Turn-Taking in Conversation, Tense and Aspect, Persuasive Advertisements and Questioning a Text

1. Describing Experiences Orally

When you describe an experience, tell listeners what happened, where and when it happened, who was involved and how you felt. Use time words to keep events in order, and include one or two interesting details. For example: "Last December, my family travelled to Kumasi for my cousin's wedding. The church was full of people in matching kente, and the drumming at the reception went on until midnight. I felt proud when I was asked to read a Bible passage."

2. Rules for Turn-Taking

3. Phrases for Taking and Giving Turns

4. A Sample Conversation

Kofi: "During the holidays I learned to ride a bicycle. I fell many times, but my brother kept encouraging me." Ama: "That's great! I remember when I learned. Did you hurt yourself?" Kofi: "Only my knee. What about you, Yaw? What did you do?" Yaw: "I helped my uncle on his cocoa farm. It was hard work, but I learned how cocoa beans are fermented."

Notice that each speaker responds to what was said before, asks a question and then hands the turn to someone else.

5. Body Language and Listening

Your body shows whether you are really listening. Face the speaker, keep your hands still, and react with your face when something is funny or surprising. Looking at your phone or whispering to a neighbour while someone else is speaking tells the speaker that you do not value what they say.

1. Tense and Aspect

Tense: The form of a verb that shows the time of an action: past, present or future.

Aspect: The form of a verb that shows whether an action is simple, in progress (continuous) or completed (perfect).

2. The Main Tense and Aspect Forms

3. Uses of Each Aspect

4. Tense in Different Contexts

Different kinds of texts prefer different tenses. Narratives and history usually use the simple past: "Kwame Nkrumah declared independence in 1957." News reports often use the present perfect for recent events: "The President has commissioned a new hospital." Radio commentaries use the present continuous: "Kudus is running down the wing... he is shooting!" Instructions and facts use the simple present: "Mix the flour with water."

5. Keeping Tense Consistent

Do not change tense without a reason. Wrong: "Yesterday I go to the market and bought fish." Correct: "Yesterday I went to the market and bought fish." Choose the main tense for your writing and keep to it, changing only when the time of the action really changes.

1. What Is an Advertisement?

Advertisement: A notice or announcement in print, broadcast or online that persuades people to buy a product, use a service or support an idea.

2. Features of Advertisements

3. Persuasive Techniques

4. Model Advertisement

HEADLINE: Thirsty? Get Refreshed with SUNRISE Sobolo!

Made from fresh hibiscus flowers, ginger and pineapple, SUNRISE Sobolo is naturally sweet, full of vitamins and free from artificial colours. Perfect for parties, school break time and hot afternoons. Thousands of families in Tema already enjoy it every day!

Special offer: buy two bottles and get one free this month only.

Slogan: SUNRISE Sobolo, the taste of home!

Available at all Melcom stores and SUNRISE kiosks. Call 024 000 0000. Order yours today!

5. Being a Wise Consumer

Not everything in an advert is true. Some adverts exaggerate or hide important information, such as side effects or hidden costs. Ask: Is this claim proven? What is not being said? Do I really need this product? Honest advertisers give accurate information and do not mislead customers.

6. Advertising through Different Media

Advertisers choose the medium that best reaches their audience. Billboards and posters catch the attention of drivers and passers-by. Newspaper and magazine adverts give more detail. Radio adverts reach people in markets, taxis and rural homes, often in local languages. Television combines pictures and sound. Social media and mobile phone adverts can target young people directly. A small business in a village may simply use a painted signboard or a vendor calling out "Buy your fresh bread here!"

1. Types of Questions

2. Reading Passage: Kweku's Choice

Kweku found the wallet on the dusty road behind the lorry station. It was brown and worn, and inside were three hundred cedis and an identity card belonging to a woman called Mercy Asante. Kweku's heart raced. Three hundred cedis would pay for the new football boots he had wanted for months.

He walked home slowly, the wallet heavy in his pocket. At supper, his mother complained that the price of maize had gone up again. Kweku said nothing. That night he could not sleep. He kept thinking of the woman in the photograph, her tired smile and her neat school uniform badge. She was a teacher.

The next morning, Kweku went to the police station with the wallet. Two days later, a woman knocked on their door. "You are an honest boy," Mercy Asante said, holding his hands. "That money was for my son's hospital bill." She gave him a small parcel. Inside was a pair of football boots.

3. Questions on the Passage

4. Answering Questions Well

Read the question carefully and decide its type. For literal questions, find the exact place in the text. For inferential questions, combine clues from the text with your own knowledge and explain your reasoning. For evaluative questions, give your opinion and support it with evidence from the text. Answer in complete sentences unless told otherwise.