Imagine that you are preparing a project with your friend. You have found some interesting material for the presentation and you want to read this text to your friend. You have 1.5 minutes to read the text silently, then be ready to read it out aloud. You will not have more than 1.5 minutes to read it.

Nowadays there are different forms of friendship including the most popular – social media friends. An online friend is someone who is available most of the time because of the advantage of social media and the constant use of it at any time or anywhere. There are many reasons why making internet friends seems so much easier when we all use social media platforms to communicate.

The most common types of people that find it easier to develop a friendship online are teenagers. Online friends are the perfect ‘friends’ for those who live in isolated areas, people with disabilities, or social anxiety. The online environment provides interaction with minimal risk. That’s why they choose to be protected by their computer screens and not to go face to face. 

Study the advertisement.

A dog sitter wanted

You are considering working as a dog sitter and now you’d like to get more information. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask four direct questions to find out about the following:

1. dog sitting experience
2. responsibilities
3. dog sitting rates per hour
4. work schedule

You have 20 seconds to ask each question.

SUGGESTED ANSWERS

1. Is proven dog sitting experience needed in your pet agency?
2. What dog sitter responsibilities will I have?
3. What are the dog sitting rates per hour?
4. Is the work schedule flexible?

You are going to give an interview. You have to answer five questions. Give full answers to the questions (2–3 sentences). Remember that you have 40 seconds to answer each question.

Tapescript for Task 3

Suggested answers

Imagine that you and your friend are doing a school project “Shopping alternatives”. You have found some photos to illustrate it but for technical reasons you cannot send them now. Leave a voice message to your friend explaining your choice of the photos and sharing some ideas about the project. In 2.5 minutes be ready to:

You will speak for not more than 3 minutes (12–15 sentences). You have to talk continuously.

Hi Alice! Great news! I’ve found two photos to illustrate our project on shopping alternatives. I’ll explain my photo choices and share some ideas in this voice message, OK?

One photo captures a girl lying in front of her laptop, holding a bank card, suggesting that she is engaged in online shopping. The other one depicts a young woman with a shopping trolley, doing her grocery shopping in a traditional supermarket. The photos show two different shopping experiences: online shopping and traditional in-store shopping. 

I suggest including some advantages and disadvantages of these two ways of shopping in our project since neither of them is perfect. The main advantage of online purchases is a real convenience this type of shopping provides: people don’t have to go out to get things. (Also, there are better prices and no crowds.) When it comes to traditional shoppers, they have the benefit of having a closer look at the things they want to buy.

Despite some real benefits of online shopping, there is a risk of fraud and identity theft. Speaking of in-store shopping, it may be time-consuming, which is an obvious disadvantage.

Personally, I prefer to buy products and services on the internet since it offers convenience, price comparison and more product options. 

That’s all for now, Alice. Let me know what you think about these photos and if you have any other ideas for our project. Bye!