ English music/ English tapes when you are asleep
• Listening to the radio news in English
• Modelling your accent on one particular actor, e.g. trying to speak like Robert De Niro
• Occasionally talking to or e-mailing your local friends in English
• Online chat
• Playing English language learning video games
• Reading a grammar book/ an English-language newspaper/ children’s books in English
• Reading classic books (e.g. Shakespeare or Charles Dickens) in the original
• Reading graded readers (= easy readers)
• Reading the lyrics of English songs, e.g. from a CD jacket or on the internet
• Recording your own voice speaking English
• Saying or thinking what you are doing in English (“I am unscrewing the bottle cap”, etc.)
• Singing in English, e.g. doing karaoke in English
• Starting conversations with foreign people you see on the train.
• Starting English lessons very young, e.g. when you are two
• Taking holidays abroad
• Translating to and/ or from English
• Using a dictionary while you are watching a movie/ an English-English dictionary
• Watching English children’s films or TV programmes
• Watching English films with subtitles in your own language
• Watching English language films with English subtitles
• Watching the same film or TV episode over and over again
• Working your way through a whole dictionary
• Writing fiction in English

Ask about any which you don’t understand, are not sure are a good idea, etc. 

Read through the list again and label all the ideas for learning languages above by how good you think they are with a number representing your opinion as below:

14          This is an absolutely fabulous idea. It’s one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard.

13          This is an excellent idea. It’s almost guaranteed to work.

12          This is a great idea.

11          This seems like a really good idea.

10          I would say this is a good idea.

9           This could be quite a good idea.

8            This is not a bad idea. It could work.

7            This is an acceptable idea. It might be worth thinking about.

6            This is quite a bad idea. I doubt whether this would be any use.

5            This is a bad idea. I don’t see how it could possibly work.

4           This is a very bad idea. There is no chance it could work.

3            This is a terrible idea. You shouldn’t even consider doing this.

2            This is a really awful idea. It would be pretty stupid to do this.

1            This is a totally atrocious idea. It would be worse than doing nothing.

Use this language to give opinions on one of the ideas above until your partner guesses which one you chose.

• Frankly,...
• In my opinion,…
• If you ask me,…
• Generally speaking,…
• As far as I know,…
• The way I see it is…
• As far as I’m concerned,…
• If you want my opinion,…
• I (personally) believe that…
• Not everyone will agree with me, but…
• (This might be a bit controversial but) I would say (that)…
• Without a doubt…
• I’m convinced that…
• I’m absolutely certain that…
• I’m positive that…
• With some reservations, I’d probably say that…

 

• Another thing is that,…
• I would also say that…
• Perhaps I should also mention that…
• In addition,…
• Not only that, but…
• What’s more,…