UNIT 1: LIFESTYLE - MOVING WITH THE TIMES

Lesson 3: Changes in lifestyles

Lesson type: Listening

Lead in activity

Imagine life when your grandparents were very young:

- Which basic services were absent?
- Where did they get water?
- How did they get light in the nights?

Learning context: During the English class, the students of Tle of Collège Henri Cartan are
listening to a text read by their teacher about the basic services
today. You listen carefully in order to be able to compare nowadays
life to life in the past.
Announce of the lesson: Today’s activities will be based on your capacity to listen carefully
to a person.
Listening strategy
In order to succeed your listening activities, you have to listen carefully. When you listen, you
should take notes about key words and other relevant information.
Task 1: Listen to the teacher reading the para1 about how basic services have changed life and
make notes about the relevant information. (Adapted task)
Text
(From FAR AHEAD Tle, page 152)
I turn on a tap in my home and get running water for whatever I need. I can’t believe the
changes since my childhood. When I was a child everyone in the village used river water for
drinking and cooking. The villagers also did the washing up, washed their clothes and bathed
in the same river. I shudder when I imagine the quality of the water we drank. The bad quality
of the water resulted in so many water borne diseases. I don’t know how we survived! There
was just one hospital run by missionaries in the whole area. People had to trek for many days
to get there. Serious cases were transported to the hospital on bamboo stretchers carried by four
men on their shoulders.

Solution of Task 1
Possible notes
- Running water
- River water
- Hospital

Task 2: Listen carefully again to the teacher reading. Which services are mentioned? Choose
from the list. (Far Ahead Tle / p.15 / exo.5)
Running water / electricity / refuse collection / sewage treatment / healthcare
Task 3: Listen carefully again and choose the correct answer for each question. (Adapted from
Far Ahead Tle / p.15 / exo.6)
1- When the woman was a child
A- Everyone used running water.
 B- People washed their clothes in the river.
C- People had taps at home.
2- What makes the woman 'shudder'? Solution of
A- The bad quality of the water they used. Task 3
B- The difficulty of life at the time. 1- B
C- The survival of people despite the hard conditions.
3- What was the problem with the hospital? 2- A
A- It was too small. 3- B
B- It was very far from the village.
C- It was not clean.

HOMEWORK: After listening to this passage, which life style do you prefer, the one of our
grandparents or the one today?
In a presentation to your classmates, answer the question by giving reasons
to support your view point.