When people talk about unusual homes I think of our friends’
dream home in New Mexico, on which they spent all their savings building.
On the outside, the house looks like most adobe homes of the area. Adobe is made from sand, clay, water, and organic material that are shaped into bricks and left to dry in the sun. Our friends’
house is a beautifully-designed, large adobe home with a drive and a large cactus tree near the entrance. It has soft lines, and is less angular than conventional urban homes.
When you go through the door, you fi nd yourself in a beautiful, spacious room with large windows and sunlight streaming in.
Large windows are unusual for adobe homes. But this is no ordinary home. Part of the house juts out of the adobe shell that can be seen from the street and stretches to the end of a cliff . You walk past a kitchen fi tted with a cast-iron stove and hand-made wooden cabinets that give off the most enticing smells of cumin and chilies and herbs. It is so real; you can almost taste the food.
The spacious room that you step into when you enter the house stretches in all directions. You walk towards the sitting area.
When you get closer, you need to brace yourself as the most spectacular view imaginable unfolds before your eyes. All of a sudden, you are no longer stepping on wood, the fl oor is hard, and your footsteps make a strange resounding sound. You look down and wonder whether you have been transported in space and time; you are looking into the gaping canyon. You think you are falling into it; you can almost feel the air whooshing past.
Part of the fl oor is made of thick custom-designed glass. You might like it or hate it, but however you feel you have to admit it is unique. This is the way I feel about this house and the day I spent there. It was a unique, unforgettable experience even if I wouldn’t choose to live with a glass fl oor over a canyon for the rest of my life. Would you?
$KRPH
1 There’s No Place Like Home
8QLW 0* 6$ 6% LQGG B8QLWB0*B6$B7*LQGG 30 30
Teacher’s Guide
1 There’s No Place Like Home
Additional Activity
Organize students in small groups and have them think about unusual locations for homes. For example,’ a home over the lake’, or ‘a home over the river. Ask students to discuss the kind of house they have in mind in their groups and list the reasons for its location.
10
10 Writing
A
z Direct students to the photos and ask them if they have seen houses like the ones in the photos anywhere. Ask them to read and discuss the questions for A. Elicit answers from volunteers.
z Direct students to the title ‘A home over the canyon’.
Elicit or explain what a canyon is: a deep valley with very steep, sharp, rocky sides. Usually, a canyon had a river running through it. A lot of canyons nowadays are dry.
z Ask students to imagine where the house might be in relation with the canyon. Call on a couple of students to draw on the board.
z Have students read the directions for tasks 1. Give them time to read the text individually and answer the questions. Have them compare with a partner. If they disagree on the answers refer them back to the text.
Answers
• Adobe is building material that is made from sand, clay, water and organic material that is shaped into bricks and left to dry in the sun.
• It’s a beautifully designed, large adobe home with soft lines./
Part of the house juts out of the adobe shell and stretches to the end of a cliff .
• No, they aren’t. The front of the house that can be seen from the street is that of a large adobe home with a drive and a cactus tree at the entrance. The back of the house has large windows and stretches to the end of the cliff .( fi rst 5 lines of paragraph 2)
• Part of the fl oor is made of thick custom-designed glass to allow a unique view of the canyon below.
z Read the directions for 2. Play the audio and have students listen and follow in their books. Ask them to highlight the answers in the text.
Answers
• A spacious room that stretches in all directions and the kitchen.
• He can see: the door, large windows, sunlight streaming in, the street, the cliff , the kitchen, the wooden cabinets, the sitting area, a spectacular view, the gaping canyon He can smell: the most enticing smells of cumin and chilies and herbs.
He can feel: the hard fl oor, the air whooshing past (he imagines this)
z Ask them to check with a partner and discuss answers in class if necessary.
z Have students read the directions for 3. Ask them to think of arguments/ reasons for their answers. Discuss answers in class.
B8QLWB0*B6$B7*LQGG 30
Teacher’s Guide
1 There’s No Place Like Home
11 B
z Tell students that they are going to write a descriptive essay about a home.
z Read directions 1 and 2 with the class.
z Organize student s in pairs and have them talk to each other about the homes they have in mind.
z Call on a volunteer to read the directions for 3 and have students study the chart.
z Direct students to the Writing Corner. Have a student read each point aloud and discuss it in class. Explain to them that:
1. When they brainstorm, they should just concentrate and try to remember or imagine as much as they can without worrying about whether it is useful or not. Tell them to make a note of whatever they remember of think about as it comes to them. They can think about organizing later.
2. An initial outline will help them organize their thoughts and/or information, even if they decide to change it later.
3. They should include factual information to help the reader understand and visualize as well.
4. They should try to close their eyes and visualize the place so they can describe the image they have in their minds for the reader.
5. They should not feel self-conscious about using diff erent senses. We perceive of things through more than one sense.
6. The sense of smell is sometimes underrated. It is defi nitely worth remembering and making use of it as it is the best retained memory for most of us.
7. Focusing on the time they enter the house and the time they leave will help them introduce and round up their impressions and essay more eff ectively.
z Have them complete the chart individually. Tell students to concentrate and visualize the house.
z Allow time for the students to make their notes and compare/check with their partner. Remind them to make notes, not write full sentences.
z Have students use their notes in the chart to write a descriptive essay about the house, individually.
Exchange with a partner, read and comment on each other’s essays; have them make corrections and rewrite their essays. Circulate and monitor. Help students edit.
z Give them some time to rewrite their essays. Call on some student to read their essays in class. Then circulate the rest of the essays in class so that students read as many essays as possible. Encourage them to make a note of anything they fi nd interesting, for example a word or phrase, an expression and so on.
z Post the essays on the board or on the wall and have the to stand up and read them. Have students decide which ones:
1. are organized well 2. are original 3. are the most vivid 4. use language well
5. attract the reader’s attention most
Tell them that each essay might satisfy more than one criterion.
z Have pairs compare their choices. Call on them to present their ideas for the class. Have the rest of the class listen and comment.
Workbook
Assign page 8 for additional writing practice above word and sentence level.
Additional Activity
Have students read the opening and closing lines of their essays aloud for the class. Have the rest of the class guess what kind of house is being described. For example, a traditional house in the city/town, a modern house in the country, an old country house, a modern apartment building, a farmhouse, etc.
B8QLWB0*B6$B7*LQGG 30