Looking good feeling good ● Task  Inviting your friend to join a gym

possible example

dear wu tong,

how are you? i know you’re thinking of joining a gym. i think you should join better body gym. it is not expensive. it costs just 500 yuan a year for a student. if you join now, you can get one month free membership, which is open to anyone aged 14 or over. one of its branches is near the king hotel, which is not far away from your home. it opens from 6 a.m. to midnight every day. so it is very convenient for you. whenever you are free, you can go there. they have very good equipment and there are 35 classes every week, including yoga, aerobics and swimming. if you want to know more, you may call 5555, 4567.

best wishes!

yours,

(student’s own name)

skills building 2: note taking

here you will learn how to take notes while listening. in order to make the note as brief as possible, three skills are presented to students. 

1. read the guidelines and the three points on page 54 to learn how to write down information quickly when taking notes.

abbreviations and contractions

an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase used chiefly in writing to represent the complete form, for example, cmhs for central manchester high school, wto for world trade organization. un for united nations, nov for november, sat for saturday.

sometimes, a dot is used at the end of the abbreviation, such as oct. pron. and so on.

a contraction is a word formed by omitting or combining some of the sounds of a longer phrase, for example, won’t from will not, o’clock from of the clock.

2. listen to the tape and write down what you’ve heard using the three skills you’ve just learned.

tapescript

the number seven bus is not on time.

our department is increasing the number of teachers.

i would like to see the manufacturer.

senior high 1 has a bigger class than senior high 2.

the people’s republic of china was founded in 1949.

answers

no. 7 bus isn’t on time.

our dept is ↑the no. of teachers.

i’d like to see the mfr.

sh1 has a > class than sh2.

prc was founded in 1949.

step 2: interviewing classmates about exercise

try to improve your listening and speaking abilities by listening to an introduction to a gym and asking and answering questions about how to keep fit. take notes while listening.

1. do part a by listening to the speech about the facilities available in the gym and take notes while listening. use abbreviations and contractions to write down the information quickly.

tapescript

speaker: good morning, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to better body gym. i would just like to quickly introduce you to all the equipment we have at the gym. we have a number of activities that you can try such as aerobics, step aerobics and dance aerobics. we have a new swimming pool to be opened next month, which you are welcome to use. we also can help you in your workouts. we have many running machines. we have a rowing machine and a skiing machine. once again i welcome you to come and build a better body.