Expressing surprise and amazement
- Objective
- express surprise and amazement;
- perform a dialogue of news item texts.
Activity 1
Look at the picture and answer these questions orally.
Read the following sentences. What will you say if you hear this news?
Read and practise these dialogues. Act them out with your friends. Pay attention to the italicised expressions.
Dialogue 1
Sandi and Dina are talking about the accident which happened to an airline pilot they read about in the headline of a newspaper.
Dina : Good heavens! Look at this. It says a pilot was nearly sucked out of the window of his plane. It was in mid air.
Sandi : Really? He didn't die, did he?
Dina : No, it says he was hanging out of the window while the plane was 23,000 feet in the air.
Sandi : I don't understand. The window didn't break, did it?
Dina : Yes, it did, actually.
Sandy : Oh, that's terrible.
Look at the picture and answer these questions orally.
- What does the picture tell you about?
- What is the cause of the damage in the buildings?
- What do you say when you hear surprising news?
- What do you say when you hear bad news?
- Imagine that you hear a surprising news. Ask five questions about it. What? Who? Where? When? How?
Read the following sentences. What will you say if you hear this news?
- Did you hear that Mr Setiadi got a serious cancer disease?
- I heard that Rian was in jail. He was arrested for traffic violence.
- Romi was knocked down by a car. He was in hospital for five weeks.
- Yesterday, on the TV news, I saw a bad thunder storm in East Java. Many people died and got serious injured.
Read and practise these dialogues. Act them out with your friends. Pay attention to the italicised expressions.
Dialogue 1
Sandi and Dina are talking about the accident which happened to an airline pilot they read about in the headline of a newspaper.
Dina : Good heavens! Look at this. It says a pilot was nearly sucked out of the window of his plane. It was in mid air.
Sandi : Really? He didn't die, did he?
Dina : No, it says he was hanging out of the window while the plane was 23,000 feet in the air.
Sandi : I don't understand. The window didn't break, did it?
Dina : Yes, it did, actually.
Sandy : Oh, that's terrible.
Dialogue 2
Wati chats with her best friend, Ria, at the school canteen.They talk about Ari who is the most favourite student in their school.
Wati : Do you know that Ari has a girlfriend?
Ria : Are you kidding? That's not true.
Wati : Listen, I got the news from his best friend, Frans.
Ria : That's too bad. Yesterday, he gave me a bar of chocolate.
Wati : It doesn't mean that he loves you. Oh, come on. He's not the only guy in the world. Take it easy.
Ria : Yeah, you're right. Besides, I don't have time to think about love right now.
Wati : You're right. Let's go to the class. The bell is ringing.
What to Say
Expressions of surprise and amazement
- I must say that ... surprises me.
- I find it astonishing/extraordinary.
- I find that very surprising.
- How very surprising/amazing.
- Well, that's very surprising.
- Really?
- My goodness!
- Are you serious?
- You're kidding!
- That's amazing/extraordinary.
1. I'm on strike now.
You aren't, are you?
2. Mr Anwar was very ill..
He wasn't, was he?
Quoted from : Developing English Competencies for Grade X. page; 134 - 136.
