SPAN 1002

Topics for the Oral Exam

Choose two of the following topics.  The day of the Oral Exam you and your partner will present one of these conversations.  The topic will be chosen at random.  You will talk for about 8 minutes.  Please bring the scripts of your conversations to prove that you are prepared with both of them.

1. Casa nueva y pequeña vs. Casa vieja y grade

Two persons are buying a house but have different preferences.  They talk about the pros and cons in order to convince each other of the best option.  Eventually both reach an agreement and compromise to a resolution.

You can talk about the price, the location, the number of rooms, their names, their sizes, the furniture that could be good for each room, the activities that can be done/want/wish/need/prefer to do in each room, the space available, the backyard, and the garden, the garage, the swimming pool, etc.  You remember about how things used to be in your old house including the household chores.

2. High School Buddies

After many years you run into a high school buddy.  Both of you agree to go to a coffee shop or a bar to catch up with your lives.  You talk about how things used to be and the things you used to do together and with other people.  Eventually, you talk about what you studied, where you moved and all the things you have accomplished in the past years.  You want to talk about how you met your spouse/partner/boy-girlfriend.  You tell him/her about your last birthday celebration or any other past event that you liked.

3. Friend withdrawing from college

You have a friend that is contemplating the option of withdrawing from college because he/she is planning to marry his/her sweetheart of the same age.  He/she is only 19 years old and is clueless about life.  Your task is to give him/her advice in order to convince him/her not to do it.  He/she still insist that this is their best choice because there are so in love and happy.  Hopefully you persuade him/her.  It will be difficult.

4. Friend with an unhealthy lifestyle

One of your friends is having a very unhealthy lifestyle: he/she does not eat well, doesn’t sleep enough, doesn’t exercise, is very stressed, smokes and drinks alcohol a lot and, it is possible that he/she is abusing illegal drugs.  You give him/her advice because you are concern about his/her well being.  He/she does not want t accept your ideas because he/she thinks that he/she is enjoying life the way we were meant to.

5. Looking for a Roommate

You have just received a phone call to your recent ad on the newspaper about the wanted roommate for your apartment.  You are a very quiet and responsible person looking for the same profile in the possible candidate.  Both of you agree to have an interview at your place so you can meet each other in person and he/she can also take a look at your place.  You ask each other questions about your lifestyle, likes & dislikes, daily routine including the weekends, eating habits, favorite music, pets, friends/boy-girlfriend and, personality.  You want to make sure that he/she will be responsible for paying on time his/her bills.  Basically you (each other) want to find out if you are compatible to live in and share the same space.