Book 2 Unit 3 Teacher‘s Book

UNIT 3

House and home

I The exterior

A Houses around the world

Summary of task functions &teaching focus

Suggestions for task administration

Houses with different looks—guessing

Pair work

This task can be administered in two sections—pair discussion(approx.10 min.)and class discussion(5 min.).In class discussion, guide ss through each of the pictures, and ask what they think about it.If ss have no ideas, prompt them by asking questions like

1)What material is the house made of? Where in the world can people easily get this material?

2)What kind of natural environment is the house probably in? Which part of the world has this kind of natural environment?

Write ss’ predictions on the board for further comparison when they do the information exchange activity on Page 69.Do not give any answers at this stage, as ss will get these by doing the next task(i.e.“Building homes —reading”)(see Activity 3 for key).

Building homes

1.Reading for gist

Remind ss of the time limit, and tell them to work as quickly as they can.Ask ss to check with a partner after they finish reading, and then nominate one or two ss to report their answers.

Key

Summary:

In past times the kinds of homes people built depended on the climate, the building materials close at hand, and the dangers they faced.However, in modern times these three factors play a lessimportant role in determining the building of people’s homes.2.Reading for information

Tell ss to fill in the table only with key words or phrases.

Key

For Student A:

Table1

Table2

For Student B

Table3

3.Information exchange

Note that this task consists of two parts.The first part is about two ss exchanging information with each other.Tell ss to finish this part within about 15minutes.Remind ss to strictly follow the directions(i.e.use the given sentence patterns)when exchanging information with each other.If necessary, ask three ss to report their answers, one for each table.

Use the following procedures to administer the second part of the task:(1)ss check their answers with the predictions they made in the priming task(i.e.“Houses with different looks”), which have been written on the board,(2)nominate some ss to point out the identified similarities and differences, and(3)comment on ss’ performance, drawing upon the key below.Complete this part of the task within 10 minutes.

Key

Language work

1.Identifying patterns for expressing purposes

Ask ss to do this task individually before checking with a partner.Nominate some ss to report their answers, and then make comments based on the key below.

Key

1)“so that” clause, e.g.In modern times, still we can find such homes where the walls have few, if any, windows, so that the sun cannot shine directly into the house.2)“to-infinitive”, e.g.Houses are still built to resist the effects of climate.3)“to use for”/“to be used for”, e.g.The wood was used for the frame of the house.4)“to use as”/“to be used as”, e.g.The flat roof can be used as a bedroom in the cool night air or as an outside living room.5)“to serve as”, e.g.Part of the roof of the first house served as the front yard of the one above it.6)“to act as”, e.g.The cement acts as the binder that holds them together.Note: More examples can be found in the text for 1), 2)and 3).As for 4), 5)and 6), the examples cited above are the only ones.2.Learning to use patterns for expressing purposes

This task can be assigned as homework.Tell ss that they can do this task by following the procedures below.(1)Look for the common feature of the purpose by carefully examining their answers to the questions using the same pattern.(2)Try to find whatever similarities and differences between the identified common features.(3)Categorize the nature of the purpose and establish its relationship with the patterns.Check ss’ work in the next class, first their answers to the seven questions, and then the identified differences in connotation among the six patterns.

Reference key

1)The courtyard serves as a private place for people to enjoy pleasant outdoor weather.2)To prevent drifting snow from piling up around the doors and windows.3)To be used as a bedroom in the cool night air or as an outside living room.4)They build houses with slightly sloped roofs so that a heavy layer of snow can be stored on the roof, which makes the house warmer, while the slight slope allows the water from the melting snow to trickle away slowly.5)The chopped grass and straw acts as a binder to hold the mud together.6)To make the bricks harder and stronger.7)To prevent the concrete from being pulled apart.2

The purposes expressed by the six patterns can be categorized into two types:(1)The purpose is to prevent something unpleasant from happening, as expressed by “so that” clause, and “to-infinitive”.(2)The purpose is to make use of the property of something for personal benefits, as expressed by the rest of the 4 patterns.Why do the houses look the way they do?—role-play

Pair work

Go through the instruction with ss.When ss are clear about the task, ask them to make pairs.In case there’s a group of three, ask the third student to act as an interpreter.In this case, the tourist should ask questions in Chinese and the guide should answer questions in English.Another alternative is that the tourist speaks English, while the guide speaks Chinese, but this will make the task more difficult.Direct ss in different roles to their worksheets.Allow 5minutes for all ss to read information about the pavilion that they are going to introduce.Allow 10 minutes for each round.

B Chinese folk houses

Summary of task functions &teaching focus

Suggestions for task administration

Folk houses in China—discussion

Group work

Give ss a few minutes to look at the pictures, and fill their answers to the questions in the following table(Give this table to ss before the discussion).

During the discussion, group members take turns reporting their answers to the questions.One of them takes notes and summarizes the answers to each question.Tell ss that it may be difficult for them to reach consensus on which house attracts them most if each follows his/her own criteria for selection.So, before they decide on which is the most attractive house, they need to first work out the criteria for judging the attractiveness of the house.Also tell ss that when reporting the answers to this question, they should first mention their criteria for judgment.Each group sends a representative to report the results of discussion in the class.Try to identify the common answer to each question.

Reference key

A.Inner Mongolia

B.Fujian

C.Guangxi

D.Beijing

E.Anhui

F.Yunnan

G.Shanbei

H.Tibet

Folk houses in Fujian—video watching & reading

1.Video watching

For the first viewing, ss do not have much to write, as they should concentrate on the video instead of the book.For the second viewing, tell ss to focus on details, especially the figures.Remind ss that the outline does not completely correspond to the sequence of information that occurs in the video.

Key

All the topics should be ticked.2

Location: Gaobei village, Yongding County, threehours’drivesouthof Xiamen, Fujian Province

Inhabitants: the Hakka people

History: 300years, construction over 50 years

Shape:round

Diameter: 73metres

Circumference: 1,915metres

Nickname: the kingofearthentowers

Housing capacity: 380 families, 800 people

Function: almost like a smallfortifiedcity

Inner construction: oneouterring, two innerrings around thefamilyclan in the centre

Outer ring:4storey(s)tall with large inner open space

Each floor has72 rooms, serving different functions

1stfloor: as a kitchen

2ndfloor: for storage

3rd floor: as living quarters

4thfloor: as living quarters

an open round hallway in front of the rooms

stairsfrom one level to another

2.More about Fujian Tulou—scanning

As this is a speed reading task, ss do not need to read every word of the text.Ask ss to locate the required information in the text as soon as possible.

Key

Second ring: 2 storey(s)with 80 rooms

Third ring: 1 storey(s)with 32 rooms, served as community library

Centre: ancestral hall surrounded by a circular covered corridor

Language work

Language patterns for describing a house

The task can be assigned as homework.You may ask ss to learn these useful patterns by heart.

Key

1)Type or style

X is atypeof Chinese rural dwellings of the Hakka.2)Location

Three hours’ drive southof X, we come to Y.3)History

a.X was built about300yearsago.b.X is more than 400yearsold.c.Xwere mostly built between the12th and the20thcenturies.4)Shape

a.The building on the stamp is roundinshape.b.The Hakka people designed towers in different shapes—square, rectangular, semi-circular and round.c.X is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earthen building, most commonly rectangular or circularinconfiguration.5)Size

a.The diameter of X is 73 metres, and it hasacircumference around the wall of 1,915 metres.b.The outer ring is 73 metres indiameter.6)Inhabitants

a.X is a type of Chinese rural dwellingoftheHakka.b.The fifteenth generation of Jiang clan with 57 families and 300 people livehere.7)Housing capacity

a.X hasthecapacitytohouse 380 families and up to 800 people canlive in the tower at the same time.b.X is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earthen building…, housing up to 80 families.8)Structure

a.X has one outer ring and two inner rings surrounding the space for the family clan inthecentre.b.It is a massive round tulouwith four concentric rings surrounding an ancestral hall atthecentre.9)Materials

a.They usedlocalmaterialstobuild X where a whole family or clan could live.b.X areformedby compacting earth, mixed with stone, bamboo, wood and other readily available materials.10)Factors considered in construction

a.Inorderto prevent attack from bandits and invaders, they used local materials to build X.b.The Hakka people designed a tower in different shapes…, dependingon the topography and terrain of the local area.11)Function

a.Each floor servesadifferentfunction.The first floor is usedas a kitchen.The second floor, for storage.And the third and the fourth floors, as living quarters.b.X functions almost like a small fortified city.c.The top level of X has gun holes fordefensivepurposes.d.The third ring servedas community library.Interview about Chinese folk houses—interpreting

Role-play

Ask ss to do this in groups of three.In case there is a group of four, one student in the group will act as Chinese-English interpreter for the Chinese professor, and one will act as English-Chinese interpreter for the foreign visitor.Remind the interpreters not to read the conversation.Direct them to the worksheet where they can get some vocabulary help for interpreting.Allow about 15 minutes for each round.

Key(reference for Chinese-English interpretation only):

Round 1

F: Professor Wang, the Chinese folk houses on these pictures look very different.They are certainly of different styles.I wonder which the most common style of residence in China is.C: There are different styles of traditional Chinese folk houses, but the most important and widespread are the courtyard dwellings.And among the courtyard dwellings, the Beijing quadrangles are the most well-known type.This is the house in the first picture.F: This grey house looks quite old.Do the Beijing quadrangles all have a long history?

C: The Beijing quadrangles have enjoyed a history of hundreds of years.They appeared when the Yuan dynasty officially made Beijing the capital.But, many of the existing quadrangles were built in the Qing dynasty.F: Why are they called “siheyuan”? What does that mean?

C: They are called “siheyuan” because they are made up of principal rooms in the north, wing-rooms in the east and west, and reversely-set rooms in the south.They have a rectangular configuration.This configuration has a lot to do with the local climate which is cold, windy and sandy.F: Howdid you call the rooms in the south? It sounds strange.I am not sure what it means.C: They are called “reversely-set rooms”, which are just opposite the principal rooms.The principal rooms are located in the north and face the south, while they are located in the south and face the north.So they are “reversely set”, and also called “the southern rooms”.F: Oh, I see.Do the rooms at each direction have different functions? What are the principal rooms used for?

C: The principal rooms are usually the largest rooms in the house.They are resided by the elder generations.F: So the wingrooms are for the children?

C: Right, the wing-rooms on both sides are place for younger generations.F: What about the reversely-set rooms? I guess they are reserved for the guests, aren’t they?

C: No, the southern rooms are commonly used as living rooms and accountant’s office.F: Are all these rooms at four directions separated or connected?

C: The rooms at four sides of the courtyard are independent.The principal rooms, wingrooms and reversely-set rooms are not combined together, but connected by a covered corridor, which make walking easy for the residents even on rainy or snowy days.The courtyards are generally spacious so that residents can plant trees and flowers or raise fish or birds.F: I really like this open-air space.Such a closed courtyard also provides the residents with privacy.C: Absolutely.The entrance of a quadrangle is usually located at the southeast corner.On entering the quadrangle, there is usually a screen wall, which prevents peeping from outside.So the Beijing quadrangles provide the residents with privacy.In addition, they are spacious, bright, quiet and comfortable for living.Round 2

F: These houses with pitched roofs look very beautiful.What kind of houses are they?Why do they have such a steeply sloped roof, Professor Wang?

C: They are bamboo huts of the Dai people, a type of pile dwelling.They are mostly distributed in Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province.Because of heavy rainfall there, these bamboo huts have a steeply sloped roof of up to 40-50 degrees, which can reduce the impact force of the rainfall to the roof, as well as drain the rainwater.F: Ah, bamboo huts.So they are built with bamboo?

C: Yes.The overall structure is formed by bamboo poles tied together.The stilts that support the hut are also bamboo poles.The walls are made of bamboo strips, the floor is made of bamboo clappers, and the roof is covered with straw.There is also a wooden staircase at one side of the hut.F: I notice that these houses are built on stilts.Why are they built in this way?

C: This is because the climate there is damp and there are plenty of plants with many beasts and snakes.In order to provide better air and light and to guard against beasts and snakes, there are often two floors within the pile dwellings.The lower floor is stilts made of bamboo or wood, and this floor is used for raising domestic animals or storing all kinds of things.F: I see.Sounds interesting!How about the upper floor? How is it structured?

C: The upper floor is the major venue for family activities.Walking up the stairs, you come to the front corridor of the bamboo hut.There are stools and mats there for people to take a rest.The corridor is covered by an extending eave, which serves as a huge sunshade to prevent the front corridor from being overheated.Going ahead from the corridor, you come to the balcony, where people can dry clothes or food.If you go inside from the corridor, you come to the sittingroom and bed-room.F: Is the furniture in the rooms also made of bamboo?

C: There’s little furniture in bamboo huts.People eat and sleep on the bamboo floor.There’s no separation in the bedroom.All family members sleep in one room.C: Hm…so the pile dwelling is natural and simple but full of interesting local features.Round 3

C: The house in the last picture represents another style of folk house, cave dwellings.F: Cave dwellings? Where can I see them in China?

C: Cave dwellings are mainly distributed in northwestern China including Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia.In Mizhi, Shaanxi province, cave dwellings account for nearly 80% of the local residential buildings.F: Why do people there like to live in caves?

C: The dry climate, inconvenient transport and under-developed economy in northwestern China make digging cave dwellings the most convenient and economical method of construction.In addition, the earth in the area is hard enough for digging and building cave dwellings.F: Ah, I see….Now I wonder…how large are these caves?

C: The caves dug into the natural hillside are usually 3-4 metres in length, 2-3 metres in height, 6-9 metres in depth.Inside the cave, people often dig holes of various sizes in the side wall to place furniture or store goods.F: Wow, quite a job!Is one cave for one family?

C: Not necessarily.Sometimes the inner parts of two caves are connected with a tunnel, forming an H shape.One of the caves is used as the main room, and the other is used to store goods.If a family only has one single cave, the cave is then often divided into front and back rooms.F: The cave dwellings are hidden in the earth.They must have problems with lighting, ventilation and draining, don’t they?

C: Yes, they do.However, they have many advantages too.First, they are easy to build at a low cost.Second, they are warm in winter and cool in summer.They are capable of preserving heat and accumulating energy.Moreover, they neither occupy the ground space above nor ruin the ecological environment.All these advantages are helpful to the continuous development of the cave dwelling.F: Professor Wang, thank you so much.I never knew there are so many different styles of traditional house—and what a wonderful introduction to Chinese architectural skills.These houses are not just places to live—they’re more like works of art!

II The interior

Summary of task functions &teaching focus

Suggestions for task administration

Questionnaire on house & home—interview

Pair work

Before this task, tell ss that they should do the following when interacting with their partners:

Explain the reason(s)for conducting the survey, and what the information will be used for(Ss need to invent their own).Inform thepartner how much time it will take for them to complete the questionnaire and impress upon them that they should be honest.Keep your questions simple so that you do not confuse the partner.Be polite and courteous.Remain impartial while the partner answers each question;do not interrupt him/her or interject personal views or opinions, as doing so may skew the results.When the partner has answered all the questions, thank him/her for their time.

Planning the interior—listening & reading

1.What does Lita think? —listening

Before listening, remind ss to pay attention to the language of the interviewer throughout the interview.When listening, play the recordingthrough once for ss to get a general feel of the conversation.Then play a second time or, if necessary, a third time, pausing after each question for ss to write down their answer.After listening, ask ss to check their answers with a partner’s.Then nominate some ss to report their answers to the class.

Key

2.Selecting furniture— reading &interaction

For Activity 1, allow ss about 7 minutes for reading and filling in the table.Tellss that some information may not be given.Just leave the grids blank in those cases.For Activity 2, allow ss about 10 minutes to finish this task.After ss finish the task, nominate one pair to report their answers, and encourage other ss to comment and/or correct when necessary.

Key

For Activity 3, allow ss about 3 minutes for this discussion activity.

Remind ss to relate their discussion to the information given in the passage.Nominate two pairs to report their decisions, one for two or three items.The rest of the class listen carefully and comment on the appropriateness of their decisions, based on the information given in the reading passage.

3.Arranging furniture—listening

To check ss’ understanding of the conversation, draw the diagram on the board, and nominate one student to mark the position of each piece of furniture on it.Ask other ss to comment and correct if necessary.

Key

4.Selecting kitchen and bathroom equipment—listening

This listening task may be done in pairs.When listening, one student takes notes about the selection of kitchen equipment, and the other takes notes about the selection of bathroom equipment.After listening, both may share the notes taken with each other.

Key

Language work

Blank-filling

This task may be done in pairs.Encourage ss to rely on the pictures,rather than on the transcript of the conversation, for appropriate words and phrases.

Key

1)in the middle of, with, against, beside, on either

2)length(wise), in the corner of, head, against, side, against, is saved, only on one

3)in the middle of, takes up

4)length(wise), in the middle of, with, against, beside, only on one

5)between, space enough/enough space/room enough/enough room

6)before, in front of, in, of, blocks

7)behind, too near, in, of, prevents, from

8)between, is/stands in the way of, through

Planning Lita’s living room—interaction

Group work

This task can be continued after class if class time is not enough.Explain to ss the floor plan symbols: Thick-black lines indicate walls;double white lines in the walls indicate windows.Remind ss to justify their planning.After the discussion, each group presents its plan, together with the reasoning behind it, to the whole class, and ss vote to select the best plan, based on the validity of the arguments for the plan.

III Housing

Summary of task functions &teaching focus

Suggestions for task administration

Finding somewhere to live —discussion

Pair work

Guide ss to go through all the suggested ideas for each question during the class discussion.Ask ss to add more ideas to the list if there are any.Put the added items on the board.

Notes

The “grapevine” means personal connections—you go and ask acquaintances and get information through the word of mouth.

Chris is looking for a flat—listening, reading & discussion

1.At the agent’s—listening

After listening, explain to ss the difference between “bed-sitter” and “studio”.

Notes

A bed-sitter, also called bedsit, is a living room that doubles as a bedroom, with access to a shared kitchen and a shared bathroom.A studio is a small flat with one room for living and sleeping in, plus a kitchen, and a bathroom.We can also say a studio flat in British English or a studio apartment in American English.Hence a studio is a small but independent flat while a bed-sitter is just a room in a house share or a hostel.

Key

2.What is available in the paper?—reading&discussion

To save time, first ask ss to scan the text individually, and then work in groups of four to work on the abbreviations, each responsible for six or seven items.Nominate four groups to report their answers, each for six or seven items.Then ask the same groups to work on Chris’s problems, and be prepared to report their results of discussion to the whole class.

Key

Chris should look into the section of “Flats/Rooms Offered”.It seems that there’s no suitable accommodation for Chris, because what is offered in the paper is all “room” instead of “flat” as Chris requires.

3.The web may also help—reading & discussion

Tell ss that there’s no definite answer to this question.The important thing is that they should be able to justify their answer.When evaluating ss’ responses to this question, pay particular attention to the extent to which they make use of the information in the ads.

4.The housing ladder—listening

Ask ss not to worry if they find it difficult to work out the meanings of the words and expressions when doing Activity 1, as they will know what these terms mean after they listen to the conversation.

Key

1)out of one’s price bracket：more than one can afford

2)deposit: the deposit on the mortgage is the money you pay to the seller when you buy your home, maybe from your savings.If the mortgage is 90% of the price of the house, the remaining 10% of the price is called the deposit.3)Mortgage: An amount of money which the bank lends you to pay the home you’re buying.The mortgage might be around 90% of the price of your home.4)repayment: Repayments on a mortgage are the amounts of money that you pay back to the bank every month.5)the housing ladder: You can move to nicer and nicer homes once you own a home, because you can use the increase in the value of your home over time to pay for the deposit on your next home.2

1)He doesn’t think he’ll be able to afford even a small flat.2)Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds is the minimum price of a flat in this area.3)Yes, we can go to a bank or a building society and get a mortgage.4)He would have to get a mortgage that was five, six or seven times his own salary.5)If you own a home, you can use the increase in the value of your home over time to pay for the deposit on your next home—because this will be a very large deposit, it means you can move to a nicer home.

Language work

1.Ways of abbreviating words

Ask ss to do this task individually first, and then check their answers with a partner.

Key

1)Use the first letter of the word

e.g.bathroom b per week  p.w.south-facing  s-facing central heating  CH

2)Use the first few letters of the word

e.g.reception recep original  orig bathroom bath residence  res

kitchen kit accommodation accom

3)Use some of the letters, usually the main consonants

e.g.garden gdn double dble ground floor grnd flr room  rm large lge garage  gge

4)Use an apostrophe(’)to indicate that one or more letters have been left out of a word.e.g.breakfast  b’fast

2.Ad writing

Ss write the ad on their own first, and then read it in groups of three or four.The group discusses how to further improve the ad based on the members’ presentation of their own ads.Each group sends a representative to present the improved ad to the class.And the class may vote for the best ad.

Key

Chris’s ad will be placed in the section of “Flats wanted”.One way to write his ad can be like this:Young man requires a furn.studio, Notting Hill, £300p.w.max.Call Chris 7973215575

Renting vs buying—discussion &writing

Assign the writing part of this task as homework.

Ss may draw on the following ideas during the discussion.