GET OLD

GO TO UNIVERSITY

HAVE CHILDREN DIERETIRE

GET MARRIED

BE A BABY

GO TO PRIMARY SCHOOL

BE A TEENAGER

FALL IN LOVE

Nouns: (during sb’s) childhood (From, during) Early age/ years (young/old/last/previous) generation Generation gap Turning-pointEg: The day I decided to change my career was

the big turning-point in my life

Verbs: Grow up bring up develop

• Adjectives: childishMatureGrown-up

To leave school/home To get

engaged/married/divorced To change schools/jobs/your

career To have a baby/children To move house

Idioms: in the prime of one’s life ( = in one’s early years)Eg: In the prime of my life, I gained a lot of prizes vim and vigour (= energy)Eg: During my adolescence, I used to always have so

much vim and vigour Expressions with” life”1. I’ve worked hard all my life.2. You should start a new life.3. Stay healthy! It’s a way of life.4. Ben spent his whole life learning English.5. I’ll love you in all my life.6. My grandmother had a very full life.

Verbs Reminisce (about) Recall Remind (sb of smt) Nouns (vivid/ fond/ vague/ unforgettable/ dim) memory Adjectives Haunting (beautiful in a way which makes you

feed sad and remember for a long time) Nostalgic (remember happy times in the past) Idioms A memory like a sieve ( a bad memory) A living memory (during the time that anyone

still alive can remember)

Collocations and phrases connected with remembering

On the tip of my tongue I can almost remember it but not quite Doesn’t time fly? Time passes so quickly It really takes me back It reminds me of the past It’s still fresh in my mind I can remember it clearly, like it was yesterday It all comes flooding back I suddenly remember it really clearly

Nouns Ancestor Period / phase Adjectives Ancient (very old) Antique Contemporary (belonging or occurring in the

present) Preceding (coming before in time)

1. Do you miss anything about your childhood?

2. How have you changed since you were a

child?

3. Did you have a happy childhood?

4. What is the best year of your life?

5. Are you still in touch with your childhood

friends?

Examiner: Are you still in touch with your childhood friends?

Julia: Some of them, yes. We’ve all moved on and have very different lives now, but it’s nice to catch up from time to time and reminisce. Childhood friends feel almost like brothers and sisters and there’s something special about that relationship

1. Describe a recent event that made you happyYou should say:

when and where it was who was involved what happenedand explain why it made you happy2. Describe a childhood memoryYou should say: When it happened Who was involved How you felt at the timeAnd explain why you remember this particular occasion3. Describe a historical place you’ve visitedYou should say: Where it is located What it looks like What is used forAnd explain whether this place is popular with tourists

Topic card 1: A recent event which made you happy When and where: my friend's birthday party, last Saturday

evening, we went for a meal in an Italian restaurant. Who: there were about 10 of us, he invited some close

friends and work colleagues, most of them were people I've known since university.

What happened: we met at the restaurant, I gave my friend a present and a birthday card, we ordered some food, while we ate dinnereveryone chatted, after the main course the waiter brought out a cake and we sang 'Happy Birthday', everyone went home quite late.

Why it made me happy: it was great to get together with old friends, I had some interesting conversations, it was a good opportunity to catch up with what my friends had been up to, it was a nice way to wind down after a hard week at work, the food was delicious, I went home feeling full after a fantastic meal.

Topic card 2: HAPPY CHILDHOOD MEMORYI’m going to talk about a happy childhood event that I remember, and

that event was my 13th birthday. It was 10 years ago now because I’m 23. My birthday is on the 7th May. What happened was my parents surprised me on my birthday by telling me that they were going to take me to a theme park that is a few hours from our house. I’d never been before - it had only been open a few months and they knew that I really wanted to go. As I recall it was a Saturday that we went. They didn’t tell me until the morning when I woke up that day. My whole family was involved in the event. The theme park was really amazing. There was a huge roller coaster which I remember was really scary but still excellent fun. One particular thing I remember is the ghost train. My younger sister was not allowed to go on the ride because she was too young and she was really upset and jealous of me and by brother! How I felt really depended on what I was doing. Obviously I was excited the whole day, but I remember that I felt really exhilarated when I was on the rides such as the roller coaster, and scared but still excited on the ghost train. The reason that I remember it so well is that I had been so desperate to go to the theme park and I’d been talking to my friends at school for ages about how I wanted to go. So it was so great when I found out that I could. Also I remember it so well because all of our family was together. My Dad was pretty busy most of the time with his work so we didn’t always have much time to do things together when I was a younger. So for these reasons, this was a really special occasion that I’ll never forget.

1. What do you think we can learn by studying events of the past?

2. What important events do you think might take place in the future?

3. What’s the most important event in your country’s history?

4. Who was the most important person in the history of your country?

5. What was the most important world event during your lifetime?

1. Examiner: What do you think we can learn by studying events of the past?

John: I think we can learn a lot by studying history. Just as individual people learn from their mistakes, societies can learn from the mistakes made by previous governments or leaders. For example, from what I've read in the newspapers, many economists are looking back to the time of the Great Depression, around 80 years ago, in order to understand the financial crisis that is currently affecting many countries around the world. Even if we don't always learn from mistakes, I think it's fascinating to study history because it gives us an insight into who we are and where we come from.

2. Examiner: What important events do you think might take place in the future?

Lucy: It's really difficult to predict what will happen in the future; most of the big, historic events of the past would have been impossible to foresee. For example, I don't think that anyone living 100 years ago could have imagined that people would one day walk on the moon! If I had to guess what might happen in the future, I'd like to think that scientists will invent cures for diseases like cancer, and we'll all live longer.