Appendix. Useful language for your students

Asking for and giving opinions

Do you think we should ...?

How do you feel about ...?

What do you think about ...?

I think ...

I think it would be a good idea to ...

As I see it, we should ...

On the other hand ...

Asking each other questions

What do you know about ...?

Where did you find out about ...?

Can you tell me something about ...?

How does this work?

Have you ever ...?

Do you know where ...?

What do you mean by ...?

Can you give me the name of a ...?

What does ... mean?

What is ... called?

Cause

Because of climate changes the deserts are expanding.

Due to climate changes the deserts are expanding.

Owing to climate changes the deserts are expanding.

Because the climate is changing the desert are expanding.

As the climate is changing the deserts are expanding.

Result/effect

The climate is changing, so the deserts are expanding.

The climate is changing, therefore the deserts are expanding.

The climate is changing, consequently the deserts are expanding.

The climate is changing, as a result the deserts are expanding.

Classifying

These are all types of data storage.

This is a variety of vertebrate animal.

You can divide these into three categories.

It’s made up of two different elements.

It can be divided into five sections.

Welding involves melting and fusing metal together.

The whole plant can be broken down into three main parts.

The different elements of Alkali metals are ...

The orchestra is split into/divided into different sections.

Deciduous woodland ecosystems consist of trees that shed their leaves in winter.

Comparing and contrasting

The colours used in this painting are stronger than those used by other artists of the period.

Plastic is more flexible than many other materials.

Some of the most useful information about this subject can be found on the website I’ve given you.

The largest rise in population was in the late 1940s.

It is as important to study the agriculture for this area as it is to study the industry.

Her foreign policy was not as successful as her domestic policy.

The results are identical.

Compared to/with other political leaders of the time, he was more democratic in his approach.

His style of writing is similar to Ernest Hemingway’s.

This generation's approach to the problem was different from that of previous generations.

The match we expected in the results didn’t happen.

People’s opinions about this vary.

Pixel-based software is not the same as vector-based software.

Conclusions

The end result is ...

It follows that ... would happen.

My conclusions are ...

This makes me think that ...

This means that ...

Defining and describing

It’s a sort of/kind of measuring device.

It’s something like a piano but it produces a totally different sound.

It’s something we use to measure temperature.

It’s something used for measuring temperature.

It looks like a barometer.

It’s similar to the invention we talked about earlier.

You’d find this when looking at paintings of the same period.

You would see this in a castle, for example.

It’s made of animal skins.

It’s made up of different kinds of animal skins.

It’s used for measuring temperature.

It’s a device for heating chemical substances.

It’s a system for describing climate change.

It’s an instrument for cleaning bottles.

Evaluating

The importance of this is ...

This is useful to ...

This is important because ...

Interpreting visuals

This picture/graph/diagram/chart shows us that ...

If you look at this chart you will understand why ...

The diagram illustrates this.

Predicting and hypothesizing

If we do this, then ... will happen.

To get the result we should ...

Unless we do ... we will not be able to ...

This could happen because ...

One result could be ...

If we do it this way, we should see ...

Sequencing

First of all, secondly, then, following this, next, the next step/stage is to, after that, finally

Spatial

... in the box at the top of the page ...

... in the top right-hand corner ...

... at the bottom of the picture ...

... at the end of the passage/text ...

... underneath this ...

... directly below ...

... in the centre of ...

... to the right of ...

... in the next column ...

... by the side of that ...

... parallel to ...

... outside/inside the box ...