Showing surprise and interest (A)

1. I’ve hurt my leg!

2. I´ve just won the lottery!
3. I´ve just been sacked!
4. Last week I met Bruce Willis.
5. I´m going to learn Chinese next year.
6. I´ll have to go to New York next week.
7. I don´t feel like going to the party tonight.
8. I had a wonderful time last night.
9. Peter is going to split up with Vicky!
10. I don´t know what to do about my son.

Showing surprise and interest (B)

1. I felt really ill last week.

2. I´m afraid I have got some bad news for you.
3. Sorry, but we´ll have to put the meeting off until next
month.
4. I failed my exam last week!
5. David and Phil really don´t get on very well.
6. The fire alarm went off in the middle of the night!
7. I received a really strange email this morning.
8. I still haven´t managed to contact sally.
9. I´m worried about my friend, Tony.
10. I had to go to the dentist yesterday morning.
Teacher’s notes
The idea of this exercise is to get students to improvise mini
conversations. By using echo questions and reply questions
they can show interest in the news, and elicit more details.

Examples:
A: I’ve hurt my leg!
B: Hurt your leg? (echo question with rising intonation)
A: Yes, I was playing tennis when I slipped and twisted my
ankle.
Cont...

Or

A: I felt really ill last week.

B: Did you? (reply question using the relevant non-inverted
auxiliary verb)
A: Yes, I think it was something I ate.
Cont...