Saturday, January 26, 2013

Pair Practice: Vocabulary (highrise, exterior...)


More Vocabulary - A. Ask your partner. Wait for her answer. Then tell her if she is right or wrong.
1.    This is what you call a tall building, one with many floors.
3.    This word means "the outside part of something."
5.    This word means to talk in a friendly way about things that are not important.
7.    What does "tiny" mean?
9.    This is what you see when you look at something in the distance or out your windows.
11.  This is the opposite of "old style".
13.  This word means "large, with very much room or space" ( , espacio, sitio, просторные).

More Vocabulary - B.  Ask your partner. Wait for his answer. Then tell his if she is right or wrong.
2.    This is hard and usually shiny (闪 闪 发 光 的, brillante, блестящий).  Some examples are gold, silver, steel, and copper.
4.    This is a building material. To make it, they bake clay ( ,  arcilla/barro, глина) into rectangles. Then when they build, they put one on top of another.
6.    These are the square things on the floor and wall in your bathroom. We also put them on the roof sometimes.
8.    This is another word for the grass around a house or building.
10.  This is a person who sells sex. 
12.  Examples in San Francisco are Muni Metro, Muni buses, BART, CalTrain, and SamTrans.

1.    a highrise or: skyscraper
3.    the exterior
5.    to chat , charlar, болтать
7.    very, very small
9.    the view. For example, "We have a view of the Golden Gate Bridge from our living room."
11.  Answer: modern, , , moderno, современный
13.  spacious. For example, a spacious apartment
2.    metal
4.    a brick
6.    the tile 地砖, 片状材料, teja, baldosa, losa, azulejo, черепи́ца, пли́тка
8.    the lawn
10.  prostitute
12.  public transportation

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

SPEAKING Housing: Negative Sentences, Yes/No Questions, Wh- Questions

To listen and practice, click on 'Permalink'. 

VERY IMPORTANT:  Do NOT share these links with students who are not in the class. The Podomatic site is only free for 3,000 visits a month. After that, you have to pay or wait until the beginning of the next month.

Ask me a yes/no question. Use you.
1. __________ lives in the suburbs here. 
2. __________ lived in a highrise* in her country. *
高楼, torre de apartamentos
3. __________ has a washer and dryer in her home.
4. __________ can walk to school in 10 minutes.
5. __________ would like to move to a different city.
6. __________’s family owns their house.
7. __________’s family rents their place.
8. __________’s place here has a brick exterior.
9. __________’s place had a swimming pool in his country.

January 19, 2009 03:38 PM PST
Now write WH- questions about the underlined information.
1. Roland’s new house is located in Dolores Heights.
in Dolores Heights
2. He bought it 1-1/2 years ago. 1-1/2 years
3. It has 3 levels. 3
4. The living room is very big.
5. Roland can see the Bay Bridge from his living room window. the Bay Bridge
6. The J-Church stops three blocks from his house. three blocks
7. Roland doesn’t like to take it because he has to walk 3 blocks up a steep ( , empinado, escarpado) hill. because...

Robert's Current Place in a Suburb of Boston

a.    In 2the U.S., 1Robert lives in a 3medium-sized 4single-family house.
b.    It has 5one bedroom, and it is located in 6a suburb of Boston.
c.    The building is 7modern, and it has 8one floor.
d.    The exterior of the building is 9wood. 
e.    The building has 10a lawn and a garden.                                                    
f.    His family 11 owns the place.
g.    The neighborhood is 12fairly safe.                                                                       
h.    Something he likes about the neighborhood is that 13it has a park with a playground, so his son can play there.
i.     Something he doesn’t like about the neighborhood is that 14it's near the airport, so it's noisy when planes fly overhead.                                              

Housing & Neighborhoods: Pluses & Minuses



What letters are missing in these words?
1.   the b_llpar_ the ballpark
2.   the litte_  the litter
3.   f_ggy foggy
4.   the _irpo_t  the airport
5.   prostit_ _es (妓女, проститу́тка, البغي)   prostitutes
6.   the fr_ _way 高速公路, autopista, Автострада,
           الطريق السريع  the freeway
7.   p_bli_ t_an_porta_ _ _ _  public transportation
8.   _unny  sunny
9.   _ark_ng parking
10. l_wns and _ardens  lawns and gardens
11. a g_ng (, pandillas, bandas, ша́йка, ба́нда, عصابة مدنية)  a gang
12. dr_gs  drugs (Examples: 大麻,可卡因,甲基苯丙胺, marihuana, cocaína, metanfetamina, марихуана, кокаин, метамфетамин)
13. a  f_re   st_ti_n  a fire station
14. the  _raffic  the traffic
15. a  recre_tion*  c_nter a recreation center  *娱乐中心, esparcimiento, pasatiempo, о́тдых, развлече́ние   (a public place with a baseball/football field, playground, tennis courts, game rooms, and/or swimming pool for everyone to use and enjoy)


Neighborhoods. Are these things good (a plus), bad (a minus), or both?  Circle your opinion.
a plus  a minus   both  There's a fire station nearby.
a plus  a minus   both  It's close to AT&T Ballpark.
a plus  a minus   both  It has a view (景色, vista, вид ) of downtown San Francisco.                                   
a plus  a minus   both  It's foggy all the time.                                  
a plus  a minus   both  It's near my child's school.                               
a plus  a minus   both  It's near the airport.
a plus  a minus   both  It's near the freeway. 高速公路, autopista, Автострада, الطريق السريع
a plus  a minus   both  There's lots of traffic.     
a plus  a minus   both  It's not very close to public transportation.
a plus  a minus   both  It's not very safe.
a plus  a minus   both  It's sunny.
a plus  a minus   both  Parking is hard to find.
a plus  a minus   both  The houses are pretty.
a plus  a minus   both  Houses in the neighborhood have nice lawns and gardens.
a plus  a minus   both  There are gangs in the neighborhood. (, pandillas, ша́йка, ба́нда, عصابة مدنية)
a plus  a minus   both  There's litter* in the streets. *Paper and garbage people leave.
a plus  a minus   both  There are people selling drugs.
a plus  a minus   both  There are prostitutes in the street. (妓女, проститу́тка, البغي)
a plus  a minus   both  There's a recreation center in the area.


Level 3 Class Available

Please tell your friends that my Level 3 at 8:00 is open. They just need to come to Room 319.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Housing: Mixed-Up Questions & Julie's Place in Belgium



These questions are mixed-up.  Unscramble them.  The first one is done for you. http://level5.podomatic.com  5-4082994ap1
1.   BIG  HOW  PLACE  IS  YOUR ?  >>> How big is your place? 
2.   ?  LOCATED IS  IT  WHERE   Where is it located?
3.   IT  KIND  HOME  WHAT  ?  OF  IS  What kind of home is it?
4.   RENT  THE  HOW  IS ?  How is the rent?
5.   THE  BUILDING  IS  STYLE  WHAT ?  What style is the building?
6.   LIKE  NEIGHBORHOOD IS  WHAT  THE ? What is the neighborhood like?
7.   EXTERIOR  ?  MATERIAL WHAT  THE  IS  What material is the exterior?
8.   THERE IS ANYTHING / LIKE YOU DON’T LIKE  OR /  THE  NEIGHBORHOOD ABOUT ?  Is there anything/you like or don't like/about the neighborhood?

Julie, a student in Mr. Trego's class, wrote several paragraphs about the place where she grew up.  Mr. Trego's students read the story, and they wrote a quiz about it. First read the questions. Then find the answers in the text below.         level5.podomatic.com  5-96f50829p1
1.     Do you think Julie went up to the fifth floor very often?  Yes, I do.
2.     Did Julie’s family own their place?  No, they didn't.
3.     Did Julie’s apartment have an elevator?  No, it didn't.
4.     Did Julie have her own bedroom?  No, she didn't. Her parents had one, and she had to share hers (with somebody else).
5.     How many bedrooms did Julie’s place have? Two.
6.     Was there a bathroom in Julie’s apartment?  No, there wasn't. They had to share the bathroom with their neighbors, so the bathroom was probably in the hall.
7.     Do you think the courtyard was so pretty before Julie’s family lived there? No, I don't. There weren't any flowers there before Julie planted them.
8.     Was it easy for Julie to shop for groceries? Yes, it was. A produce market was next-door.  
9.     If Julie needed to go to the doctor, would it be difficult for her to get there? No, it wouldn't. There was a doctor's office across the street.
10.   Was Julie’s neighborhood very quiet? No, it wasn't. (Julie had to escape from all the noise.)
11.   What did Julie enjoy doing in her spare time? She enjoyed reading and gardening.
12.   Was the bathroom busy after Julie finished washing up in the morning? Yes, it was.
12a. Was her building modern? No, it wasn't. It didn't have an elevator, and people in different apartments had to share the bathroom.

Julie's Childhood Home Back in Belgium

     I lived in Chaud-Fontaine, Belgium, before I came to the U.S.  When I was young, I didn’t know it, but we were poor. Our apartment was three floors up, so we got lots of exercise walking up and down the stairs.  My parents had one of the bedrooms, so we all had to share the other. I used to get up really early, so I could use the bathroom before the neighbors did. 
     The building was located in a suburb of Liège, Belgium.  Across the street from us, there was a doctor’s office, and next-door there was a vegetable market. 
     In back of the building, there was a small courtyard (庭 院, patio, внутренний двор). The landlord 男房东, casero, dueño, домовладелец, хозяин) let me plant some flowers back there.  In the summer, I loved to sit on the bench and read. It was nice to escape (逃避…, 回避…, escaparse, evadir, уклоняться) from all the noise.  I also liked living there because my best friend lived on the fifth floor.