The person that I would like to speak about is Mrs. Brown. She was my French teacher in secondary school. She was actually quite scary: she had a really stern look all the time and was extremely strict. She was very demanding when it came to our written and spoken work- I suppose you could say that she was a very hard taskmaster.

The reason why I didn’t like her at first was that she singled me out all the time. Many of the students were not living up to her very high standards but she seemed to love to pick on me in particular. I also think that she used to kind of enjoy embarrassing me in front of the other kids. She also would give us mountains of homework to do every night.

She really had a big impact on me. To begin with, she certainly made my writing much more legible. I could hardly read my own hand writing before-haha. She also improved my study skills and instilled in me a work ethic which would serve me well down the line. Yeah, she made a huge impression on me- made me.. mmm… you know… kind of… take ownership of what I was learning.

In spite of the fact that I didn’t really get on with her and was really strict and all, I have to admit that she was actually a really brilliant teacher. I actually think that if I hadn’t had Mrs. Brown as my teacher, I wouldn’t have been such a successful language learner.

Vocabulary

Match the words with their definitions:

a) Stern (adj) 1) a level of quality b) Strict (adj) 2) make something your own responsibilityc) Demanding (adj) 3) can be read easilyd) (Hard) taskmaster (n) 4) to choose one person from a group for special attentione) To single someone out 5) strongly limiting someone's freedom to behave as they wishf) (High) standards 6) severe, showing disapprovalg) Legible (adj) 7) valuing hard labourh) Work ethic 8) needing a lot of time, attention, or energyi) Take ownership of 9) someone who gives others a lot of work to do

Something

Collocation

Find the collocates of the words below:

Describe a teacher you didn’t like at school. You should say:

• Who they are

• Why you didn’t like them

• What effect they had on your learning

And say if this person was a good teacher or not.

High _________

Extremely ____________

Hard _____________

Mountains of___________

Brilliant_____________

Successful______________

To make a huge _____________

Grammar

Without looking back at the script, try to match the sentence halves:

1) In spite of the fact that 2) I hadn’t had Mrs. Brown as my teacher,3) she certainly made my writing4) she used to kind of enjoy embarrassing me5) she seemed to love to

a) much more legible. b) in front of the other kids.c) Pick on me in particular.d) I didn’t really get on with her…e) I wouldn’t have been such a successful language learner.

In spite of can be followed by:

1)the fact that yes/ no 2) verb(+ing) yes/ no 3) to + infinitive yes/ no 4) pronoun yes/ no 5) subject verb clause yes/ no (circle the correct option).

Finish the sentences with your own words:

In spite of the fact that Rob didn’t like Mrs. Brown, _________________________________________________________________.

In spite of not really liking my teacher, ____________________________________________.

Complete for the rules for the 3rd conditional

If + had (not) + past participle, subject +_________ (not) +___________ + __________.

Complete the sentence:

If I hadn’t had such a good teacher,________________________________________________.

Now write 3 more sentences in the 3rd conditional.

Pronunication:

In English we tend to give more emphasis to words which carry the most meaning in a sentence. We also give tonic stress to one single syllable in each utterance (chunk of language). Look at the following excerpt from the model answer. Tonic stress is in bold and sentence stress is underlined. Listen to your teacher saying the sentence then practice saying the sentence with your partner.

She was my French teacher in secondary school. She was actually quite scary: she had a really stern look all the time and was extremely strict.

Notice how any of the vowels unstressed syllables are /ə/ or /I/.

Now, try to find the sentence and tonic stress in these sentences and then try to mimic your teacher saying the sentences:

1) She was very demanding when it came to our written and spoken work- I suppose you could say that she was a very hard taskmaster.

2) Many of the students were not living up to her very high standards but she seemed to love to pick on me in particular.

3) She also improved my study skills and instilled in me a work ethic which would serve me well down the line.

4) In spite of the fact that I didn’t really get on with her and was really strict and all, I have to admit that she was actually a really brilliant teacher.

5) I actually think that if I hadn’t had Mrs. Brown as my teacher, I wouldn’t have been such a successful language learner.

Underline the stressed syllable in these words.

1. Hard taskmaster 2. Ownership3. Demanding

Match the words to the phonemic transcription:

a) Stern (adj) 1) /ˈstæn.dədz/b) Strict (adj) 2) /ˈəʊ.nə.ʃɪp/c) Demanding (adj) 3) /dɪˈmɑːn.dɪŋ/d) Standards 4) /ˈledʒ.ɪ.blQ/e) Legible 5) /strɪkt/f) Ownership 6) /stɜːn/