Does anybody know the difference between “speak” and “talk?” It’s the first day, and some damn punk is already stumping me.
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I occasionally write happenings and opinions here about my life in Mexico as a "United Statesian."
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Jan
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3 comments:
Someone once told me (don't remember who) that the english language was one of the most difficult to master because there are so many different words with the same meaning, some spelled differently and some spelled the same. Or the same word with various uses. And of course there's all the slang words. Do you need me to mail you a Webster's, or are you just depending on your lap top? Love you,Mom.
You're going to get these same questions over and over. I started out teaching cold like you with no background and trust me you learn FAST. If I didn't know something right off I'd say "very interesting question. I'll get back with you on it tomorrow" No one ever questioned that and it gave me time to look it up.
The verbs speak and talk are nearly the same. Speak is more formal. It might help to present it as a little worksheet lesson and show them the various common usuages: speak with so..., talk to..., talk about st, and the phrasal verbs: speak up, speak out etc. And then of course slang which is always fun: talk trash, talk big, etc.
Do yourself a favor and write down those types of questions people ask and then try to make a mini-lesson out of them when you have time. Keep it all stashed in your portable files. That way you have a little bit of leftover time to kill or a "crap I forgot to do a proper lesson and I only have five minutes!" you have some really good material to work with. I always scanned lesson books for this type of filler material. Good luck!
Yeah, I told him that "speak" is generally considered to be more formal than "talk." I told him that they are generally interchangeable, save for specific idiomatic expressions and verbals (some of which you have already mentioned). The problem is really that I couldn't come up with a hard-and-fast rule to satiate him with. I always want to be careful of over complication.
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