6.
SHOWING INTEREST
WARM-UP
1)
What ways of showing interest do you know?
2)
What do you think ‘echo’ questions refer to?
3)
Make echo questions.
She went to Australia last year.
I can speak Japanese.
It's lunchtime now.
Practise these mini-dialogues.
Student A
Student B
I've just come back from France.
► Have you? France! Where did you go?
Mary went into hospital again.
► Again? What a pity. I must go and visit
her.
We're thinking about getting a bigger
flat.
► Are you? Where are you moving to?
Michael's looking for a new job.
► Mhm. I'm not surprised.
Write examples of the techniques used by Student
B
to show interest.
Echo questions (repeating the auxiliary verb):
Have you?
Echo words
Wh-
questions
Making a personal response
The table below shows some techniques for showing interest.
Showing attention Echo
questions Echo words
Wh-
questions
Right. Sure. Yes. Yeah. Yuh. Mhm. Uhuh.
Did you? Are they? Was it?
Five hundred? Six months? All over the world?
So what happened? Why was that, then? How did you
feel?
Personal
response
1.
Really? That sounds interesting.
2.
Really! Fantastic! Great!
3.
Exactly. Of course. Sure.
4.
How awful. What a pity. Poor you.
5.
No! That's strange! Good heavens!
6.
Mhm. I'm not surprised.
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