ADVANCED – TEST

ADVANCED – TEST

Work

Past

What do you do? Are you fond of doing your job or do you hate it?

When did you start your career?

What is 

  • the most challenging
  • the most monotonous
  • the most repetitive
  • the most motivating
  • the most demanding
  • the most tedious

job you have ever had? How did you get it? How long had you been doing it, before you found another one?

Is there anything you wish you’d done differently?

What should your employer have done, so you could stay? How long would you have worked there, if it had been done?

Have you ever been out of work for a long period of time?

Present

What is your profession? How long have you been doing it?

How happy are you with your work and life balance? Do working hours suit you?

Do you have any perks at work?

Are you satisfied with your salary? Are you expecting a bonus at the end of the year?

Who is in charge of your department?

What are you responsible for?

What kind of clients/customers do you have to deal with?

How many colleagues are on maternity leave? How many colleagues are off work?

Do you have good perspectives in this job?

Are you used to going on business trips regularly?

Future

How long will you have been working here by the end of the year?

Is there anything you wish your employer would stop/start doing?

Would you be happy to get a raise or to get promoted?

What are you going to do to make it happen?

What professional training are you taking next year?

What will happen, as soon as you improve your professional skills?

Would you change your profession, if you had a chance?

What should you change first?

Family

Past

What was the norm of a nuclear family in the past?

What did extended families look like?

How many single parent families did there use to be? What was a mother/father figure?

Who used to take care about…?

  • old parents
  • grandparents
  • great-grandparents
  • disabled family members
  • in-laws

Did people use to learn their ancestor’s history?

Present

Discuss these topics.

Children are left too much on their own nowadays. Computer games and online friends replace parents and classmates.

Should working parents use a babysitter or their own parents to look after their children?

Are you ready to look after your parents when they’re old?

You should learn how to be a parent before having children. It should be prohibited to get pregnant, if you aren’t ready.

The family is a trap from which it can be difficult to escape.

Future

Would you ever try to research your family tree? Why? Why not? What’s the use of doing this?

What are you going to do to get access to the latest census?

Will it be a problem or will you have to pay a lot to be able to get all needed information?

Whose branch will be the first, if you start?

If you got all the information, would you get in touch with the relatives, you’ve never heard about?

How close should you be with your family?

Sounds and human voice

Past

How did you use to react to these noises, when you were a child?

  • banging
  • buzzing
  • clicking
  • crashing
  • creaking
  • crunching
  • dripping
  • hissing
  • hooting
  • humming
  • rattling
  • roaring
  • screeching
  • slamming
  • slurping
  • sniffing
  • snoring
  • spashing
  • tapping
  • ticking
  • whistling

Present

What drives you mad? Can you bear with these noises?

  • other people’s mobile ring tones
  • people making personal calls
  • people slurping tea or coffee
  • people tapping the keyboard of their computer
  • the boss’s voice
  • the crunch of people eating chips
  • the ‘hold’ music on the telephone
  • the hum of the air conditioning

What are you used to doing in these situations?

Future

Would you stop

  • giggling
  • groaning
  • mumbling
  • screaming
  • sobbing
  • sighing
  • stammering
  • whispering
  • yelling

in public places or do you think it’s completely ok to perform something like this while talking to people?

Money

Past

Have you ever lived beyond your means? 

When was it? What had happened?

How long had you been living like that, until it was possible to improve the situation?

Is there anything you should have done, to be able to avoid this? What would have happened, if you had done this?

Present

Discuss these topics.

Consumer society.

Standard of living.

Average income.

Inflation.

Cost of living.

Interest rates.

Being in debt and paying mortgages. 

Currency exchange rates.

Shares. Stock market.

What are you used to doing when you are in the red?

How often are you in the black? How long does it usually last?

Do you have a budget?

Are you able to plan your expenditures?

Future

Would you apply for a loan to make any of your dreams come true? What exactly would you buy?

What are you going to do? When?

Will it be a problem to find a collateral? 

How high will the initial instalment be, if you take this decision?

When will you have paid it back?

What would you invest money into, if you didn’t have any financial limits?

What should you do first?

History and warfare

Past

Have you ever been interested in history? Why (not)?

Did you have these toy weapons, when you were a child?

  • swords
  • shields
  • spears
  • arrows
  • bows
  • cannons
  • bullets
  • machine guns
  • missiles

Were they hand made or were they given you as a present?

Did you have military training at school or at university?

Present

Can you describe these events?

  • war
  • civil war
  • revolution
  • coup

Where are they happening?

Who is involved and why? 

  • civilians
  • armed forces
  • peace keeping forces
  • troops

What are the civilian and military casualties?

  • the wounded
  • the killed
  • the survived

What are the rebels doing?

Are there any refugees? How many? Where are they fleeing?

Who is being evacuated and where?

Are there any looters?

Future

Give your version of utopia.

Preparing food

Past

Have you ever been to a very expensive restaurant?

When was it? Where was it?

Who did you go with?

Had you been invited or had you just booked a table there?

Did you enjoy your meal?

How much did they charge you?

Where were the tastiest

  • baked apples
  • boiled eggs
  • peeled oranges
  • scrambled eggs
  • steamed asparagus
  • stuffed aubergines
  • toasted almonds

Should you have learnt to cook at a young age? What would have happened, if you had done this?

Present

Give the recipe of your favourite dish and describe how to cook it. Use the vocabulary below:

  • to heat smth. in the microwave
  • to beat eggs
  • to peel
  • to cut up
  • to slice up
  • to mince
  • to chop
  • to grate
  • to stir
  • to mix
  • to whip
  • to mash
  • to drain
  • to pur
  • to simmer
  • to boil
  • to fry
  • to steam
  • to stuff
  • a saucepan
  • a frying pan
  • a chopping board
  • a baking tray
  • an oven

Are you used to going out or do you like home made food?

Are you able to go to your favourite restaurant regularly? How long have you been going there?

Future

Are there any dishes you would be happy to learn to cook well? For example:

  • baked figs
  • poached eggs
  • melted chocolate
  • steamed mussels
  • mashed potatoes
  • roast lamb
  • stuffed peppers
  • scrambled eggs
  • minced beef
  • pork ribs
  • shellfish

What are you going to do? Are you going … ?

  • to buy a cookbook
  • to watch some cooking shows
  • to go to a cooking school
  • to download some videos from the Internet
  • ask a friend or a relative to teach you

Do you think it’ll be easy? How long will it take you?

What will happen, if you become a good cook?

What chef would you meet, if you had a chance?

What should you do first? Will you have done this by the end of the month?

Will you be cooking regularly in 6 months time?