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THE ARTICLECubans can now build their own homesTimes are changing quickly in Cuba. Cubans can now build their own houses for the first time in 50 years. The country's president, Raul Castro, has announced changes to help the nation's housing shortage. For the past five decades, people had to rely on the government to provide them with houses. There was no such thing as housing loans or a property market. The new reforms will allow people to get loans to build their own homes. There will still be many restrictions. All new properties must follow strict building guidelines. The government has announced dimensions for new houses that all architects must stick to. Mr. Castro explained his decision live on television, telling his people: "I've given you this amount of space....Now build your little home with whatever you can."
Housing has become a serious problem in Cuba. There are now too few houses for people to live in. Overcrowding is reaching record levels as more and more people live with their families in tiny properties. Cuba's government has had difficulty keeping to its targets of building 100,000 new homes per year. The situation has been made worse by three huge hurricanes that hit the island in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed in the fierce winds and driving rain. One potential Cuban homeowner, Jose Santana, was delighted with the news. "My dream to have my own home may soon come true," he said. This may be easier said than done. The average wage in Cuba is just $17 a month, and most building materials are only available on the black market.
WARM-UPS1. HOMES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about homes. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your partner(s) and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. MY HOME: What is important in a home? Complete the table below. Talk about your table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you heard.
4. HOMEOWNER: Students A strongly believe it’s better to own your own home than rent; Students B strongly believe renting property is much better than buying. Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. CHANGING TIMES: Are times changing? Talk about how these things are changing with your partner(s). Change partners and talk again.
6. PROPERTY: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘property’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one. combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.Times are changing quickly in Cuba. Cubans ___________________ own houses for the first time in 50 years. The country's president, Raul Castro, has announced ___________________ nation's housing shortage. For the past five decades, people had to rely on the government to provide them with houses. There _____________________ housing loans or a property market. The new reforms will allow people to get loans to build their own homes. There will still be many restrictions. All new properties ___________________ building guidelines. The government has announced dimensions for new houses that all architects must stick to. Mr. Castro explained his decision ___________________, telling his people: "I've given you this ___________________....Now build your little home with whatever you can." Housing has become a serious problem in Cuba. There are ___________________ for people to live in. Overcrowding is reaching record levels as more and more people live with their families in tiny properties. Cuba's government has ___________________ to its targets of building 100,000 new homes per year. The situation has ___________________ by three huge hurricanes that hit the island in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed ___________________ and driving rain. One potential Cuban homeowner, Jose Santana, was delighted with the news. "My dream _____________________ may soon come true," he said. This may be easier said than done. The average wage in Cuba is just $17 a month, and most building materials ___________________ black market. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘property’ and ‘market’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. 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…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
STUDENT HOMES SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about homes in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
HOMES DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGETimes are changing (1) ____ in Cuba. Cubans can now build their own houses for the first time in 50 years. The country's president, Raul Castro, has announced changes to help the nation's housing (2) ____. For the past five decades, people had to rely on the government to provide them with houses. There was no (3) ____ thing as housing loans or a property market. The new reforms will (4) ____ people to get loans to build their own homes. There will still be many restrictions. All new properties must follow strict building guidelines. The government has announced dimensions for new houses that all architects must (5) ____ to. Mr. Castro explained his decision (6) ____ on television, telling his people: "I've given you this amount of space....Now build your little home with whatever you can." Housing has become a serious problem in Cuba. There are now too (7) ____ houses for people to live in. Overcrowding is reaching record levels as more and more people live with their families in tiny properties. Cuba's government has had (8) ____ keeping to its targets of building 100,000 new homes per year. The situation has been made worse (9) ____ three huge hurricanes that hit the island in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed in the fierce winds and (10) ____ rain. One potential Cuban homeowner, Jose Santana, was delighted with the news. "My dream to have my own home may soon come true," he said. This may be easier said than (11) ____. The average wage in Cuba is just $17 a month, and most building materials are only available on the (12) ____ market. Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
WRITING:Write about your own home for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. 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 out more about Cuba. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. MY HOME: Make a poster about your dream home. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. DREAM COME TRUE: Write a magazine article about a Cuban who has waited 50 years to buy a house and now has one. Include imaginary interviews with the new homeowner and his/her family. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. DIALOGUE: Write an imaginary conversation between a new Cuban homeowner (whose dream of buying a house has come true) and Cuban president Raul Castro. The homeowner starts by thanking the president. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). Role play your conversation in front of the class. 6. LETTER: Write a letter to Cuba’s president. Ask him three questions about his decision. Give him three suggestions on what he can do to help his people in the future. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Cubans can now build their own homesTimes are changing quickly in Cuba. Cubans can now build their own houses for the first time in 50 years. The country's president, Raul Castro, has announced changes to help the nation's housing shortage. For the past five decades, people had to rely on the government to provide them with houses. There was no such thing as housing loans or a property market. The new reforms will allow people to get loans to build their own homes. There will still be many restrictions. All new properties must follow strict building guidelines. The government has announced dimensions for new houses that all architects must stick to. Mr. Castro explained his decision live on television, telling his people: "I've given you this amount of space....Now build your little home with whatever you can." Housing has become a serious problem in Cuba. There are now too few houses for people to live in. Overcrowding is reaching record levels as more and more people live with their families in tiny properties. Cuba's government has had difficulty keeping to its targets of building 100,000 new homes per year. The situation has been made worse by three huge hurricanes that hit the island in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed in the fierce winds and driving rain. One potential Cuban homeowner, Jose Santana, was delighted with the news. "My dream to have my own home may soon come true," he said. This may be easier said than done. The average wage in Cuba is just $17 a month, and most building materials are only available on the black market. LANGUAGE WORK
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