E-06.10 Celebrate (Perfect) English (in the Present) with Talk About Family & Special Occasions

English in Everyday Life: An Immigration Story

WorkLife English: Competency-Based Listening/Speaking, Book 3; Chapter 10: Family & Special Occasions

12 + 4 = 16 pages

Who It’s For: Happy Teachers / Learners of American-English Who Want to Celebrate the Skills They’ve Acquired with Special-Occasion Present-Perfect Grammar & Vocabulary

Why It’s Useful: Having almost reached the end of a perfectly present course of Oral-Language Skills improvement, celebrants will be glad to do what’s special in Understanding & Describing Customs & Holidays and Expressing Congratulations & Sympathy—often with Present Perfect Verb Forms.  Have a good time finishing up with E-06.09 Download of Chapter 10 of WorkLife English: A Competency-Based Listening/Speaking Book 3: An Immigration Story. 

What You’ll Do: 

[1]  Happy endings are often accompanied by festivities, so Chapter 10 Competencies & Functions include Understanding & Describing Holiday Customs, Using Special-Occasion Phrases, Expressing Congratulations or Sympathy, and the like.  Its major Grammar is the Present Perfect ( have / has + Past Participle ) Time Frame.

[2] The final five-part Audio Conversation in Part One / Better Listening draws together narration about (appropriate presents for) weddings, ceremonial dinners for religious purposes, (condolences at) funerals, and traditional holidays in the U.S.  Words & Sounds (in Fast Speech) include Time Expressions for the “Perfect Tenses.”  

[3] Speaking practice in Part Two / Clear Speech has learners perfecting the Stressed-Time Rhythm of their speech.  In Part Three / Good Communication, they use expressions on Formal to Informal Continuums to Congratulate, give Sympathy, and show Appreciation.  They also discuss (multi-cultural) customs for Family Occasions.

[4]  Part Four / Practical Listening has participants match brief oral exchanges to traditional occasions in American culture.  The text ends with comparison of holidays around the world—days that commemorate national independence /  heroes’ birthdays, that show appreciation to family members, that have people give thanks, or that are religious observations.

The Download ends with AudioScript segments; Answers are available in E-06.11.