Breaking News English

        

1. FRIENDLINESS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about friendliness. Change partners often. Sit with your first 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.

report / surveys / comfortable lifestyles / respondents / second home / integrating / marketing / invaluable / insights / expat life / continent / poorly paid / minefield

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. LIFESTYLES: Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Where	Good points	Bad points
New York City, USA
Beach village, Tahiti
Dubai, UAE
Delhi, India
Rural New Zealand
Paris, France

4. EXPAT: Students A strongly believe everyone should experience expat life and live in another country; Students B strongly believe it’s better if we stay in our own country.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. COMFORTS: What’s important when in other countries? Rank them and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most important at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

language local friends transport safety

friends from your country nightlife freedom to act like you do at home intrgrating

6. FRIENDLY: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘friendly’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	A global bank tried to find out who its friendliest customers were.	T / F
b.	Researchers asked over 3,000 people about their own countries.	T / F
c.	People were asked whether their own country was friendly.	T / F
d.	The report says the world’s friendliest countries are English-speaking.	T / F
e.	The bank says it wants to be the world’s largest supplier of expats.	T / F
f.	The UAE finished bottom of the list.	T / F
g.	Around four-fifths of the UAE is made up of expatriates.	T / F
h.	A woman described India as being like a minefield for expats.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	shows	a.	mixing
2	conducted	b.	descent
3.	questioned	c.	reveals
4.	assess	d.	workers
5.	integrating	e.	priceless
6.	invaluable	f.	interviewed
7.	origin	g.	never-ending
8.	comprises of	h.	carried out
9.	labourers	i.	is made up of
10.	relentless	j.	evaluate

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	which countries offered the most	a.	with the new culture
2	they asked 3,385	b.	of origin
3.	their second	c.	community
4.	fitting in	d.	paid labourers
5.	integrating into the local	e.	into expat life
6.	the largest global survey	f.	respondents
7.	invaluable insights	g.	comfortable lifestyles
8.	from an expats’ home country	h.	challenges
9.	poorly	i.	home
10.	daily	j.	of expats

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

A new report (1) ____________ which are the friendliest countries in the world. The HSBC bank (2) ____________ the Expat Explorer Survey to find out which countries (3) ____________ the most comfortable lifestyles. Researchers questioned people in one hundred different countries between May and July 2011. They asked 3,385 respondents to (4) ____________ how willing they would be to make different countries their second home. The questions were (5) ____________ on how easy it is to make friends with the local people; learning the local language;          (6) ____________ in with the new culture; and integrating into the local community. The top-(7) ____________ country was New Zealand, (8) ____________ by Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States.		assess fitting offered followed shows based conducted ranked
Head of (9) ____________ for HSBC, Lisa Wood, said: “As the largest global (10) ____________ of expats, Expat Explorer allows us to capture invaluable insights into expat life and how it        (11) ____________ from country to country, continent to continent and from an expats’ home country of                       (12) ____________.” The lowest ranked country was the United Arab Emirates, which is surprising as around 80 per cent of the (13) ____________ population comprises of expatriates. Many of these are (14) ____________ paid labourers who are unlikely to be eligible for HSBC’s survey. India finished (15) ____________ bottom. Danish expat Pia Mollback-Verbic said India “is simply a minefield of relentless mental, emotional and practical             (16) ____________ challenges for most non-Indians.”		poorly origin daily survey whole marketing second differs

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

A new _____________________ the friendliest countries in the world. The HSBC bank conducted the Expat Explorer Survey _____________________ countries offered _____________________ lifestyles. Researchers questioned people in one hundred different countries between May and July 2011. They asked 3,385 respondents to _____________________ they would be to make different countries their second home. The questions were based on how _____________________ friends with the local people; learning the local language; _____________________ new culture; and integrating into the local community. The top-ranked country was New Zealand, followed by Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States.

Head of marketing for HSBC, Lisa Wood, said: “As the largest global survey of expats, Expat Explorer _____________________ invaluable insights into expat life _____________________ from country to country, continent to continent and from an expats’ _____________________.” The lowest ranked country was the United Arab Emirates, which is surprising as around 80 per cent of the whole _____________________ of expatriates. Many of these are poorly paid labourers who are unlikely _____________________ HSBC’s survey. India finished second bottom. Danish expat Pia Mollback-Verbic said India “is _____________________ of relentless mental, emotional and practical daily challenges for most non-Indians.”

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘comfortable’ and ‘lifestyle’.

comfortable

lifestyle

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. 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.

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:

shows offered willing based fitting top

largest continent origin whole poorly daily

FRIENDLINESS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about friendliness 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.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

FRIENDLINESS DISCUSSION

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

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘expatriate / expat’?
c)	Would you like to live in another country?
d)	What’s your country like for foreigners to live in?
e)	What is a comfortable lifestyle?
f)	How comfortable is your lifestyle?
g)	Where would you like your second home to be?
h)	Do you think it’s important to make friends with the local people if you live in another country?
i)	Do you think you’re good / would be good at fitting in with other cultures?
j)	Can you understand why the top country in the survey was New Zealand?

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	What do you think Lisa Wood found out about expat life?
c)	How do lifestyles in your country differ from those in countries around you?
d)	What do you think are the hard things about being an expat?
e)	Why do people choose to live an expat lifestyle?
f)	Do many people in your country go to other countries to live and work?
g)	How do you think the UAE could rank so lowly if most of the population is expatriate?
h)	Do you think the study is biased towards rich Andlo-Americans?
i)	What do you think of Pia Mollback-Verbic’s comments?
j)	What questions would you like to ask HSBC Head of Marketing Lisa Wood?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

A new report shows which are the friendliest countries in the world. The HSBC bank (1) ____ the Expat Explorer Survey to find out which countries (2) ____ the most comfortable lifestyles. Researchers questioned people in one hundred different countries between May and July 2011. They asked 3,385 respondents to (3) ____ how (4) ____ they would be to make different countries their second home. The questions were based on how easy it is to make friends with the local people; learning the local language; fitting (5) ____ with the new culture; and integrating into the local community. The top-ranked country was New Zealand, followed      (6) ____ Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States.

Head of marketing for HSBC, Lisa Wood, said: “As the largest global (7) ____ of expats, Expat Explorer allows us to (8) ____ invaluable insights into expat life and how it differs from country to country, continent to continent and from an expats’ home country of (9) ____.” The lowest ranked country was the United Arab Emirates, which is surprising as around 80 per cent of the whole population comprises of expatriates. Many of these are (10) ____ paid labourers who are unlikely to be eligible for HSBC’s survey. India finished second bottom. Danish expat Pia Mollback-Verbic said India “is (11) ____ a minefield of relentless mental, emotional and practical daily challenges for most (12) ____-Indians.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	conducted	(b)	countered	(c)	contrasted	(d)	contained
2.	(a)	took	(b)	offered	(c)	suggested	(d)	prompted
3.	(a)	arrest	(b)	recess	(c)	assess	(d)	contest
4.	(a)	filling	(b)	billing	(c)	milling	(d)	willing
5.	(a)	up	(b)	out	(c)	as	(d)	in
6.	(a)	from	(b)	as	(c)	in	(d)	by
7.	(a)	survey	(b)	subject	(c)	injection	(d)	reception
8.	(a)	rapture	(b)	capture	(c)	puncture	(d)	rupture
9.	(a)	first	(b)	base	(c)	origin	(d)	beginning
10.	(a)	poorly	(b)	gladly	(c)	discounted	(d)	cheap
11.	(a)	easy	(b)	pretty	(c)	sample	(d)	simply
12.	(a)	not	(b)	non	(c)	no	(d)	un

 
 

WRITING

Write about friendliness for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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HOMEWORK

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 out more about friendliness. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. FRIENDLINESS: Make a poster about friendliness. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. EXPAT: Write a magazine article about expat lifestyles. Include imaginary interviews with expats who are happy and expats who are unhappy.

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. LETTER: Write a letter to an expat expert. Ask him/her three questions about expats. Give him/her three of your opinions on expat life. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

F

c.

F

d.

T

e.

F

f.

T

g.

T

h.

T

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	shows	a.	reveals
2	conducted	b.	carried out
3.	questioned	c.	interviewed
4.	assess	d.	evaluate
5.	integrating	e.	mixing
6.	invaluable	f.	priceless
7.	origin	g.	descent
8.	comprises of	h.	is made up of
9.	labourers	i.	workers
10.	relentless	j.	never-ending

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	which countries offered the most	a.	comfortable lifestyles
2	they asked 3,385	b.	respondents
3.	their second	c.	home
4.	fitting in	d.	with the new culture
5.	integrating into the local	e.	community
6.	the largest global survey	f.	of expats
7.	invaluable insights	g.	into expat life
8.	from an expats’ home country	h.	of origin
9.	poorly	i.	paid labourers
10.	daily	j.	challenges

GAP FILL:

The “friendliest” countries in the world

A new report (1) shows which are the friendliest countries in the world. The HSBC bank (2) conducted the Expat Explorer Survey to find out which countries (3) offered the most comfortable lifestyles. Researchers questioned people in one hundred different countries between May and July 2011. They asked 3,385 respondents to (4) assess how willing they would be to make different countries their second home. The questions were (5) based on how easy it is to make friends with the local people; learning the local language; (6) fitting in with the new culture; and integrating into the local community. The top-(7) ranked country was New Zealand, (8) followed by Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United States.

Head of (9) marketing for HSBC, Lisa Wood, said: “As the largest global (10) survey of expats, Expat Explorer allows us to capture invaluable insights into expat life and how it (11) differs from country to country, continent to continent and from an expats’ home country of (12) origin.” The lowest ranked country was the United Arab Emirates, which is surprising as around 80 per cent of the (13) whole population comprises of expatriates. Many of these are (14) poorly paid labourers who are unlikely to be eligible for HSBC’s survey. India finished (15) second bottom. Danish expat Pia Mollback-Verbic said India “is simply a minefield of relentless mental, emotional and practical (16) daily challenges for most non-Indians.”

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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