Ex.12. Read and fill in the spaces.

Moscow is the world’s costliest city

Thinking of moving to another world capital? A new ______ human resources consultancy Mercer suggests you need to think carefully about _____ other parts of the world. Surprisingly, Mercer ranks Moscow as the world's costliest city, with London ____. This is bad news for students wanting to study in the Russian and English capitals. Mercer gathers information on 143 cities around the globe. Its ____ compares the costs of more than 200 items, including rent, transportation, food, clothes, household goods and entertainment. This data is invaluable for companies wishing to open _____. A Mercer spokeswoman said: "As companies continue to send employees on expatriate assignments, they must _____ the cost of living." A major theme of the latest survey is ______ have changed the rankings of different cities. Mercer stated: "There have been some _____ the rankings since last year….These are primarily due to exchange rate fluctuations - in particular the weakening of the U.S. dollar and _____ euro." Last year, London was ranked fifth, but due to a weak dollar, it has risen three places. Seoul was the third-placed city, followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong, both _____ last year. Asuncion was the cheapest city for expats for the fifth year in a row. The world’s most expensive apartments are in Tokyo and the most affordable are in Johannesburg. ____ is in Copenhagen. Zimbabwe’s Harare dropped off the list this year due to its rates of hyperinflation.

Ex.13. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘capital’and ‘city’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

Ex.14. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

Ex.15. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

Ex.16. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

Ex.17. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

Ex.18. STUDENT COST OF LIVING SURVEY: Write five GOOD questions about LIVING COSTS.

Ex.19. DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a. What did you think when you read the headline?

b. What is the cost of living like where you live?

c. Have you noticed changes in the costs of living in your town?

d. Would you like to live in Moscow or London?

e. Do you think the quality of life is good in cities that have a high cost of living?

f. Which world capitals would you choose to live in?

g. What things are reasonably priced where you live?

h. Do you like moving house/city/country?

i. Do you think you’d like an expatriate life?

j. Do you think it is/would be difficult living in a different country?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a. Did you like reading this article?

b. Are you interested in currency fluctuations?

c. Do you follow what is happening with the dollar or your own currency?

d. Would you recommend your city to human resource officers as a good place to live?

e. What do you think life is/would be like in the world’s most expensive cities?

f. Do you think today’s most expensive cities will always be among the world’s costliest places to live?

g. Do you think there are any advantages of living in very expensive cities?

h. Would you prefer to live in an expensive city or a cheap village in the mountains, far from any city?

i. Are city people different from country people?

j. Did you like this discussion?

Ex.20. AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

a.What was the most interesting thing you heard?

a. Was there a question you didn’t like?

b. Was there something you totally disagreed with?

c. What did you like talking about?

d. Which was the most difficult question?

Ex.21. SPEAKING

COST OF LIVING PRESENTATION:

You are a marketing executive for your town. You want people to come and live there. With your partner(s), write down the cost of living in your town for the items in the table. In the next column, explain why these prices are very reasonable.

• Change partners and give each other feedback on how to make your town sound more affordable and better value for money.
• Make presentations to the class, selling your town.
• Decide on a winner for the best presentation.

Ex.22. LANGUAGE

CORRECT WORD:Put the correct words from a–d below in the article.

Moscow is the world’s costliest city

Thinking of moving to another world capital? A new report (1) ____ by the human resources consultancy Mercer suggests you need to think carefully about how (2) ____ it is in other parts of the world. Surprisingly, Mercer ranks Moscow as the world's costliest city, with London a close (3) ____. This is bad news for students (4) ____ to study in the Russian and English capitals. Mercer gathers information on 143 cities around the globe. Its annual survey measures and compares the costs of more than 200 items, including rent, transportation, food, clothes, (5) ____ goods and entertainment. This data is invaluable for companies wishing to open offices in far-off lands. A Mercer spokeswoman said: "As companies continue to send employees (6) ____ expatriate assignments, they must closely monitor changes in the cost of living."

A major theme of the (7) ____ survey is how currency movements have changed the rankings of different cities. Mercer stated: "There have been some (8) ____ changes in the rankings since last year….These are primarily due to exchange rate fluctuations - in particular the weakening of the U.S. dollar and the strengthening of the euro." Last year, London was ranked fifth, but due to a weak dollar, it has (9) ____ three places. Seoul was the third-placed city, followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong, both down a place from last year. Asuncion was the cheapest city for (10) ____ for the fifth year in a (11) ____. The world’s most expensive apartments are in Tokyo and the most affordable are in Johannesburg. The dearest fast food is in Copenhagen. Zimbabwe’s Harare dropped off the list this year (12) ____ to its rates of hyperinflation.

Ex.23. WRITING: Write about living costs for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

ADDITIONAL TASKS

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information about the costs of living in Moscow and London. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. COST OF LIVING:Make a poster on different world capitals. Find out how living costs vary in each place. Show your posters to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all find out about similar animals or things?

4. MAGAZINE ARTICLE:Write a magazine article about the cost of living in your town. Describe what you think it’ll be like twenty years from now.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Which article was best and why?

5. LETTER:Write a letter to a Muscovite or Londoner. Ask them three questions about what it’s like living in such an expensive city. Give them three suggestions about how they can stretch their money. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

6. TRANSLATION FROM RUSSIAN INTO ENGLISH:Find the article in

Russian describing the economic situation in Moscow. Translate it into English.

7. SPEAKING: Speak on the topic of the article.

Unit VII

Topics: 1.World Customs Organization

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1247