Listening to BBC. Учебное пособие по аудированию для студентов неязыковых факультетов

Homesickness

until the cows come home — for a very long time on the house — given away free

to bring the house down — to excite the audience

to bring home to somebody — to cause somebody to realize something to bring home the bacon — to earn money to live on

at home in something– to know a lot about something

to be home and dry — to have completed something successfully to feel at home — to feel relaxed and comfortable

make yourself at home — do what you need to do to feel relaxed and comfortable

home from home — a place that is as pleasant and comfortable as your own home

1.The business started out ________.

2.Whenever I came to the city, their place was like a _________.

3.He is equally _________ in history and sociology.

4.Come in and __________.

5.She stays at home looking after the kids, while her husband _______.

6.The drinks are _________.

7.We can talk about the problem ________, but it won’t solve anything. Let’s get down to business instead.

8.She really _________with her new play.

9.I have got one more report to write and I’ll soon ________.

10.It is her first day in the office and everybody tries to _________.

4. Listen to the programme again and answer the following questions.

1.What percentage of students experience homesickness in their early days at university?

2.If you are homesick, how does it feel?

3.What do people usually miss when they move to a foreign country?

4.What would you miss if you lived abroad?

5.What can extreme homesickness lead to?

6.What can you do to cope with the problem of homesickness?

7.How can modern technology help people combat homesickness?

5. What do you think?

A recent survey has shown that students are among those affected most by this problem. The University of Cambridge says contributing factors include: distance from home, a sense of anticlimax, work overload, family difficulties and the contrast in lifestyle. It recommends:

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Part I. Different people. Different places

yTalking to someone — friends or a counsellor.

yKeeping in touch with those left behind.

yEncouraging friends and family to visit.

yAccepting that you are homesick.

yRealism about expectations from student life.

yGetting help with organising time.

yGetting enough food and sleep.

yMaking friends through sports or societies.

yGiving yourself time to adjust.

How effective are these ways of combating homesickness in your opinion? What advice would you give?

6. Here is a selection of different comments on homesickness.

With a partner, choose a situation and roleplay the conversation between a person suffering extreme homesickness and a friend/ a counsellor/ a psychologist.

When the homesickness hits I usually get lazy and tired and just feel like going home and sleeping. I miss the safety of my family and the comfort of home but most of all I miss my mother and just being able to talk to her whenever I want. The homesickness usually hits when I feel out of place, or when I hear a song, or see something that reminds me of them. Usually when I Skype them it makes me feel worse because I can see them and talk to them but I can’t be with them.

Lara Wyatt, 20, Boston

I am one of those exchange students who never came home. Left Sydney at age 17, married a Frenchman, moved to London and now Berlin. As an exchange student homesickness is short lived and you can go home at the end. As an expat who has been away too long, going “home” is an elusive dream. The “home” you left is now in the past, things have changed and people have moved on and you find yourself a foreigner both at home and away.

Edwina Dunn, Berlin, Germany

Despite the fact that I am 42 years old and have significant life experience, I suffer with crippling homesickness. I find it extraordinarily difficult to leave home. The prospect of going on holiday fills me with dread. My long suffering husband recently cancelled a weekend away in Amsterdam (bought as a surprise birthday gift for me), as I couldn’t bring myself to leave home. I have friends and family who adore travelling/spending time away which

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Homesickness

makes my problem seem all the more ridiculous. It was extremely reassuring reading that others also suffer with homesickness, and that I am not alone with this feeling.

Martha, Canterbury, UK

I suffered severe homesickness as a child, a teenager and a young adult. I remember feeling homesick on my (first) honeymoon. As a teenager, I went on guide camp where my mum was one of the leaders, but I was still homesick! Homesickness prevented me eating when away and I was always counting the days until I could be back home. As a mature adult, I like to go away on holiday, but rarely go abroad, and am happy to be at home. Although I have lived in MK for 14 years and am happy here, I do still miss South London/Surrey which is where I lived until I moved to MK.

Gillian Bull Mott, Milton Keynes, UK

I have lived in Pakistan for 5 years and have had attacks of homesickness from time to time. I was once nearly in tears describing the Battle of Britain to my language teacher. Skype and Facebook are great tools for feeling you are still involved with friends back home.

Andrew, Lahore, Pakistan

I’m originally from Northern Ireland but I’ve been living in England for Uni and work on and off for about 6 years. When I first moved over to go to Uni I didn’t even consider homesickness because I thought it wouldn’t be that different because I’d still be in the UK. I couldn’t believe how rotten it felt whenever I’d get homesick. I’ve gotten better at dealing with it but it still hits me sometimes. A lot of it is just wanting to be able to see family and friends from home when I’m down or having a rough time. There’s lots of random things too: I miss people being able to understand my accent and say my name (something most English people seem to be bizarrely incapable of!); the sense of humour and food!

Michaela, London

7. Here is a list of quotations about home. Discuss them with your partner to find out what they all have in common. Choose one quotation that you like most of all and comment on it. What is home for you? Give your own definition of home.

1. “Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a

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Part I. Different people. Different places

moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.” — Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye.

2.“Home is people. Not a place. If you go back there after the people are gone, then all you can see is what is not there any more.” — Robin Hobb,

Fool’s Fate.

3.“The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

4.“Home is everything you can walk to.” — Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl.

5.“Home is anywhere that you know all your friends and all your enemies.” — Orson Scott Card, Hart’s Hope.

6.“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” — George Augustus Moore, The Brook Kerith.

7.“I had spent my whole life feeling homesick. The only difference between the two of us was that I didn’t know what or where home was.” — Marian Keyes, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married.

8.“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” — Edith Sitwell.

9.“Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defence, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule.” — Frederick W. Robertson.

10.“One’s home is like a delicious piece of pie you order in a restaurant on a country road one cosy evening — the best piece of pie you have ever eaten in your life — and can never find again. After you leave home, you may find yourself feeling homesick, even if you have a new home that has nicer wallpaper and a more efficient dishwasher than the home in which you grew up.” — Lemony Snicket.

11.“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.” — John Ed Pearce.

12.“You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it’s all right.” — Maya Angelou.

13.“Home is not where you live but where they understand you.” — Christian Morgenstern.

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Going where the work is

Going where the work is1

You are going to listen to a programme about global migration — the movement of people around the world and particularly those who are moving abroad to look for new work. Before you listen, check you understand the following words and word combinations associated with the topic.

Vocabulary

global migration — the movement of people around the world

to emigrate — leave your home country to permanently live somewhere else economic migrants — people who go to work in another country because

there is better work and/or pay

a brain drain — a situation in which many educated or professional people leave a particular place or profession and move to another one that gives them better pay or living conditions

brain gain — an increase in the number of highly trained, foreign-born professionals entering a country to live and work where greater opportunities are offered.

overqualified — having too much training and knowledge for the job you are doing

remittance — an amount of money that is sent to someone

to uproot — (in this context) to leave your home and move somewhere else the streets are paved with gold — (an idiomatic description of) a place

where people think they will easily become rich

challenge — a difficult task or problem; something that is hard to do

to benefit somebody — to be useful or helpful to (someone or something)

1. Discuss the following statements and decide if they are true or false. Listen to the programme and check your answers.

1.Qatar has the largest number of immigrants as a percentage of its national population.

2.Around 214 million people are international migrants — people living and working in a different country from the one in which they were born.

3.There is a demand for dentists, doctors and nurses in countries like Norway.

1 See Appendix Transcript 1.4 Going where the work is. P. 111. URL: http://www.bbc. co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2013/08/130822_6min_global_migration.shtml.

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Part I. Different people. Different places

4.In countries that have been affected by the financial crisis, such as Ireland and Greece, there is a need for accountants.

5.People in healthcare often move abroad to places like the UK and Australia.

6.Countries such as Brazil and France are on the lookout for accountants.

7.The official figures show that in 2012 $US400bn was being sent back to developing countries.

8.Immigrants in the USA make up around 40 % of the population.

2.Recall the situations in which the words and word combinations from the list are used in the programme. Use them in a short story of your own.

3.Complete the following sentences using words and word combinations from the programme.

1.Some critics say that the tax cuts only ______ wealthy people.

2.If he starts this project he will face the greatest ______ of his career.

3.This huge investment would result in a _______in Russia’s academic community.

4.It must be hard for people ________ — or move from their home and leave the family behind and go overseas.

5.______ are seen as an important source of funds for economic development.

6.Something must be done to stop ________ as more and more doctors move away from the country.

4. Read the stories of six professionals who have made the move to another country and answer the following question.

1.Where and when did they move?

2.What they do?

3.What was difficult at the beginning?

4.What do they like / dislike about living and working in another country?

“I moved to the US in 2006. The US is well known for its advanced technologies and many breakthroughs in science and medical research. Nurses are more independent and are listened to by doctors. I was shocked to hear nurses call doctors by their first names. Our culture doesn’t allow us to do that. It took me maybe a year to get used to it. But I love the way working relationships are more casual here.

It’s like living a dream life here. I love my job. We just bought a house. We can travel when we want to. We spend the money we work hard for. We provide

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Going where the work is

good education for our children. We are able to help our families in the Philippines if needs be. Life is more meaningful that way.”

Rebecca, a Philippine nurse in the USA

“I’m of Indian origin; I grew up in London and graduated as a doctor there. After working at several London-based hospitals, I decided to make the leap and moved to Mumbai in 2008. It’s a reverse migration trend where people move back to India from overseas.

India’s healthcare market is at a very interesting point. It’s opening up; people can afford more; people want quality healthcare at an affordable price. It’s exciting.

But of course, there’s also a reverse culture shock. Things are very ordered, very structured in the UK, whereas in India, it’s almost like a controlled version of chaos.

Marcus, a British doctor in India

“During the recruitment process, they asked me if I could tolerate cold weather conditions. I have no problem with that as I come from north Vietnam and lived in South Korea, which has very cold weather, for four years.

I have been really impressed by this country’s equality principles.

The working culture in Norway is very flexible. You are required to be at work from 9am to 3pm. But you can start the day as early as 7am and leave early, as long as you work 7.5 hours per day. The unions here are very strong. They negotiate the salary for you. The salary is automatically updated every year to reflect the inflation rate.

It’s very easy to integrate. Although there is a language barrier, almost all Norwegians speak more or less very good English. People are very relaxed, not too serious. But in winter, the weather is very cold and it’s very dark most of the time.”

Thuy, a Vietnamese IT engineer in Norway

“When I arrived, I studied to become a professional chef because I wanted to acquire the skills to work in the hospitality and catering industry. I worked my way up: in the beginning, I couldn’t work as a chef right away, so I just worked as a helper.

Now, I’m at the top of my career specialising in South East Asia cuisines. It’s a special skill that not every chef has.

London is a very cosmopolitan, multicultural city with lots of ethnic cuisines, but most of the chefs here just make instant food. They are not creating something new. I can’t work like that. I need inspiration in my work. My dream for the future is to have my own restaurant in this country.”

Ranu, an Indonesian chef in the UK

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Part I. Different people. Different places

“I feel very privileged and very happy to be a migrant. I feel lucky I was given the opportunity to pursue further education in the UK, then get a degree and now work in the UK, helping people, taking care of people.

The main thing in this country is that everybody should be treated with respect and dignity. Another difference is that you are accountable for all your actions and omissions. In other countries, sometimes things happen and it’s just brushed under the carpet. But here, being a nurse is like being on the front line. Whatever you do, you have to be responsible.”

Stellah, a Zimbabwean nurse in the UK

“Germans don’t work long hours like Indians do, but they are highly productive and efficient, thanks to their machinery and equipment. They take more holidays — up to 30 days a year — to recover and stay on the ball. They are professional at work, but don’t socialise with workmates the way Indians do.

The most difficult thing has been integration. It takes a long time to earn their trust and be accepted as a team member. To integrate, I have learnt not just their language, but also cultural details about German artists, writers, musicians and sports people.

Language is just one aspect. Culture is another, for those really trying to integrate. At work, I try my best to do work of the highest quality to show my high potential. Germans expect high quality in any work they do. Rules are pretty much the same for everyone.”

Hariram, an Indian engineer in Germany

5. In groups of three or four, discuss the following questions.

What are the most common reasons why people emigrate? (well-being, cultural, political reasons, etc.)

What problems does mass migration cause?

Why are remittances seen as an important source of funds for economic development?

Make up the list of professions which, in your opinion, are the most sought after by the majority of the countries. Account for your choice.

What professions are in high demand in this country? Why? What problems do immigrants bring?

What countries are the biggest “donors” of professionals? What countries are the main receivers of immigrants? What restrictions are placed on immigrants in Russia?

What measures are taken in Russia to solve the problem of illegal immigration?

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Hitchhiking in Europe

How does Russia manage migration flows?

How has Russia’s immigration policy changed over the recent years? How is it influenced by other countries and organizations? How does the society feel they should respond?

Hitchhiking in Europe1

You are going to listen to a conversation about hitchhiking, which is one of the cheapest and most popular ways of travelling nowadays. Before you listen, check you understand the following words and word combinations.

Vocabulary

to hitchhike (to hitch) — to get a free ride in a car with somebody you do not know

to thumb (informal) — to hitchhike

to run into somebody — to meet somebody by chance awesome — great

Get out of here! (informal) — are you serious? to end up somewhere — to go to a place last

to go out with somebody — to go on a date with someone

to look somebody up — to contact somebody when you are in the area where that person lives

to get sick of something — to be no longer interested in something to travel through — not to stay long

to hook up with somebody (informal) — to meet to take off — to leave, usually suddenly

on a whim — to do something without a lot of thought because of a sudden decision

to live large — to do very well, to live like a very wealthy and successful person

to be totally broke — to have no money

to be in the mood to do something — to feel like doing something not into doing something — used when you do not want to do it to put oneself out there — to get involved and see what happens to be good at something — having or showing talent or skill

to be on your own — to be by yourself

1 See Appendix Transcript 1.5 Hitchhiking in Europe. P. 114. URL: https://reallanguage. club/dialogi-na-anglijskom-urovnya-vyshe-srednego-s-audio/hitchhiking-in-europe.

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Part I. Different people. Different places

weird — strange

to pick somebody up — to give somebody a ride in a car

to be headed to (for) — to go in a specified direction or toward a specified place

to go with the flow — to do something without planning; to relax and accept what is happening without trying to change things or do something different

to be aware of something — to know something to be ecstatic — to be happy, excited

1.Recall the situations in which the words and word combinations from the list are used in the conversation. Use them in sentences of your own.

2.Paraphrase the following using words and word combinations from the list above.

1.Are you serious? I didn’t even know you were planning to go to Europe.

2.I am going to Oxford so I might call my friend Kate who lives there.

3.I used to like to exercise but I am not interested in it any more.

4.I met some friends when I got to Dublin.

5.She left without even saying good-bye.

6.He is doing really well now. He can afford everything he wants.

7.After I bought my car I had no money left at all.

8.I do not feel like going to the movies because I am too tired.

9.They listen to some really strange music.

10.I hope he will give me a ride as I lost my car keys yesterday.

11.I was going to work when I met Catherine.

12.He was very excited when he heard that he was going to be a father.

13.She plays golf really well.

14.When I’m on vacation, I just like to take it easy and relax.

3. Listen to the conversation again and decide if the following statements are true or false.

1.David lived in Prague 20 years ago.

2.David’s girlfriend was teaching French in Prague.

3.David was travelling totally by himself.

4.He is very good at meeting people.

5.David started hitching in Amsterdam.

4. Answer the following questions.

1.Where did David start out travelling?

2.Why did he end up in Prague?

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