Danny Bhoy on Breakfast

A bit of Scottish stand-up comedy...

Council Housing

BEFORE WATCHING:

1. Are there any housing problems in your area? Which?
2. Which social groups are the most affected?
3. Can you give any specific examples? (homeless/squatters etc and their whereabouts).
4. Can you describe the conditions in which these people live?

WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO ABOUT HOUSING PROBLEMS IN THE UK AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS:

1. Describe Frances and Mandy’s home:

___________________________________________

2. Their health problems: The child’s _______________________

His parents’_________________________

3. Frances puts the problem down to __________________, and thinks they are also responsible for _________________________

4. From the information they give us on the screen we learn that:

Priority over houses is given to immigrants who _________________

The regulation for immigrants also applies for    _________________

5. The numbers last year:

________________ new dwellings were built for social needs

________________ people are still on the social housing waiting lists

6. The government hasn’t come up with either __________________ or with ________________ to build more social houses.

  

DEBATE:

A decent house is a basic need and a right for everyone.

Find ways of fighting the problem of homelessness. Choose the best.

Childcare fees higher than housing costs in UK

Read about this report and watch a video on BBC News and answer the following questions:

1. RAISING CHILDREN: How can parents make savings? Complete this table:

	Savings	Easy or difficult (and why)
Education
Food
Toys
Going out
Childcare
Entertainment

2. EXPENSES:Rank these. Put the things kids can most do without at the top.

• sports equipment   • mobile phone   • brand clothes   • candy and soda

• video games   • music   • club activities   • parties

3. LANGUAGE CLOZE

Families in the U.K. now pay more on childcare than on their mortgage. The (1) ____ costs of raising children are now (2) ____ yearly housing loan repayments. This is according to a survey conducted by Britain's Family and Childcare Trust. The organization says that in some (3) ____ of the country, nursery fees have risen by 13 per cent in the past year. The cost for babysitters and child-minders has risen by an average of four per cent. The report's author Jill Rutter told the Nursery World website that her (4) ____ showed that childcare in the U.K. is becoming (5) ____ and less affordable for families. She also said an insufficient (6) ____ of places in nurseries shows the U.K.'s system isn't working.

The report could well make would-be parents think (7) ____ about starting a family, or about the number of children they have. A family of four with one child (8) ____ a nursery and another in an after-school club spends an average of $12,571 a year. This compares to the average yearly housing loan payments of $12,000. Families are now spending (9) ____ quarter of their income on childcare. This does not include the costs of (10) ____, clothing and entertaining children. There are also the costs of toys, books and electronic gadgets on (11) ____ of that. The chief executive of the Trust warned that when many parents have to spend more than a quarter of their income on childcare, it's clear that the system "isn't fit for (12) ____ ".

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	annulled	(b)	analysis	(c)	annual	(d)	annul
2.	(a)	outstripping	(b)	outstanding	(c)	outsourcing	(d)	outstaying
3.	(a)	parties	(b)	parts	(c)	partners	(d)	departs
4.	(a)	proof	(b)	doodles	(c)	scribbles	(d)	findings
5.	(a)	fewer	(b)	smaller	(c)	less	(d)	lower
6.	(a)	palette	(b)	number	(c)	criteria	(d)	flow
7.	(a)	twice	(b)	too	(c)	few	(d)	second
8.	(a)	attendant	(b)	attends	(c)	attendance	(d)	attending
9.	(a)	the	(b)	two	(c)	a	(d)	full
10.	(a)	foodstuffs	(b)	foodies	(c)	fodder	(d)	feeding
11.	(a)	place	(b)	top	(c)	list	(d)	demand
12.	(a)	purpose	(b)	reason	(c)	excuse	(d)	rationale

Read more:http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1403/140306-childcare.html#ixzz2xZChacIu

Cultural Awareness

Here you have some fun adverts from a bank to see the importance of cultural awareness.


Never underestimate the importance of local knowledge!

Useful vocab: get some some shut eye --- be frowned upon


The one with the eels in China:

The one with the commuter:

The one with the chrysanthemum in Italy:

Housing Vocab and Listening

Some LISTENING EXERCISES for you to practice:

1. Housing (you can find extra listening in the Follow-up section)

2. Homes and mortgages (More exercises can be found at the bottom of the page)

How clean is your house?

Watch again (if you're strong enough) the first part of the show HOW CLEAN IS YOUR HOUSE?

To find out how he learn to clean watch PART 2

Finally, watch the results in PART 3

A history of British homes

From the first Georgian townhouses to back-to-back Victorian terraces - and from 1960s towerblocks to sprawling modern estates - British homes have changed their shapes and sizes, and changed with the times, through the past 250 years.

Read more and watch the video of this exhibition here.

After that, surf the net for more related videos and articles.

Travelling - Listening practice

A vocabulary lesson on TRAVEL

Other listening and vocabulary exercises:
1. Utah Travel Ad
2. Hotel Check-In
3. Airport Announcement
4. Travel Log

Managing Diversity

Here you have an online Listening Exercise by the British Council.

Managing Diversity

Listen to an Interview on how companies manage diversity, then do Task 1 for General Comprehension Task 2 for Specific.

You can check your answers online and download both the transcript and the podcast.

And when you finish... Why not surfing the web to look for more?

Fawlty Towers

Watch some clips from Fawlty Towers, the best British sitcom ever.

The Language Lesson


The speaking moose


And finally, a customer with some complaints

Great Places to Look for Listening Exercises

1. ESL Cyber Listening Lab, with quizzes that are divided into Easy, Medium and Difficult. Each quiz comes with a pre-listening activity, a multiple-choice quiz based on the listening and post-listening activities that include vocabulary exercises.

2. Newsy, featuring short news segments across a variety of topics from business to entertainment, international to US news. Each video is posted with a transcript of the news report.

3. Voice of America News, a multimedia platform that delivers news to English learners across the globe. The site features MP3 audio and video that are public domain, which means you may download them. Each video is less than three minutes long and comes with subtitles.

4. Talk English, has listening lessons for Basic, Intermediate and Advanced students.You have the possibility to listen to a conversation, complete a multiple choice quiz and read a script of the audio.

5. Elllo provides a wealth of listening exercises in video or audio format. You can sort search results by level, topic, country or media (games, audio or video). All of the exercises come with vocabulary lists, additional exercises or quizzes, as well as download links. Unlike the other websites, this one includes audio with English speakers of different nationalities.



Adapted from busyteacher.org

The art of choosing

Watch the first 2'45'' of this TED talk about choice. The first part is about an anecdote related to cultural differences. Then answer the following questions.

)

1.    Where did the story take place?

2.    What did she want?

3.    What did she get? Why?

4.    What would have happened if she was in the USA?

OVER TO YOU NOW...

1.    What would happen in your country?

2.    What choices do you make every day?

3.    Have you ever made a difficult choice?

4.    What don't you have a choice in?

5.      What would you prefer?

For full transcript go to the TED talks page.

U.N. ‘very sorry’ as Syria talks end in failure

News from 18th February, 2014


Read the news at the Japan Times, at Dawn.com and The News.com.

Key words and expressions: Peace envoy, to reach a deal, death toll, warring parties, break-off, breakdown, setback, regime, to undermine, to baulk, besieged city, stalemate, to chastise...

LANGUAGE - CLOZE

The man in (1) ____ of the Syrian peace talks has apologised to the Syrian people. Lakhdar Brahimi is the United Nations' peace envoy to Syria. His job was to help the two sides in Syria's civil war (2) ____ peace. Syria's government and Syrian rebel leaders are in Geneva to try and find a way to end the war. It is the second time they have sat (3) ____ together. There are many difficult problems to discuss. The Syrian people are hoping the two sides can reach a (4) ____. They are tired of the fighting. More than 140,000 have died in the three-year war and three million need humanitarian (5) ____. Mr Brahimi said: "I'm very, very sorry. I think it is better that every side goes back and (6) ____, and accepts their responsibility."

The two sides in Syria's peace talks ended their discussions being (7) ____ with each other. Mr Brahimi asked them if they really wanted the peace talks to continue or (8) ____. They did not set a date for future talks. The UK's Foreign Secretary William Hague said the (9) ____ of the talks was very sad. He said it was "a serious setback in the search for peace in Syria". Syria's opposition leader (10) ____ Syria's government for the failure of the talks. He said: "The regime is not serious….I'm very sorry to say there is (11) ____ positive we can take from this." Syria's government team said the talks failed because the opposition people were "amateurs". Mr Brahimi was still hopeful and said: "I very (12) ____ hope there will be a third round."

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	change	(b)	char	(c)	charge	(d)	chore
2.	(a)	make	(b)	take	(c)	fake	(d)	sake
3.	(a)	down	(b)	in on	(c)	in	(d)	on
4.	(a)	deal	(b)	seal	(c)	real	(d)	meal
5.	(a)	stuff	(b)	aid	(c)	assist	(d)	tents
6.	(a)	pictures	(b)	images	(c)	mirrors	(d)	reflects
7.	(a)	be	(b)	were	(c)	being	(d)	was
8.	(a)	non	(b)	no	(c)	never	(d)	not
9.	(a)	breakdown	(b)	accident	(c)	stall	(d)	obstacle
10.	(a)	said	(b)	blamed	(c)	pointed	(d)	apologised
11.	(a)	not	(b)	nothing	(c)	never	(d)	none
12.	(a)	many	(b)	most	(c)	much	(d)	more

Read more:http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1402/140218-syria-peace-talks.html#ixzz2uzJBiOQD