Blog Portfolio/ Oral Skills/WendyGihan URL: http://sydneyinstituteonline.

net/letstalk/2009/05/02/wendy-gihan-
coffee-break/
LISTENING EXERCISES
Print this worksheet to work on it while you listen.

TOPIC
What are they talking about? What is their main topic of conversation?

VOCABULARY
Below are most of the names and some difficult words and expressions used by Wendy And Gihan.
Check their meaning if you don’t know it. Then listen and tick the words when you hear them.
√
Gihan planning later turning

Barbie as old as born recently

paper Sydney research perspective

Weekend
blonde leggy over time lasted

adapted test of time kept up with competitors

bring out dolls similar win out

I bet you it’s got to do amount two-way

mirror
Oh gosh! quoted it on the floor bed
shelf
collector I must admit a scientific melted
mind

Listen again and do the exercises below.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. What’s Wendy planning? ………………………………………………………………………..

2. When and why? ………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3. What does she always tell people?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
4. What did they see in the newspaper weekend magazine?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. What does Gihan say they are studying in her course at university?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6. What does Barbie look like and what doesn’t she look like?

Rosa Ochoa Let’s Talk St George ESOL 2009

Blog Portfolio/ Oral Skills/WendyGihan URL: http://sydneyinstituteonline.net/letstalk/2009/05/02/wendy-gihan-
coffee-break/
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7. Why has Barbie lasted the test of time?
8. What have her competitors done without success?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
9. What do researchers think if a child leaves her Barbie doll on the floor or bed?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

10. What does it mean if the Barbie doll is on the shelf?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………

CASUAL CONVERSATION
How do they start their conversation? How do they keep it going? Listen and write it down filling the
gaps:

Greeting Wendy Hi Gihan,………………………………………………………….

Gihan …………………………………………………………………
….
Wendy ………....………………………………………………………….

News Wendy I’m planning....……………………………………………………

………....………………………………………………………….
………....………………………………………………………….
Responding Gihan Ah! She was too!
Wendy Yeah! She just ……… fifty ……………………………………..
Relating Gihan Did you see that, em, it was in-what’s that paper called that
comes with the Sydney weekend? the Sydney Weekender!
Wendy Yeah, the Sydney Weekender, yeah.
Gihan Did you……that whole two spread that they had on her?
Wendy Yes,……………………. Yes.
Gihan How she’s ……………… over the times?
Adding Gihan ………….. in the class that I’m doing, one of my ……at uni, we
look at ……………………………….. and we looked at ………
that goes into ……………You would not ………….. the
research that ………. into her.
Wendy But she still …………….. like a ………. Woman!
Gihan I know!
Wendy O know. Still blonde and ………..

Feedback

The speakers give feedback to each other to show that they are interested in the conversation and
follow its content. Sometimes they even finish the sentences at the same time.
Write down the ways they give feed back. It could be a work, sound or a whole sentence.

Continue on the next page to get a script of the anecdote and analyse its structure.

Rosa Ochoa Let’s Talk St George ESOL 2009

Blog Portfolio/ Oral Skills/WendyGihan URL: http://sydneyinstituteonline.net/letstalk/2009/05/02/wendy-gihan-
coffee-break/

ANECDOTE

Wendy tells Gihan an anecdote related to the topic of their casual conversation, which is Barbie dolls.
Anecdotes are told to share something unusual, funny or embarrassing that has happened to us or
someone we know. We expect the listeners to react to it and to share our reaction to the event.

The generic structure of an anecdote is:

(Abstract) (Optional) Indicates that a story is going to be told

Orientation What, who, when, where
Remarkable Event An unexpected event happens. This is presented in actions ordered in time
(chronologically), like in a recount.
Reaction Speakers reaction to their own story
(Coda) (optional) a comment about the whole situation (by the speaker and/or listeners)

Match the structure on the left, which is out order, to the correct section of the anecdote on the right.
The first one has been done for you:

Orientation Wendy I must admit, though, I had barbies but I never… I didn’t
play with dolls very much.
Abstract

Reaction Gihan I never had a Barbie, I had the one

Coda Wendy I had one, and that’s it, I think.

Remarkable Event And then my brother, for he was… had a scientific mind,
he, eh… One day we had a family barbecue and he, eh…
took my dolls and … to see how they melted
Gihan Ah!
Wendy and he barbecued them all! So I lost my Barbie, and so all
my favourite dolls!

Gihan That’s terrible!

SPEAKING

Work with one of your classmate. Practise telling an anecdote to ech other. You can record yourselves
with Audacity and ask your teacher to help you improve your performance.

Rosa Ochoa Let’s Talk St George ESOL 2009