Topic 3. Homes and buildings

1. Work with a partner. Ask and answer questions about your home. Use the phrases below to help you.

Where is it? It’s in the city centre/ by the river …

Is your house big? Does it have a garden?

What’s it like? It’s new/ small …

How many rooms have you got? There are …

2. Do you like your home? Why (not)? What would you like to change?

3. Put the words in the box into three groups: rooms, furniture, equipment.

armchair bathroom bedroom bookcase carpet chair cooker curtains cupboard desk dining room dishwasher fridge hall kitchen living room shower sofa study table wardrobe

4. Think about where you would like to live. Work with a partner. Put the following in order of importance, compare your ideas.

The place should have: It should be:

• large bedrooms - in a quiet road

• a balcony - near a supermarket

• modern furniture - in a central location

• a garden - near public transport

• a large kitchen - near restaurants

5. a) Read the text and write down positive and negative things about the flat.

I live in a block of flats. I live on the ground floor, and my brother has a flat on the third floor. Unfortunately, there is no lift, so he climbs three flights of stairs to reach his flat. But he has a balcony with a wonderful view of the park opposite the flats.

My rooms on the ground floor are quite dark because they don’t get very much sun. They are also quite noisy because they are near the roads and the traffic. The other negative thing is that the rooms are draughty. This means it is expensive to heat the rooms. Fortunately I have a very good central heating system. In other ways, it is also very nice: it’s in good condition, and the rooms are huge. I have a modern kitchen, nice and clean with a lot of cupboards. There’s a washing machine, a fridge and a cooker, but there isn’t a dishwasher.

2. Find the words in the text which mean the opposite. Which of these words describe your home?

light - in bad condition -

quiet - tiny -

stuffy - old-fashioned -

cheap - dirty -

6. A) Read the text and complete the sentence.

This text is about …………………………………………………………………………

More than half British families own their homes (houses or flats). Others live in council accommodation and some people rent from private owners. There are three main types of houses in Britain: a) detached; b) semi-detached; c) terraced. A detached house is the most expensive type of home. It stands on its own land and is not attached to another building. Such houses have privacy from neighbours, and they are ideal for keen gardeners who can devote plenty of time to work in their garden. A semi-detached house is joined to the house next door by a shared wall. A house of this kind is less expensive than a detached house, but still offers a good standard of privacy and comfort. It usually has a small garden at the front and a larger garden at the back. A terraced house is usually two- or three-storeys high. It is one of a continuous row of similar houses, joined together by their side walls. A terraced house usually costs less than a semi-detached or detached house of similar size. There are miles of terraced houses in most towns. Over a quarter of British families live in them.

There are also other types of buildings in which people live: d) apartment blocks; e) bungalows; f) country cottages. Bungalows are one-storey houses which are popular with older people. Apartment blocks – are high-rise blocks of flats which provide accommodation for a lot of city dwellers. But these buildings are not very popular. About 20% of the population live in flats. There are more flats in cities than in rural areas. Most people in Britain traditionally like to live in houses.

When people buy a house or a flat in Britain, they usually borrow money from a bank or an organization called a Building Society. This money, which is called a mortgage, is often paid back over 25 years. Other people rent a house or flat. When they do this, the money they pay is called the rent, and the person who owns the house or flat is the landlord.