B1 Annual

CA Activity 11: House-hunting

Student Guidelines

Overview
Calendar (recommended)

Warm-up
Task Participate in the
warm-up task
(1 - 5 May)

Task 1 Study House- Find a partner for Complete Tasks

(6 - 14 May) hunting: Part 1 Task 2 1a and 1b

Task 2 Study House- Complete Tasks

(15 - 24 May) hunting: Part 2 2a and 2b

Pronunciation Participate in the

Corner (optional) optional
(6 - 14 May) pronunciation task
Speaking Task
(optional) Find a Complete the optional speaking
(15 - 24 May)
partner task with a partner using Skype

Reading Quiz
(assessed) Take the quiz House-hunting quiz
(1 - 24 May)
Objectives
● Talk about houses and household items
● Read, write, and respond to ads
● Express permission and obligation
● Express interest
● Ask for more information
● Agree, disagree and compromise

Materials
House-hunting (Catalan campus) / House-hunting (Spanish campus)
Pronunciation
1. Compound words and Tongue Twisters (1)
2. Compound words and Tongue Twisters (2)
3. Compound words and Tongue Twisters (3)
4. Compound words and Tongue Twisters (4)
5. Compound words and Tongue Twisters (5)
6. Compound words and Tongue Twisters (6)
7. Compound words and Tongue Twisters (7)
Assessment
90%: Speaking task (Tasks 2a and 2b)
10%: Reading Quiz

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Warm-up task (1 – 5 May)

Your teacher will post the warm-up task on the Notice Board. Try to complete it by 5th of May.

House-hunting Quiz (1 – 24 May)

Your teacher will post the instructions for an assessed reading quiz (compulsory). Make sure
you do it as it counts as a 10% of your total CA grade.

Assessment criteria for House-hunting Quiz Marks

Correct answers 0 - 10
Total mark __/10

Task 1: House-hunting (6 – 14 May)

Study Part 1 of
House-hunting Task 1b: Exchange
• Talking about houses and Task 1a: Write a messages with your
household items Find a partner for partner until you come
message to a
•Reading, writing the Tandem/Skype to a conclusion about
and responding to partner on the whether or not you will
conversation
ads Forum stay in their
•Expressing apartment/house/room.
permission and
obligation

Before you do the tasks below, make sure to:

1) Study Part 1 of House-hunting.
2) Find a partnerfor Task 2 (Tandem)
a)Go to the CA11_Partners page on the class wiki and find a partner. You can work
with the same partner from a previous activity or a new partner, but you must be
available at the same time as your partner.
b) Arrange a date and time for your Tandem/Skype conversation in Task 2. If you want,
you can use the Conversation_Club folder.

In Task 1, you will work with a partner using the forum. Student A is offering a
house/apartment/room and Student B is looking for a house/apartment/room. You have to
exchange messages with your partner until you decide if Student B is taking the
house/apartment/room or not.
Decide if you want to be StudentA (offering a house/apartment/room) or Student B (looking
for a house/apartment/room) and follow the appropriate instructions below.

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For Task 1, you do NOT need to sign up for a partner.

If you decide to be Student A, you will start a conversation by posting a message to

the Forum. Follow the instructions for “Task 1a: Student A” below and send a message
to the Forum. As soon as someone responds to your message, that person is your
partner for the rest of Task 1. (If you are Student A, you do not pick your partner;
Student B picks you based on whether they are interested in your house or not.)
If you choose to be Student B for Task 1, pick someone who has written a message
that is interesting to you and respond. The person you respond to is your partner for
the rest of Task 1. (You can only respond to a message that nobody has responded to.)
Once a Student B responds to a Student A, you two are partners for Task 1, and you
will exchange a few messages until you decide whether or not you will
rent/buy/sell/exchange homes.

Task 1a: Student A

1. Go to the CA11_House-hunting folderon the Forum and write a message about (a) a
house or apartment for sale (b) a house, apartment or room for rent, or (c) your house,
apartment or room that you are offering for a free house exchange.
Writeabout 100 words.

Make sure to include a detailed description of your house/apartment/room!

Don’t forget to use spell check and check your writing for grammar and punctuation errors.

You can see some sample messages at:

http://www.spainhouses.net/en/
http://www.homeexchange.com/listings.php?

Example (Task 1a: Student A)

Are you interested in coming to Rome for two weeks this summer?

Our beautiful home is located in the historic center of Rome, only 5 minutes from the
Coliseum.

The 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment is perfect – with lots of natural light, high-
speed wireless internet, two bedrooms with queen-sized beds, a full kitchen, laundry
machine, dishwasher, and a large living room with a television and projector.
You’re just two minutes walk from the grocery store and five minutes from the local
market.

We’re looking to exchange homes with someone who lives in France, Spain or
Greece this July.
If you’re interested, please send me a message. Pictures are available upon request.
Best wishes,
Olga Martinez

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Task 1a: Student B

1. Go to the CA11_House-hunting folderon the Forum and read the messages other students
have written.
2. Write a message responding to someone offering a room/apartment/house.
IMPORTANT: You can only respond to a message that nobody else has responded to. (In other
words, you can only be Student B if you can find a Student A who does not already have a
partner.)
Write about 100 words.

Use the useful language for writing an email and for expressing permission and obligation.

Ask any questions you have about the house/apartment/room.

Don’t forget to use spell check and check your writing for grammar and punctuation errors.

Useful language for expressing permission and

Useful language for writing an email
obligation
•Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms •Can I / Am I allowed to / Do I have to /
•Hello / Hi Should I / Do I need to ... ?
•I am looking for ... •You can(’t) / You are (not) allowed to / You
•I saw your ad on ... (don’t) have to / You should(n’t) / You (don’t)
need to... / You needn’t / You ought to / You
•I am interested in ...
must(n’t) / You may (not)
•I would like to ...
•Could you please tell me if ... ?
•Please contact me by ...
•I look forward to hearing from you (soon). / I
look forward to your response.
•Best wishes, / All the best, / Sincerely, / Best
regards,

Example (Task 1a: Student B)

Dear Olga,

Would you be interested in coming to Menorca this summer? I saw your ad online,
and am looking for a house exchange this summer!

I have a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment in the town of Fornells, Menorca. The

house has a small kitchenette, laundry machine, and a balcony that overlooks the
harbor.

The only problem is that my vacation is in August. Would you be willing to exchange
apartments in August?

Also, my husband has asthma, so we are looking for a non-smoking apartment. Do

you smoke in your apartment?

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Finally, we have a very cute cat. Can we bring her with us to Rome? Or would you be
willing to watch her in Menorca?

Please contact me via email at svasquez@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from

you soon.
Sincerely,
Simon Vasquez

Task 1b
NOTE: All students – both Student A and Student B – must do Task 1b.
1. On the Forum, write several more messages to your partner. Answer his/her questions, ask
any other questions you have (further details about the house, requisites, rules, etc.), and
decide if you are going to sell/buy/rent/exchange homes with him/her.

Each student must write at least one more message. You can write as many messages as
you want/need to finish the conversation.

Remember to use the useful language for writing an email and for expressing permission and
obligation (see page 4).

Make sure to use spell-check and check your writing for grammar and punctuation errors.

Pronunciation Corner (optional) (6 – 14 May)

1. After studying the online pronunciation materials (you can find them above), go to
Langblog and watch your teacher’s video and read the instructions for the task.

2. Prepare your own post and record it.

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Task 2: Home exchange: Role play (15 – 24 May)

Study Part 2 of House-hunting

•Expressing interest Task 2a and 2b: Do the
•Aski ng for m or e i nfor m ati on Tandem task and post your
•Agr eei ng, di sagr eei ng and
com pr om i si ng role play to the Forum

Study Part 2 of House-hunting before you do the tasks below. Make sure to complete the
exercises 01.01.10, 01.02.03, 01.03.02, 01.02.03, 02.01.03 and 02.02.02 from the online
“House-hunting” unit, where you will practice the pronunciation of useful words for the task.
House-hunting (Catalan campus) / House-hunting (Spanish campus)
House exchanges are very popular in some countries, and many families use them to spend
their holidays in a different place without paying for accommodation.

In task 2, you and your partner are going to do a speaking activity in Tandem/Skype. This
activity is a role play where you willtry to arrange a home exchange on the phone. Using the
profiles you will find when you access Tandem, you and your partner have to describe your
home(s) and decide if you want to do a home exchange.

Please follow these instructions carefully because you will need 3 tools for this task:
1. Tandem to find the instructions and information to perform the interactive speaking
task;
2. Skype to talk to you partner;
3. a Skype Recorder to record your voice.

Simply follow the instructions you will find when you access Tandem and complete the tasks
one by one.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Please remember that TANDEM is designed to include a sequence of tasks that you will
complete one by one. When you have finished the task on each page, click „See Solution‟.
Then, move to the next task. Remember, you can only move forward – you cannot go back.

The objective of Tandem is to produce a single spontaneous spoken exchange of

information.Work through each part of the Tandem taskseparately. You will get specific
instructions for different parts of the task as you go along.

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**DO NOT access the Tandem task multiple times to get information about the task and
prepare ahead of time**. Your teacher is able to see each student‟s Tandem history (the
Access Archive) and you will be penalized if the Access Archive shows that you accessed
the task multiple times.

Task 2a
Task 2a takes place before the Tandem/Skype conversation.
1. Prepare for the call:
● Review the useful language for telephoning, expressing interest, asking for more
information, and agreeing, disagreeing and compromising.

Useful language for telephoning Useful language for expressing interest

•Hi! This is Marta (speaking). •I’d be interested in staying there in

•Hello, could I (please) speak to David?
•Yes, who’s calling?
•I’m calling about the ad you posted for a
house exchange.
August.
•We are very keen on the countryside.
•We’d like to get to know the area.
•We are looking for a place where we
can...

Useful language for Useful language for

asking for more agreeing, disagreeing
information and compromising
•How/What about...? •Yes, that’s right.
•Is there a...? / Are there any...? •I don’t think so.
•Is it possible to...? •Great, let’s do that!
•Could we...? •That’s agreed then.
•Sorry, but that’s not what I expected / what I was looking
•And another thing... for.
•No problem!
•I hope you find something else/what you’re looking for.

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Task 2b
Do the Tandem task called CA11 House-hunting and record your performance with Skype and
the Skype recorder. You should record your conversation in only one file, which includes all
the tasks. Do not stop the recorder until you have finished all the Tandem tasks.

After the Tandem/Skype call

Save your recording using your first and last names (for example,
Laura_Munoz_Alex_Morales_CA11)
Post your recording in the CA11_Speaking folder on the Forum.

Assessment criteria for CA11 Marks

Task completion: completion of the task, length, effective 0-5
communication, extra tasks and optional work
Intelligibility, pronunciation, intonation: quality of contribution, clarity, 0-5
natural intonation
Interactive communication: initiating and developing interaction 0-5
Language complexity and accuracy: variety and accurate use of 0-5
vocabulary and grammar
Total mark __/20

Extra Speaking Task (Optional) (15 – 24 May)

The extra speaking task is a TANDEM activity. Your teacher will post further details about it on
the Notice Board.
1. Find a partner. You can work with the same partner from a previous activity or a new
partner, but you must be available at the same time as your partner. You should use the
‘Conversation Club’ folder in order to look for a partner.
2. Arrange a date and time for your Tandem/Skype optional task.
3. Do the Tandem task that your teacher will have prepared.
4. Save your recording using your first and last names (for example,
Laura_Munoz_Alex_Morales_Speaking_Task_11)
5. Post your recording in the Conversation_Club folder on the forum under Speaking Task
11.