SPEAKING PHRASES

PART 1

give reasons, examples and details

YOUR HOME - I live in a big semi-detached house near the center of the town. I moved in 2
years ago. The house is two-storey, my room is located on the 1st floor. What I really love
about this house is our huge backyard. I really like to spare my time there with friends and
family. Actually, we throw barbeque parties very often. Honestly, I am glad to live in such a
big house close to the center of town with access to so many facilities. What's more my
neighbors are nice people and we have been living next door for a while, so we get along very
well as a close-knit community.

DAILY LIFE - I usually get up early in the morning, so I could say that I am an early bird.
Getting up early makes me feel refreshed and productive. Well, I normally get up at 6 am to
have a light breakfast and do dome joga. After my training session I start working, my
working time is from 8 am till 12 am. I have a part-time job. After work I prepare lunch and
attend language classes. Then I have some time to chill out and usually I go to bed at 10 pm.
In my opinion, it is essential to have a daily routine while it helps us to arrange our activities
more sensibly. If I had chance to change my life, I would like to have more free time

FAMILY - I have a small nuclear family and there are only 4 family members including my
mom, grandmom, granddad and I. Unfortunately, I am an only child in our family, but I always
wanted to have siblings. But actually, I have a lot of extended relatives. As I have mentioned
before we have 4 family members in our family. My mom works as an accountant in a big
building company. My grandparents have already been retired for 5 years. I have recently
completed a Bachelor Degree in Economics and I plan to continue my education in order to
get a Master Degree. We are a happy family which shares a strong bonding that makes us
care for each other a lot.

FRIENDS -Before, I moved to another country, I had had lots of friends. Sadly, it is a tiny circle
of friends now because of moving to another country. Mainly my friends are older than me,
but I also have a few friends who are my age. The reason I have friends older than me is that
they are mostly my colleagues, but despite the age gap we have a lot in common and get on
well. Unfortunately, we don't spend a lot of time together because of our busy lifestyles. But
when we have some time to spare, we normally go to the cinema, bars or just hang out at
one´s place with board games. Also, i have only one close friend, we have been through thick
and thin, while our friendship lasts for 15 years.
FREETIME - Actually I get up to a lot of things. I am fond of traveling, so I try to spend my
free time visiting new places. I visit other towns in the country where I live and sometimes I
travel abroad as well. This year I have already been to Austria, Italy, Spain, France and
Ireland. Also, I like to be active in my free time and I enjoy getting outdoors as much as
possible to unwind. I spend a lot of time hiking in the mountains, swimming at the beach or
cycling. Sports activities are a great stress buster for me. I wish, I had more free time

EDUCATION - I have studied in a state school, it used to be the most popular school during
my time. Recently I have completed my Bachelor Degree in Economics. It is located in
Dnipro, Ukraine. It is one of the best universities in my country. It has a huge campus with
approximately 12 000 undergraduate and graduate students of different majors. As for me, I
studied international economic relations. Basically, it was about economic relations between
states, transnational corporations and other subjects of the world economy. It has relevance
and social importance since it deals with the economy, global competitions and emerging
markets.

TRAVEL - I am keen on traveling, exploring new places and meeting new people. It makes me
extremely delighted and I have already obtained a lot of memorable experiences. Sadly, I
didn't get to see many destinations inside my native country. But nevertheless I have traveled
to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Czech Republic and Poland. The city that has really
astonished me with its stunning architecture and history was Paris. This is not only the
capital of culture, economics and education, but also a place full of vivid art and romance. I
would like to visit New York, I find it an interesting and desired destination because of its
scenic beauty and welcoming people.

HOBBIES - I have a flair for music. My favorite hobby is playing the piano. I started taking
piano lessons when I was 6 years old and I have played ever since and can´t get enough of it.
In addition to the piano, I also enjoy outdoor activities, such as cycling. I think hobbies
provide people with a way to relax. I believe that leisure activities help us to switch off from
the pressure and stress that exist in society, because to be honest life can be hectic
sometimes.

TECHNOLOGY - I think that technology is crucial and there is no one in the world who
considers technology unimportant. Emerging technology has the capacity to change our
lives in so many ways. Living in this digital age requires people to know and to operate some
devices to achieve tasks in day-to-day life. Well, we are not living in a stone age so the use of
technology is incredibly essential in our lives. Actually, my work is completely dependent on
a computer and a smartphone. Without these gadgets I don't think my life would be so
comfortable and convenient. Also I use these devices for private purposes in order to use
social media networks to keep up with my friends and family across the globe.
THE FUTURE - To be honest, I don't really know what I would like to be in 10 years. But I am
really interested in entrepreneurship, so maybe I will establish a small travel agency where I
would be able to employ both the skilled and unskilled people which will help to improve their
livelihood. Otherwise I can see myself working in the export department while my major is
very related to export and customs operations. Hopefully, I will make progress in different
areas of my life. I want to be a doting mother and caring wife and would like to enjoy my time
through my works, passions and family bonding. I believe that we have to keep a plan and
work accordingly. Since the future is always uncertain and if we do not have any plans, it
would be impossible for us to reach our goals.

WORK - At the moment I am working as an assistant in a big international company. This

company produces medical equipment and medical software for hospitals around the globe.
I have a part time job, so I don't have to stay in the office for the whole day. I am really glad
that I get Saturday and Sunday off from work which I utilize to spend time with my family.
My main responsibilities are a paper-work, arranging meetings and conferences and other
organizational tasks. Definitely, I like my job and I am grateful for having a nice job in a
prestigious company. I have been doing my work for already half of the year, but surely I
would like to try something more related to my major.

LANGUAGES - As for me I know 4 languages, namely Russian, Ukrainian, English and

German. I have been learning English for 5 years and not so long ago I started learning
German. I must admit that I have a flair for languages. I think it is extremely essential to learn
a foreign language in addition to your mother language, because of the competitive
advantage it gives you over other people when you are competing for a job. Also if you want
to work in a particular field such as medicine or science, it is crucial to know English, while
most literature is predominantly in English and there is a lot of technical language that you
would not understand if you did not speak English.

COMMUNICATION - I mostly keep in touch with my friends and family by phone. Sometimes I
prefer writing messages compared to talking by phone or in person because I am quite an
introverted person so it is a bit more comfortable for me. However, more often than not I
prefer to communicate in person, especially about emotional matters, because you can
make an eye-contact with the person and see the non-verbal clues they give off, which I
believe is more accurate at revealing what someone is really thinking and feeling.

FINANCE AND MONEY - In my opinion, money is pretty essential, because we can buy a lot
of things and it makes life more meaningful. It is motivation to push me forward and make
me work harder to enhance my life. I suppose that money equals power, the more money you
have, the more things you can do, the more influence you have over people. As for me, I am
quite good at saving money, because I set aside a special amount each week that I can
spend. Once that has finished I don't touch the rest of my salary because I am saving up to
get a drivers license.
SOCIAL MEDIA - Social media has become a part of everyday life of entertainment, news,
business and much more. I am using social media on an everyday basis. I am fond of
Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. I regularly use social media to keep up with what is trending in
the news and media. In the evening, I often spend an hour scrolling up and down Twitter
reading tweets from people I follow. I think that the main advantage is that it allows us to
communicate with people from different cultures and it provides us with unlimited amounts
of information at any time. But on the other hand, sometimes we kill too much time on the
Internet instead of doing something useful.

SPORT - Honestly, I am not a very physical person and I find sports too competitive. But at
the same time I think everyone should do some kind of sport, as sports give us a really
engaging way to keep fit, lose weight and learn about teamwork. Apart from that I like
watching sports programmes, but however I prefer watching it live, because I can cheer my
favorite team on, I can interact with other sports fans and the lively energy of the crowd is so
infectious. The feeling of watching sports live is really inexplicable. As for me, I love
watching sports with my cousin because we both share an interest in ice skating.

ENVIRONMENT - In my opinion, pollution is a massive issue nowadays. It really worries me

how much damage we are doing to the natural environment, especially how we pollute the
ocean with plastic waste and release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. As for me, I
try to buy environmentally friendly goods. Also, I recycle as much rubbish as I can and I walk
rather than drive or take public transport in order to reduce my carbon footprint. In addition, I
am extremely concerned about climate change, because the weather all over the world is
changing because of global warming.

HEALTH - Health is extremely important. Without it we are unable to work, to earn a living, to
socialize and we become completely dependent on others. Health is one of the few things
that we can not buy, but we can take steps to improve and protect our health. There are
many kinds of activities which can help us maintain our health such as jogging, yoga, and
tennis are really beneficial. Personally, I think a balanced approach of different exercises is
best combined with a healthy lifestyle and diet. In recent years we had a lot to cope with
during lockdown. Some people struggled with the isolation, some people worried about their
income and others struggled with being trapped in a building unable to go out. It was a really
challenging time.

SCIENCE - As per my thinking, science plays a crucial role in our routine life, from morning to
evening all our routine life is connected to science theory no matter if it is directly or
indirectly. I find astronomy quite intriguing and adventurous because I always wanted to
know more about space and our universe. From my point of view, the most fascinating thing
about science for me is inventions, the mind-blowing innovations we hear about every day in
all thanks to science. Science has done humanity a whole lot of goods. A good example is
the computer or a smartphone we use, not forgetting cars and airplanes, they have made life
and communication a lot easier.

MUSIC - I am keen on music, actually I can play music by myself. I have been playing piano
for all my life. I like different music genres and I listen to various tunes almost everyday. I
don't like techno music, though it makes me bored and annoyed. As for me, I really enjoy
listening to One Republic. I found this music band a long ago. Their music is very catchy and
tuneful at the same time. I especially like this band for their driving rhythms, and their songs
always cheer me up. If I had to choose only one artist or band that I have listened to all my
life, I would definitely go for One Republic.

BOOK/FILM - Personally, i love watching films rather than reading books. I like almost every
film genre but for horror movies. In my opinion, film is a medium that can transport us to
radically different worlds, that's why so many people love it. Watching is an excellent way to
unwind and it is also a fun and relaxing way to spend time with friends or family. My favorite
movie is Avatar, which premiered in 2009. Avatar is a science fiction film written and directed
by Jame Cameron. It is about humans trying to get special resources from another planet,
which has tall blue aliens living there. The film displays the best special effects and an
unimaginably beautiful film graphic and also the plot itself is fascinating. As far as i know,
Avatar 2 was also released in January 2023, but i haven't watched it yet.

PART 2

in the picture, on the top, on the button, on the left, on the right

compare and speculate

Comparing similar things:

● both
● each
● similarly
● likewise
● in the same way
● as for the similarities
● we can also see that

Comparing different things:

● meanwhile
 ● whereas
● by contrast
● on the other hand
● as for the differences

Speculating:

● might
● perhaps
● maybe
● it seems like
● IF SENTENCE

NO IDEAS: what they are wearing, their mood, their age, indoors/outdoors, their
gender, how many people, time of the day, background, emotions. What the people
might be thinking, feeling or doing.

PART 3

conversation fillers:

● let me think about that for a moment..

● that's an interesting question..
● I´d never really thought about that, but i suppose..
● let me consider this for a moment, it´s quite complicated..
● to be honest that is not a question i have ever thought about before..

INTRODUCTION (we are given) - PROS and CONS - SUM UP

Concluding phrases:

● so, are we in agreement that …

● alright, it´s safe to say that we agree that …
● are we on the same page?

Stating an opinion:

● I´m of the opinion that …

● I tend to believe that …
● I feel as if ..
Agreeing:

● I totally agree
● That´s a good point.
● I tend to agree that ..

Disagreeing:

● I see what you are saying, but i suppose i would add that..
● May i also suggest that ..
● I´m with you on that, however ..
● so, we are not in agreement that..

Interacting with partner:

● what do you think?

● Do you know what I mean?
● How do you feel about that?
● Do you get what i´m saying?
● What do you reckon?
● Where do you stand on this?
● What is your point of view?

PART 4

add reasons, examples, contra arguments, details, suggestions

of course, in my opinion, for instance

Would you like to start or shall I?;
I'm happy for you to start.;
OK, well, looking at the first idea

Do you see what I mean?

I do, but even though that's an interesting point of view

You're absolutely right, of course, but , looking at the third item.. Wouldn't that be
useful?
That's interesting, but I'm not sure..

I understand what you are saying, however, talking about the fourth point.. Do you
see what I'm getting at?

Yes I do, and you make an excellent point, although, considering the final item..
Don't you think so?

B - OK I'll start this time if you like.

A - Fine.

B - Which situation shall we choose? I'd go for … scenario. I think that would make a
lot of sense, and … in those circumstances.

A - I was initially thinking of how useful …., but upon reflection, I think your idea is
better than mine, so I'd agree with you that when …

B - So we both agree.

A - Great.

● Starting your discussion

○ Shall I start? / Yeah, go on.
○ Shall I go first? / Of course, go ahead.
○ Is it okay if I start? / Sure, no problem.
○ Would you like to go first? / Yes, why not?
● Expressing your opinion
○ I believe/think that…
○ In my opinion,…
 ○ The way I see it,…
○ If you ask me,…
○ I would say that…
○ It seems to me that…
○ In my view…
○ As far as I’m concerned,…
● Asking for your partner’s opinion
○ statement, don’t you think/agree?
○ statement, wouldn’t you say so?
○ statement , wouldn’t you agree?
○ statement, right?
○ Do you think…?
○ Do you believe that…?
○ What do you think about…?
○ How about…?
○ What about…?
○ What’s your take on…?
● Agreeing with your partner
○ I (totally) agree with you.
○ You’re dead right.
○ That’s (absolutely) true.
○ You’re (absolutely) right.
○ That’s a great idea.
○ I couldn’t agree more.
○ Yes, I see what you mean.
○ I see it that way, too.
○ Yes, of course.
○ I think so, too.
● Disagreeing with your partner
○ I’m afraid I don’t see it the same way.
○ I’m sorry but I have to disagree.
○ You may be right, but I have a different view.
○ That might be true, but I’m not sure I agree with you.
○ I’m sorry, but I don’t agree.
● Changing the subject
○ As for + one of the options
○ As to + one of the options
○ In relation to + one of the options
○ As regards + one of the options
 ○ Regarding the question of the task,
○ With regard to + paraphrased question
● Concluding the discussion
○ I believe we have an agreement, don’t we?
○ So, do we have an agreement?
○ Shall we stick to…?
○ Shall we agree on..?