B2 - Lesson 06

Part 1 : Video Lesson & Transcript

Part : Listening & Reading comprehension

Part 3 : Use of English

Part 4 : Grammar lesson

Part 5 : Writing an essay & corrections

Part 6 : Speaking, interaction, & explanations.

INSTRUCTIONS

Please make sure you unfold each content for each part of the lesson.  Merci de déplier chaque contenu pour chaque partie de cette leçon.

LINKS TO GRAMMAR BOOKS :

PART 1 : VIDEO BASED LESSON & TRANSCRIPT

See instructions beneath the video.

VIDEO : CLICK ON THE PICTURE

The year I was Homeless

Image
Image

The year I was Homeless

Becky Blanton planned to live in her van for a year and see the country, but when depression set in and her freelance job ended, her camping trip turned into homelessness. In this intimate talk, she describes her experience of becoming one of America's working homeless.

VIDEO : EXERCISE

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - INSTRUCTIONS

INSTRUCTIONS TO WORK ON THE VIDEO :

1) Listen to the video without reading the text / transcript

2) Then Listen to the video again reading the transcript as you listen.

3) Then listen to the video again without reading the transcript.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - TEXT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of people work full and part-time jobs, and live in their cars. But society continues to stigmatize and criminalize living in your vehicle or on the streets. So the homeless, the working homeless, primarily remain invisible. But if you ever meet one, engage them, encourage them, and offer them hope. The human spirit can overcome anything if it has hope. And I'm not here to be the poster girl for the homeless. I'm not here to encourage you to give money to the next panhandler you meet. But I am here to tell you that, based on my experience, people are not where they live, where they sleep, or what their life situation is at any given time. Three years ago I was living in a van in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and today I'm speaking at TED. Hope always, always finds a way. Thank you.

PART 2 : COMPREHENSION

  1. Listen to the video and answer all questions below  without reading the transcript /text of the video.
  2. Then read the transcript of the video and check your answers, before looking at the corrections.

LISTENING & READING COMPREHENSION

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - QUESTIONS

Questions: Answer in your own words and give details.

  1. Why did Becky Blanton decide to go travelling?
  2. Why did she think living in a van for a year would be easy?
  3. What three things did she eventually realise?
  4. What major problem did she encounter in the Summer. How did this affect her?
  5. Why did she park the van in different places every night? Did it work?
  6. What happened to her when she went to the homeless clinic?
  7. Did her anti-depressant medication work?
  8. Who is Tim Russert and how is he related to Becky?
  9. What did Becky realise after reading her essay in the book shop?
  10. What should you do if you meet a homeless person?

ANSWERS

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - ANSWERS

Answers

  1. Her father died and she wanted to think about and deal with some personal problems
  2. She has camped her whole life, so she thought it would be easy
  3. Society associates having a house with personal value. Other people’s negative judgements can have a quick and significant impact on our reality. Homelessness is an attitude.
  4. The high temperatures of summer. It became difficult to park because of the smell of her pets. It was very difficult to sleep, her food rotted, her ice melted and she fell ill, which meant she had to stay in her van.
  5. To avoid the police. No.
  6. Other homeless people and a professor who listened to her story told her that she wsn’t really homeless. This made her very depressed.
  7. No. It made her suicidal.
  8. Tim Russert is a well known and respected journalist. He had included one of Becky’s essays in his book and was talking about it on television to publicise his book.
  9. That she was a writer.
  10. To talk to them, encourage them and give them hope.

PART 3 : USE OF ENGLISH

USE OF ENGLISH

UNFOLD - DEPLIER- QUESTIONS

“His death hit me pretty hard”

What does “pretty” mean here?

In informal, spoken English we can use “pretty” as an alternative to “quite” as in the following example sentence:

“Can I have a jumper? It’s quite cold in here.”

“Can I have a jumper? It’s pretty cold in here.”

 

 

 

Exercise: Complete the following sentences using “pretty” and one of the adjectives below

terrible thirsty skint hot interesting

 

 

  1. Have you seen the new Tarantino film? It’s …………………………………...
  2. Blimey! It’s 37 degrees outside. That’s…………………………………………
  3. Could you buy me a pint? I’m…………………………..at the moment.
  4. Have you read this book? It’s …………………………………………….
  5. Pass me the water, would you? I’m………………………………………………..

Make your own examples

CORRECTIONS

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - ANSWERS

Exercise

  1. pretty terrible
  2. pretty hot
  3. pretty skint
  4. pretty interesting
  5. pretty thirsty
  6. student’s own answers.

TRADUCTION

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - EXERCISE

Traduire les phrases suivantes en anglais, issues du texte, puis retrouver ces phrases dans les premiers deux paragraphs du texte en anglais:

1. Il y avais tout un tas de chose que je voulais ressentir et dont je voulais m'occuper pendant que je faisait celà.

2. J'ai donc fourré mon chat, mon Rottweiler et mon materiel de camping dans ma camionnette chevrolet de 1975 et je suis parti vers l'horizon.

PART 4 : GRAMMAR

LESSON

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - EXPLANATION

Essential Grammar in use p 147-148

unit 70 go to work          go home       go to the cinema

EXERCISES

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - QUESTIONS

Complete the sentence. Choose from the list. use the if necessary.

bank      bed      church      home     post office     school      station

1 I need so money . I need to go to ......... .

2 David usually goes to .......... on sundays.

3 In Britain, children go to .......  from the age of five.

4 There were a lot of people et ........... waiting for the train.

5 I phoned you last night but you weren't at ...........

6 I'm going to ......... now. Good night!

7 I'm going to ............. to get some stamps.

CORRECTIONS

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - CORRECTIONS

1 the bank

2 church

3 school

4 the station

5 home

6 bed

7 the post office

PART 5 : WRITING

VOCABULARY

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - WORD LIST

Curious adjective- Interested in new things and learning.

Invisible adjective – Cannot be seen.

Shack noun- A small, simple building made of wood or metal, used for living or storage.

Grieve verb- To feel intense sadness, usually after the death of a loved one.

Miserably adverb- In a very unpleasant way

Restrooms noun. US English. Bathrooms.

To rot verb – To decay or spoil.

To melt verb- To go from a solid state to a liquid state

To hassle verb-To annoy or bother someone.

Talented adjective- skilful, gifted, with talent.

Integrity noun- Having strong moral values.

To spiral verb- To get worse in an uncontrollable way. To spin in circles.

Smelly adjective- having an unpleasant odour.

High adjective- Intoxicated. Under the influence of drugs.

To reread verb – To read something again.

stigmatise verb- To treat or think about someone unfairly.

WRITING

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - ESSAY

Becky Blanton. The video describes a typical day of when she was homeless.

Now it is you turn. Write a text :

- Present yourself.

- Describe your profession.

- Tell what you did to get this job.

- Describe a typical day of your life : what usually happens when you are at work?

 

CORRECTION

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - OPTION

You can book a one to one class with a teacher who will correct your writing exercise.  One to one classes can be online, with a video call, anytime of the day. 

This gives you full flexibility for your timetable.

Please send us an email at afterschool at afterschoollyon.com.

PART 6 : SPEAKING

SPEAKING

UNFOLD - DEPLIER - OPTION

You can book a one to one class with a teacher for the speaking.  One to one classes can be online, with a video call, anytime of the day. 

This gives you full flexibility for your timetable.

Please send us an email at afterschool at afterschoollyon.com.

Our online classes range from A1 to C2 levels, including specific class contents and online video classes.  They are designed to improve communication of spoken and written English with learner-centred lessons which help build students’ confidence, accuracy and fluency.

Our online learning classes offer an extensive level of flexibility for individual students, with comprehensive syllabus and content.