A) BEFORE WATCHING THE MOVIE

1. Listen to this podcast about home swapping:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute/2009/05/090604_6min_ho
meswap_page.shtml

2. “Home exchange, also known as house swapping, is a form of lodging in which two parties agree to
offer each other homestays for a set period of time.” (Google definition). Can you think of the advantages
and disadvantages of home exchange? Would you do it? Why/ why not?

Advantages Disadvantages

B) WHILE WATCHING THE MOVIE

1. Write the characters names under each photograph and write personality traits for each of
them. You can use some of the adjectives below to help you:

hopeless determined thoughtful inflexible romantic

strong Standoffish miserable tolerant bossy
Control-freak Neat-freak responsible naïve moody
reliable Self-assured Self-centered doer humble
 2. As you can see in the table below there are some vocabulary diferences in British and
American English. Can you add some other words to it?

British English American English

Biscuit Cookie
Flat Apartment
Petrol Gasoline
Sweet Candy

C) AFTER WATCHING THE MOVIE

3. Cottage and mansion are types of houses, can you label these types of lodging below?

4.1 Think about Amanda’s and Iris’ houses? What do you like most about each of them?

4. Write the names for these questions:

4.1. Who was shagging a colleague?
4.2. Who is an expert at unrequited love?
4.3. Who started dating a drip?
4.4. Who has cheated on his/her partner?
4.5. Who was head over heels with somebody?
4.6. Who stayed friends after breaking up?
4.7. Who screws up all his/her relationships?
4.8. Whose job is to cut movie trailers?
4.9. Who has recently slept with somebody from work?
4.10. Who can’t shed a tear?
4.11. Who got punched in the face?
5. Write your opinion about these characters and their behaviours

5.1.

5.2.

5.3.

5.4.

5.5.
 5.6.

6. Comprehension questions:
6.1. Who is Jasper?

6.2. Why does Iris help the old man?

6.3. What are the children’s names?

6.4. How long ago did Graham’s wife die?

6.5. Who shows up at Iris’ door?

6.6. What does the old man give Iris to wear on her arm?

6.7. What does Amanda tell the taxi driver to do?

6.8. What was Graham doing in the cottage when Amanda came back?

6.9. In the end, whose house do they all end up at?

7. Use words or phrases from the box to paraphrase each of the sentences below.

- To be in a rage - carbs - to screw up -to look haggard -to call somebody names
- to pay somebody the big bucks - a drip - to fade - head over heels - to break up

7.1. When you’ve caught your man cheating on you, you’re supposed to insult him!

7.2. Iris didn’t know what to do because she was totally in love.
 7.3. Ethan accused Amanda of always destroying her relationships.

7.4. Amanda was extremely angry when she heard what Ethan had done to her.

7.5. For some people, quite inexplicably, love gradually disappears.

7.6. Iris stopped sleeping with Jasper when she knew that he had started dating a weak,
dull person who lacks strength of personality.

7.7. Many women choose to go away for a few days when they end a relationship with
their boyfriend.

7.8. Amanda was really good at making moves look like a hit, and that’s why they were
paying her a lot of money

7.9. Amanda wanted to eat food containing flour (like pasta and bread) without feeling
guilty about it.

7.10. Amanda has read an article that says that women suffering from severe
stress look very tired and unhappy.

8. How do you think the movie will finish? Write an ending for it.

Adapted from www.eslprintables.com