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BUSINESS ENGLISH · BUSINESS ISSUES · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

BOOMERANG
KIDS

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173M-CHAF-62K

1 Warm up

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. How old were you when you left home for the first time? Or how old do you think you will be
when you leave home for the first time?
2. What was the reason you left home/will leave home for the first time?
3. In your country, at what age do people normally leave home? Why?
4. If someone who is 25 or older is living with their parents in your country, what do people usually
think of that situation? Why?

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2 Focus on vocabulary

Match the following vocabulary to the correct definitions.

1. forecast (v) a. money borrowed, usually from a bank, that will be paid back,
often each month
2. the cost of living (n) b. say what you think is going to happen in the future, using
the evidence you have at the moment
3. income (n) c. the total amount of money someone receives from working,
businesses etc.
4. loan (n) d. a discussion between two or more people to reach a result
that everyone agrees with
5. negotiation (n) e. the amount of money needed to live, including how much
rent, food, energy bills and other essential items cost
6. retired (adj.) f. no longer working, usually because someone has reached an
age where they do not need to or can no longer work
7. fund (v) g. an agreement which is supported by the law

8. contract (n) h. give the money which is needed for something to happen,
often in an official way

Now put the vocabulary from Part A into the correct gaps in the following sentences. You may have
to change the form of the word.

1. My grandfather is a policeman who lives by the beach now. He moved out of

the city over 15 years ago.

2. He is using the money he made from his clothing business to his new business
which is making cheese.

3. The sales department is a difficult year and doesn’t expect sales to increase.

4. Out management team is in a with them at the moment, but I think they will
agree to sell the business.

5. I need to save some cash as I will have no for a month while I’m changing jobs.

6. I’m moving in with a friend in London which will help us both as is so high there.

7. The salary they offered after the interview is different to what is written in the ,
so I need to talk to my manager about that.

8. We’ve had several good years for the business in a row and we’ve nearly paid off the
we took with the bank.

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Now in pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Have you ever had to take out a loan? What was it for? Is it easy to get a loan in your country?
2. Is the cost of living high in your country? What effect does the cost of living have on the way
people live there?
3. What do you expect to do with your life when you are retired?
4. Do people in your country often have more than one source of income? Why/why not?
5. Do you always read everything on a contract before you sign it? Why/why not?
6. Have you ever been involved in a negotiation with someone? What was it about? What was the
result?

3 Listening for details

Listen to the interview and tick the questions which you hear.

Where are we mostly seeing this trend? Will the child be paying rent?

Will the government help with the situation? Is it all positive?

What should the rules be? What does ‘boomerang kids’ mean?

What has created this situation? Will they be buying their own food?

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4 Listening comprehension

Listen to the interview again and decide if the following statements are True (T) or False (F).

1. The pandemic is the cause of the number of children moving back in with their parents.

2. One of the reasons for the situation is the amount needed to pay for rent, food, etc. has increased
so much.

3. Elderly parents can always afford to allow their children to return to the family home.

4. According to the Professor, it’s a good idea to decide what the rules are when an adult child moves
back into the home.

5. In Western societies, children generally leave their parents’ house in their late teens.

6. According to the Professor, boomerang kids always feel very positive about the decision to move
back home.

7. According to the Professor, spending time living with your parents as an adult can refresh your
relationship with them and create a more developed relationship.

5 Scanning for details

Quickly read through the article on page five about the return of ’boomerang kids’ and match the
numbers to what they mean.

18 34 5 52 55 9

a. The number of years Scott lived in the UAE

b. The number of years Scott lived abroad

c. The percentage of young adults living with their parents in July 2020.

d. The percentage increase in the number of young adults choosing to live with their parents between
2008 and 2017.

e. Scott’s age

f. The number of months Scott spent living with his parents

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INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)
BOOMERANG KIDS
Back again
The return of the boomerang kids
1. In January 2020, Scott resigned from
management position with a construction company
in the UAE and made plans to fly back to the United
Kingdom. He’d spent five years in the Gulf and
four years before that in the United States and it
was time to go home. After so much time away,
he planned to stay with his parents for a couple of
months before moving to wherever he could find
work. He could help them out with a few projects
around the house and relax with them after not
spending more than 10 days in their company for
the last 9 years. However, after only three weeks at
home, the pandemic changed Scott’s plans.
2. ‘The job market seemed to dry up overnight,’ said
Scott of the time. ‘I even had a company I was
scheduled to interview with call me just a couple of
hours before the Zoom call to tell me they’d had a
hiring freeze and could no longer offer the position.’
Scott’s stay turned from a couple of months into
a couple of years. ‘Fortunately, I was able to find
some freelance work which I was able to do from
my parents’ house,’ he said. ‘My parents are in their
seventies, so for a while I couldn’t really risk leaving
the house or going to interviews as, if I caught Covid,
I could easily pass it on to them.’
3. Scott’s situation isn’t unusual, even before the
pandemic. He is part of an increasing trend of
‘boomerang kids’, named because they leave home,
and then return. In July 2020, research showed
that the number of young adults living with their
parents in the US sat at 52%. Meanwhile, research
by Loughborough University showed that in the UK,
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his between 2008 and 2017, the number of 20 – 34-
year-olds without children who chose to live with
their parents increased by 55%.
4. The situation can be difficult. For many, they feel
as though they are going backwards and losing the
independence they had previously enjoyed. ‘There
were definitely a few difficult conversations at the
beginning,’ said Scott. ‘I ended up changing what
time I was used to going to bed and what times I
ate as I had to fit in with them. Their house, their
rules. I also wasn’t able to get a car and had to rely
on Dad to take me to a few appointments, which
didn’t feel very cool at 34.’ Worry surrounding the
situation is common among boomerang kids, as they
didn’t picture themselves doing this when they were
younger, and it can make them feel as though they
have failed in some way.
5. However, it can offer a good opportunity to create
a stable financial situation. For most, staying with
parents is a very cheap way of living, even if they
contribute towards bills. There’s also the opportunity
it gives for children to rediscover their relationships
with their parents and spend a lot more quality time
with them. ‘I really enjoyed chatting with Mum and
Dad about my day over an evening meal,’ said Scott.
‘We watched a lot of crime films together, which
we all love, and talked a lot about the stories and
our favourite actors. We connected over things we
haven’t really done together since I was a teenager. It
turned out to be a really good 18 months of my life,
even if it was unexpected.’
Sources: BBC, The Independent, The Times
5/8
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BOOMERANG KIDS

6 Scanning for vocabulary

Quickly read through the article on page five and find vocabulary which means the following.

1. say you no longer want to keep working at a particular place in an official way
(v, para. 1)
2. find that the supply of something has reduced to nothing or almost nothing
(phr. v, para. 2)

3. plan for a particular event to happen at a certain time (v, para. 2)

4. a situation when a company decides not to employ any new people, often
because of a poor financial situation (n phrase, para. 2)
5. selling your services by working for several different companies doing
temporary or part-time work (adj., para. 2)

6. need someone else to help you do something (phr. v, para. 4)

7. safe and unlikely to change (adj., para. 5)

8. help by giving time, money or goods to provide something for someone else
(v, para. 5)

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7 Reading comprehension

Complete the following text with one, two or three words from the article on page five.

Scott made the decision to return to the UK after five years working in
1
in the UAE. On arrival in the UK, he found it difficult to
find new work as a result of the pandemic which massively reduced what was available on
2
the .
3
wasn’t an option for him as his parents are elderly and he didn’t
want to risk infecting them, but luckily, he found some freelance work. These days, it
4
for adult children to live with their parents, and it’s a trend that
has been increasing since before the pandemic.

One of the challenges for boomerang kids is the feeling that they are
5
which they had previously found. Scott was forced to change
6
his routine in order to the way his parents lived. However,
Scott found that there were a lot of things he enjoyed, such as sharing his passion for
7
with his parents.

8
Although it was an event in his life, he found there was a lot that
he really enjoyed about it.

8 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What is your view on boomerang kids? Do you think it is a positive or a negative situation? Why?
2. Would you be comfortable living with your parents? Why/why not? If you live with your parents,
what do you like/dislike about it?
3. Would you be comfortable with your children returning to live with you in the future?
4. Do you think boomerang kids are a good thing for society generally or not? Why?

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9 Extended activity/homework

Read the following essay question.

The trend of adult children returning to live with their parents is not a healthy one. It is important
for adults to make their way in the world without help from their parents. Living with your parents
after the age of 21 is a sign that you have failed as a person.

To what extent do you agree with the above statement?

You should:
• Write at least 250 words
• Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation

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