Useful Language for Speaking Interactions 1 (Intermediate, Advanced)

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Useful Language for Speaking Interactions (Intermediate, Advanced)

Organizing Events

Our school is organizing a multicultural week this year! I would like to help! Would you like to help, too?
We need to organize the end-of-course school trip! Any ideas?
(Advanced) Hey, did you hear the news? Our school is organizing a multicultural week this year! I'd love to get involved in that! Would you, too?
(Upper Intermediate) That sounds great. What would you do?
(Advanced) What kind of things do you have in mind?
(Advanced) I'm not that interested in cooking. But I could give a hand in some other way. I could help organize a karaoke! That'd be fun!
When will the event take place? Any dates?
(Advanced) So -- when will that be happening?
(Intermediate) We wanted to organize a musical festival in our area / neighbourhood to help the unemployed / to collect some money for the unemployed.
(Advanced) The other day we came up with this idea of holding a musical festival to gather funds for people out of work. Don't you think it's an amazing idea?
Would you like to help?
What kinds of things are you good at?
I'd rather be in charge of selling the tickets.
I'm not very good at facilitating discussions, really!
I'm too shy for the karaoke, but I'd be willing to help in preparing the premises and doing the shopping.
So we agree on that. Next point?
(Advanced) What about setting up a raffle?
This could help us with the fundraising, too!
(Advanced) But the tickets would have to be really cheap. I mean, we can't sell those to get a big profit.
The English Department is going to organize a trip to Ireland. Have you heard? / Did you hear?
Really? Wow. I'd love to visit Ireland!
How much would the trip be / cost? / How much would that be / cost?
They haven't worked that out yet, but it would be about …… euros.
How long would we stay in Ireland for? / And how long for?
My friends from London are coming this summer for a visit, and I need to think about where to take them, what to show them, you know… in Madrid.
How long are they going to stay?
Well, that depends.
So – who wants to be in charge of (doING whatever)?
I'll be in charge of that (spontaneous decision)
I can/could be in charge of that (proposal)
I'm happy to be in charge of that.
Should we set up a rota? In this way, we would take turns with the different tasks.
In this way, some people would do it in the first week and then some other people would do it during the second week.

Helping people

(Advanced) Did you see Marko? / Have you seen Marko lately?
He's not doing very well. He's really low.
Do you know that Marko is depressed?
How come? / Why is that?
It seems it's because he has put on a lot of weight. But that's a consequence of being out of work, too. He lost his job three months ago.
So how can we help (him)?
Well, I think we should give him a call and go out for a drink and a chat! That could be a good beginning!
What can we do to cheer him up?
That'd be nice / helpful / interesting
It's Mary's birthday next week! Did you know?
What are you going to give her?
I haven't decided yet. I can't come up with any good ideas!
What do you think?
What if instead of a present we organized something for her?
(Advanced) What could we do? It should be something that allowed us all to spend some time together.
She loves nature. Perhaps we should suggest going to the countryside for a weekend.

Pros and cons of options

We need to find a house. The first question is, should we rent or buy?
Well, for me the question is not that! I can't buy!
The question would be how much we would be able to pay!
We have interviewed five people. We should start discarding some.
Who is your favourite candidate to share the flat with us?
Well, I like Laureen. She's really interesting and she seems to be a quiet person.
The bad thing about Laureen is that she has a dog, and dogs aren't allowed!
Perhaps we could talk that over with the owner (landlord, landlady).
I need a car, but I'm concerned about the environment and I was wondering -- an electric car might be the answer to my problem! What do you think?
I'm not sure about that. Perhaps we should find some information on the topic first. If you like, I can check out a few sites on the Internet, and you can talk to James about his experience.
Do you like electronic books?
I feel really old-fashioned, but – I can't read a book if it's not in paper!
Where shall we go on holidays this year?
Would you like to go to the seaside, or to the mountain?
It has to be somewhere cheap, really!
And do you prefer going to a city, and doing some sightseeing, visiting museums and art galleries, that kind of thing? Or would you prefer to relax on a beach?
Wouldn't that be a bit boring / hectic?
And how can we get there? Should we fly or take a train?
Driving would take us ages!
How do you feel about …-ing (doing this or that)?
I'd love that! / I'd love to.
I wouldn't like that much, really. / I'd rather we didn't do that.