B2 PREPARATION - CEP de JAÉN 2016/2017

SESSION3: HABITS AND OBSESSIONS

OBJECTIVES
LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS: talking about habits; paraphrasing; expressing regrets, wishes and
hopes; giving advice and making suggestions; guessing and making assumptions.

GRAMMAR: wish + would/wouldn’t; verbs followed by gerund and/or infinitive, e.g. forget,
stop, go on, remember, etc.

LEXIS: vocabulary related to habits and obsessions; cohesive devices to recap and recover, e.g.
As I was saying, anyway …; hesitation fillers, e.g. I mean,... you know …; stock phrases to gain
time for thought and keep the turn, e.g. well, let me think …; phrases and expressions relating
to the language functions listed above.

PHONOLOGY: the correct pronunciation of vocabulary specific to the topic and subject area,
rising and falling intonation for keeping, giving up and offering turns, stress and rhythm to
highlight and emphasise main points and ideas, intonation and pitch to convey attitude.

STARTING OFF

Habits are a huge part of our everyday lives. Not only is it a huge part of our lives, habits are
one of the most influential governing factors of our actions and ultimately our existence. Your
actions, your responses, the decisions you make, the way you live your life are all largely
dictated by your habits. Just as we have good habits, we also have bad habits. Despite the
original function of habits to simplify our lives, we can also develop habits that are negative
and destructive, or even become an obsession.

Listen to the following person talking about bad habits and, after you listen, look at these bad
habits. Do you have any of them? What can be done to get rid of it?

( ) always arriving late ( ) sleeping too much ( ) fast eating

( ) watching too much TV ( ) becoming an “owl” at night ( ) nail biting
( ) skipping breakfast ( ) always carrying a heavy bag ( ) drinking alcohol
( ) being “superconnected” ( ) being in love with junk food ( ) smoking
( ) drinking too much coffee ( ) wearing headphones for hours ( ) cursing

Now, in pairs, ask and answer the following questions:

- Which bad habit do you think is the most difficult to get rid of?
- Are we born with our bad habits? Or do we acquire them?
- Do other people’s bad habits get on your nerves?
- What bad habits do you observe in your family members?
- Have you been successful in getting rid of a bad habit?

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B2 PREPARATION - CEP de JAÉN 2016/2017

LISTENING
Do you have good study habits? Discuss them in pairs. Then, listen to two students discussing
their study habits and complete the table.

Where? When? Advantage Disadvantage

Sally

Mike

Listen to parts of Sally and Mike’s conversation and complete the replies.

1 S Where do you study?

M .

I sometimes study in ...

2 S Is that when you usually study?

M Yes ... ... I tend to remember about

homework just as I’m thinking of going to bed!

3 S Don’t you ever find that studying at home is hard?

M , actually, but
, I can see what you mean.

HESITATION FILLERS
Well, um, …
You see, …
It depends.
You know, …
I mean, …
I’m not sure, …
It’s difficult to say, really.
That’s a good question.
Mmm. I need to think about that for a moment.
Er, I’ve never given it that much thought actually.

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B2 PREPARATION - CEP de JAÉN 2016/2017

OPTIONAL READING
Click here

VOCABULARY
See Appendices I, II & III

GRAMMAR
See Appendices IV & V

Choose the correct way to complete the questions asked in the Conversation phase of the
exam between the examiner and David.

So would you say your interest in academic philosophy

could start to become / had started becoming an obsession?

Do any of the people you know have habits that you Do you wish people would use / didn’t use their
wish they wouldn’t have / didn’t have? mobile phones less?

Listen and check.

Listen to the full conversation and answer these questions.

1 What helps David remember his important dreams?

2 How did he feel about the place where his balloon landed?

3 How did his dream change his behaviour?

4 What habits and obsessions would David like to change in other people?

SPEAKING
- What are the most annoying habits of people that you know? Talk in pairs and say how you
would like the people to change.

My brother is always playing loud music in his bedroom. I wish

he’d turn it down or do something different.

My best friend has a habit of being late for everything. I wish

he’d make more of an effort to be punctual.

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B2 PREPARATION - CEP de JAÉN 2016/2017

- Work in pairs. Which of these are habits and which are obsessions? What’s the difference?

A Checking your Facebook page every morning.

B Checking that you’ve got your keys 10 times a day.

C Reading every ingredient on everything you buy in the supermarket.

D Reading your favourite newspaper online at lunchtime.

- Work in pairs. Discuss any obsessions that you or people you know have. What do you think
caused them? How do you think they can be stopped?

My dad never stops checking that he’s got his Smartphone. I don’t think
he’d be so obsessive about it if he hadn’t lost his last one on the beach.

Maybe if he had it fully insured, and backed up all the data on it, he
wouldn’t worry so much about losing it.

- What do you think are the most common national obsessions in your country? Do they tell
you something about the national character, or are they a result of media influence?

- What do you wish you could change about yourself?

- Do you ever forget to ...?

- What do you wish you could stop doing?

- What advice would you give on how to break a bad habit?

- Why do you think people end up being addicted to things?

REMEMBER TO ASK THE EXAMINER SOME QUESTIONS TO KEEP THE

CONVERSATION GOING. REMEMBER TO USE THE KEY LANGUAGE POINTS FOR
GRADE 9 IN YOUR ANSWERS.

SHOW INTEREST IN EACH OTHER’S ANSWERS – MAKE EYE CONTACT, AND

SMILE!

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B2 PREPARATION - CEP de JAÉN 2016/2017

SESSION 3 GLOSSARY
(Write down all the new words you learn in this unit together with related specific vocabulary)

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