Lesson 5: Taking Care of Your Home

You already know the words “house” and “apartment” – but here are a few
more descriptive words for different types of residences.

 A mansion is a very large house, usually occupied by rich people. This

can also be called a manor if it is surrounded by a large area of land
that belongs to the owners.

 Trailers or RVs are large vehicles that can be used as homes

(especially while traveling).

 A farm is a piece of property with agricultural activity and/or

animals. The house where people live is called the farmhouse, and
the place where the animals live or the food is stored is called the
barn.
 farm barn

 College students live in a dormitory (or “dorm” for short).

 Members of the military live in large buildings called barracks and their
individual living space is called their quarters. (These words are always
plural, even when referring to only one unit).
 A cabin or cottage is a small house located in the countryside or on the
beach.

 A hut is a small, simple house made of natural or primitive materials. It

often has just one room.
  A shack is a badly-constructed house, usually occupied by poor people.
Shacks are common in the slums – poor, heavily-populated urban areas.

Cleaning the Home

Let’s do a nice thorough cleaning. The first step is to declutter - this word
means to simplify or eliminate clutter. What’s clutter? Clutter is extra objects
that fill your house or your life, which you don’t really need, or don’t use
frequently.

This is clutter!
Next we’ll use a rag or cloth to polish the furniture. The word “polish”
means to make something shiny. You can polish wood or metal.

Let’s also do the laundry – that means washing your clothes. We’ll need
laundry detergent (the soap that washes the clothes), fabric softener to
make the clothes soft and flexible, and bleach to remove stains (undesired
marks) from white clothing.

a stain on a white shirt

If you don’t have a dryer… you’ll need to hang your clean clothes on a
clothesline using clothespins.
 clothesline and clothespins

Now we’ll sweep the floor using a broom and dustpan. After sweeping, you
can mop the floor with a mop and bucket. And if you have carpeted floors,
you’ll need to vacuum with a vacuum cleaner.

bucket

vacuum cleaner
Time to take on the bathroom. You can use a sponge for light cleaning, and a
brush for scrubbing – that means rubbing something very intensely to clean
it. If your bathroom has tiles, you might need to use a special product to
eliminate the mold (fungus) between them.

sponge and brush tiles

Home Repairs
Are you handy? Describing someone as “handy” means they have skills in
working with their hands, and they can fix various things. If not, you’ll need to
call a professional!

Let’s say your toilet is clogged (blocked). You can try to fix it yourself with a
plunger, but if that doesn’t work, you can call a plumber – someone who
specializes in working with water systems and pipes.

plunger
The plumber can also help you if there’s a leak in your pipes – meaning water
is coming out where it’s not supposed to – or if a pipe bursts – explodes due
to excess internal pressure.

If your house is infested with insects or rats, you’ll need a pest control
service or exterminator to get rid of them.

An electrician can handle problems with the wiring or the light fixtures.

If you accidentally lock yourself out of your house, you'll need to call a
locksmith. And when a large household appliance breaks, such as the
refrigerator, water heater, or washing machine, a repairperson can go to
your house and fix it.

When you do extensive work to improve a house (or a room), such as

knocking down walls, rebuilding, and changing the structure, this is called
remodeling or renovation.
Pronunciation Practice
mansion, trailer, RV, farmhouse, barn, dormitory, barracks, quarters, cabin,
cottage, hut, shack, slums, declutter, rag, cloth, polish, laundry detergent,
fabric softener, bleach, stain, clothesline, clothespins, sweep, broom, dustpan,
mop, bucket, vacuum cleaner, sponge, brush, scrub, tiles, mold, handy,
clogged, plunger, plumber, pipes, leak, burst, pest control service,
exterminator, electrician, wiring, light fixtures, locksmith, repairperson,
remodeling, renovation

Quiz – Lesson 5
Can you match the two halves of each item on this to-do list?

TO DO
1. Ask the electrician how much it will A. between the tiles.
cost B. dining room table.
2. Buy bleach and C. donate all the old books to the
3. Call the plumber library.
4. Declutter the basement and D. kitchen floor.
5. Hang the laundry E. on the clothesline.
6. Polish the F. plans for remodeling the living room.
7. Remove the mold from G. to fix the dryer.
8. Schedule a visit for the exterminator H. to fix the leaking pipe under the sink.
9. Scrub the I. to get rid of the ants.
10. Sweep the J. to install the new light fixtures.
11. Talk to the interior designer about K. walls of the shower.
12. Wait for the repairperson L. wash the white sheets and towels.
Label each structure with the correct name

B __ __ __

C __ __ __ __ __ __ or C __ __ __ __

H __ __
D __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

F __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

M __ __ __ __ __ __
 T_________________or R __

S __ __ __ __

The quiz answers are at the end of this lesson.

Vocabulary Practice
1. If you were very rich, would you live in a mansion or a regular house - and
why?

2. Do you think you would enjoy life on a farm?

3. In your opinion, is it better for college students to live with their parents,
or with other students in a dormitory?

4. Have you ever been in a cottage, hut, or shack?

5. What kind of clutter do you have in your house? When was the last time you
decluttered?

6. How many times a week do you do the laundry?

7. Which household tasks do you hate doing, and which ones aren't so bad?

8. Describe a time when you had to make repairs to your house.

9. Are you "handy"? Or do you know someone who is?

10. Have you ever done a renovation? If you could remodel your current
house, what would you change or improve?
Answers to Exercise 1:

1.J 2.L 3.H 4.C 5.E 6.B 7.A 8.I 9.K 10.D 11.F 12.G

Answers to Exercise 2:

barn

cottage or cabin

hut

dormitory

farmhouse

mansion

trailer or RV

shack