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Innovation in Learning

A A GENERAL ENGLISH

Ghost village
Lesson code: MNQK-DRPB-D7A3-L UPPER INTERMEDIATE +

1 Key words
Match the words/phrases to their definitions below.

1. There's no-one living here. The place is completely abandoned.

2. When you go to the jungle, you will have to fend for yourself. You'll be all alone.
3. In the desert, water is very scarce.
4. He gets up early in order to tend his vegetable garden.
5. The government is building more houses to accommodate the increase in population.

a. take care of yourself without help

b. left by the owner
c. look after someone or something
d. provide someone with a place to live or stay
e. rare or not available in large amounts

2 Find the information

You are going to read an article about a Chinese man who has been living alone in an abandoned
village. Guess the answers to the questions below and check by reading the text on the next page.

1. How many years has Liu Shengjia been living alone?

a. 1 b. 5 c. 10

2. How many people in China are expected to move out from villages and into cities by 2030?
a. 10 million b. 250 million c. 1 billion

3. How much money does Liu Shengjia earn?

a. 74/month b. 206/month c. 5000/month

4. What is the population of China?

a. 0.5 billion b. 1 billion c. 1.3 billion

5. What percentage of the global population live in China?

a. 10 percent b. 20 percent c. 30 percent
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Ghost village
Innovation in Learning

A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH

Chinese man lives alone for 10 years in

abandoned village in Gansu province
About 250 million are expected to move out of the country's villages and into its
cities by 2030

1 A Chinese man has been living alone in a remote village for a decade, it has emerged.
2 Liu Shengjia was left to fend for himself after resources became scarce and families either moved away or
gradually died in Xuenshanshe village.

3 When his mother and younger brother passed away 10 years ago, Mr Liu said he became accustomed to
only having sheep for company in the remote part of Gansu province.
4 "In the beginning, I wasn't able to sleep at night while listening to the howling of the wild dogs," he told
Chinese newspaper the People's Daily.
5 "But after I started to tend a few sheep and they've become my companions, I slowly got used to living
alone."
6 He continues to work for the local forestry protection station and earns 700 yuan, or about 74, a month
but must still travel long distances to buy food and fetch water.
7 Mr Liu said despite enjoying the advantage of being able to choose whichever house he wants to live in, he
still hoped to move somewhere with more people in in the future, according to CCTV News.
8 "Surviving here is not a problem for me, but I still prefer to move to a more populous area when the time
comes," he said.
9 The phenomenon of "ghost villages" has been on the rise in China as many rural labourers move to the
eastern cities to find work.

10 Yet some of the cities in the centre of the country built expressly to accommodate the country's 1.3 billion
citizens - about 20 per cent of the entire population of the world - are still under construction and many
remain mostly empty.
11 The Chinese government has previously said it hopes some 250 million people will move out of the
country's villages and into its cities by 2030, as part of a push for urbanisation and increased domestic
consumerism.

Adapted from The Independent, by Jess Staufenberg, Tuesday 26 April 2016

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Ghost village
Innovation in Learning

A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH

3 Checking understanding
Put T(True) or F (False) next to the statements below. Explain why the false statements are false.

1. The Xuenshanshe village was abandoned because of a deadly disease.

2. Liu Shengjia's mother and brother died 10 years ago.
3. At first, Liu Shengjia wasn't able to sleep at night because he was lonely.
4. Liu Shengjia is still not accustomed to living alone.
5. Liu Shengjia doesn't want to leave his village.
6. Abandoned villages exist in China because of work opportunities that Chinese cities offer.
7. Most of China's population lives in the eastern cities.
8. The Chinese government wants to encourage people to move back into the villages.

4 Vocabulary - Find the word

Find a word or phrase in the text which means ...

1. far away (adj., P1):

2. died (phrasal verb, P3):
3. making a long, loud, sad sound, typical of a dog or wolf (verb -ing, P4):
4. with a lot of people living in it (adj., P8):
5. the process by which more and more people leave the countryside to live in cities (noun, P11):

Now make your own sentence for each of the words from this exercise.

5 Collocations
Match the adjectives on the left with the nouns on the right to form collocations from the text.

1. a remote a. consumerism
2. scarce b. population
3. the entire c. resources
4. domestic d. village

Now make your own sentence for each of the phrases from this exercise.
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Ghost village
Innovation in Learning

A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH

6 Prepositions
Complete each sentence from the text with a suitable preposition:

away by into on out under

1. Resources became scarce and families either moved or gradually died in Xuenshanshe village.
2. The phenomenon of "ghost villages" has been the rise in China
3. Some of the cities in the centre of the country are still construction.
4. About 250 million are expected to move of the country's villages and its cities
2030.

7 Talking point
Discuss any of the following questions:

1. Would you like to live alone in a ghost village? Why/why not?

2. Do you think Liu Shengjia has an easy or difficult life?
3. What are the benefits and drawbacks of urbanisation?

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Ghost village - Key
Innovation in Learning

A A A A GENERAL ENGLISH

1- Key words

1. b 2. a 3. e 4. c 5. d

2- Find the information

Students work individually and check in pairs.

1. c 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. b

3- Checking understanding

Students can work individually and check in pairs. Correct answers:

1. F - resources became scarce and families either moved away or gradually died
2. T
3. F - the howling of the wild dogs kept him awake
4. F - he slowly got used to it
5. F - he still hopes to move somewhere with more people in in the future
6. T
7. T
8. F - the Chinese government hopes some 250 million people will move out of the country's villages
and into its cities by 2030

4- Vocabulary - Find the word

1. remote 2. passed away 3. howling 4. populous

5. urbanisation

5- Collocations

1. d 2. c 3. b 4. a

6- Prepositions

1. away 2. on 3. under 4. out;into,by

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Review your flashcards at least 3-5 times a week for 20 minutes to keep the material fresh in your memory.
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