Listening, speaking and vocabulary: Fears and phobias

Vinsight Base and strong adjectives

1Complete the blog post about phobias with the adjectives in the box. There are three adjectives that you do not need. 

MOVE
• terrible
• freezing
• huge
• ridiculous
• hilarious
• tiny
• boiling
• furious

Phobias

Everybody is afraid of something, and there is a name for almost every phobia. Here is a list of some unusual ones.

 

 

Frigophobia

This is the fear of being cold. When it's –20°C and 

¹ 

 

outside, these people are terrified!

 

 

Gelotophobia

This is the fear of being laughed at. When these people say something that's 

² 

 

and their friends laugh, they feel embarrassed because they think everyone is laughing at them, not at the joke.

 

 

Thermophobia

Some people love the weather when it's over 30°C and 

³ ,

 

but people with thermophobia are afraid of this.

 

 

Murophobia

Mice are very small – 

⁴ ,

 

in fact – but some people are terrified of them! They have murophobia.

 

 

Xanthophobia

This unusual word, which is pronounced /ˌzænθəˈfəʊbɪə/, refers to the fear of the colour yellow. Now, that's 

⁵ 

 

– it's the silliest thing I've ever heard!

2  Look at photos A and B and answer the questions. Speak for no longer than one minute.

1.  Which photo shows a merry-go-round, and which photo shows a roller coaster ride at a funfair?
2.  What similarities and differences can you see between the photos?
3.  Which adjectives can you use to describe how the people look and feel?

1.  Select Record Audio to record yourself.
2.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
3.  Select Submit to dropbox to send the recording to your teacher.

Describing a photo

3Listen to Hannah describing photo A and Josh describing photo B. They both give one piece of information about their photo that is wrong. What do they say that is wrong? 

Hannah

Josh

Describing a photo

4Put the phrases in the box into the correct categories. 

MOVE
• judging by his face
• on the left / right
• I can see it
• next to
• he looks like
• in the background
• in this photo, there are
• in the foreground
• they look
• behind

Locating

in the middle

Describing

the photo shows

Speculating

Describing a photo

5Listen. Choose Hannah or Josh next to the phrases that they use. Choose (–) for three phrases they do not use. 

• athe photo showsHannahJosh–

• bin the middleHannahJosh–

• cjudging by his faceHannahJosh–

• don the left / rightHannahJosh–

• eI can see itHannahJosh–

• fnext toHannahJosh–

• ghe looks likeHannahJosh–

• hin the backgroundHannahJosh–

• iin this photo, there areHannahJosh–

• jin the foregroundHannahJosh–

• kthey lookHannahJosh–

• lbehindHannahJosh–

6  Look at photo C of the dodgems, another funfair ride. Answer the questions. Speak for no longer than 1 minute. Who are the people, where are they and what are they doing? How do you think they feel? Why? Do you think people from different generations enjoy the same rides at funfairs? Have you ever been to a funfair? When did you go? What was it like?  Select Record Audio to record yourself.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.  Select Submit to dropbox to send the recording to your teacher.