Fluency Practice

Here are six quick activities for you to improve your pronunciation and fluency. Answer the questions as quickly as possible, and try not to think too much. Later, you can check your answers. You need to study the phrasal verbs and idioms page before attempting

these exercises. (Answers on page 44.)

Three thick tree twigs

A: Tongue Twister Try repeating this ten times as quickly as you can: “Three thick tree twigs.”

B: Pronunciation: connected speech with monkey idioms Listen to these sentences and see if you can write down the words that you hear. Remember, some words are weak sounds and are unstressed, and as a result they are very difficult to hear. 1. ___________________ 2. ___________________ 3. ___________________ 4. ___________________ 5. ___________________

C: Sentence transformation – Food Listen to these sentences and tr y to make a question with the word “you” for each one. Do it as quickly as you can. Use the question words in brackets ( ). 1. I u s u a l l y h a v e e g g a n d b a c o n f o r b r e a k f a s t . ( W h a t ) _____________________________? 2. My favourite dessert is Tiramisu. (What) _________________? 3. I think I prefer meat to fish. (What) ________________________? 4. I never used to eat green beans when I was a child. (What) ____________________? 5. I go to a restaurant about once a month. (How) ______________?

D: Rapid response – Food Now answer these questions as quickly as you can. Try not to think too much and just invent the answers if you need to. 1. What do you usually have for dinner? 2. What’s the strangest food you’ve ever eaten? 3. What’s your favourite pizza topping? 4. What food do you hate? 5. What foreign food do you like?

E: Phrasal Verbs with “Put” Listen to each sentence then repeat it with an appropriate phrasal verb. You should try to be as quick as possible. 1. They saved some money = 2. Stop humiliating and insulting me = 3. They postponed the game until the following Friday = 4. That smell makes me feel sick = 5. He has become a lot fatter =

F: Revision Drills – Present Perfect Continuous Listen to these questions and answer them as quickly as possible. They are designed to practise the present perfect. Invent an answer, and do it as quickly as possible with a full sentence. Remember to answer with “for” and a period of time, or “since” plus a specific date or time. 1. ___________________ 2. ___________________ 3. ___________________ 4. ___________________ 5. ___________________