Урок "The Best Place to Live"

Theme: The Best Place to Live.

Objectives: to practise various activities to develop students’ speaking and writing skills, to expand students’ outlook and enrich their knowledge through collaborative work, to practise in proving the point of view, to encourage students to share facts and their own attitude to the topic under discussion; to promote a creative way of thinking, memory. 

Equipment: Power Point Presentation, video material, photos of cities and towns.

                                                 Procedure

I. Introduction

   T: Good morning! How are you getting on today? I think you are OK and eager to work

   upon the topic. Look at the quote on the blackboard and try to guess what we’re going

   to speak about. “God made the country and the man made the town.” 

   (Students comment on the quote)  

  T: Well done. So today we’re going to speak about places to live, advantages and

   disadvantages of living in a big city and in a small one.   

 II. Warming up      

    1.Eliciting

      T: Think of some famous cities or towns in Ukraine and name them.

     Sts: Kyiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, …

    T: Which of them have you been to? Does the life differ from the life in our town there? 

      Look at the two pictures and say if you would you like to live in a big city or in a small

      one? 

      2.Brainstorming

       T: Say what you have in mind when you’re speaking about a large city?

       Sts: museums, universities, shopping centres, museums…

       T: Would you think about the words associated with our town?

        Sts: parks, shops, schools, club, hospital… 

   III. Main Part

      1. Vocabulary &Grammar Revision

   T: Work in pairs and define what you refer to advantages and disadvantages of living in

    a big city.

   Traffic jams, cinemas, theatres, crime, litter, discos, museums, parks, restaurants,

    universities, pollutions, noise, homeless people, supermarkets.

  (Students are dividing the words into 2 columns – adv. & disadv.)

  T: Many people prefer to live in a big city but some would like to make their home in a  

      small town. Which is your choice? Explain it.

      “Small Town” words                                     “City” words

   to lead a quiet life                                             to lead an interesting life

   to work outdoors                                               to have many things to do & to see

   to take care of animals                                      to have all modern conveniences

   to breathe fresh air                                            to  work with modern machines

   to eat healthy food                                             to have a lot of places to get education

   to enjoy countryside                                           to be able to go sightseeing

   to live among friendly people                             to be able to have a lot of fun 

(Example: I’d rather live in a small town because I can spend a lot of time outside.)

 

2.Role-Playing

(Two samples of interview are given bellow)

    (  The students are divided into 2 teams –TV- reporters and residents of Tavriys’k)

    T: Living in a small town also has its advantages & disadvantages and we know this for

   a fact because we live in such a place. Tavriys’k has no more than 12000 residents and

   it always brings to mind the words “where everybody knows your name.”

   So, we’re also going to speak about the life in a small town. Is it a great place to live or  

   not?  

    Some TV-reporters have arrived at our town. The purpose of this visit is to estimate 

    the life in  Tavriys’k. Everybody has been given a list of good & bad point of a town.

       You are to value positive & negative aspects of living in Tavriys’k.

   First look through the list of the points and give your marks to each of them (1-5)

   1. busy traffic and traffic jams; (2)               5.ecological problems;(2)

   2. a great variety of entertainments; (1)       6.a lot of options for teens;(1)

   3. crime; (2)                                               7.opportunity to find a good job;(1)

   4. gossip;  (4)                                                 8.sightseeing.(1)

 

    T: And now answer the reporters’ questions about your town trying to express your

    attitude to Tavriys’k.

  TV-reporter 1: How long have you lived in your town?

   Resident 1: I’ve lived in Tavriys’k since my birth.

 TV-r.1: Do you enjoy your living here?

    R.1: Yes, I do. I love it.

 TV-r.1: How can you explain your low marks to the points given?

     R.1: Although my evaluation to the points given is not very high I’d like

  to live here for all my life  because  a small town is a  community, or rather a family.  

  There is no better feeling than knowing you are not alone. You can walk down the street

   and immediately get pulled into a conversation no matter how long you been gone,    

   whether you’re a local or a vacationer.

 TV-r.1: Are you planning to continue your education in your town or move

 anywhere? 

 R.1: Yes and no. I mean I’m going to enter the agricultural college in Nova Kakhovka

 the nearest town.

 TV-r.1: Is there anything you dislike in your town?

 R.1: May be the lack of entertainments for teens…

 TV-r.2: Is Tavriys’k your native town?

R.2:No. My family moved here from Tsiurupins’k 10 years ago.

   TV-r 2: Are you enjoying living here?

R.2: As for me I hate the life here. Teens have nothing to do but loaf their time away.

  People can’t find any job. The life is too boring here.

TV-r2: Is there anything you like about your town?

 R.2: Perhaps my schoolmates and our picnics to the wood in summer. And air…

 Air is wonderful here indeed.

   TV-r 2: What are your plans for future?

R2:  I’m looking forward to leaving my hometown for a better place to live.

 

 

 

 3.Grammar Revision

T: Make up Second Conditional sentences about the life in a big city and in a small town.

1. If you went to the country…                    a) go to the theatre.

 2. When you stayed in the country…           b) watch a wildlife.

 3. If you spent your holidays in                   c) enjoy beauty of the countryside.

  the country…

 4. When you returned to the city…              d) visit museums and picture galleries.

5. If you lived in a city…                              e) have a lot of fun in city parks.

 6. If you preferred to stay in a city…            f) take long walks in the forests.

 

St 1: If you went to the country, you could take long walks in the forests.

 

4.Discussion of ecological problems. (preparing for a project)

T: Now let’s speak about ecological problems of places people live. Will you remember

 the most serious environmental problems in cities & towns?

Sts: Water pollution, land pollution and air pollution.

T: What causes them?

 Sts: traffic, plants and factories which emit smoke into the air and throw waste into the nearest rivers and seas, litter…

 T: What cities suffer most from this?

 Sts: Big industrial cities of course – Donetsk, Mariupol’, Zaporizhzhia…

 T: Let’s discuss the positive and the negative sides of plants and factories.

  St 1: On the one hand people can find a job to support their families…

  St 2: On the other hand industrial waste causes air, water, land and nuclear pollution and 

  as the  consequence of it is the appearance of great number if serious diseases like cancer      

  in its many forms, tuberculosis…

  5. Writing

 T: And it’s time to speak about ecological problems of Tavriys’k. Are they as serious as      

  in big cities? Which of them can be seen in our everyday life? What causes them?

   Let’s make an imaginary tour around our town and make a list of ecological problems

   and think of their solutions.

 (Students comment on their task.)

 

IV. Summing up

T: So, we’ve talked about cities and towns and seen that our tastes differ. But whether you’d live in a big city or in a small town or a village I do hope that you’ll leave your heart in the town where you’ve grown and brought up and always remember your nearest and dearest living here.  And at the end of the lesson I’d like you to watch a short video of

 Tavriys’k made by our resident in 2012. 

T: I’m content with your work today. The best answers are….Your marks are…

 

 

V. Home assignment

T: Choose a partner and make a project about the main ecological problems of Tavriys’k and solutions to avoid them.