English with Jo

Change

This is the preparation material for an English conversation lesson about change.  You can listen to an audio discussion about a big change in someone's life, learn some common idioms, expressions and collocations about change and discover how to answer the most common questions about the subject of change.

Audio Discussion

Download Big Change Audio

Transcript of The Big Change

* Audio courtesy of elllo.org

Idioms

• A change of heart - one's feelings about doing something have changed.
• A change of pace - an addition of some variety in one's life, routine, or abode
• A change of mind - to have a different opinion or intention than you had before
• Change with the times - to accept and use new ways
• To chop and change - to keep changing what you do or what you plan to do, often in a way that is confusing and annoying for other people
• For a change - as something different
• A change for the better/worse – a positive or negative change

Collocations

• Dramatic changes – very sudden or noticeable changes
• Fundamental changes – basic changes, and more important than anything else.
• Radical changes – great or extreme changes
• Sweeping changes – change affecting many people/things

Conversation Questions

• What are some of the biggest changes that a person goes through?
• Have you made any recent changes in your life?
• Do you think change is important?
• Do you ever get the urge to refurnish your whole house?
• Do you like to change things in your house from time to time?
• Do you think change is important in people's life?
• Do you think that it is easy to mend our old ways?
• Do you think it is easy to change with the times?
• If you could change anything in your life, what would it be?
• What is the most difficult change you have ever had to make?
• What is one thing that you think you will never change about yourself?
• What is one thing you have tried to change, but couldn't?
• Have you ever converted (changed) over to a different religion?
• Have you ever had to change the way you speak, or the way you act?
• Have you ever decided to change the way you eat?