The Changing UK - Southampton

You are going to

• watch a clip from a BBC documentary about the effects of immigration on the city of Southampton
• do a gap fill exercise
• discuss / write about immigration

1) Discuss

• How has your life changed in the last few years? 
• Has your city / town / country changed much in the last 10 years? How?
• What are the biggest changes in the world in the last 10 years?

2) Watch
You are going to watch a clip from a BBC documentary called the "The Truth About Immigration". The clip talks about the  changes in the population in the UK city of Southampton in the last 10 years. Southampton is a port on the south coast of England with a population of around 250,000.



Watch and answer

• How has Southampton been transformed in the last 10 years?
• What is special about the school in the clip?
• What nationalities are mentioned?

3) Practise
Do the gap-fill exercise. Watch the clip again if you need to check any answers.

Printable worksheet here

4) Discuss

• Do / Would you like to live or work in another country?
• Why do many people emigrate?
• What problems do you think people have when they emigrate?
• Why do you think so many immigrants have come to the UK in the last 10 years?
• What are the positive contributions that immigrants make to the economy and society?
• Do you think that immigrants have a responsibility to adapt to their new country? Should they learn the language and adapt to local customs?
• What are the effects of migration on both the migrants and the natives? How does it affect culture?
• What can be done to avoid problems in the future? What can politicians do? What should society do? How do you think the media should report immigration?

Many of these questions are discussed in the complete BBC documentary "The Truth About Immigration". If you have time you can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHplEJgevqM

A summary of the documentary is here http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/2014/01/08/the-truth-about-the-bbcs-the-truth-about-immigration/

5) Write (IELTS)

Choose one
1) To what extent will migration from the developing world to the developed world become a social and political issue in the 21st century? (250 words) (IELTS Task 2 Academic)

Plan your essay.

• Think about population, work, housing, education, health... What can be done to avoid problems in the future? Also think about culture - what are the effects of migration on both the migrants and the natives?

2) One of the major problems facing the world today is the growing number of refugees. The developed nations in the world should tackle this problem by taking in more refugees. To what extent do you agree with this opinion? (IELTS Task 2 Academic)







More

• Katie Melua on the BBC's 'This Week' discussing migration Advanced, Discussion Activities, IELTS, Katie Melua, Life in the UK, Listening, Migration, Writing

• Describe a city - Superlative Southampton Comparatives and Superlatives, Describing a place, Intermediate, Reading, Southampton, Upper Intermediate, Webquest  

• Icing on the Cake FCE, Gerunds, Intermediate, Listening, Past Habits, Remember + Gerund, Migration, The Icing On The Cake, Used to, Would

• The Terminal Discussion Activities, Film and TV, IELTS, Intermediate, Listening, Migration, Modal Verbs, Reading,  Upper Intermediate, Writing

Real English - Popular UK Slang

You are going to 

• look at and practise some very common British slang expressions.
• try and guess the meanings of words from visual context
• do some matching and gap fill exercises

 
Teacher's note
I have seen many students come to the UK thinking they had a good level of English, FCE for example, but still struggle at doing basic things like talking to bus drivers or shop assistants. It's sometimes quite important to teach students "real" English instead of that boring, artificial and antiseptic textbook stuff.

Here is an example. How often do your students come into class with the odd and imperative sounding "Hello! How are you?" instead of the more natural sounding and (in the UK) now ubiquitous "Hiya! Y'alright?"
How many of us actually teach them to use "Hiya!", "Alright?" or "Cheers!" or "See ya!"?
Yet, informally, this is how most people in the UK actually speak to each other.

So, anyway, here are some informal expressions you won't find in many coursebooks or in any exams  but you will definitely hear when you come to the UK.

Warning. Be careful when you use some of these expressions. They are informal and a few may not be suitable for use in class, to your teacher or boss.







1) Discuss
1. How many of these very common expressions do you know?

2. Look at the presentation.

• How many of the words do you know? 
• Can you guess the meanings from the photos?

UK Slang Expressions from David Mainwood

Adapted from 17 British Slang Terms Americans Should Start Using Immediately







2) Practise
1. Try these matching exercises. 
Match the meaning on the right with the slang word on the left. One is done for you.

2. Now try this gap fill

Download printable worksheet (with answers) here






3) Write
Write some short dialogues using as many of the expressions as you can






More
1. One Direction explain some British vocabulary and slang.
How many of the expressions above do they talk about? 

2. English and American slang is different.
Hugh Laurie in The Ellen DeGeneres Show playing a game of American slang VS English slang.
How many of the expressions above do they talk about?

Slang links

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mackenziekruvant/british-slang-americans-should-start-using

http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

http://thoughtcatalog.com/nico-lang/2013/09/71-simple-british-slang-phrases-everyone-should-start-using/

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/

http://www.slang.org.uk/




Of course there is a lot of UK slang and new expressions come into the language all the time. How many of these do you know?
Maybe we'll look at these next time.
Cheers!
See ya!

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