Home & Hometown

50 minutes class.

You know the drill. Start off with a brainstorming about HOME, so that your students can start focusing about today’s topic and feel good about themselves for speaking a few words. Guess what, brainstorming is all about ideas, there is no right or wrong answer. Get them exited for class and keep their phrases or words on the side to then check later on how many we can actually match with the class.

There is an expression in English: “There is no place like home”. What do people mean when they say this? Do you agree?

1. What kind of home/ place do you live in? 

example: So, at the moment, I’m living in a flat, house, cottage…

2. What’s your home like? What’s the vibe? Can you describe the inside of your home? 

It’s spacious / roomy <>  cramped

3. Is there anything about your home that you’d like to change?

I wish there were more places to store things. 

It’d be great if it was a bit bigger.

Now, in the conversation I always write in bold idioms or key vocabulary. These are the words that the students potentially may not know or that instead need to be studied because they are frequently used in this topic.

1. What is the difference between home and house?
2. Which is your favorite room in the house? What do you like about it?
3. Have you always lived in the same house? If not, describe your childhood home.
4. When something needs fixing or changing in your house, do you do it yourself or get someone to do it for you? Give examples if you can.
5. How well is your home soundproofed? Can you easily hear noises from outside?
6. Do you know your neighbors? Do you ever see them?
7. What would your ideal house look like? Would you prefer to live in a big or a small house? Describe your dream house.
8. Have you ever lived in a dormitory or other accommodation with shared facilities? How was that experience?
9. Have you ever lived with a roommate? Did you get along well? What kind of problems did you have?
10. Do you still live in your hometown? How would you describe your hometown?
    • It’s quite a ……….. place
    • Adjectives: agricultural / busy / cold / noisy / friendly
11. What things do you like / dislike about your hometown? What is it famous for?

I know, nobody likes homework, however a good exercise would be choosing one of the questions and writing it down. Why? Because by writing down we can see and fix those errors that might seem superficial in the conversation.