East or West - home is best!

East or West – home is best!

В гостях добре, а вдома краще!

Aims:

To build the learner’s house and room topic vocabulary, and to develop the learner’s ability to say what is in a room or house. To provide plenty of opportunity for the learner to talk about his or her own house.

Objectives:

Your learner will be able to:

• name different types of housing (flat, terraced house, semi-detached house, cottage) and say what kind of house he or she lives in. 
• name the different rooms and parts of a house (bedroom, kitchen, hall, study, attic, toilet, bathroom, dining room, living room)
• say what there is in a room (using there is and there are)

Introduction: 

Show your learners a picture of the house and tell them a little about it, for example: ‘This is my house. It’s an old house and it’s cold in winter! There are two bedrooms’. Encourage your students to tell you a little about their houses. This will enable you to establish how much topic vocabulary they are already familiar with.  Show your learners some pictures of houses/flats. Encourage your learners to tell you which he or she likes and to give reasons for his or her preferences.

Activity 1

Read the names of the different types of houses aloud and ask your students to repeat. Drill pronunciation, where necessary. If your pupils live in an area which has different types of housing, teach any additional, relevant vocabulary.

Vocabulary

• Residence
• Home
• Villa
• Apartment
• Bungalow
• Town house
• Cottage
• Cabin
• Duplex
• Palace
• Castle
• Dwelling
• Caravan
• Hut
• Flat
• Penthouse
• Farmhouse

Activity 2

Ask your learner to read the adjectives aloud one by one. Alternatively, read the adjectives aloud and ask your learner to repeat them after you. Drill pronunciation, where necessary.

Style: traditional, modern, old

Type: apartment, flat, castle…

Location: in the centre, close to the shops, in the suburb, on the outskirts, isolated, in the country

Size: small, tiny, spacious, large, huge, average, family-sized

Cost: cheap, low-priced, over-priced, expensive, economical

General description: cosy, comfortable, secure, luxurious

Activity 3

Put the cut-up cards from Worksheet 1. Ask them to match the words with their meaning. Offer support wherever necessary, and drill the correct pronunciation

Worksheet 1

Apartment - a flat, typically one that is well appointed or used for holidays.

Bungalow - a low house having only one storey or, in some cases, upper rooms set in the roof

Town house - a tall, narrow traditional terraced house, generally having three or more floors.

Cottage - a small house, typically one in the country.

Cabin - a small house, typically one in the country.

Duplex - a multi-family home that has two units in the same building. These two units always share a common wall,

Palace - the official residence of a king, queen, bishop

Castle - a large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers

Dwelling - a place where people live, such as a house or apartment

Caravan - a house on wheels; trailer.

Hut - a small or humble dwelling of simple construction, especially one made of natural materials, as of logs or grass.

Flat -тa set of rooms for living in, usually on one floor and part of a larger building. A flat usually includes a kitchen and bathroom.

Penthouse - an expensive apartment or set of rooms at the top of a hotel or tall building

Farmhouse - a house attached to a farm, especially the main house in which the farmer lives

      Residence - a person's home, especially a large and impressive one

      Home - a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person

Villa - a large country house of Roman times, having an estate and consisting of farm and residential buildings arranged around a courtyard

Activity 4

• Ask your learners to draw a plan of their house or flat. Ask them to draw the items that are in each room. Supply them with any extra vocabulary that students might need.
• Ask your learners to use the plan to talk about the house of flat from the plan, and to describe what is in each room.