More practice with the language you're learning
Supplementary support — grammar, vocabulary, speaking and review — built from language already taught in the course. Not a lesson, and never a test.
1.Transformation: express the same meaning without repeating the original wording — "**Name the conversation**: 'What's happening in this meeting isn't a debate about the policy. It's a debate about whether the last decision was made in good faith. Let's do that one first.'"
2.Transformation: express the same meaning without repeating the original wording — "**Redistribute the airtime**: 'Priya, you shipped the last version of this — I want you next, and I want you to have three minutes without interruption.'"
3.Transformation: express the same meaning without repeating the original wording — "**Re-anchor on the question**: 'That's an important question, and it's not the one we agreed to answer this morning. The one on the table is X. Let's finish X and put the other one on next week's agenda by name.'"
4.Name the conversation for: a team meeting where two engineers keep debating the deadline while a designer keeps raising the tone of the review process.
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'We're having two conversations and calling it one. The engineers are on the deadline; the designer is on the review culture. Both are real. We'll do the deadline first, for 20 minutes, then the review culture for 20. Not both together.'
5.Redistribute the airtime for: a senior partner has spoken for 12 minutes, a new hire hasn't spoken in the whole hour.
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'Marco, thank you — I'm going to stop you there and I'll come back. Sam, you joined the team on the project this decision actually affects. I want you next, and I want you to have three uninterrupted minutes.'
6.Mini-context: someone disagrees with you in a meeting. Reply in two turns, using this structure at least once.
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Four moves at C2: (a) NAME THE CONVERSATION — say out loud what is actually happening in the room ('two of us are talking about the deadline, one about the trust'); the room can't work on itself if the chair won't name it; (b) REDISTRIBUTE THE AIRTIME — bring in the quiet voice with an anchored ask ('you were closest to the incident, I want you next'), not with 'anyone want to add anything?'; (c) RE-ANCHOR ON THE QUESTION — pull the room back to the actual question when it drifts to an easier one ('we agreed we were deciding X, and we're currently deciding Y'); (d) CLOSE ON SHARED UNDERSTANDING, NOT AGREEMENT — name what is now shared even if no vote has moved; the win from a deliberation is not consensus, it is a sharper disagreement.
1.Sort these into "positive", "neutral" and "critical" in tone, and be ready to defend a borderline case: to name the conversation, to redistribute the airtime, to re-anchor on the question, shared understanding, not agreement, the dominant voice, the anchored quiet voice, an on-the-record chair move, the easier question, to move from heat to light, a sharper disagreement
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to name the conversation — to say out loud what is actually happening in the room, structurally, so the room can work on itself | to redistribute the airtime — to shift speaking time on purpose from the dominant voice to the anchored quiet one | to re-anchor on the question — to pull the room back to the actual question when it drifts to an easier one | shared understanding, not agreement — the honest deliverable of a deliberation — a sharper joint picture of the disagreement, not a vote | the dominant voice — the person, however senior or well-intentioned, whose airtime is currently blocking the room | the anchored quiet voice — a specific person named with a specific reason to speak next — not 'anyone else' | an on-the-record chair move — a facilitation move called plainly and by name in the room, not smuggled in | the easier question — the topic a heated room drifts to because the real one is too costly | to move from heat to light — to preserve the intensity of the disagreement while making it productive rather than destructive | a sharper disagreement — a disagreement that is now more precisely understood by all sides — the honest win of deliberation
2.Odd one out: which of these is least like "to name the conversation" in meaning or use — to redistribute the airtime / to re-anchor on the question / shared understanding, not agreement? Explain why.
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Compare against: to say out loud what is actually happening in the room, structurally, so the room can work on itself
3.Odd one out: which of these is least like "to redistribute the airtime" in meaning or use — to re-anchor on the question / shared understanding, not agreement / the dominant voice? Explain why.
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Compare against: to shift speaking time on purpose from the dominant voice to the anchored quiet one
4.Odd one out: which of these is least like "to re-anchor on the question" in meaning or use — shared understanding, not agreement / the dominant voice / the anchored quiet voice? Explain why.
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Compare against: to pull the room back to the actual question when it drifts to an easier one
5.Odd one out: which of these is least like "shared understanding, not agreement" in meaning or use — the dominant voice / the anchored quiet voice / an on-the-record chair move? Explain why.
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Compare against: the honest deliverable of a deliberation — a sharper joint picture of the disagreement, not a vote
6.Semantic map: place "to name the conversation" on a scale from mild to strong against two other words you know. Then use the strongest one.
7.Semantic map: place "to redistribute the airtime" on a scale from mild to strong against two other words you know. Then use the strongest one.
8.Semantic map: place "to re-anchor on the question" on a scale from mild to strong against two other words you know. Then use the strongest one.
9.Mini-dialogue: write four lines in which two of this lesson's words appear naturally.
1.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "to name the conversation" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
2.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "to redistribute the airtime" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
3.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "to re-anchor on the question" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
4.Word family: give the noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms linked to "shared understanding, not agreement" where they exist, then use the form that is hardest for you.
5.Spot the mismatch: which partner does NOT work with "to name the conversation" — and what would a proficient speaker say instead?
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Natural model: Name the conversation. We're pretending it's one debate and it's three.
6.Spot the mismatch: which partner does NOT work with "to redistribute the airtime" — and what would a proficient speaker say instead?
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Natural model: Redistribute the airtime on purpose. 'Anyone want to add anything?' is not that.
7.Spot the mismatch: which partner does NOT work with "to re-anchor on the question" — and what would a proficient speaker say instead?
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Natural model: Re-anchor on the question. We're solving X; we're currently arguing Y.
8.Rewrite one sentence from your last piece of writing, swapping a weak combination for a precise one from this lesson.
1.Shift the register twice: make this markedly formal, then markedly conversational — "**Name the conversation**: 'What's happening in this meeting isn't a debate about the policy. It's a debate about whether the last decision was made in good faith. Let's do that one first.'"
2.Shift the register twice: make this markedly formal, then markedly conversational — "**Redistribute the airtime**: 'Priya, you shipped the last version of this — I want you next, and I want you to have three minutes without interruption.'"
3.Shift the register twice: make this markedly formal, then markedly conversational — "**Re-anchor on the question**: 'That's an important question, and it's not the one we agreed to answer this morning. The one on the table is X. Let's finish X and put the other one on next week's agenda by name.'"
4.Diplomatic vs direct: soften this, then sharpen it. Which version would you actually use, and to whom? "Which single sentence in the transcript would you cut if you had to lose one — and does the session survive?"
5.Compress: express the idea behind "Name the conversation. We're pretending it's one debate and it's three." in six words or fewer without losing the nuance.
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to say out loud what is actually happening in the room, structurally, so the room can work on itself
6.Compress: express the idea behind "Redistribute the airtime on purpose. 'Anyone want to add anything?' is not that." in six words or fewer without losing the nuance.
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to shift speaking time on purpose from the dominant voice to the anchored quiet one
7.Compress: express the idea behind "Re-anchor on the question. We're solving X; we're currently arguing Y." in six words or fewer without losing the nuance.
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to pull the room back to the actual question when it drifts to an easier one
8.Read one of your own paraphrases aloud. Which word choice is doing the most work? Replace everything around it.
1.Rank and justify: order the ideas in Which single sentence in the transcript would you cut if you had to lose one — and does the session survive? / Which line by Member 3 is doing dialectical work the chair didn't have to do — and what does that tell you about a healthy deliberation? / Where is the chair naming STRUCTURE rather than FEELING — and why is that the C2 chair move? from most to least convincing. Defend your top choice.
2.Role-play: 3 minutes brief the meeting; 20 minutes chaired deliberation; 2 minutes to draft the minute. Take the position you least agree with.
3.Decision task: you have two minutes to reach a single recommendation on The 100-word minute: structural opener, anchored redistribution logged, drift refusals logged, closing line named as shared understanding.. State it in one sentence.
4.Now switch sides and argue the opposite for 60 seconds. Which language had to change?
5.Follow-up — push further: The recurring meeting you brought. Add a counter-example.
6.Follow-up — push further: Back-up: a family conversation about care for an ageing parent that always ends with the same person volunteering. Add a counter-example.
1.Paragraph ordering: draft your four topic sentences only, then decide their best order and say why.
2.Partial writing: write only the concession paragraph of Write a 260-word CHAIR'S NOTE in the register of the citizens' assembly transcript. It MUST: (a) OPEN by naming the conversation structurally — what four or three kinds of contribution the meeting held; (b) LOG at least one anchored redistribution to a named quiet voice, with the reason; (c) LOG at least one on-the-record refusal of a drift to the easier question; (d) CLOSE by naming what is now shared understanding — even if no vote has moved — and what a sharper disagreement now looks like. Alongside, submit a 40-word 'WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME' postscript. Use at least SEVEN target items naturally. — 60–80 words.
3.Editing pass: cut 15% of your words without losing content. What went first?
4.Audience switch: rewrite your opening for a hostile reader, then for a sympathetic one.
5.Self-check: underline every repeated word and replace two with precise choices from this lesson.
1.Take a Part 3 prompt board (real or invented — 'How can a town best support families new to the area?'). Deliver a 90-second sequence that opens by NAMING THE CONVERSATION, includes ONE anchored REDISTRIBUTION to your partner, and closes on SHARED UNDERSTANDING, NOT AGREEMENT.
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Even without an official chair role, run three light chair moves in Part 3: (1) name what the two of you are actually deciding early ('we're picking one, but we're actually weighing two different things — X and Y'), (2) redistribute airtime once ('I've been on this — what's yours?'), (3) close on shared understanding, not fake agreement ('we don't fully agree, and we've narrowed to two — I'd take A, you'd take C, and here's why each').
2.Find the evidence: which exact words in the text/script support this — Where does the CHAIR open by NAMING THE CONVERSATION structurally?
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First paragraph: 'four kinds of contribution in this room' — the chair maps the structural positions on the table, not the emotions. This is the C2 move; naming feelings would be theatre.
3.Find the evidence: which exact words in the text/script support this — How does the chair handle MEMBER 1's opening without shaming them or letting the meeting drift?
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'I take the point — nobody in this room is here to make anyone feel bad. Second, that's not the question in front of this assembly.' The chair legitimises the person AND re-anchors on the question in the same turn.
4.Find the evidence: which exact words in the text/script support this — How does the chair REDISTRIBUTE THE AIRTIME to Marina — and why not simply 'does anyone else want to add anything'?
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The chair names Marina by name, gives her a specific reason to speak (twenty-eight per cent of her class list changed), and buys her uninterrupted airtime out loud. The generic 'anyone want to add' would have put the burden on Marina to volunteer; anchored redistribution takes it off her.
5.Key word transformation: rewrite "**Name the conversation**: 'What's happening in this meeting isn't a debate about the policy. It's a debate about whether the last decision was made in good faith. Let's do that one first.'" using the structure from Facilitation language: name the conversation · redistribute the airtime · re-anchor on the question · close on shared understanding, not agreement, in 3–8 words.
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Four moves at C2: (a) NAME THE CONVERSATION — say out loud what is actually happening in the room ('two of us are talking about the deadline, one about the trust'); the room can't work on itself if the chair won't name it; (b) REDISTRIBUTE THE AIRTIME — bring in the quiet voice with an anchored ask ('you were closest to the incident, I want you next'), not with 'anyone want to add anything?'; (c) RE-ANCHOR ON THE QUESTION — pull the room back to the actual question when it drifts to an easier one ('we agreed we were deciding X, and we're currently deciding Y'); (d) CLOSE ON SHARED UNDERSTANDING, NOT AGREEMENT — name what is now shared even if no vote has moved; the win from a deliberation is not consensus, it is a sharper disagreement.
6.Reflection: which part of this task type costs you most time, and what will you do differently next time?
1.True, false or not stated? Decide for each, then correct the false ones: "First paragraph: 'four kinds of contribution in this room' — the chair maps the structural positions on the table, not the emotions. This is the C2 move; naming feelings would be theatre." · "'I take the point — nobody in this room is here to make anyone feel bad. Second, that's not the question in front of this assembly.' The chair legitimises the person AND re-anchors on the question in the same turn." · "The chair names Marina by name, gives her a specific reason to speak (twenty-eight per cent of her class list changed), and buys her uninterrupted airtime out loud. The generic 'anyone want to add' would have put the burden on Marina to volunteer; anchored redistribution takes it off her."
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Where does the CHAIR open by NAMING THE CONVERSATION structurally? → First paragraph: 'four kinds of contribution in this room' — the chair maps the structural positions on the table, not the emotions. This is the C2 move; naming feelings would be theatre. | How does the chair handle MEMBER 1's opening without shaming them or letting the meeting drift? → 'I take the point — nobody in this room is here to make anyone feel bad. Second, that's not the question in front of this assembly.' The chair legitimises the person AND re-anchors on the question in the same turn. | How does the chair REDISTRIBUTE THE AIRTIME to Marina — and why not simply 'does anyone else want to add anything'? → The chair names Marina by name, gives her a specific reason to speak (twenty-eight per cent of her class list changed), and buys her uninterrupted airtime out loud. The generic 'anyone want to add' would have put the burden on Marina to volunteer; anchored redistribution takes it off her.
2.Retrieval race: in 60 seconds, list every word from this lesson you can remember, then check what you missed.
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to name the conversation, to redistribute the airtime, to re-anchor on the question, shared understanding, not agreement, the dominant voice, the anchored quiet voice, an on-the-record chair move, the easier question, to move from heat to light, a sharper disagreement
3.Use "to name the conversation" in a sentence about a completely different topic from the lesson.
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to say out loud what is actually happening in the room, structurally, so the room can work on itself
4.Use "to redistribute the airtime" in a sentence about a completely different topic from the lesson.
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to shift speaking time on purpose from the dominant voice to the anchored quiet one
5.Use "to re-anchor on the question" in a sentence about a completely different topic from the lesson.
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to pull the room back to the actual question when it drifts to an easier one
6.Teach it back: explain Facilitation language: name the conversation · redistribute the airtime · re-anchor on the question · close on shared understanding, not agreement to someone who has never met it, in under 45 seconds.
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Four moves at C2: (a) NAME THE CONVERSATION — say out loud what is actually happening in the room ('two of us are talking about the deadline, one about the trust'); the room can't work on itself if the chair won't name it; (b) REDISTRIBUTE THE AIRTIME — bring in the quiet voice with an anchored ask ('you were closest to the incident, I want you next'), not with 'anyone want to add anything?'; (c) RE-ANCHOR ON THE QUESTION — pull the room back to the actual question when it drifts to an easier one ('we agreed we were deciding X, and we're currently deciding Y'); (d) CLOSE ON SHARED UNDERSTANDING, NOT AGREEMENT — name what is now shared even if no vote has moved; the win from a deliberation is not consensus, it is a sharper disagreement.
7.Which of the four chair moves — naming the conversation, redistributing airtime, re-anchoring on the question, closing on shared understanding — did you find hardest today, and why?
1.Warm-up — five diagnostic labels in five minutes — Teacher gives you five short lines from imagined assembly contributions (a layer-mixed technocratic claim, a moralising 'we all know', a trade-off with one good hidden, a false middle dressed as consensus, a workshop-theatre chair move). For each, in ten seconds: name what it's doing and the one specific move that would fix it. You may not use 'balance' anywhere in the round.
2.Prep — set your assembly card — Take the wicked problem you brought. Draft your assembly card: (a) the question in one line, (b) three or four contributor roles the room needs (including at least one anchored quiet voice), (c) the two goods your trade-off runs between, (d) the sharper disagreement you would be genuinely proud to close on if no vote moved. Read the card aloud to teacher; teacher will challenge any card whose 'sharper disagreement' is really a hidden verdict.
3.Round 1 — layer-triage the question, on the record — Chair the opening of the assembly. In 90 seconds: name the wicked problem, separate the technical / ethical / political layers cleanly, name one visible feedback loop or lock-in. In the next 3 minutes, teacher plays a contributor who wants to close the problem in ten minutes. You must refuse the premature-close ON THE RECORD, by name, without shaming the contributor. Any un-tagged slide between layers costs the round.
4.Round 2 — the ethical case, without moralising — In 3 minutes, steelman the strongest opposing view in the assembly so well that a holder of it would sign your account. In 3 more minutes, make YOUR own ethical case using all four moves: NAME THE STAKE with a specific harm, OWN THE POSITION in the first person, CONCEDE THE COST your view creates for a specific group, REFUSE THE CERTAINTY at the close. Any decency-shortcut resets the round. Any 'we all know' resets the round.
5.Round 3 — rank the trade-off, price the loss, admit the residue — Present the assembly's central trade-off. In 8 minutes: name the two goods cleanly, price the loss on each of three options in specific terms (number, person, year — no adjectives), rank the three on purpose and defend the top rank against teacher, who ranks second. Close by admitting the residue for your top choice, by name. In the final 2 minutes, draft the ranking as a two-paragraph note in the register of Briefing B (L38). You may not use 'balance'.
6.Round 4 — hold the tension the assembly won't resolve today — Chair a segment of the assembly on the piece of the wicked problem the room will NOT resolve today. In 4 minutes: NAME BOTH TRUTHS of the tension in their strongest form, REFUSE the false middle teacher offers you (teacher will offer one, by name), and CLOSE on a NEXT STEP with a specific trigger — an action, a date, and what would have to be true for the room to close. Any hedged 'we'll come back to it' with no date resets the round.
7.Round 5 — chair the assembly live from heat to light — Teacher plays THREE voices — one dominant, one anchored quiet, one drifter. You chair. In 8 minutes: (a) OPEN by naming the conversation structurally in one clean sentence, (b) REDISTRIBUTE THE AIRTIME to the anchored quiet voice at least twice, both times anchored, (c) RE-ANCHOR on the actual question every time the drifter drifts, by name, (d) CLOSE on a SHARPER DISAGREEMENT the anchored quiet voice would endorse. Every chair move must be called ON THE RECORD. Workshop-theatre lines ('I sense a lot of energy in the room') cost the round.
8.Talk it through — which round did the hardest work — Together, rebuild the strongest moment from each round. Teacher names one strongest move per round; you name a different one. Then, in one sentence: which of the five rounds most changed how you would approach the next real deliberation you attend, and what would you do differently in the first ten minutes because of it?
9.Bring it together — the sharper disagreement, minuted — Write, in a single short paragraph: (a) the sharper disagreement your assembly now holds, in a form all contributor roles would endorse; (b) what would have to be true, and by when, for the room to close; (c) one sentence naming what you as the chair will do differently the next time you sit in this seat. Use at least SEVEN Unit 8 target items naturally.
10.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a wicked problem".
11.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the technical layer".
12.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the ethical layer".
13.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the political layer".
14.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a feedback loop".
15.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "lock-in".
16.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a second-order effect".
17.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to premature-close".
18.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to hold the problem open".
19.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "moralising".
20.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to name the stake".
21.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to own the position".
22.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to concede the cost".
23.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to refuse the certainty".
24.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to steelman".
25.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the decency shortcut".
26.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a trade-off".
27.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to name the two goods".
28.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to price the loss".
29.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to rank on purpose".
30.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to admit the residue".
31.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "an irreversibility asymmetry".
32.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a defended ranking".
33.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to hold the tension".
34.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to name both truths".
35.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the false middle".
36.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a fatigue decision".
37.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a next step, not a verdict".
38.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a stable disagreement".
39.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to name the conversation".
40.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to redistribute the airtime".
41.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to re-anchor on the question".
42.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "shared understanding, not agreement".
43.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "an on-the-record chair move".
44.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to move from heat to light".
45.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a sharper disagreement".
46.Which of the five rounds most exposed a habit you didn't know you had as a chair or contributor?
47.Was your top-ranked option in Round 3 the same option you would have picked before Round 2? If not, what changed?
48.If you had to chair this assembly for real on Monday, which one round of today would you rehearse one more time first?