9 Topical Expressions · • Describe nationality • Use activities and games to practise nationality words In this chapter, the focus is on a number of specific topics that often

154 Chapter 9 Topical Expressions

9 Topical Expressions

POWERL INES

When you have worked through this chapter, you will have the power to

• Talk about how much you like or dislike something

• Explain feelings of pain

• Understand cooking actions (like chopping and stirring) and equipment

• Describe food in detail

• Describe nationality

• Use activities and games to practise nationality words

In this chapter, the focus is on a number of specific topics that often arise in everyday communication. We’ll explore the variety of expressions available, and gain experience in using them correctly in a range of contexts.

9.1 LIKES AND DISLIKES

The table on the next page shows some expressions to say that you generally like or dislike something. The top row shows expressions meaning that you want something now.

Each of these expressions (shown bold below) can be followed by a noun, or a noun phrase including -ing verb. Here are some examples:

• I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea right now.

• I could really use a shower and a change of clothes.

• I find the bus service in this neighbourhood OK. Not bad, but not that good either.

• [In the clothes shop] I quite fancy that red jacket over there. What do you think of it?

• I’m mad keen on ice skating. I’d do anything for a trip to Finland in the winter, so I could go skating on the lakes.

Social English Power 155

• Smoking is a big turn-off for me. You don’t smoke, do you?

• I absolutely loathe ironing my clothes. It’s the most boring job in the world.

mild - - - - - - strong

Want it now

I wouldn’t mindI (could)

quite fancy

I’d like

I’d loveI could

really go for

I could really use

I could kill for

I’d do/give anything for

I’d give my right arm for

Generally like

I don’t mindI find (it) OKI’m not averse

to

I likeI’m quite keen onI’ve got a soft spot

for

I really likeI loveI’m really

keen onI’m a (big)

fan of

I’m crazy about

I’m mad keen on

I’m nuts about

Dislike

I’m not (very) fond of

I’m not that crazy about

I don’t really care for

I don’t like (it) muchI’m not (much of) a

fan ofI don’t (really) go a

bundle on(It) doesn’t do

anything for me

(It) is a (big/major) turn-off for me

I really don’t like/enjoy

I despiseI loatheI can’t bear

PRACTICE 9.1

How much do you like or dislike the following? Give your answer in a sentence using one of the expressions above.

Cooking Small children Sports cars Cleaning the kitchen

Gardens Studying English Playing cards Waiting for a bus

Karaoke Swimming Playing tennis Watching movies in the cinema

Spiders Air travel Traffic jams


PRACTICE 9.2

Here are some questions your friend or colleague may ask you. How could you respond? Use either the “want it now” or “dislike” expressions from the table above.

1. Wow, what a great hike. Shall we stop off* in this café for a cold drink and a sit-down before we go home? (* Stop off: stop (in this place) for a break)

2. Man, it’s been a terrible day in the office. I fancy going to a movie to unwind.* How about it?

3. Sun, sea, sand... what a lovely afternoon out. Anyone fancy an ice cream?

4. Anyone like to help me wash the dishes after dinner?

5. Great, that’s the dishes out of the way.* How about a game of cards?

6. Breakfast time. Anyone care for* an omelette?

7. I’ve got to go to London for a big presentation next week. Do you fancy tagging along?*

* Unwind: relax after a stressful dayOut of the way: finished (task)Care for: would like to haveTag along: accompany somebody on a trip or outing, just for fun or to get some experience

PRACTICE 9.3

Work in a group of 3-5 students. Each person needs 4 small pieces of paper. On their first piece of paper, each person writes some leisure activity they really love doing (e.g. karaoke, going to a museum). On the second piece, they write something they quite like. On the third piece, they write something they somewhat dislike. On the fourth piece, they write something they really hate doing.

Put all the pieces of paper, face upwards, on a table. The group needs to discuss what to do for a social activity together, based on everyone’s likes and dislikes. Here’s an example of how your conversation might start.

TIM♂ Well now, let’s have a look at all these ideas we’ve got for a group social. Where do we start?


JENNI♀ Maybe we could eliminate the ones that aren’t really suitable for a group—like this one, see here, it says “Reading books.” I don’t really go a bundle on that.

AGNES♀ Hey, this one looks kind of interesting. Someone’s written “Climbing the climbing wall [see picture] at West Point Leisure Centre.” I could really go for that. How about the rest of you?

JASPER♂ No way, I’m petrified* of heights.* I absolutely loathe any activity where my feet aren’t touching the ground.

* Petrified: very scaredScared of heights: afraid to go to any place where you can look downwards a long

distance

Now develop the conversation in your own way, and try to agree on a social activity that’s agreeable (pleasant) to everyone.

9.2 PAIN

An amazing range of English terms is available to describe feelings of pain when something is wrong with your body. Everyone will understand if you just say “it hurts” or “it’s painful”, but it’s also good to know the different expressions that native speakers use. Also, it will help if you can clearly describe the pain to the doctor.

First, here’s a summary of all the terms we will study.

mild - - - - - - strong

Nouns (countable)

Twinge Ache

Nouns (uncountable)

Numbness Tenderness StiffnessSoreness Agony

Adjectives Dull ThrobbingStabbing, shooting, burning

Searing, excruciating

Countable nouns

The nouns twinge and ache are used like this:


• I’ve got a ____ in my (body part).

• I feel a ____ in my (body part).

Twinge means a slight pain you feel when you move in a certain way. For example: I feel a twinge in my knee when going downstairs.

Ache means a slight pain all the time. For example: After moving all that furniture yesterday, I’ve got an ache in my shoulder. We can use the following words and phrases: headache, earache, toothache, stomach ache, backache, neck ache. Ache can also be a verb: My shoulder is aching. The term heartache means disappointment, not an actual pain in the heart.

Uncountable nouns

Numbness is when you have no feeling in some body part.

Tenderness is when a body part hurts if you touch it.

Stiffness is when a muscle or joint is painful if you move it.

Soreness is when a body part is slightly painful all the time.

These are often used as adjectives without -ness:

• I slept in a strange position last night. When I woke up, my whole right arm was numb.

• Don’t touch my head! It’s still tender after I hit it on the door yesterday.

• We spent hours picking fruit from the trees yesterday. Now I’m really stiff from all the stretching and bending.

• All the smoke from other people’s cigarettes has given me a sore throat.

Agony is a special word to describe a very strong pain. There is also an adjective form agonising.

• My sister fell downstairs this morning and hurt her ankle. She’s in agony now.

• I fell into a pothole* in the street and twisted my knee. The pain was agonising.

* Pothole: hole in the surface of the road due to damage.

A difficult decision can also be described as painful or agonising:


• I just got offered the chance to go and work in South Africa for two years. It’s a fantastic opportunity, but I don’t want to leave my father when he’s so sick. It’s an agonising decision. I’m still agonising* over it.

* Agonising (verb): Considering carefully how to decide.

PRACTICE 9.4

Which of the seven nouns above are most suitable for describing each of these feelings? �

1. You have a pain in your tooth. It’s time for a trip to the dentist’s.

2. The dentist gives you an injection and now you can’t feel anything in your mouth.

3. You shut the door on your hand.

4. You sat on a hard seat in the train for 3 hours.

5. You got sunburnt while hiking.

6. You stood on a chair to change a light bulb, the chair broke and you fell to the ground.

7. After your gym session yesterday, your shoulder hurts when you raise your arm.

8. Your best friend doesn’t love you any more.

Adjectives

These words are used to describe the pain itself (not usually the body part). Here are some examples:

• There’s a dull kind of pain in my chest. I hope it’s nothing serious. (Dull: mild, but annoying)

• I twisted my ankle on the stairs this morning. Now I’ve got this throbbing pain up and down my leg. (Throbbing: increasing and decreasing all the time.)

• John’s got a stabbing pain in his left arm. We’d better get him to hospital quickly. (Stabbing: like being stabbed with a knife.)

• After I injured my back, I started getting these shooting pains in my legs. (Shooting: electric feelings going up and down.)


• When the hot water hit me, I felt this searing pain all down my arm. (Searing: very strong burning pain.)

• Cancer patients sometimes suffer excruciating pain. (Excruciating: extremely strong pain.)

Throbbing is a special case: it can refer to the body part.

• I shouldn’t have drunk so much last night. Now my head is throbbing. Or Now I’ve got a throbbing headache.

PRACTICE 9.5

These sentences use pain adjectives. Is the usage correct? If not, can you suggest a correction? �

1. My wrist gets shooting pains every time I use the computer.

2. I stepped on some broken glass in my bare feet. My foot is stabbing.

3. After I moved so many boxes upstairs yesterday, my back is excruciating.

4. I hit my thumb with the hammer. Now my thumb is throbbing. Look, it’s all red and swollen.*

5. My throat feels dull. Maybe I’m getting a cold.

6. I got my legs waxed* this morning. The pain was excruciating.

7. As soon as I tried to lift up the fridge, my shoulder started searing.

* Swollen: bigger than usualWaxed: covered with strips of wax and paper, which are pulled off to remove all the hair.

PRACTICE 9.6 �

Using the expressions we have just studied, how can you describe the feelings in the situations below?

1. “Yesterday’s 15km hike was really challenging for me.” (Pain in legs)

2. “Ouch! I hit my toe on the table leg!”

3. “I injured my ankle playing football two days ago.”

4. “I spent too much time sunbathing. Don’t touch me!”

5. “Ow! That bowl is really hot!”


6. “So much loud music: now my head is hurting.”

7. “I got hit by a car and broke my leg.”

8. “My head hurts after 11 hours of stress in a noisy office.”

9.3 COOKING

Cooking is a great way to socialise, and local people will be keen to try your own country’s food if you make it for them. It’s quite likely they will ask you how to prepare it themselves. So it’s good to be familiar with cooking and food-related terms that you will need.

Cooking action verbs

Here’s a practice exercise to get you familiar with the words used for common actions in the kitchen.

PRACTICE 9.7

In each line below, you will see an ACTION VERB in a phrase. Explain the meaning of the action to your partner. Then use the action verb to describe a cooking action in your own country’s cuisine* ( = cooking style). The first one is done as an example. �

1. CHOP UP the onions into strips. → “Chop up” means cut into many pieces with a knife. In our cuisine, we chop up tomatoes into small chunks.*

2. COMBINE the sugar and butter together.

3. PEEL the carrots before cooking, to make them look better.

4. DRAIN the water from the pasta after cooking.

5. RINSE spaghetti in cold water after cooking, so it doesn’t stick.

6. MARINADE the chicken wings in soy sauce.

7. You can FREEZE most cooked foods, to save them for another day.

8. If you buy frozen meat, DEFROST it completely before cooking.

9. SLICE a lemon and put some slices in the hot tea.


10.SOAK dried beans overnight in water before cooking.

11.Keep STIRRING the soup to make sure it doesn’t burn.

12.If the sauce is too thin, THICKEN it by adding some cornflour* in water and heating it up.

13.To make an omelette, BEAT the eggs until they are smooth.

14.Let’s MELT some chocolate for the top of the cake.

15.Now carefully SPREAD the chocolate smoothly over the cake.

16.COAT the chicken pieces with flour and egg before frying.

17.Just MICROWAVE the potato on full power for five minutes.

18.STEAM the fish with ginger and soy sauce, and it’ll be lovely and tender.*

19.CRUSH the garlic to let the flavour out.

20.SPRINKLE some herbs over the pizza before putting it in the oven.

* Chunks: pieces, not all the same shape and sizeCornflour: Flour made with corn (maize); known as cornstarch in the USTender: soft, moist (not dry), easy to bite.

PRACTICE 9.8: Using the microwave (1)

How well do you know your microwave? Here are some questions to discuss with your partner. Search online to find the answers if you’re not sure.

1. Which foods are most suitable for microwave cooking?

2. How can you avoid the inside of the microwave getting dirty?

3. Which foods should be cooked on high power, and which on low power?

4. How long does it take to reheat a cup of coffee from cold?

5. Is there anything you should never put in the microwave?

6. Are there any health risks associated with using a microwave?

PRACTICE 9.9: Using the microwave (2)

Here are some slang verbs meaning “heat up in the microwave”: zap, buzz, nuke, give (it) a blast/buzz. Practise using them in these sentences (the first one is done as an example): �

See Chapter 4’scoverage of ‘-en’ verbs


1. This butter’s too hard to spread. → Fine, so just zap it in the microwave for 15 seconds.

2. Ugh, this coffee’s cold.

3. I need some warm water for my bread dough.*

4. I love warm croissants* for breakfast.

5. Oops! I forgot to get the curry out of the freezer, and the dinner guests are arriving in 15 minutes.

* Dough: soft mixture of flour, water, salt, oil and yeast—the first step to making bread Croissant: a simple, small, C-shaped French-style bread roll.

Food adjectives

You probably already know the five basic adjectives for taste: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and meaty. Actually, the ‘mouth feel’ of food is just as important as the taste for our eating pleasure. In this section, we’ll discover a range of adjectives to help us describe the ‘feel’ of food as well as its flavour. We’ll cover solid foods first, then liquids.

Adjectives for solid foods

Adjective Example food Meaning

Lush*, luscious, delectable, magnificent

Any dish with rich flavour, especially dishes with sauce, desserts

Rich, full of fine flavour, delicious

Tender / tough, chewy Meat, vegetablesSoft and easy to chew / does not break up easily, needs to be chewed a lot

Crisp, crispy*, crunchy

Crust (=skin) of bread, cookies, thin slices of potato, fresh vegetables like carrots

Breaks up and makes a crackling noise when you eat it. Crisp is used mostly for uncooked food, crispy for cooked food.

Stale Bread, cakesDry, old, not pleasant to eat

Moist Bread, cakesBetween stale and soggy, fresh and pleasant to eat

Soggy (negative term) Bread, cakesAbsorbed too much water, not pleasant to eat

Food scientists use the wordumami to describe meaty flavours.

What can you find out about this word?



Mouldy, gone off, gone bad

Any kind of food except oils

Much too old; has white, green or black growth from micro-organisms

GooeyThe inside of bread or cakes that were not cooked enough

Still soft and sticky, should be firm and moist

Bland, unappetising (negative term)

Any plain dish, e.g. congee (gruel, porridge) with nothing added

Not enough taste, a bit boring to eat. Especially: not enough salt

Appetising Any foodTasty, attractive, looks or smells nice to eat

Greasy (negative term) Fried food Looks or tastes too oily

* These words are quite informal. Use them with your friends but not with your professor or boss.

PRACTICE 9.10 �

In each of the following statements, choose the best answer from the choices given.

1. Plain rice by itself is rather [bland / luscious / moist]. It’s better to eat it with some other dish.

2. I didn’t bake the cake for long enough. It’s still [tender / moist / gooey] inside.

3. When you open a new pack of potato chips (crisps), they’re lovely and [appetising / crisp / tough]. But after a while they get [greasy / gooey / soggy] and then they’re not so appetising.

4. After a few days, bread gets [crispy / gooey / stale] and then it’s not pleasant to eat, although it still makes good toast.

Adjectives for liquid foods


Thin, runny / thick, gloopy*

Soup, sauceFlows easily / Doesn’t flow easily

CreamySoup, salad dressing, desserts

Rich flavour and smooth feel like cream



Sparkling / still / flat Drinks

Contains bubbles / no bubbles / originally sparkling, but now all the bubbles have gone

Bubbling, bubbly Soup, sauceBubbles are coming out because the food is very hot

Bland, unappetising (negative term)

Any plain dish, e.g. congee (gruel, porridge) with nothing added

Not enough taste, a bit boring to eat. Especially: not enough salt

Appetising Any foodTasty, attractive, looks or smells nice to eat

Lumpy (negative term) Soup, sauce Contains solid pieces

sparkling still mouldy

PRACTICE 9.11 �

In each of the following statements, choose the best answer from the choices given.

1. After you open a new bottle of any [bubbly / lumpy / sparkling] drink, like cola or beer, it will go [flat / runny / still] within a couple of days.

2. [Creamy / Gloopy / Lumpy] sauces like tomato ketchup can be hard to get out of the bottle.

3. If you pour hot water into instant soup powder too quickly, it’ll go [creamy / lumpy / runny], no matter how much you stir it.

4. Hot chocolate drink can be pretty [flat / thin / unappetising] if you don’t put enough chocolate powder in.

PRACTICE 9.12

Do you like the following food experiences? If not, what would you prefer? Use the like/dislike terms we studied in section 9.1. The first question is answered as an example.


1. Lumpy sauce → No, I don’t go a bundle on lumpy sauces. I prefer my sauces smooth and creamy.

2. A crisp fresh salad

3. Sour cream

4. Mouldy cheese

5. Luscious apple pie

6. Sparkling mineral water

7. Flat soft drinks

8. Stale bread

9. Creamy mayonnaise (a soft white sauce for salads and French fried potatoes)

10.A tender steak

11.Runny egg yolk (the yellow part of the egg, when it’s not cooked until hard)

12.Bland soybean milk

Adjectives describing the temperature of food

• Piping hot: really hot, as if just finished cooking, too hot to eat

• Lukewarm: about 40oC, body temperature

• Stone cold: originally warm but now at room temperature

• Chilled: about 5oC, fridge temperature

PRACTICE 9.13

What temperature do you like the following foods and drinks? Say a sentence or two, like the example given.

1. Coffee → I like my coffee piping hot. I don’t go a bundle on lukewarm coffee. But iced coffee is refreshing on a hot summer’s day.

2. Fresh orange juice

3. Curry


4. Fresh bread

5. Noodles

6. Ice cream cake

7. Soybean milk

PRACTICE 9.14

Pick four positive food adjectives (including temperature adjectives) that we have studied in this section. Name a suitable food, and then tell your partner how to make sure the food is as the adjective says. Here’s an example:

Positive adjective

Example food Method

Crisp

How do you keep lettuce nice and crisp? Use it while it’s fresh, within 1-2 days, and keep it in the fridge.

Now do the same with negative adjectives. How do you avoid the food getting as the adjective describes? Here’s an example:

Negative adjective Example food Method

Greasy

How do you avoid chicken pieces getting greasy? Grill them instead of frying. Or fry them quickly in hot oil and then let the oil drain away when you take them out.

UTENSILS

Utensils are tools used for cooking, like knives, pans, and chopping boards. It helps to know the name of some common utensils, especially if you want to buy them in a cookshop. Here are some pictures of common kitchen utensils used in Western-style cooking. More examples are in the Practice exercise below.


saucepan saucepan lid sieve

blender

tongs spatula

foil clingfilm

baking tray food mixer colander

PRACTICE 9.15

Which of the items above is used for the following tasks: �

Boiling or steaming vegetables

Baking potatoes or other small items in the oven

Stirring food while fryingLifting cooked food out of hot

water or oil

Draining water from vegetables or noodles after

boiling

Removing lumps from flour or sugar when making cakes

Making vegetable purée (making them into a smooth

sauce or soup)

Covering a pan for slow cooking


PRACTICE 9.16

Imagine you go into a cookshop to buy the items in column A below. You want it to do the task shown in column B. But the shop assistant doesn’t understand what you want, and shows you the item in column C. How can you explain what you need? The first case is done as an example.

AWhat you need

BWhat you need it for

CWhat the shop

assistant shows you

Fried eggs and omelettes

Suggested answer

YOU I’d like to buy a frying pan, please.

ASSISTANT Certainly, sir/madam. What do you need it for?

YOU Frying eggs and making omelettes.

ASSISTANT How about this? (shows you the wok in column C)

YOU That’s not exactly what I had in mind*. Do you have something smaller, with a flat base and a heatproof* handle?

* Have in mind: imagine, expectHeatproof: not damaged by heat; does not get hot during cooking

Now make a conversation about these cases with your partner.

You can add -proof to many nouns to make an adjective meaning “not affected by”. Examples: rainproof, windproof,

shatterproof, insectproof, childproof. Can you find more examples?


AWhat you need


CWhat the shop

assistant shows you

Serving soup from a big pot

Drinking wine

Protecting the table from getting burned by hot

pans

Washing dishes

Keeping cakes fresh and protecting them from

insects

Toasting bread, crumpets and teacakes

Opening cans


AWhat you need


CWhat the shop

assistant shows you

Eating Asian food

Beating egg whites to make them soft and fluffy, for meringues and other

desserts

Making pies

Getting juice from oranges and lemons

9.4 NATIONALITY

If you travel, or if you meet lots of people from a variety of countries, you will need to know the words used to define nationality. The word (adjective or noun) describing someone’s nationality is called a demonym; for example, the demonym for Canada is Canadian.

The adjective is usually formed from the country’s name by adding -ish, -ese or -(i)an. Examples:


• I love Brazilian music.

• British weather is often foggy.

• Japanese brands of car are popular.

The noun is sometimes the same (especially for -(i)an endings), but -ish and -ese endings often change to another form. Examples:

• Miguel♂ is Spanish (from Spain). He is a Spaniard.

• You shouldn’t call Yuen Hei♀ a Chinese. She ought to be called a Chinese person.

• Pradip♂ is a typical Indian. He loves spicy curries and Indian music.

Naturally, as you would expect in English, many cases are irregular. Here are some useful examples. Notice that the stress or pronunciation of the name and demonym is sometimes different.

Name Adjective Noun (person)

Afghanistan Afghan Afghan

Canada Canadian /eɪ/ Canadian

Denmark Danish /eɪ/ Dane

Egypt Egyptian Egyptian

Holland Dutch Dutchman/woman

Hong Kong Hong Kong Hongkonger

Iraq Iraqi Iraqi

Israel Israeli /eɪ/ Israeli

Macau Macanese Macanese+

New Zealand New Zealand Kiwi

Norway Norwegian /iː/ Norwegian

Peru Peruvian Peruvian

Poland Polish Pole

Switzerland Swiss Swiss+

Thailand Thai Thai

To make the plural noun, we usually simply add -s. The cases marked + above are exceptions: we keep the demonym the same (no -s). To talk about all the people of any country, we add “the”. For example:


A What nationality are all those guys at the next table in the restaurant? I don’t recognise their language.

B Oh, those are Egyptians.

A Are you sure? They look more like Dutchmen to me. [man → men]

B By the way, I like your new watch. Where does it come from?

A Switzerland. Everyone knows the Swiss make the best watches.

PRACTICE 9.17

This is a fun and easy chanting game for a group of 6 people or more, sitting in a circle. The teacher picks one nationality for each student from the list above, who says it aloud. To start the chant, one person says his/her own chosen nationality, then say that he/she loves the nationality of one other person in the circle. For example, he/she may say “I’m from Israel and I love Kiwis.” Then the ‘Kiwi’ in the circle takes the next turn: “I’m from New Zealand and I love Iraqis.” The ‘Iraqi’ will then continue the chant. The game continues until everyone has had at least two turns.

PRACTICE 9.18

With your partner, turn to the international news section of your country’s English newspaper or a good quality English news website (suggestions: Al Jazeera (Qatar), Deutsche Welle (Germany), NHK World (Japan)). In one sentence, tell your partner something that has happened in a foreign country. He/she responds by mentioning a similar event in another country. Here are some examples:

A The Japanese government just lost the election.

B Right, there was an election in Greece recently. I think the Greek government also lost that one.

B Oh look, the Chinese Grand Prix is happening today. I wonder if it’s on TV?


A I expect so. The Malaysian Grand Prix was shown on TV last month.

PRACTICE 9.19

This is an enjoyable game for any even number of students. Divide the students into two groups: one group takes the role of traders, who wish to import goods into various countries. The other group are advisers, who know what kind of goods are allowed into each country. The traders receive a list of 12 types of goods, from which they choose 3 to import. The advisers have secret information on what is allowed into each of 12 countries. All of this information is provided below.

The advisers spread out around the room. Traders visit the advisers and ask two questions about what they can import. Here is an example conversation:

TRADER Good morning. I would like to import oranges into India. Will the Indian government accept imports of oranges?

ADVISER (Consults secret information on a card) No, I’m sorry to say that the Indian government doesn’t allow oranges to be imported.

TRADER Oh, that’s a shame. In that case, how about importing toothbrushes into Sweden?

ADVISER (Consults the card again) That should be fine; the Swedish government accepts imports of toothbrushes.

TRADER Thank you very much for your help.

ADVISER You’re welcome. Good luck with your trading!

Then, the trader moves to another adviser and continues asking questions until he/she finds a suitable market for all three of the chosen types of goods. When all the traders have succeeded, the roles are reversed: the new advisers receive a new set of secret information, and the new traders choose three types of goods to import.


The secret information for advisers is on the next page. If you’re a student, don’t look at the next page to avoid spoiling the game for yourself.

Note. Of course, the information about import restrictions is fictional and does not represent the actual policy of any government.

Note for teachers. The advisers’ information for Round 1 is simpler than for Round 2. You can select the information used according to the abilities of your students, and of course substitute more commonly discussed countries. You can play multiple rounds just by mixing up the information within each information card. Some of the information given is deliberately ambiguous to stimulate discussions.


Traders’ information

Goods to import

CDs Fish Footballs

Cars Fridges Light bulbs

Dogs Grapefruit Spectacles

Pianos Crocodiles Toothbrushes

Countries to import into

Croatia(Croatian)

Lebanon(Lebanese)

Haïti (Haïtian)

Saudi Arabia (Saudi)

Italy(Italian)

Belgium(Belgian)

The Philippines(Philippine)*

Kazakhstan(Kazakh)

Turkey(Turkish)

Argentina(Argentinian)

Ethiopia(Ethiopian)

Nepal(Nepali)

* A special case: anything relating to the country of The Philippines (e.g. the government, weather, economy) is Philippine, but anything relating to the people (including food, music etc) is Filipino (if male) or Filipina (if female).


Import advisers’ information: Round 1

Keep this information secret from the traders!

CountryThe government will only allow something to be imported if it

matches this description

Argentina (Argentinian) Can move under its own power

Belgium (Belgian) Has legs

Croatia (Croatian) Has parts made of glass

Ethiopia (Ethiopian) Can make a loud noise

Haïti (Haïtian) Lighter than a mobile phone

Italy (Italian) Smaller than a basketball

Kazakhstan (Kazakh) Can be eaten

Lebanon (Lebanese) Contains metal

Nepal (Nepali) Round

Philippines (Philippine) Longer than your arm


Costs less than a haircut

Turkey (Turkish) Contains the letter A


Import advisers’ information: Round 2

Keep this information secret from the traders!

CountryThe government will only allow something to be imported if it

matches this description

Argentina (Argentinian) Lasts for more than 10 years

Belgium (Belgian) Needs special skills to use correctly

Croatia (Croatian) Good for your health

Ethiopia (Ethiopian) Suitable for use in water

Haïti (Haïtian) Contains the letter C

Italy (Italian) Has a tail

Kazakhstan (Kazakh) Many people need to use it every day

Lebanon (Lebanese) Not commonly seen 100 years ago

Nepal (Nepali) Smaller than your head

Philippines (Philippine)Will not break if you throw it across

the room


Has parts that open and close

Turkey (Turkish) Can be dangerous

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9 Topical Expressions · • Describe nationality • Use activities and games to practise nationality words In this chapter, the focus is on a number of specific topics that often