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The Splendid Speaking Course

Volume 2 Unit 6: TOP Talks

Topic vocabularyA piece of musicBe into (‘like’ particular music)To sing at the top of one’s voiceTo have a sign songTo listen to soothing musicTo express yourselfTo put you in a good mood/agood frame of mindTo raise our spiritsTo unwindTo de-stress

Useful quotes“It was once said that…”If you can walk you can dance. Ifyou can talk you can sing.(Proverb from Zimbabwe)

Music washes away from thesoul the dust of everyday life.(Red Auerbach)

Without music, life is a journeythrough a desert.(Pat Conroy)

The history of a people is foundin its songs.(George Jellinek)

Without music, life would be anerror.

Unit 1: The World of MusicTask: Presentation (1-2 minutes)

1. Introduction: Read the following newspaper extract and prepare apresentation outlining the importance of music in our lives.

Harmony restoredWorkers at a clothingfactory are singing thepraises of their bosses whohave gone back on adecision to ban the playingof music during workinghours. Bosses hadpreviously complained

that their employees weredistracted by the music andconstant chatter of the localdisc jockey. However, theworkers claimed the musicactually helped them workharder and raised theirmorale.

2. Planning: Spend 1 minute making notes. If it helps, use any of thefollowing questions as the basis of your talk.What social or cultural significance does music have?In what ways can music benefit the individual?To what extent does music play an important role in your life?

3. Task focus: Try organising your talk around three main points. Peopleoften find it easy to remember and process things in threes and usingthis ‘rule of threes’ strategy can help both you and your audience. Youcould deal briefly with the three issues above or focus on one issue andgive three detailed examples in the main body of your talk.

4. Language: Tick any of the vocabulary or quotes on the left you want touse in your talk.

Task: Discussion (15 minutes)

As part of a student panel you’ve been asked to discuss the following:

Is the popularity of traditional music from your country being undermined bythe spread of American or British pop music?

Consider the effect across generations, the role of channels like MTV, the

etc.