Learning Vocabulary: Flat Hunting Part 2

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Learning Vocabulary - Flat hunting - Part 2

Learning goals

Skills: Listening

Vocabulary: Adjectives to describe perfect flatmates

Vocabulary: Adjectives to describe flatmates you'd prefer to avoid

Task: Describe your perfect flatmate

Learning Vocabulary: Flat Hunting Part 2

In this Premier Skills English Podcast, Rich is looking around a flat that he would like to rent but the landlord (Jack) is not so sure. The language focus is on adjectives to describe perfect flatmates and flatmates you'd rather avoid. Your task is to describe your ideal flatmate. Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to guess.

If the listening was a bit difficult, you can listen again and read the transcript at the same time.

Read and listen at the same time.

Learning Vocabulary: Flat Hunting 2

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rowan: My name’s Rowan

Rich: and I’m Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rowan: Don’t forget you can find the transcript for all our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: We have changed our weekly podcast. You will hear our weekly podcast in three parts.

Jack: Yes. We asked you for your opinions on the ideal podcast length and the majority of our listeners say that they want more podcasts but shorter podcasts.

Rowan: We are splitting the podcast into three shorter parts which will make things easier to understand.

Jack: Not too much will change. We will always have a roleplay for you, a language focus, a task for you to complete and a weekly football phrase for you to guess.

Rich: Please let us know if you are happy with the changes either in the comments section or on Apple Podcasts.

Rowan: This week’s podcast is connected to flat hunting. Jack is looking for someone to share his flat - he’s looking for a new flatmate.

Rich: That’s right. And lots of people have called Jack about his flat - there has been a lot of interest.

Rowan: So, Jack needs to interview some of these people to see who he would like as his new flatmate.

Rich: This is the second part of this week’s podcast. You’ve already heard Jack interview one potential flatmate and you will hear another interview now.

Jack: Afterwards, we’ll look at some words and phrases we use in the roleplay.

Rowan: Your task is to describe the type of flatmate you would like to live with and the type of flatmate you wouldn’t like to live with.

Rich: If you are listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast platform, you should also check out our website.

Jack: On the Premier Skills English website, you’ll find the transcript, examples and activities to help you understand the language, and a task for you to complete with other listeners.

Introduction to roleplay

Jack: As we said earlier, this podcast is in three parts - there will be three short podcasts in total.

Rich: Jack needs a new flatmate and he is interviewing people who are interested in sharing his flat. You are going to listen to an interview with one potential flatmate.

Rowan: While you listen, we want you to answer two questions:

Rich: The first question is: Why should Jack choose this flatmate?

Rowan: And the second question is: Why shouldn’t Jack choose this flatmate?

Roleplay

Rich: Hello. Are you Jack? I’m here about the flat.

Jack: You must be Rich. Please, come in. What’s that?

Rich: Sorry, I forgot to mention Rover on the phone. You don’t mind, do you? He won’t be any bother.

Jack: And he’s yours, is he? Is he err … house-trained?

Rich: Of, course, you’ll hardly know he’s here.

Jack: OK, well, come in and have a look around.

Rich: It’s a lovely place you’ve got here; light and airy.

Jack: So, what do you do?

Rich: I’m afraid if I told you that I’d have to kill you … I’m pulling your leg. I work at the football stadium down the road.

Jack: You work at the Emirates. Wow! I’m a massive Arsenal fan.

Rich: Not that far down the road! I work at Tottenham’s new ground. It’s amazing. I could probably get you a couple of tickets.

Jack: Oh, Tottenham. How dissap … I mean that must be nice. Anyway, this is the living room. Why are you looking for somewhere to live?

Rich: Well, it’s a long story but it turned out that one of my old flatmates was allergic to dogs and I wasn’t going to kick Rover out.

Jack: No, you couldn’t do that. He doesn’t look like he would hurt a fly. Where’s he got to anyway?

Rich: This is really a nice flat and I love the views. Look, you can see the Tottenham stadium from here.

Jack: Yeah, I usually keep the curtains closed. Well, that’s about everything. I’ll give you a call later this week but everything looks in order to me apart from the Tottenham thing obviously.

Rich: It’ll be a friendly rivalry. I always love a bit of banter. Rover! Come here boy! Good boy!

Jack: OK, then I’ll be in touch.

Language Focus

Rich: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: Why should Jack choose this flatmate?

Jack: Well, let’s start with the positives. I suppose the biggest plus is that he likes football. So it wouldn’t be a problem if the football was on the TV all the time.

Rowan: Yes, but he’s a Tottenham fan and you’re an Arsenal fan. That could cause a bit of friction, couldn’t it?

Jack: No, just friendly rivalry like he said. And he has a job and works locally. I think those are positives. He seemed nice.

Rich: The second question was: Why shouldn’t Jack choose this flatmate?

Jack: Well, there’s the Tottenham thing but I was also a bit unsure about the dog. I’m not really sure about having pets but Rover seemed really well-behaved and nice.

Rowan: But the dog did just disappear - I wonder where it went … but overall it sounds like you’re going to choose Rich as your new flatmate.

Jack: We’ll see. OK, let’s move onto some language. I want to think about some of the qualities we may look for in a flatmate and some of the qualities we may want to avoid.

Rich: Let’s start with a few positive qualities. For me, one of the most important things in a flatmate is that they are clean and tidy.

Rowan: Oh, yes, being tidy is very important. When we talk about being tidy we’re talking about someone who keeps everything neat and organised.

Jack: Can you remember what Rowan said in the first roleplay? Listen to this again. Do you think she’s clean and tidy?

Jack: That sounds like an interesting job.

Rowan: It is although it’s dirty work. I often stink of fish when I get home so this en-suite bathroom will be useful to get the smell off. It is a bit anti-social.

Rich: Haha! No, it sounds like she might be the opposite of clean and tidy. Dirty and untidy! She also said she’d bring her mountain bike through the flat. That’s not very considerate.

Jack: That’s a very important quality when we are choosing a flatmate. We want people who are considerate. To be considerate is another adjective and it means to think of other people’s feelings and to try not to upset people.

Rowan: The opposite is inconsiderate. I was probably being inconsiderate when I said I’d bring my mountain bike in the flat.

Jack: I think being tolerant is another important quality. This means to be accepting of other people’s habits and what other people do and say even if you may not agree with it.

Rich: What about being reliable? That’s an important quality. To be reliable means you can be trusted to do something. You want a flatmate to pay the rent every month that’s for sure.

Rowan: Yes, you don’t want a flatmate that is unreliable when it comes to paying the rent and the bills.

Jack: I think being friendly and sociable is important too. You don’t want someone living with you who is a bit unfriendly or anti-social.

Rich: OK, we’ve looked at quite a few adjectives to describe qualities we look for and try to avoid in a flatmate. We’ll look at this vocabulary in a bit more detail on the website.

TASK

Rich: In this task, we want you to describe your ideal flatmate.

Jack: We want you to tell us the type of flatmate you would like to live with. What kind of qualities are you looking for in a flatmate? Is it important that they have similar likes and dislikes to you?

Rowan: And what kind of qualities are you not looking for in a flatmate? What kind of things would you like to avoid? Does it matter if a potential flatmate has a pet, smokes or comes home really late?

Rich: Write all your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website or on Apple podcasts if that’s where you listen to us.

Football Phrase

Rich: It’s time for this week’s football phrase. Remember that you will hear this football phrase in all three parts of this podcast and we’ll have the answer for you in part one of our next podcast as well as in This Week which you can also watch on YouTube.

Rowan: The answer to last week’s football phrase was reduced capacity. Well done if you got it right and if you did I hope you heard our shout out to you in This Week on YouTube!

Jack: Have you got this week’s football phrase, Rich?

Rich: I have. This week’s football phrase is ******** ******. At the moment there is a lot of ******* ****** in the newspapers and online. This phrase is used to describe rumours about which players are signing for which clubs and things like that.

Rowan: Lots of players will be moving clubs this summer and looking for new houses and flats. Maybe they could move in with you Jack!

Jack: If you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know.

Rich: Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. If you get it right, we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast and live on YouTube.

Jack: If you have a question for us about football or English you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org

Rowan: or you can leave your questions and comments on the website in the comments section or on our Facebook page.

Rich: or you could give us a rating and a fantastic review on Apple Podcasts.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football!

How much did you understand?

Here is some of the vocabulary you might have heard in the roleplay. Do you know the words in bold?

You don’t mind, do you? He won’t be any bother.

Is he er … house-trained?

Wow! I’m a massive Arsenal fan.

It turned out that one of my old flatmates was allergic to dogs.

He wouldn't hurt a fly.

Activity 1: In this activity, take a look at some of the words that were used in the roleplay and match them to their definitions.

Have you ever rented a flat or house?

What kind of flatmate would you want?

In the roleplay, Rowan, Rich and Jack spoke about the qualities of good and not so good flatmates. Look at this sentences from the podcast and the adjectives in bold that describe different qualities that you ight find in potential flatmates.

Rich: For me, one of the most important things in a flatmate is that they are clean and tidy.

Rich: Haha! No, it sounds like she might be the opposite of clean and tidy. Dirty and untidy! She also said she’d bring her mountain bike through the flat. That’s not very considerate.

Rowan: I was probably being inconsiderate when I said I’d bring my mountain bike in the flat.

Jack: I think being tolerant is another important quality.

Rich: What about being reliable? That’s an important quality. You want a flatmate to pay the rent every month that’s for sure.

Rowan: Yes, you don’t want a flatmate that is unreliable when it comes to paying the rent and the bills.

Jack: I think being friendly and sociable is important too. You don’t want someone living with you who is a bit unfriendly or anti-social.

Rich says he works at Tottenham's stadium but Jack is an Arsenal fan. Will they get on?

Activity 2: In this activity, check your understanding of some of the adjectives that were used in the podcast to talk about people we'd like to share a flat with and people we'd try to avoid.

It's not only Rich that would be moving into Jack's flat!

Further resources connected to looking for a flat:

My Ideal Flatmate

Who would be your ideal flatmate?

In this task, we want you to describe your ideal flatmate. We want you to tell us the type of flatmate you would like to live with.

What kind of qualities are you looking for in a flatmate? Is it important that they have similar likes and dislikes to you?
What kind of qualities are you not looking for in a flatmate? What kind of things would you like to avoid? Does it matter if a potential flatmate has a pet, smokes or comes home really late?

Write your answers below and don't forget to make a guess at this week's football phrase