Do your research
This is the final lesson in this advanced strategies section. It will show you how to prepare and use factual evidence, as surprising facts are very persuasive when you are making an argument.
Using the right facts, statistics or data can help you make powerful arguments. We will consider common topics that are asked in business or university, and discuss how to use interesting or surprising facts.
A lot of students avoid using hard facts and instead use commonly held beliefs. For example:
Commonly held belief:
Japanese transportation is very convenient. The trains always leave on time.
Facts:
Japanese trains are the most punctual in the world! The bullet train, for example, leaves precisely on the second it's scheduled.
You can tell your students that using hard facts will help them speak powerfully in business meetings, and also in casual conversations.
If you are comfortable talking about your company or university, then tell your teacher some facts about it.
Or, if you would prefer, you can:
- Discuss a famous company.
- Talk about a country where you would like to study or live abroad.
- Talk about your home country.
If you don't know any facts about your topic, use Wikipedia to do some research.
Whatever the topic, use Wikipedia. The main landing page has lots of interesting topics, if your student is having trouble thinking of one. Or, you can use the Search box in the upper right-hand corner to find the topic you want.
Make sure the student uses Wikipedia in English so they have the facts/data in English and don't have to translate when the time comes to use them.
NOTE: If you are really stuck or don't have time to look for a topic, use McDonald's. Here are a few interesting facts:
- It was founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a hamburger stand in Anaheim, California (USA).
- The Golden Arches were added by a Phoenix, Arizona (USA) franchise in 1953.
- It's the world's largest restaurant chain by revenue, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries in more than 40,000 outlets as of 2021*.
- According to two reports published in 2018, McDonald's is the world's second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind Walmart with 2.3 million employees)*.
*These stats may not be exactly the same by the time you teach this lesson, so use the current ones.
Let your student tell you the facts.
You can ask specific questions and have the student find the answers (e.g., "When was McDonald's founded, and where does the name come from? How many employees do they have?"). Don't spend too long on this.
- If their answer wasn't strong or fluent, say something like:
That was okay. You spoke correctly, but you just said the facts themselves. You didn't introduce them in a natural way, and, if I'm being very honest, it wasn't that interesting. Let's work on using facts more smoothly and naturally.
- If your student gave a fluent answer, you can take them quickly through the Language section and move on to the Practice questions.
Using facts
Facts are a tool for making arguments and driving home points. Therefore, you need to make a claim before or after you state a fact. For instance:
- Incorrect: My company has 18 offices across the country [fact].
- Correct: My company is quite large [claim]—we have 18 offices across the country, from the northern area all the way down to the south [facts].
Vague language
You may not remember facts exactly, so you can use vague language. Here are some phrases you can use:
- I believe...
- If I remember correctly...
- Approximately/Roughly/About/Around (+ number)...
- ...or something like that.
—
to drive home [idiom]—to emphasize a point, make something really clear.
Using facts
Use the topic from the Warm Up and have the student present the facts before or after their claim.
Optional
You can also use factual transitions to guide the listener:
- In fact...
- Actually...
- Not many people know that...
Vague language
Have the student present some facts they aren't sure of, using each of the phrases:
- I believe...
- If I remember correctly...
- Approximately/Roughly/About/Around (+ number)...
- ...or something like that.
The facts can be from the Warm Up topic, or the student may choose another topic. They can even make up the facts—the important thing is to practice using the phrases.
In conversation and in discussions, you can be honest about the fact that you are not totally sure. (In a presentation, of course, you will want to use exact information.)
NOTE
Intonation is important when presenting facts. Make sure the student emphasizes them with added stress.
Now practice putting some facts into full, fluent answers. Use the phrases from the Language section in your answers.