Apartment Hunting & Renting (Upper-Intermediate Lesson)

ESL/EFL Level: Upper-Intermediate (B2/C1)
Lesson Topics: apartment hunting, renting vs. buying
Skill Focus
: Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: apartment-hunting-upper-intermediate-102024.docx
Lesson Overview:

  • Note: I had a little fun with this lesson. Please pre-read the speaking activities before using them in class. In the speaking portion, students are asked to sketch someone. If you are teaching digitally, ask your students to draw on a separate piece of paper (not on their computer).
  • After warm-up questions, students view a list of apartment 'must-haves' and indicate their preferences.
  • As a running narrative for most of the lesson, students imagine they are moving to Chicago for a new opportunity (e.g. a job, a graduate degree program). As inputs, the lesson has two virtual open house tours (videos) of modern apartments in Chicago. The videos are about 1.5 minutes each and are narrated in an American English accent. As the students watch, they record information about each unit.
  • Post-video activities include comprehension questions and an activity requiring students use some of the 11 new vocabulary items to form discussion questions.
  • The lesson has a short language focus on the phrase "in terms of".
  • In terms of debate topics, there is one about the value of renting vs, buying a home.
  • Continuing with the narrative, the first roleplay pits the young person moving to Chicago against his parent, who wants him to choose the cheaper apartment. The young person has to convince his parents to lend him money for the more expensive unit and for the deposit.
  • In a bizarre twist, the second roleplay starts with the realization that the advertisements for the two units were scams. There are in fact no units, and the young person has lost both his first month's rent and deposit. The young person decides to go to the police and must describe the scammer to the police (the scammer is featured twice in the two aforementioned YouTube videos). The police officer listens and sketches the perpetrator.
  • As a final speaking activity,  students play the role of a real estate agent conducting a virtual open house.  Equipped with a list of useful expressions, students must pretend to be a real estate agent and narrate an open house video.
  • The lesson closes with a vocabulary review, collocation review, and final discussion questions.

A real estate agent showing an apartment to a client

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Lesson on Apartment Hunting & Renting

Warm-up-Questions

  1. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose to live? What kind of home would you want?
  2. What do you like and dislike about where you live now?
  3. What is the worst place you’ve ever lived?

Pre-Viewing Activity: Must-Haves

If you were looking to rent an apartment in a major city, what would be your “Must-Haves” (features that it must have)? Discuss amenities and other features below and make your selections.

    balcony

    laundry in the unit

    fitness center

    pet-friendly

- great view

    close to transit

    underground parking

concrete building

    air conditioning

    ….?

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This lesson plan was created by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. ChatGPT was used to generate answer keys and some famous quotations. For questions, contact the author.

Comprehension Question Answer Key

  1. The Cascade unit might be more expensive due to its larger size, better views, and additional features like a detached bathroom
  2. Not mentioned, but we can infer that the answer is ‘no’ because he talks about alternate bed sizes.
  3. The Cascade unit ‘possibly’ might fit a king bed, but it might be tight.
  4. It’s an advantage because guests don’t have to walk through the bedroom to access the bathroom, making it more private and convenient.
  5. The Cascade unit’s open-concept kitchen, spacious living area, and west-facing views make it ideal for entertaining.

Vocabulary 1-vanity, 2-open concept, 3-detached, 4-pantry, 5-studio, 6-customize, 7-spacious, 8-double, 9-overlook, 10-broker, 11-linen closet.

Collocations: 1-c, 2-a, 3-f, 4-g, 5-d, 6-b, 7-e

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