HOMEWORK | LESSON 08

A. LISTENING
Exercise 01: For questions 10-15, listen to a listen to a recording about
someone giving advice on how to ask their boss for a pay rise and
choose the correct answer A, B or C which fits best according to what
you hear. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes
provided.
10. The key factor when asking for a pay rise is
A. voicing your demands in a convincing way.
B. making it clear you feel undervalued.
C. proving you are an asset in the business.
D. comparing yourself to the rest of the staff.
11. If you have any failings, you should
A. check that no one knows about them.
B. put them right gradually so that it is not too obvious.
C. accentuate your strengths, such as punctuality.
D. make sure your boss likes you as a person.
12. When preparing what to say in your salary negotiation,
A. put yourself in your superior's shoes.
B. do not forget that you really need that extra money.
C. make a list of all the points in your favor.
D. focus on what you can do for the company in the future.
13. What should you do if your boss raises objections to your pay rise?
A. pre-empt them by raising them yourself and giving a counter argument
B. make sure you can quote company rules to him or her
C. appreciate that your boss is only doing his or her job
D. accept any offer as it is better than nothing
14. During salary negotiations, it is important to
A. mention that the company is very successful.
B. ensure your boss is aware that you are taking these negotiations seriously.
C. arrange to see your boss early in the day when he or she is fresh.
D. try not to put your boss in an awkward position.
15. What should you do if you do not get a pay rise or as much as you
wanted?
A. be prepared for a long drawn-out conflict
B. know that you might have to resign as a matter of principle
C. either have an alternative or ask for constructive criticism
D. either get a colleague to back you up or talk to your boss again soon

Exercise 02: For questions 10-15, listen to a recording about rudeness

and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D which fits best according to
what you hear. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered
boxes provided.
10. What is the main point of the anecdote Jeff tells?
A. That the young seem to lack social skills.
B. That it’s an all too familiar sight these days.
C. It’s the same thing as using your phone in the theatre.
D. They are no better than the Internet trolls.
11. What does Jeff say about the “death of deference”?
A. People no longer care what others think of them.
B. Teenagers didn’t want their behavior to be disapproved of.
C. For the most part, it had positive effects on society.
D. It made people disrespect those in authority.
12. What does Laura imply about teenage behavior?
A. There’s nothing that can be done about it.
B. That it’s not entirely their fault.
C. It’s worse nowadays than previously.
D. They are not taught how to behave.
13. How does Jeff respond to Laura’s opinion of teenagers?
A. He believes it is all their fault.
B. He thinks they are not properly brought up.
C. Those in charge of children should take responsibility.
D. He thinks she is just making excuses for bad behavior.
14. Both Jeff and Laura seem to agree that
A. A little bit of rudeness is a good thing.
B. Parents don’t teach their children how to converse.
C. The young don’t understand adult conversation.
D. The art of conversation has declined.
15. What does Laura say about modern technology and teenage
behavior?
A. It has an effect on the development of social skills.
B. It is wholly responsible for today’s lack of social skills.
C. They become insulting and threatening.
D. They can hide from the world behind technology.

Exercise 03: For questions 10-15, listen to a radio discussion in which

two writers, Tom Blake and Sally Beauchamp, talk about their careers
and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D which fits best according to
what you hear. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered
boxes provided.
10. What does Tom say about wanting to be a writer?
A. He had no idea that he would become a writer.
B. It was something he’d made up his mind to be.
C. It was always a possibility as a career.
D. He had no idea how one became a writer.
11. How does Tom feel about his contemporaries’ career choices at
school?
A. He was baffled by their certainty.
B. He thought they lacked experience.
C. They hadn’t made their own decisions.
D. They were all following in their fathers’ footsteps.
12. What did it take Tom a long time to understand about American
writers?
A. the importance of romance in their daily lives
B. the fact that their lives mirrored his own so closely
C. the influence that other people had on their writing
D. The practical considerations of time and money
13. How did Sally begin writing?
A. She was urged to write by her parents.
B. She became a journalist like her parents.
C. Early on she started to keep a journal.
D. Negative experiences created a need to express herself.
14. What does Sally say about journalism?
A. It provides her with story ideas.
B. It gives her less time for fiction.
C. It doesn’t bring in enough money.
D. It interferes with family life.
15. What aspect of the writing life do they both agree on?
A. It’s important for writers to have wide experience.
B. Writing fiction doesn’t provide a reliable income.
C. Writers tend to become self-absorbed and egocentric.
D. Journalism is the best way into becoming a writer.

Exercise 4: For questions 10-15, listen to an interview in which two

people, Dana Singleton and Joe Fahey, talk about transport and choose
the correct answer A, B, C or D which fits best according to what you
hear. Write your answers in the corresponding numbered boxes
provided.
10. What does Dana say about her reason for joining the Accident Prevention
Board?
A. She did it after being involved in an accident herself.
B. She felt strongly about what they were doing.
C. She was close to someone who had been an accident victim.
D. She felt pressure from people she worked with.
11. The interviewer mistakenly believes that the number of serious road
accidents
A. has recently overtaken the number of accidents on public transport.
B. is presently at an all-time high.
C. is a direct result of more aggressive drivers on the roads.
D. has risen in proportion to the number of cars on the roads.
12. According to the statistics Dana quotes, there were more serious accidents
per year
A. before 1926.
B. between 1926 and 1970.
C. between 1970 and 1990.
D. after 1990.
13. Which of the following facts about public transport does Joe not state?
A. Public transport has a relatively poor safety record.
B. People sometimes feel intimidated when using public transport.
C. The high cost of public transport puts a number of people off.
D. Most complaints are about unreliable services.
14. According to Joe, public transport would improve if the government
A. improved the road network.
B. made it free to travel by bus.
C. re-allocated public spending.
D. banned certain cars from roads.
15. What best sums up Dana’s and Joe’s opinions on driverless cars?
A. Joe feels more strongly that they could help the situation.
B. Dana disagrees with Joe that they are the transport of the future.
C. They share the same views on introducing them gradually.
D. They agree that the poor infrastructure will cancel out any benefit.

Exercise 5. For questions 10-15, listen to a radio discussion about

children who invent imaginary friends and choose the correct answer A,
B, C or D which fits best according to what you hear. Write your
answers in the corresponding numbered boxes provided.
10. In the incident that Liz describes
A. her daughter asked her to stop the car.
B. she had to interrupt the journey twice.
C. she got angry with her daughter.
D. her daughter wanted to get out of the car.
11. What does the presenter say about the latest research into imaginary
friends?
A. It contradicts other research on the subject.
B. It shows that the number of children who have them is increasing.
C. It indicates that negative attitudes towards them are wrong.
D. It focuses on the effect they have on parents.
12. How did Liz feel when her daughter had an imaginary friend?
A. always confident that it was only a temporary situation
B. occasionally worried about the friend's importance to her daughter
C. slightly confused as to how she should respond sometimes
D. highly impressed by her daughter's inventiveness
13. Karen says that one reason why children have imaginary friends is that
A. they are having serious problems with their real friends.
B. they can tell imaginary friends what to do.
C. they want something that they cannot be given.
D. they want something that other children haven't got.
14. Karen says that the teenager who had invented a superhero is an example of
A. a very untypical teenager.
B. a problem that imaginary friends can cause.
C. something she had not expected to discover.
D. how children change as they get older.
15. According to Karen, how should parents react to imaginary friends?
A. They should pretend that they like the imaginary friend.
B. They shouldn't get involved in the child's relationship with the friend.
C. They should take action if the situation becomes annoying.
D. They shouldn't discuss the imaginary friend with their child.

B. SPEAKING
Exercise 01: Carefully read the attached documents and provide a
comprehensive review of all the argument types presented within the
essay below. Identify, categorize, and explain each type of argument,
and illustrate how they function in the context of the essays.
I. Reading Assignment
● Beyond PEEL: There’s a better way to teach argument writing [Available in
GG Classroom]
● Breaking Down the PEEL Method for Writing Essays
II. Sample Speech
SAMPLE 02
1. Topic - Education
2. Question - Some people think that students can learn better without taking
tests/exams. Some others think otherwise, believing that learning without taking
tests/exams is not learning at all. Discuss both these views and give your
opinion.
3. Attachment - Sample 02.mp3
4. Key Takeaway: Speak with confidence and employ intonation as an
additional layer of information (and to keep your listener engaged!). As for
content, it is inherently less important in speaking than writing so plan out as
well as you can and don’t make a fuss if it’s not perfect!
5. Outline
INTRODUCTION
The fiendish thought of examinations has loomed over generations of students,
bringing with it much anxiety and dread. On this topic, some have argued that
test taking is an essential and beneficial part of education, while others call for
its removal from the greater education system. In this speech, I will look at this
concept and examine it through both the shoes of the learner and the education,
as well as explore my thoughts on the matter.

BODY DEVELOPMENT
Standardized testing, or as colloquially called ‘Examinations’, could be a positive
ordeal for both the student and teacher as it allows for the proper evaluation of
students and allows for specific and timely feedback.
1. Students
+ A form of pressure to keep students on track and free of
distractions.
+ This could also present as a realistic microcosm of jobs and society
where employees are rarely given unlimited time to complete
projects, and the ideal of coping with results – whether positive or
negative – could prepare students for the mental stress of job
hunting or career success.
+ Healthy competition also serves to fan the flames of motivation and
determination to further drive students’ academic success.
+ Having a concrete metric for comparison and, hence, growth is an
incredible tool to have in lieu of more abstract benchmarks where
students could directly compare the r numbers to those of
yesterday or even to their peers, being able to be proud of the
progress they’ve made or instilling and eagerness to improve and
redeem mistakes – both resulting in a more motivated pupil.
1. Teachers:
+ As it stands, examinations are the best tool we have for accurately
modeling student academic achievements, as hands-on
experiments are out of the equation for increasingly complicated
and theoretical topics.
+ As education further scales up and humanity inches towards 100%
literacy, equipping students with an effective and quality education
is a question that standardized exams could answer, whereby more
personalized and application-based methodologies fail in the
absence of time and resources.
 + Once again, as it was beneficial for students, the availability of this
valuable benchmarking tool could serve as a way for educators to
quickly react to students’ success or lack thereof, thereby delivering
more tailored lessons and more efficiently tackling the specific
problems of each group.
- However, the reality is that examinations often come with more trouble
than its theoretical benefits, often serving to gauge the wrong qualities in
students.
a. Mental impacts
+ Concomitant to exams are often astronomical levels of stress and
anxiety that plagues students. This could lead to, obviously, the
inability to perform in an exam and furthermore, conflict with the
ever-growing external commitments such as extracurriculars,
familial responsibilities and even hobbies that childrens may have.
+ The skill to effectively time-manage and cope with this great
struggle is achievable and teachable, yes, but it is often a neglected
subject in academic bodies in lieu of more and more tests, quizzes,
examinationsand the like, leaving these students to fend for
themselves in an increasingly harsh and competitive academic
climate such as today.
+ To illustrate with an incredibly painful fact, a study in 2014 showed
that almost 89% of student suicides in China could be attributed to
the Gaokao – a test that is equivalent to the university placement
exams here in Vietnam.
+ This is merely the starting pistols to what has become the
shadowy business of tests, where in response to an increasing
dependency on examinations showed in academic bodies and even
governments, students increasingly struggles to cope with them,
having to resort to test-preparation centres with cut-throat rates, or
the very teachers that hand out these tests only to open extra-
classes to prepare for them. This has further raised the cost of entry
for education and, hence, success and has further driven the very
virtues of education down.

CONCLUSION
In short, tests on their own behaves are merely effective metrics of benchmark
and education, but their misuse and an overreliance on them have bred a for-
profit education scheme where students are bound to lose even if they succeed.
The inventor of standardized testing, Frederick J. Kelly, has been quoted to say:
"These tests are too crude to be used and should be abandoned.".