Narrator: Now listen to a conversation between two sports team coaches.
Female coach: Have you seen the weather forecast?
Male coach: Yes, it’s calling for a lot of snow in the mountains next week.
Female coach: Does that matter? The weather is supposed to be beautiful here, sunny and warm.
Male coach: The problem is that the cycling team is supposed to go to a training camp in the mountains. We’re planning to train the whole week of spring break. We were hoping that the weather report would get better, but the closer it gets, the more it looks like it’s going to snow. I just hope we don’t go all the way there and have to stay indoors instead of riding our bikes.
Female coach: I see. Is it going to be snowy all week or is it going to get better?
Male coach: Oh, listen to this weather report—it’s going to be a lot warmer after Tuesday. Maybe we could do some weight training for the first couple of days, and then hopefully the snow will melt.
Female coach: Good, problem solved!
Male coach: If the snow doesn’t actually melt, though… our training will be interrupted.
Female coach: Why not hold the training camp closer to home? Or did you already book a hotel?
Male coach: Yeah, that’s the problem. We already paid for the hotel rooms and the bus. If we cancel the trip now, they definitely wouldn’t refund all of our money. We’d probably only get half of the money back.
Female coach: But if you stay, you’d be sure to have good weather.
Narrator: Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are discussing. Then state which of the two solutions from the conversation you would recommend. Explain the reasons for your recommendation.
The coach must decide whether, uh, his cycling team should travel to the mountains, um, for a, you know, a… a training week, um, as they planned, even though the weather forecast is for snow… At least for part of the week… Or they could stay home where, uh, the weather forecast is, uh, warm and sunny. Um, they have paid already, uh, for the bus and the hotel for the mountain trip, so, you know, if they do not travel, unfortunately, they will lose half of their, uh, their money. Um, the weather forecast says that it is supposed to, uh, stop snowing, so I think that it is better to keep the reservation and travel to the mountains. Um, they could do some weight training the first few days and, uh, and hopefully be able to start cycling towards the end of the week. But even if they don’t… that… they could do other team building activities.
The student clearly chooses his preferred solution and offers his reasons for that solution. He could improve his response by training himself to reduce the number of times that he says “um” and “uh.” It is okay to use these interjections a few times. But it is better not to use them very often.