2A Speaking and Vocabulary Personality idiomatic phrases

• I can use paraphrases to check and summarise information.

Are you a social butterfly?

Are you a social butterfly or do you keep yourself to yourself?

• 1. You are dressed differently to everyone else at an event. What do you do?
• a. Try to see the funny side.
• b. Enjoy being the centre of attention.
• c. Escape at the first opportunity!
• 2. If everyone is tired at a family event, what do you do?
• a. I’m a mover and shaker – I try to inject some life into the event!
• b. Nothing – I'm comfortable with silence.
• c. I’m a smart cookie, so I will enjoy myself.
• 3. There is a competition at school. Do you take part in it?
• a. I’m going to win! I’m a go-getter.
• b. I’m a dark horse. I want to surprise everybody and win.
• c. I’m a bit thin-skinned and not competitive, so I’ll pass.

Complete the personality quiz above. What do you think a social butterfly and keep yourself to yourself mean?

Seven idioms for describing people

• What do you think these idioms mean?

a cold fish

a dark horse

a go-getter

a mover and shaker

a smart alec

a smart cookie

a soft touch

A careers advisor: true or false?

• Listen to a careers advisor and decide if statements 1–6 are true (T) or false (F).

It is usual for someone to leave school without a clear idea of their future career.

Lubna believes you need to be self-aware in order to find the right career.

Psychometric tests are usually quick and easy to do.

Lubna thinks it is more important to get the right qualifications for a job than to have the right personality.

Lubna thinks the presenter should change the job she’s doing at the moment.

The presenter agrees with Lubna’s assessment of her personality.

Paraphrasing what you hear

• Checking understanding
• To put it another way …
• In other words …
• If I’m hearing you correctly …
• So you’re saying (that) …
• Let me get this straight …
• Summarising
• Essentially, …
• Simply put, …
• In a nutshell, …
• So, what it boils down to is that …

• Are the following statements in favour of (F) or against (A) using psychometric tests as part of a job interview?

1. If a candidate is nervous, they may not perform well in an interview.

2. The candidate may know what the interviewer wants to hear.

3. It can be expensive to administer and mark the tests.

4. It’s better to know as much about a candidate as possible.

5. People may do badly in psychometric tests.