Think about the city you visited or would like to visit and make a detailed description of the city (at least 170-220 words). Here are some adjectives you may need.

City: active, bustling, noisy, busy, clean, dirty, windy

Traffic: loud, congested, snarled

Buildings: old, shabby, rundown, crumbling, modern, futuristic, sleek, towering, squat

Buildings (walls): brick, stone, marble, glass, steel, graffiti-covered

Monuments, statues: stone, copper, carved, ancient, moss-covered, faded, green, bronze

Sidewalk: concrete, cement, slick, cracked, tidy, littered, swept

Paint: fresh, weathered, peeling

Signs: neon, weathered, worn, bright, welcoming, flashing

Buses, cars, taxis: belching, crawling, speeding, honking, waiting, screeching

People: hurried, bundled, smiling, frowning, eager, rushed

 

Read the example from “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens who was also a master of using description to create a mood.

 

It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable serpents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, arid vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness. ~Charles Dickens, Hard Times

 

Tongue twisters

1) Why do you cry Willy? Why do you cry? Why Willy?Why Willy?Why Willy? Why? 2) If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch? 3) I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won’t wish the wish you wish to wish. 4) Swan swam over the sea, Swim, swan, swim! Swan swam back again Well swum, swan!

 

Unit IV

WE ARE STUDENTS

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.

(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Warm-up

Discuss the following questions with your partner.

1. What is your major? Do you like it?

2. What courses do you find most / least interesting?

3. What subjects do you find most difficult to pass?

4. How do you like your university life?

5. Do you plan to further your education?

6. Would you like to continue your education abroad?

 

Make up at least five questions you were asking yourself while choosing a university.

Ex. What question do I want to obtain?

Does the university provide its own accommodation?

Reading and Speaking

Look through the following text and on its the basis describe your typical day at University.

A typical day at University

By JainiHaria, 16th Apr 2014

 

A typical day at university can vary depending on where you are and what you are studying. My day might not be like yours at all or it might be all too similar. It is important to remember that everyone has different habits and hobbies that will shape how their time at university is spent. Since coming to university I have found that the amount of time I spend playing sports has drastically decreased and the amount of time I spend sleeping has increased! Hopefully, I shall give you an insight into what a day at university might be like.

 

As a fresher, I was living in halls but they were off campus. This meant that I had to get up earlier than those who lived on campus to make it to my lectures or seminars. After my lectures or seminars I would go back to my room and either have a nap depending on whether I was in for 9am or do my reading.

I very rarely went out clubbing last year, but I was lucky as my flatmates did not go out a lot either - we often referred to ourselves as the ‘granny flat’. We often spent our evenings cooking and chilling out in the kitchen. We often got up to very random antics, which included wrapping one of our flatmates’ plates, mugs, glasses, bowls and cutlery in cling film and moving our sofas out into the corridor. This did allow us to become very good friends though and get to know each other better.

When it came to cleaning, we were probably one of the cleanest flats as we used to clean the entire flat on a weekly basis. This is probably a very different day in comparison to most freshers. I heard countless stories about people going out every night and spending their entire student loan, which meant that their fridges were empty.

First year is all about meeting new people on your course and in your halls. However, as they year goes on, you tend to lose contact with many people as you find people who you get on with best. So don’t sign up for any houses in your first month of being at university!

This year my workload has increased, which means I am often glued to my laptop reading a journal or writing an essay. Although, I have still found time to go out with my friends more this year. So the next day I am often less productive than I would like to be.

My timetable is very minimal, which means I have a four-day weekend. But this time is often spent completing work, cleaning, going food shopping and doing my laundry.

As a house we like to spend our evenings watching TV and we all go to Zumba every Sunday. We also have house trips into town, where we will spend the day shopping or sometimes we go out for dinner or to the cinema. During Halloween and Christmas we like to get into the festive mood by carving pumpkins or cooking a Christmas meal, which is often a great alternative to going clubbing.

As you can tell my typical day at university is not very exciting and most peoples aren’t. They are filled with days of working, spending time with friends and relaxing. This is what most days are like for me, with an occasional night out, despite of what my friends might think when they look through my Facebook pictures. Life at university, and especially in second and third year, is mostly dominated by university work, not alcohol. Sorry to disappoint you!

 

 

(http://www.theunipod.com/surviving-university/university-life/a-typical-day-at-university)