The Language of Estate Agents

It's a running joke in Britain that the more disreputable estate agents will always try to make the houses they are trying to sell sound much more desirable than they really are. An estate agent would never write: "This is a horrible little house in very poor condition. The trains go past every 10 minutes and shake the walls. The back garden is laughably small. This is why it is so cheap." Instead he would say: "This compact residence is ideally priced for the first-time buyer. Although in need of some renovations, it has some highly attractive features, including a small patio/ garden to the rear. It is very convenient to the railway station."

Ex. 7. Topics for discussions and essays:

1. Where would you prefer to live - in the city or in the country? Why?

2. Would you like to live on your own? What age do you think is the best to get separated from one's parents? Why? Maybe you think that several generations of a family should live together?

3. What does "home" mean to you?

4. What do you think makes your home comfortable?

5. "East or West home is best". Is the proverb correct? Try to prove your opinion.

6. Can you describe a house of your dream?

7. Do you like moving to new places? Is it easy for you to leave your home? Why?

8. Americans are known to move a lot. First they live at their parent's home. When they enter a University they live in a dormitory or rent a room and share it with a fellow student. They get a job and go to live in a new city or even a in new state. If they're offered a better job they'll move many times more, crossing the country from East to West and from North to South. Could you live the same way? What do you think they acquire and what do they lose living like that?

Learning recommendations:

Class activity: In this unit of the course book students are supposed to get introduced with the new material: read the text, translate into their native language, summarize in English, complete post-reading tasks and grammar exercises, discuss new speech topics, compose monologues and dialogues in the class.

Home task: Students are assigned to find out additional short information about specific topic of the unit, complete grammar exercises, prepare reports given by the teacher.

Literature:

1. Учебно-методический комплекс для студентов 1 курса неязыковых специальностей, М.Ж. Тусупбекова, А.М. Мухтарханова, 2008, Астана, _____стр.