My flat

We have a nice flat in a new block of flats. Our flat is on the fourth floor. It has all modern conveniences: central heating, gas, electricity, cold and hot water and a lift. There are three rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a hall in our flat.

The living-room is the largest and most comfortable room in the flat. In the middle of the room we have a square-table with six chairs round it. To the right of the dinner-table there is a wall-unit which has several sections. At the opposite wall there is a piano and a stool in front of it. Between the two large windows there is a little table with a colour TV set on it. Near the TV set there are two cosy armchairs. A small round table, a sofa and a standard lamp are in the left-hand corner. This small table is for newspapers and magazines. My father usually has a rest sitting on this sofa, reading books, newspapers, magazines or watching TV.

The bedroom is smaller than the living-room and not so light as there is only one window in it. In this room there are two beds with a bedside-table between them. An alarm-clock and a small lamp with a pink lamp-shade are on the table. In the left-hand corner there is a dressing-table with a big mirror. In this room we have a built-in wardrobe with coat-hangers to hang clothes on. There is a thick carpet on the floor and plain light-brown curtains on the window.

The third room is my study. It is not large but very cosy.

There isn't much furniture in it, only the most necessary. It has a writing-table and an armchair next to it. In the right-hand corner there is a bookcase full of books, magazines and newspapers. A small table with an audio system is standing in the left-hand corner. Near it there is a sofa with some cushions.

In my opinion, the study is the best room in our flat. But the warmest place in our flat is the kitchen, I think — the place where the whole family gathers every evening not only to have supper together, but also to speak and rest. I like the English proverb: "My home is my castle" because my flat is, indeed, my castle.

Questions:

1. Do you have a house or a flat?

2. How many rooms are there in your flat?

3. Does your flat have all modern conveniences? What are they?

4. What is there in the middle of the room?

5. Is there a piano in the living-room?

6.What is there near the TV set?

7. How many windows are there in the bedroom?

8. What is on the bedside-table?

9. What colour curtains are there on the window?

10. What room is very cosy?

11. Is there much furniture in the study?

12. What is there in the right-hand corner of the study?

13. What is standing in the left-hand corner?

Russian Dachas

Task 1: Look at the definitions of the word dacha and choose the best one:

a) dacha (Russ) is a place to have a rest in summer in the suburbs of the town or city or far from them;

b) dacha (Russ) is a typical place for the Russians to spend their weekends and holidays in their country-side houses;

c) dacha (Russ) is a house of one or two fl oors, usually wooden, located in the country, with a small plot of land to grow fruit trees and vegetables.

Task 2: Read the letter to Mike from his Russian friend Nikita and say what you’ve learned from the history of Russian dachas:

July 14th

Dear Mike,

How are you? It was nice to get your letter yesterday. Now I’m not in Moscow, but at my dacha. You see, every summer my family and I move there. We travel either by car, or by train to the dacha. You may ask me what dacha means, so I’ll explain.

It’s a good tradition in our country to have a country-side house. In many books by great Russian writers (Chekhov, for example), Russian dachas were described. A dacha is a house of one or two floors, usually wooden, located in the country, with a small plot of land to grow fruit trees and vegetables.

My grandfather worked at the machine-building plant. In the 1970s many workers of the plant were given plots of land in the village called Berezkino near the Pakhra River. He built a two-storey house with the help of the workers and planted a few apple trees there. My Dad was a schoolboy those years and he enjoyed staying in the country every summer. Today many dachas have changed. They’re not wooden, but stone-brick, and it’s possible to live there in winter, using

a central heating system.

There is a lot to do while you live there. You can help your parents dig in the garden and plant some vegetables. This year we have some rows of green onions, parsley, carrots and marrows. In August you can pick raspberries from the bushes and my Mum will cook jam from them. My grandfather enjoys going to the forest near the railway station to pick mushrooms, but I don’t like to do it. What I like is fishing at the river and swimming there when it’s hot. I also have a company of friends and we sometimes go cycling or walking, and in the evenings we play cards or chess on the verandah, chat and listen to music. One of my friends, called Misha, plays the guitar. So, I’m never bored there.

Would you like to have a dacha? Where do you go on holiday? What activities do you do?

Best wishes, Nikita

Task 3: Write a reply to Nikita. Answer his questions. Write 100–120 words.

Hints: Mike lives in Oklahoma. He travels to the ocean coast with his family, where they rent a house for two weeks in August. He likes swimming, diving and windsurfing, and his Dad is keen on photography.

Task 4: Speaking

a) Describe your dacha, if you have one. First, speak about your house and then about the garden. If you don’t have one, describe an imaginary dacha.

b) Make a new design for your dacha. What would you like to change there?

c) Speak about what you like doing at your dacha.

d) The village in Nikita’s letter is called Berezkino. How will you explain its name to an American boy? What are the typical Russian names of villages?

e) Make a dialogue with an American friend explaining to him what the word dacha means.

Conversation Questions on House and Home

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show to Student B)

1) Are you a ‘house and home’ person?

2) What’s your favourite thing about your home?

3) What is your dream home?

4) What home improvements would you like to make to your home?

5) Are you happy with the colour scheme and furniture in your home?

6) Would you rather live in a house or an apartment?

7) Do you agree that ‘home is where the heart is’?

8) Do you like being at home alone?

9) What are the differences between a house and a home?

10) Do you like the houses in other countries?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show to Student A)

1) What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘home’?

2) Are you a stay-at-home person or a going-out person?

3) Do you do homework and housework?

4) Do you or would you like to own your own home?

5) Are you house proud?

6) Is there anything you hate about your home?

7) Do you get jealous of other people’s homes?

8) Would you like to work at home?

9) Do you like the location of your home?

10) Would you like to design your own home?