ACCOMMODATION INTRODUCTION TO SHORT PRESENTATIONS 1. Have a short talk with your partner Where do you live, in a village, a town, or a big city? What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a big city? Where would you like to live and why? Do you find your accommodation comfortable? Where do you take your meals? 2. Where do you stay? Match the types of houses with their definitions and then describe the house you live in. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Detached house | a type of house which is all on one | | |level, no stairs | | | | | | | | | | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Semidetached house | joined to another house by one shared | | |wall | | | | | | being one of a pair of joined houses | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Terraced house | a row of houses joined to each other | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Bungalow | a small house or set of rooms built on a| | |top of a tall building often considered | | |very desirable to live in | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Villa | large building divided into separate | |GB |parts (flats or offices), office block | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Mansion | a large house, usually belonging to a | | |wealthy person | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| | Block of flats GB| a modern house with 2 or 3 floors, | | |especially suited to be built on a small | |Apartment block US |piece of land in a town | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Tower block | a tall block of flats or offices | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Flat | set of rooms especially on one floor, | | |including a kitchen and bathroom; usually| |Apartment US |one of many such sets in a building or | | |block | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Cottage | a small house, especially in the country| |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Town house | a house on the edge of a town, either | | |standing by itself or joined to another | | |and having a garden (usually built before| | |1914) | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Skyscraper | separate, not connected on any side with| | |any other building | |--------------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------| |Penthouse | a very tall city building | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 3. Listen to the recording.What are the three areas the presenter is going to talk about. 4. Look at the text and try to fill in the gaps. Then compare it with your neighbour. Hello / well I’ve been asked to talk about the course that you’re about to embark upon from the perspective of having done the same course last year / so I thought I’d look at three areas that were important for the students on the course last year/ obviously I won’t cover everything / so do please feel free to add any comments you might have or ask any questions at the end / The three areas I wanted to look at were first of all problems related to adjusting to student life / then the day-to-day workload of the course / and thirdly written assignments the problem of written assignments. First of all then / adjusting to student life / I don’t think anybody should underestimate the importance of getting good (1) ……………………… it’s very important I think to make yourself as comfortable as you can / as quickly as possible / because the course only lasts a year / it’s not long enough to get a cheap flat and decorate and do the necessary (2) ……………………… / so most people tended to live in student (3) ……………………… or in university accommodation / halls of (4) ……………………… where you could have your own room and you had the option of eating meals in college or opting out of that and / making other arrangements for food / perhaps eating at the students‘ (5) ………………………or cooking your own meals / in fact I think some of the people on the course last year who did initially live a little way out of the city / came in / they changed their accommodation and tried to get a room in one of the halls of residence / because they felt happier and more (6) ………………………/ and with the heavy commitment that this course does involve it’s important to feel relatively free of other worries so you can (7) ………………………on the work / also I think it was / quite difficult for some of us who had been working for a number of years to (8) ………………………to being a student again / and I think this / is also something that you need to consider if you’ve had your own (9) ……………………… perhaps your own flat / you’ve been working / to suddenly adjust to being in an academic (10) ………………………as a student again does take some time / so all these things need consideration and I think it’s important as I said to get accommmodation that is the best that you can (11) ………………………so that you’re relatively (12) ………………………and comfortable as quickly as possible. 5. Listen to the tape and complete the gaps with the expressions you hear. Then compare with your own words. 6. Study the dialogues (Hotel) and be ready to present them in our next session. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/london/ 7. Presentations When presenting to the audience, it is necessary to follow the basics of presentations. In the first part of the text (written in italics) underline the general expressions indicating presentations.