1st) Take a look at these pronunciation and phonetics websites. There you can practice and learn the different sounds and their symbols and transcription.

• http://www.stuff.co.uk/calcul_nd.htm
• http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/

2nd) Download the .pdf file and try to complete it. Watch out! It is a bit difficult! Well, not really for you!

3rd) Crossword. The last challenge is a crossword. Will you complete it?

Ficheros adicionales

• Phonetics Worksheet.pdf
• Homonyms - Pre-intermediate with key.pdf

When was the last time you asked for permission for something? What was it? How did you ask?

Here is a list of useful expressions to make requests, to give reasons to support it, and to add conditions to them. Once you have read them, role play the situations in the cards. Please, don't look at you peer's card so you practice freely. It is important that you keep your role cards secret as some characters are required to keep certain information secret.

Making Requests

• I was wondering if it would be possible to…….
• Is there any chance that I could…….
• Would it be alright if I……..
• I believe I’m entitled to/I deserve…… (a pay rise/a day off)

Giving Reasons

• You see the thing is……………
• The problem is that………….
• Accepting Requests
• Ok, I don’t see why not.
• Of course.
• No problem at all

Adding Conditions

• As long as/provided that/on condition that you……..
• Rejecting Requests
• I’m afraid that’s just not possible at the moment.
• That’s out of the question.
• I’m afraid I have to turn your request down.

You are an employee in a company. Next weekend your best friend is having a party. You have to ask your boss for the Monday and Tuesday after off work. Your boss will probably reject the request if he/she knows you are going to a party.	You are the boss of the company. An employee comes to ask you something. This particular employee has seemed distracted recently and keeps forgetting important things.
You are and sales person in a company. You are very stressed and you need a rest, you have decided that you want to take a sabbatical to go and volunteer in an elephant sanctuary in Africa for a year. You need to speak to the boss. You are very hard-working and the company is doing very well because of your hard work.	You are the boss of a company. One of your employees comes to ask you something. You have heard a rumour that this employee wants to take a sabbatical. He/she is your best sales person and the company really needs him/her. You can offer him/her a pay rise, a promotion and a 1 month holiday.
You are a strict parent. Your son/daughter comes to you with a request about the weekend.	You are a teenager. Your best friend is having a massive party at his/her house this weekend because his/her parents are away, the boy/girl of your dreams is also going to be there. You need to get your parent’s permission to go but they are very strict and will not give you permission if they know it’s going to be a crazy party.
You are a teacher. Your best student comes to you with a request.	You are a student. You are very intelligent and you work very hard. You want to be a journalist. You have been offered a part time job in a national newspaper. If you take the job you will have to work from 9am-12am on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays but you have classes on these days. Speak to your teacher and see if you can find a solution.

Ficheros adicionales

• polite-requests.docx