Giáo án Tiếng Anh thí điểm 8 - Unit 2: Life in the countryside

UNIT 2 LIFE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
Listen and read.
Nguyen: Nguyen speaking.
Nick:	Hi Nguyen, how's your stay there?
Nguyen: Nick, hi! Well, it's more exciting than I expected.	
Nick:	What are you doing?
Nguyen: Lots of things. It's harvest time, so we help load the rice onto buffalo-drawn carts, ride it home and dry it. Have you ever ridden a cart?
Nick:	No, but I'd like to.
Nguyen: And sometimes I go herding the buffalo with the boys.
Nick:	You've made new friends?
Nguyen: Yeah “right on my first day. They came and took me to the paddy fields to fly kites.
Nick:	Where can you buy a kite in the countryside?
Nguyen: The people here don't buy kites - then make them. My grandfather's made me the largest, most colorful kite I've ever had. It looks great up there in the sky.
Nick:	Oh, I’m so envious!
Nguyen: Ha...ha... I guess. I live more happily herf . and there's still a lot more to explore.
Nick:	Sounds great!
Nguyen: And everything seems to move more slowly here than in the city.
Nick:	i wish I could join ...
Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
Nguyen didn't think country life could be so interesting.
Nguyen never joins the boys in herding the buffaloes.
Rice is transported home on trucks.
Nick would like to visit the countryside at harvest time.	
Nguyen thinks life in the City is faster than that in the countryside.	
b. Answer the following questions.
Where is Nguyen now?
When was he able to make new friends?
What is Nguyen's kite like?
Who is Nguyen probably staying with?
What does Nick mean when he says I’m so envious?
c. Complete the sentences with the words in the box.
buffalo-drawn cart 	colorful 
herding 	move slowly 
harvest time	paddy field
When a thing has lots of bright colours, it is ..
When people are not in a hurry, they ..
A busy time when people collect their crops is called..
A place where rice grows is called a ..
My brother is taking his buffaloes out to feed them. He's..them.
Rice is loaded onto a..to transport it home.
In groups, discuss and final how Nguyen feels about his stay in the countryside. Tick (√) the appropriate box. Look for expressions from the conversation to support your ideas.
He likes it.
He doesn't mind it.
He doesn't like it.
2 Match the activities with the pictures
1. flying a kite
2. herding the buffalo
3. riding a horse
4. collecting water
5. drying the rice 
6. loading the rice
3. Can you think of some more things tha children do in the countryside? Make a list
They climb trees.
They go swimming in the river.
Share your list with the class.
4 GAME: COUNTRYSIDE CHARADES
Play charades in two teams using the class list of countryside activities from 3. The teacher whispers an activity to one person from Team 1. This person mimes the activity for their team to guess. If their team guesses incorrectly, Team 2 can try. The teams take turns until all the activities have been mimed. The team with the most points wins.
A CLOSER LOOK 1
VOCABULARY
Listen and repeat the words.
slow	boring
colorful	inconvenient
friendly	vast
hard	peaceful
2 Put the words in 1 into the appropriate category. Some words can be used in more than one category.
people
life
scenery
3. Match the nouns/ noun phrases in the wIth each verb.
hay	a pole	wild flowers
water	a camel	the buffaloes
a horse	apples
a tent	the cattle
ride	put up 	collect 	 herd	pick
4 Use the words from 1 and 3 to complete the sentences. Remember to use the correct for of the verbs.
When summer comes, we enjoy  blackberries.
2. Our village has no running water, which  We have to help our parents  water from	the river.
3. In the countryside, children learn to the cattle when they are small.
4. Have you ever  a horse? I think you have to be  to do it.
5. You can relax in the countryside. It's so 	
6. life is hard because people have move a lot.
7. The sky ishere in the countryside. There are no buildings to block the view.
8. Wẹ worked together to . this term. It’s was	work.
 ACLOSER LOOK 2
Grammar
Comparative forms of adjectives: review
1 Complete the passage below with a suitable comparative form of the adjectives provided.
Sometimes I hear adults around me say it is (0. good) better for children to grow up in the than in the countryside. They say that the City offers a child more opportunities for (1. high)	
education, and (2. easy)	access to (3. good)	facilities. Life there is (4. exciting); and (5. convenient). They may be right, and there's one thing they might not know. I feel (6. happy) here than in a crowded and noisy City. Country folk an (7. friendly)	 than City folk. I know every boy in my village. Life here is not as (8. fast) as that in the City and I feel (9. safe).
Perhaps the (10. good) place to grow up is the place where you feel at home.
Comparative forms of adverbs
1. more/less+ adverb+(than) is the form of comparative for almost all adverbs of manner ending in ly.
Examples:
Can you walk more slowly? I can’t catch up with you
Hanh acts less responsibly than anyone here.
2 adverb + er + (than) is the form of comparative of adverbs of manner with the same form as adjectives
fast	→ faster	early → earlier
hard	→harder	late → later
Example:
The rain is coming. Let’s run faster.
3, Some irregular forms of adverbs of manner: 
well→ better; 
badly → worse
Example:
I believe you’ll do better in the next test.
2 Complete the sentences with suitable comparative forms of the adverbs in the box.
Can you speak? My English is not good.
After a hard working day, we usually sleep 
Nowadays, people dress	.so it's
difficult to say which country they are from.
It's not always true that rich people donate  than poor people.
If you want to stay slim, you have to eat.
3 Finish the sentences below with a suitable comparative form of hard, early, late, fast,
Your exam score is low. I am sure you can do
We'll be late for the fair. Can you drive ..?
On Sunday, we can get up	..than usual.
The farmers have to work .. at harvest time.
You look tired. Are you feeling.. than you did this morning?
My mother has to get up ..than us to milk the cows.
4 Underline the correct comparative forms to complete the sentences.	
People in rural areas of Britain talk optimistically more optimistically about the future than city| people.	
In India, rural areas are more popularly/popular known as the countryside'.
A village is less densely populated/ more densely populated than a City.
City people seem to react quickly/ more quick to changes than country people.
Medical help can be less easily/ more easily obtained in a City than in the countryside.
A buffalo ploughs better/more well than a horse.
Write the answers to the questions below.
Which place is more peaceful, the city or the countryside?
Which works faster at calculus, a Computer or human being?
Which one is harder, life in a remote area or life in a modern town?
Which City is more expensive, Ho Chi Minh City or Hue?
Which can plough better, a horse or a buffalo?
COMMUNICATION
THE COUNTRYSIDE THROUGH VISITORS’ EYES
1 Read the posts on 'holidays in the Countryside'
There was so much space! We could run around the fields and shout out loud without disturbing anybody.
Dennis from London
Swimming in the river, picking blackberries, collecting honey from beehives ... I have never had a more interesting vacation.
Julie from Paris
No running water. No electricity. And the only entertainment centre is miles away. Can't stay here any longer!	
Phirun from Phnom Penh
I love the vast open spaces, the fresh air and the feeling of freedom in the countryside. They are experiences i can never have in Seoul.
Yumi from Seoul
I don’t mind visiting those Street markets wvhere the locals sell their home-made Products. However, City life is more exciting.
Emi from Tokyo
Last week I went on a trip to the countryside and had my first experience of farm work: digging holes, planting vegetables and collecting tomatoes. Unforgettable!
Lan from Ho Noi
Country life doesn’t excite me at all. So boring and inconvenient,
Bob from Hong Kong
2. What are the attitudes of these people towards their experiences? Tick (√) the appropriate box.
Positive
Natural
Negative
Dannis from London.
Julie from Paris
Phirun from Phnom Penh
Yumi from Seoul
Emi from Tokyo
Lan from Hanoi
Ob from Hong Kong
3 Work in groups. Reply to the posts in 1. Write down your replies.
Example:	
Bob: In my opinion, the countryside has benefits. that a boring person would never discover. 
Helen from Da Nang
 Bob: I think this is one of the reasons for urbanization.
Vu from Da Nang
Discuss and share your replies in the class.
Skill1 1
1. Quickly read the passage and choose the most suitable heading A, B, C for each paragraph.
A. Nomadic children's lives
B. The importance of cattle to the nomads 
C. The nomads' home
NOMADIC LIFE ON GOBI HIGHLANDS
We don't live a normal life like many other people. We live a nomadic life. This means we move two or three times a year to look for new pastures - grasslands - for our cattle. The cattle provide most of our needs: dairy Products, meat and clothing.
We live in a ger, our traditional circular tent. It keeps; us cool in summer and warm in winter, even when the temperature drops to -50°c. It can be put up then taken down and transported.
For most of the year, we are surrounded by vast pastures, rivers and mountains. We see few people from the outside World. When we are small, we play on our land and with the animals. The horse is our best friend. Any nomadic child can ride a horse. We learn from an early age to help in the family, from household chores to heavier work like herding the cattle. We also learn to be brave.
Match the descriptions with the words and phrases from the passage.
Words/Phrases
Descriptions
a ger
dairy Products
cattle
nomadic life
pastures
a life where people are always on the move
a circular tent in Which Mongolian nomads live
grasslands
milk, butter, cheese 
cows, goats, buffaloes...
3. Read the passage again and choose the bei answer A, B, c, or D.
We live . other people.
a different life to
similarly to 
the same life as
in exactly the same way as
We have to move in order to . 
change our life style
look for better weather 
look for food for our cattie 
be closer to the City
3. Our cattle can provide us. with 
A. most of our needs
B. food only C
C. means of transport only 
D. anything we want
4. When we move to a new place, we	
A. have to make a new ger 
B. put up the ger
C. buy a new ger 
D. share a ger with our neighbours
5. Nomadic children . 
A. play the same games as other children in the word
B. use nature and their animals as playthings
C. do not like toys
D. spend all their time helping with housework
6. Mongolian children in the Gobi learn .	
A. to ride a goat 
B. to live in the mountains
C. to be generous	I
D. to help with household chores
SPEAKING
4 Work in pairs. Interview your partner to see if he/she likes or dislikes Mongolian nomadic life.
A: What do you like about their nomadic life? 
B: Well, the children learn to ride a horse.
A: And what don't you like about it?
B: They can't live permanently in one place.
5a Work in pairs. Discuss and find
- two things you both like about the countryside
- two things you both dislike about the countryside
Explain your choice.
b Report your findings to the class.
Both of us love picking fruit in the summer. It can be hard work but very satisfying.
Skill1 2
Listening
1. Listen to a boy talking about changes in his village and tick (√) the changes he mentions.
.. The roads in the village
.. Electrical appliances in the homes
.. Means of transport
.. Entertainment
.. School	
.. Visitors	
2 Listen again and say if the sentences are true
(T) or false (F).
Nobody lives in an earthen house now.
The village has electricity.
Horses are still the only means of transport in the village.
The children used to go a long way to school. More visitors are coming to see them.	
3 Listen again and answer the questions in no more than FOUR words.
Who often tells the boy stories about the past? 
What do the villagers now know more about? 
Where is the new school?
What do the visitors want to experience in 1 village?
WRITING
4 What do you think?
Which change(s) in the Listening do you see as positive? Which do you see as negative? 
Support your opinion with a reason. Write it out.
Example
It’s good for the villagers to have TVs. They can now have more fun and learn more about different people and different places.
5. Work in groups. Discuss and find some change in a rural area. Make notes of the changes.
6. Write a short paragraph about the changes.
LOOKING BACK
Use the words and phrases in the box to describe the pictures. A word/phrase may be used for more than one picture.
colorful
peaceful 
nomadic life .
vast 
quiet
inconvenient
ger
pasture
cattle 
rice 
horses
paddy fields
harvest time
2 Look at each picture and write a sentence describing what each person is doing. Use the verbs in brackets.
 (ride) .	(fly) .	
(herd) .	(run around) .
(pick) .	.	:	(collect) .
3 Look at the pictures and compete the sentences. Use suitable comparatives of the adverbs in brackets.
a lion runs . horse. (fast).
The Great Wall was built. motorist. (skillfully)
Homes in the City are often . furnished those in the countryside. (well)
A racing driver drives . a normal motorist. (skillfully)
A house is decorated at New York . during the year. (beautifully)
4 .Read the situations below and complete the sentences with suitable forms of the advert in brackets.
A horse can run 80km/hr while a camel can only run 12km/hr. (fast)
A horse can run...... 	
According to a survey, 75% of the population in the countryside are happy with their life. This rate in the City is only 47%. (happily)
People in the countryside live ...... 
Unlike many other jobs, farmers depend heavily on the weather. (heavily)	
Farmers depend...... 
We are both bad at swimming but I'm better than my sister. (badly) 
My sisters swims	...... 	.