Speaking part 2/Pre-intermediate/A2

Paulo (I= Interviewer; P= Paulo)

l: Do you like your city?
P Oh yes, I feel lucky to be living in a city that's so big and exciting
What's the architecture like? :
P: A mixture of old and new. There are too many high-rise buildings in some parts of the city. But there are plenty of cheap restaurants and interesting catés and bars. And the nightlife is great. We also have the most famous beach in the world-Copacabana Beach.
I:Ah. What's the weather like?
P: It's great most of the time. The only time I don't like Rio much is in the summer: it's too hot and humid.
Armelle (I= Interviewer; A = Amelle)
I: Where do you live?
A: Well, I live in a small village with my parents. My grandparents live here too, and my aunts and uncles. In fact, I think I'm related to about fifty per cent of the people in my village.
I: What's your village like?
A: It's very pretty. The countryside is beautiful, and the air is lovely and clean. But at night it's too quiet. I tind it so dull and boring here there aren't any discOs or cinemas.
I:What are the people like?
A: Oh, they're kind and really friendly, but there aren't many young people. I want to go and live in the city. Soon.
Luigi (l = Interviewer; L= Luigi)
I:What do you think of your city?
L: lt is a very special place. lt's such a romantic city.
I:What's the city centre like?
L: The buildings are beautitul, and we have San Marco, one of the most famous churches in the world. The
Piazza San Marco is wonderful, and during carnival in February Venice is the best place in the world to be.
I: Do you like living here?
L: No, I really hate living here. It's horrible. There are too many tourists everywhere. It gets very noisy and crowded.
Oh dear. What are the shops like?
L: Well, because of the tourists the shops are too expensive, and the canals are so dirty and polluted. My city is too small for all these people. Why don't they leave us in peace?

The best place I've ever visited is Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. It's a crazy city, but I really love it.
The first time I went there was on my summer holiday. It was the year before I went to Luniversity. So I was young and excited, and it was my first time in South America.

I flew there on my own, but I went to stay with friends. Of course I visited all the tourist places - the Colon Theatre, the Plaza de Mayo, La Boca, and my triends took me to watch a tango show. That was great.I even took some tango lessons, but I'm not very good.
I also went out dancing a lot – Buenos Aires nightlite is fantastic. The streets are crowded at three o'clock in the morning with people going to restaurants and discos.The discos are open until Six or seven o'clock in the morning - in tact, Buenos
Aires never sleeps!
Now I go back to Buenos Aires as often as possible. I've been there three times, and last yearI went there for New Year.
What I particularly like about Buenos Aires is the people. Argentinian people are very special. They're loud and energetic and really good fun. I love them.

The last present I bought was for my sister
It was her birthday. In fact, it was her thirtieth birthday. Thirty isn't very old, but she was quite upset. She liked being in her twenties and she thought thirty was really old. Anyway, I didn't know what to get her, so I went on the internet to find something. 1 didn't have any ideas, but I wanted something special. Eventually, I found a realy good present.I thought it was unusual, and just perfect for her - it was a foot spa. My sister's a teacher and she stands up all day, so a foot spa is great for relaxing in the evening. It was expensive - about £50 - but she's my sister, and thirty is a special birthday. I bought a lovely card and wrote a funny message in it Iput "Now you're thirty you're too old to die young!' Ha ha. On her birthday, I gave her the present, but untortunately she didn't like it at all. She said that a foot spa is a good present for a grandmother, not for a young woman. I was really surprised -I'd love a foot spa. And then, when she read the card, she cried! What a disaster.

(I = Interviewer, C Conor, J = Jiim)
I: Right, OK. Question one. Do you mind going round the shops?
C: Not really. But after about an hour I want to go home
J:Actually, I can't stand going round the shops. My girlfriend knows this, so she usually chooses to go without me.
I: Right, OK. Um let's see. Question two.
What kind of shops do you enjoy going into?
C: Book shops. I spend a lot of time reading book reviews so I always have a list of books l'd like to buy.
J: Ienjoy looking at electronic equipment but I can't atford to buy it. It's usually far too expensive.
I:Right. OK. Question three. Are there any kinds of shops you hate going into?
C: I hate supermarkets. I usually forget to buy the things I went there for, so l avoid going into them. Fortunately,
I can do most of my food shopping online. :Irefuse to go into shoe shops with my girlfriend. She tries on ten pairs and then decides to buy the first pair. :Right. OK. Last question. Question four. Do you enjoy buying clothes for yourself?
C: Not really. I only go into a clothes shop when I need to buy a new shirt or something. For me, shopping is a necessity, not a pleasure.
J: I love having new clothes, but I never manage to find time to go shopping.

When I was at secondary school, we did sport every Wednesday afternoon. Two hours, from 1.30 to 3.30. Wednesdays were my worst day of the week. I hated doing sport at school. In summer we did swimming and tennis, and in winter we did hockey. I really, really hated hockey. It was always cold when we played hockey, but we wore shorts! Horrible, grey shorts. My legs were very thin and they were so cold that they turned blue. I was always happy when it was raining or snowing - then we stayed inside and did Scottish dancing. I loved that.
At my school we had a sports field and tennis courts and a swimming pool. I love rimming, but the swimming pool wasn't heated so it was treezing.
I didn't like my sports teacher, and she didn't like me. Her name was Miss
Rockham. We called her Rocky. She looked like a boxer, and she had a very loud voice.
She loved hockey. In fact, I think she played for the national hockey team.
Of course, I didn't play for the school hockey team, but I loved dancing so much that I joined a dance club after school. My best sporting moment was when my dance club wona competition for disco dancing.
Rocky didn't think that dancing was a real sport, but I disagree. Dancing kept me fit, and I didn't have to wear grey shorts.

(P = Presenter; A = Avril)
P: We all know the expression 'laughter is the best medicine'. But a recent study shows that adults don't laugh enough
The study shows that young children laugh up to four hundred times a day, while adults only laugh seventeen times a day. According to medical research, fifteen to twenty minutes of laughtera day really does keep the doctor away
Well now you can join one of the laughter clubs to get your regular twenty minutes of laughter.
It sounds funny, and it even looks a little funny, but this is a laughter club.
Avril is the teacher here. Avril, how did the laughter clubs start?
A: They started in India eleven years ago
Dr Kataria started a club in Mumbai, and now there are hundreds of laughter clubs all over the world. In India, people are very serious about the benefits of laughter
P: And what are the benefits of laughter?
A: When you laugh, you release happy chemicals endorphins. This can reduce the effects of stress and you feel more relaxed. Laughter boosts the immune system and relaxes the mind. Also, laughing is good for the heart and good for the lungs.
P; What happens in laughter club? What exactly do you do?
A: We just laugh.
P: Do you listen to funny stories?
A: Oh no. We don't need anything to make us laugh. We do exercises, and when you start laughing, you can't stop.
P: What kind of exercises?
A: Well, we start the class with a laughing exercise called ho ho ha ha ha.
After that, we do different kinds of laughing. There's 'social laughter
Silent laughter... and the loud, explosive laugh... which exercises the lungs.

Mark, a company director
I think I wanted to be a soldier - I liked the uniform, and lots of boys want to be soldiers when they're young, don't they?
Later on I thought of being an engineer, but
I didn't do any work at school so I couldn't go to university. In the end I started working with my father and now Im the director of my own company, so l'm quite pleased with the way things turned out.
Lucy, a surgeon I've always wanted to be a surgeon, right from when I was a small child. It's my vocation. When I was at school, my best friend wanted to be a ballet dancer, but even then I knew what I wanted to do.
There's never been a doctor in our family but my father's a butcher, so I suppose it's similar!
Frank, a teacher
When I was five, I wanted to be a farmer or a vet because I loved animals. Later, I wanted to be a pilot, but my eyes weren't good enough. When I was at university I wanted to be a snowboarder, but I wasn't good enough to be a professional. After university I had no idea what I wanted to do so I became a teacher, and I love it.
Mia, a model
My dream was to be an archaeologist. My family went on holiday to Egypt, and I loved the Pyramids so much that [ became really interested in ancient history. But when I was sixteen I had the chance to earn a lot ot money as a model, so I stopped studying, and I've been working as a model for five years now. I want to start studying again when I'm thirty.

My friend Hannah has the best job in the world- she's a personal trainer. She has about ten clients, and she writes an exercise programme for each person. She doesn't work for anybody - she's self-employed.
She starts work very early every day because some of her clients like to do exercise before they go to work. I think she starts her tirst client at seven o'clock in the morning
I think it's a great job, because Hannah loves sport and so she gets money for doing what she loves. She earns a reasonably good salary. I think she charges £35 an hour, so her salary depends on the number of hours she works. She loves her job because she helps people to get fit and healthy.
I'd love to do her job, because she doesn't have to work in an office all day and she doesn't have to go to the gym in her free time either. She's her own boss so she can go on holiday when she wants, and she always looks fantastic in a swimming costume

Jo, 26
I work for an organisation called Eco Holidays, and we're demonstrating against mass tourism. I'm not against tourism but I believe in responsible tourism. We're against big hotels and package holidays. With Eco Holidays you can realy experience the local culture. We organise acecommodation with local families. Would you like some information about our holidays?
Jake, 14
I'm having fun with my friends. It's my first demonstration. I don't feel strongly about politics, but I'm worried about global warming. I don't really care about people - they can look after themselves. I'm in favour of protecting wild animals - I want to help polar bears and penguins. If the ice caps melt, where will they live?
Debbie, 37
I'm here because we're destroying the planet. I'm protesting against multinational companies. They're polluting our rivers and oceans and they're causing global warming. I'm in favour of small family run companies. I'm against food imports. I support local farmers and I buy food from farmers' markets, not supermarkets.
Ronny, 27
I'm riding my bicycle today because I'm against big cars in the city. I'm not anti-cars in fact, I have a car- but I just think more people should use public transport. Leave your car at home -ride a bicycle!

I wasn't very academic at school, but I loved art. Yes, art was my favourite subject because I was good at it. We had a wondertul teacher she was called Miss Lewis, and I remember the first day she arrived at school. She didn't look like a teacher. She had long black hair, and she wore bright colours. She was quite young -thirty, thirty-one, something like that, and we all fell in love with her - boys and girls! She wasn't just beautiful - she was a really good teacher too. Her lessons were interesting and varied. We only had three hours of art each week on Wednesday afternoons. Miss Lewis loved photography and she taught us how to develop our own photographs. I really enjoved that, and for a while I wanted to be a professional photographer. In the end I realised that it was difficult to make a iiving as a photographer so I went to university and studied engineering. But I still love taking photos and recently I won a competition - Miss Lewis would be proud of me!

(I = Interviewer; K = Kyle; N = Naomi)
I:Tell me, Kyle, how did your family decide to go green?
K: It was Dad's idea, really. When we were young, Dad had an important job with an oil company. He was very ambitiou, and we didn't see him a lot, because he was always flying around the world.But when he was forty-three, he lost his job. After he lost his job, he changed completely. He started working as a gardener, met new friends and that's how he became interested in green issues.
I:Very different from his old life?
K: Yeah. He actually became a bit of a rebel. So when he asked us about going green, I wasn't surprised.
I:How did you feel about the changes you had to make, Naomi?
K: I was very happy. Last year Dad and
I took part in a demonstration about climate change in London. It was fun, and 1 had a great day, but when I went back home I felt I needed to do more.
These are serious problems. We all have to make changes to our lives now!
I:What about you, Kyle?
K: Mostly it's OK. I don't mind walking and cycling. Iagree with recycling bottles and paper and all that, but 1 get tired of eating potatoes, salad and apples. Sometimes 1 just want to eat a hamburger, turn all the lights on in every room in the house, and have a big bath. And I'd really like to get a motorbike when I'm older.
I:What about your friends, what do they think?
N: They're all very worried about climate change. At my school I've started an environmental group. We're trying to persuade people to change their lives. My friends think I'm very bossy, but all this is too important! We must do something before it's too late. We mustn't close our eyes to this problem.
K: My friends think my dad is crazy, but he's actually much happier now more relaxed and easygoing. They generally think we're doing a good thing. I think everybody is responsible for climate change and should do everything they can to stop it. I hope the changes my family is making can help, but l'm not sure

The fittest person l know is my cousin,
Darren. He's twenty-six and he's training to be an army officer. Darren's tall and well- built and he looks fantastic in his uniform.
He's also very strong, and he has amazing stamina. For his training, he has to do really difficult exercises. For example, he has to run up mountains carrying about forty kilos of equipment on his back. That's aimost like carrying a person! He has to eat a really high-calorie diet, but he's always loved his food so that's not too difficult for him. He says he's enjoying the training, but it's hard to believe because he used to be so lazy. When he was a student, he never got up before midday, and he never did any housework. Now, he gets up at 5.30 in the morning, and he has to iron his uniform every day!

My dream car is an old car. I love cars from the fifties or sixties, and my favourite is a
Chevrolet. A really big, old Chevrolet. It has to be black definitely black with a silver bumper and big flashy headlights. Inside, it's really spacious with plenty of room to stretch your legs, The seats are soft and made of leather. Red leather. No, brown leather. Brown is more sophisticated. Oh, and there's a beautiful old radio with Elvis playing really loud. I love Elvis.
I'd like to take all my friends out in my car. I can imagine wearing glamorous evening clothes and going to a fancy restaurant in New York. As we drive downFifth Avenue, everybody turns to look at our fabulous car ..