Listening practice on your Home town

1. English for life
Listening
Unit 2
Your hometown

2. • Discussion questions – Your hometown / Rotherham (10 mins)
• Useful vocabulary – British vs American English (5 mins)
• Listening practice 1 – True or false questions (5 mins)
• Listening practice 1 – Sentence completion activities (5 mins)
• Language highlight – Enthusiastic language and its uses (5 mins)
• Language highlight – Useful verbs / definition matching (5 mins)
• Using the passive grammar presentation (10 mins)
• Discussion questions – countryside vs the city (10 mins)
• Listening practice 2 – Comprehension questions (5 mins)
• Listening practice 2 – Sentence completion questions (10 mins)
• Fun facts about the Lake District quiz (10 mins)
• Language focus – Past and future tenses (10 mins)
• Short presentation – Using ish (5 mins)
• Vocabulary related to the countryside (5 mins) 95
• Describing photos (discussion) 5 mins
• Describing photos practice - 3 photos each (10 mins)

3. •How would you describe your hometown (or village, city,
or area where you live)?
•If asked to introduce the place where you live, would you
focus on the landscape, the people, the atmosphere?
•What do you miss most from your hometown apart from
the people?
•What does Rotherham have that is better than your
hometown?

4. ? ?
? ?
? ?

5. A 'surface street' in US English is a
standard local road.
The term is used to differentiate this type
of road from 'a freeway' and not, as you
might guess, as a comparison with travelling
underground.

6. Tonya talks about the 'railroad' in Atlanta.
Note these US/UK differences in transport vocabulary UK
US UK US UK
railroad railway freeway /
highway
motorway
track (in the
station)
platform gas / gasoline petrol
sidewalk pavement (traffic) circle roundabout
pavement tarmac intersection junction
parking lot car park divided
highway
dual
carriageway

7. (A)Tonya lives in Georgia in the American South. In this recording, she talks about
her hometown - the city of Atlanta.
Read through the statements below and then play the recording through once.
Are the statements true or false?
True False
1. Atlanta is no longer a 'green' city as many trees
have been cut down.
2. A large proportion of Atlanta's population has
moved to Atlanta - they were not born there.
3. The rail system is very well used in Atlanta.
4. Tonya drives to work every day.

8. (2) Now listen again, pause the recording as necessary and fill in the gaps in these
sentences.
1. Atlanta, Georgia is a .........................................city.
2. In Atlanta I think we've done a ................................... of
maintaining the greenery in our city.
3. It is a ................................................city.
4. We're a city of transplants, which makes us ....................
diverse.
5. I know a few people who ..................................... into work.
6. So we've .................. do something about transportation.
great job
really great
forward-thinking
culturally
will take the rail
gotta
(got to)

9. Tonya says: "Something that we're really good at in the States is,
when a city is being developed, taking all the trees out - just
bulldozing them.'
Although she says they're 'really good at it, is Tonya proud of this?
Or is she being ironic?
Also note her use of great-'a great job', and 'a really great city'.
How do you respond to hearing such language?
Note that in some cultures, overusing (or underusing) such
enthusiastic language can have a negative impact on conversation.
Think about what level is appropriate where you live.
Do you use enough enthusiastic language? Do you use too much?

10. (3) Match the words taken from the recording (on the left) with the word or phrase
that has a similar meaning (on the right).
1. develop a can't manage without
2. maintain b. varied
3. rely on c. expand
4. diverse d. keep
5. drive to and from e. use
6. utilize f. commute
c
d
a
b
f
e

12. Using the passive
We form the passive with the verb to be and the past participle
Present simple : The price includes meals.
Present simple : Meals are included in the price.
Present continuous : Police are interviewing a man.
Present continuous : A man is being interviewed by police.
Past simple : He caused the problem.
Past simple : The problem was caused by him.
Present perfect : They have sold all the tickets.
Present perfect : All the tickets have been sold.

13. We use the active or the passive depending on what is the
main topic we are talking about or what we are most
interested in.
We use the active if the subject of the verb is the main
topic, and the passive if the subject of the sentence is
not the subject of the verb because the subject of the
verb is not important or not known:

14. Lions live in parts of Africa and southern Asia. They belong to
the cat family. Lions are hunted and killed in some places. They
can be seen in many zoos.
Here, the topic is 'lions’
'Lions' is the subject of 'live' and 'belong, and so those verbs
are active.
'Lions' is not the subject of 'hunted', 'killed' or 'seen'- other
people hunt, kill and see lions - and so those verbs are passive.

15. Crime report
Complete this conversation in a police station by putting in the
correct active and passive verbs in the box.
will be
seen
ran will be
found
will help appeared was
grabbed
will throw will be
written
took has
happened
contained was being
served
will be
asked
might
remember
wasn't
seen
has been
stolen
am being
robbed
will be
returned

16. WOMAN: Can you help me? My bag has been stolen. Someone
(1)...... …………….. it while I was in a shop. I (2)......................…………...........
by an assistant and suddenly it (3) ............………………...... by someone. I
shouted 'l (4) .....................………...........…. but it was too late.
OFFICER: OK. Can you wait here? In a few minutes you
(5)................................by one of my colleagues. You (6) .......…....................
to give a description of this person and a report (7)..............................
WOMAN: I don't know what he looked like and the incident
(8) ..............………………. by anyone else. The thief simply (9) ………………....
and then he (10) ....................... away.
took was being served
was grabbed
‘m being robbed
will be seen will be asked
will be written
wasn’t seen appeared
ran

17. OFFICER: OK. My colleague (11) .....………………... you and you
(12) ...................………….................more than you think.
WOMAN: I hope so. It's very important. My bag
(13)................................... my passport but no money. Perhaps the thief
(14)............................ it away and it (15)......................................... by
somebody
OFFICER: Yes, it's possible that it (16).......................................... to
you by a member of the public. That kind of thing
(17)....................................before.
will help
might remember
contained
will throw will be found
will be returned
has happened

18. Clear usage: present passive continuous
Note how Tonya uses the passive continuous form of the
present tense to describe what is being done currently:
When a city is being developed' = When they are
developing the city (active form)
Some other examples:
•Trees are being cut down.
•Houses are being bulldozed.
•A transport system is being utilized.
•Shops are being closed.

19. •What are the differences between
living in a city and the countryside?
•Which is better for young people the
countryside or the side? Why?
•Would you ever live in a capital city like
London? Why / Why not?
•What are the benefits to living in a
remote place far away from other
people?

20. (B)Alex, who also featured in unit 1, lives in the countryside near London.
In this recording, he talks about where he lives.
Read the general comprehension questions below.
Then play the recording through once and answer the questions.
1. What kind of place does Alex live in?
2. Which part of England does Alex say he lives in?
3. Where would Alex ideally like to live?
4. How long does it take him to drive into London?
A village
The south of England
The middle of nowhere
About an hour

22. Although there are 16 listed names of
bodies of water in the Lake District,
only ____ could be technically
classed as a lake / lakes.
Bassenthwaite Lake, situated in the
north of the region near Keswick, is
the only one that is actually a lake.
one

23. Windermere Holds a Lot of Water
Whilst it is true that Windermere is the biggest body
of water in England, it is a more interesting fact that it
holds an incredible ________ billion litres of water.
300

24. Pencils Were Invented in the Lake District
The graphite mine at Seathwaite
provided the natural resource required
to make the very first pencil and the
history of this humble item of
stationery is charted at the Pencil
Museum in Keswick.
The museum has the longest colouring
pencil in the world.
The yellow pencil was completed in May
2001, weighing __________ kg and is a
practically unusable 7.9 metres long.
446

25. A famous dessert was invented here
Which of these famous British desserts was invented
here?
Sticky toffee pudding

26. A famous character was creased here
Which of these famous children’s characters was
created in the Lake district.

27. Alex mentions 'the Lake District'. The Lake District is a national
park in the north west of England to the north of the city of
Manchester.
The Lake District covers an area of 2,292 square kilometres or 885
square miles and is known for its beautiful mountains and lakes.
Tourists visit the Lake District in large numbers to enjoy activities
such as hiking, bird watching and fishing.
Many people also visit the area simply to enjoy the beautiful
scenery.

28. (2) Now listen again and complete the phrases.
1. I live with my family - wife and two kids in a ........................................
2. so you wouldn't really call it, kind of, ....................................................
3. There is a large amount of common land and ...................... that you can go in.
4. You would never feel that you were in the .............................................................,
as you might do if you were in Scotland.
5. We've never, I suppose, had the ............................................. or the jobs to
allow us to, kind of make that break.
6. The great thing about ............................................................... is we can ...
7. I drive into the sort of West London which ................................................. you
know, about an hour.
8. Or you can drive ........................………………………….…………...... and be in the centre
of London in half an hour.
village
countryside proper
woodlands
middle of nowhere
courage
where we are now
takes about
to the train station

29. Clear usage: talking about the past and the future
Notice the language Alex uses to focus on where he has lived:
•That's always where I've lived.'
•"I've always lived around that area.'
•'We've never had the courage to make that break.'
and where he would like to live:
•'We'd probably quite like to live in the middle of nowhere."
•Where have you lived and where would you like to live?

30. (3) Which of these statements best describes Alex's attitude to where he lives near
London? Can you explain why he feels the way he does?
1. He hates it.
2. He loves it.
3. It is not convenient for his work in London.
4. It is not where he would live if he had free choice.

31. Alex says that he lives in a 'largish village'. 'Largish' means 'quite
large’.
Note that '-ish' is sometime added to some other adjectives in
everyday informal English to replace quite or fairly. but be careful
about using it because many speakers of English do not really like it!
They find it too casual and informal.
It is a smallish community.
She has beautiful, long, reddish hair.
They said the exam was easyish but let's see how the results look.

32. (4) Match the word taken from the recording (on the left) with the word or phrase
that has a similar meaning (on the right).
1 village a. bravery
2 middle of nowhere b. choice
3 decision c. very small town
4 rural d. countryside
5 location e. very remote
place
6 courage f. place
c
e
b
d
f
a

33. COBUILD CHECK: town and country
•He grew up in Chicago's western suburbs.
•The street where she lived was on the outskirts of the city.
•Most will probably wish to get out of this busy urban sprawl into
the hills or to smaller coastal villages
•The speed limit in built-up areas is 60 km per hour.
•The buildings in the inner city tend to be high density.

35. This picture shows ....
In this photo I can see.....
Introducing the photo
They are sitting in a café, in the city, in the mountains… Talk about the place:
On the right, on the left, in the middle of the photo, in the
background, next to, behind, in front of...
Describe position:
They are in their twenties, they are about twenty... Describe people's age:
They are wearing... (use one or two adjectives to describe the
clothes: pattern, colour, material...)
Describe people's
clothes:
They are reading the newspaper, cooking…
Describe people's actions:
He is probably a waiter, a student... Describe people's roles:
He seems sad, frightened, happy... Describe people's
feelings:
In my opinion the photo is very funny, sad, interesting... Your opinion:

36. Describing photos practice
• Listen to your partner describing the photos.
• As they talk think about two things your can ask them
related to the photo.
• It could be a specific question for example how many
people are in the photo?
• It could also be a general question such as do you
enjoying listening to music? (If the photo is someone
playing music)

43. Now, it’s your turn
• Think about your hometown.
• Note down some details about it.
• You are going to try and talk about it for ONE
minute.
• You partner will listen to you and ask TWO follow
up questions.
• Then you will change roles and repeat.

45. • Look at the table on the following slide.
• For each box there are two items.
• The items have something in common.
• Make a passive sentence using the two items to win the
square.
• For example
• ____ and ____ are made of _____.
• ____ and ____ are used by/to _____.
• ____ and ____ are found in _____.
• ____ and ____ are played with _____.
• ____ and ____ are grown in _____.

46. Penguins and
polar bears
Coffee and
cotton
Tennis and
squash
Lions and
tigers
Shower caps
and credit
cards
Shoes and
socks
Presents and
greeting
cards
Hats and
caps
Bottle
openers and
corkscrews
Glass and
sand
Paints and
brushes
Eggs and
flour
Stamps
and pens
Newspapers
and
magazines
Forks and
coins
Living rooms
and
bedrooms