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

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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.

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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 (陡 的, 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 (帮, 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. (帮, 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.

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.

Pictures from Spain and France

Here are pictures I took in Spain and France.  I used them to make YouTube videos.

           In the bottom right corner of the video, click on the cog (轮齿, diente, зубча́тое колесо́) and choose 'HD'. Also, click on the larger rectangle to enlarge the picture.(You can also choose FULL SCREEN, but you need a VERY fast Internet connection.)
Spain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD_9KvgzdwI

Southern France:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ia6yX5dYigg