Adult Class, Level 3: Generally speaking …

28th APRIL 2020

This is a review blog, a chance to take stock of recently acquired language, and to practise using it.

My lovely students are very interested in learning British culture, notably the art of drinking tea:

As opposed to the rather uncouth, uncultivated drinking habits of Vietnamese men:

Is this true of ALL Vietnamese men … of course not, hell no !

I also have another lovely young lady, but sometimes she can look a little scary, like the ghost from the Japanese film, ‘The Ring’:

This is a very strange film so all Japanese films are weird. Is that a fair statement ? No way, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Our last lesson was based on stereotypes – and a link to a previous blog can be found here:https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2019/08/16/adult-class-level-3-class-1-stereotypes/

From the book, we came across:

Generally speaking // in general // tend to // usually

Adverbs of probability:

definitely // probably // possibly // unlikely // definitely not !

Adverbs of time:

always // frequently // usually // sometimes // occasionally // rarely // never

From the blog, we studied agreeing:

To what extent do you agree ?

I agree / I agree 100% / I agree to an extent / There may be some truth there /

I disagree / I totally disagree / That is very unfair / That is offensive /

That’s just a stereotype / I know for a fact that isn’t true !

Now combine to form some stunning, well-constructed responses.

Example: Apple computers never break

Generally speaking, I would tend to agree as I have had a Mac Book for several years without any serious problems, whereas with my Windows laptop, I frequently have issues such as waiting for updates or very slow downloads.

Exercise – How do you react to these contentions:

Men should earn more money than women for the same job.

Everything from Korea is top quality.

All tourists from USA are obese and unhealthy.

All British people are exceptionally polite, helpful and utterly charming.

You will ONLY get a good job IF you speak English.

All Vietnamese students are lazy, disrespectful and only want to sleep.