hi I'm Gina welcome
online English
where do you live do you live in a small
town a big city or a remote village
what's it like
in this lesson you can learn how to
describe your hometown in English
let's start with some basic English
vocabulary you can use to talk about
your hometown
part-1 introducing your hometown
let's start with a simple sentence I
live in
what could you say you could say
something like I live in a city I live
in a town
I live in a village
that's a good start but it's very basic
let's add a bit more detail
what's it called how big is it
I live in Paris it's the capital city
I live in Shanghai it's a huge city
I live in a small town it's called
Bunbury
I live in Manila which is a tiny village
by the sea
better you should always try to add more
details when you speak
what about you where do you live can you
make one or two sentences like this
pause the video and practice
okay let's move on we need to make our
answers more detailed and interesting
part two adding background and details
think about these questions what's your
hometown famous for
can you think of some words you could
use to describe your hometown
how long have you lived there
add these ideas to your answer to make
it longer and more detailed for example
I live in Paris it's the capital city
it's famous for its landmarks such as
the Eiffel Tower Notre Dame Cathedral or
the louver
it's also well known for its food of
course
I live in Shanghai it's a huge bustling
international city people from all over
the world live and work there
I live in a small town called Bunbury
I've been living there for about five
years since I finished university it's a
pretty sleepy place to be honest
let's look at some useful vocabulary
from these examples which you can use
when you speak
we said Paris is famous for its
landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower
landmarks are famous places or buildings
like the Eiffel Tower in Paris the
Sydney Opera House or Pryce the Redeemer
in Rio
does your hometown have any famous
landmarks
called in English
next we said Shanghai is a bustling city
do you know what this means it means
there's a lot of activity there are lots
of people lots of traffic lots of life
and energy is your city bustling or
sleepy if a town is sleepy there is not
much activity and things are quiet
what about your hometown
look at our questions again
what's your hometown famous for
can you think of some words you could
use to describe your hometown
long have you lived there
what could you say about your hometown
pause the video and try to make two to
three sentences
okay let's look at our next point
part three saying what you like about
your hometown
what's good about your hometown what do
you like most about it
different people like different things
in a city or town let's look at some
example sentences which express positive
feelings
I love living in Paris it's got such a
rich culture and there's always
something interesting going on
Shanghai's a great place to live it's a
real 24-hour city and you can meet
people from all over the world
living in Bunbury suits me if
a quiet place and it's small enough that
you can get to know your neighbors and
have a sense of community
what's important for you
do you want to live somewhere with a
rich culture and a sense of history or
do you prefer more modern international
cities
would you rather live somewhere larger
and more energetic or somewhere smaller
and more peaceful
think about these ideas you'll need them
in a minute
let's look at some useful language from
our examples
I love living in
is a great place to live
living in suits me
of course you can change these to say
what you want to
I quite like living in
I really like living in
I suppose I don't mind living
we also saw some useful phrases in our
examples it's got such a rich culture
there's always something interesting
going on
it's a real 24-hour city
you can meet people from all over the
world
it's small enough that you can get to
know your neighbors
you have a sense of community
what does that last phrase me
if you have a sense of community it
means people know their neighbors and
feel like they belong to a wider
community
smaller towns and villages often have a
better sense of community
perhaps because people have more time to
talk to each other and do things
together
what about your hometown
could you use any of these phrases to
describe where you live
next what if you don't like something
about your hometown
part four saying what you dislike let's
look at some examples which express
negative feelings
Paris is great but the cost of living is
really high that can be quite stressful
because you're always thinking about
money and how to make ends meet
Shanghai is an exciting place but it's
really crowded and it can be exhausting
to live there air quality can be an
issue particularly in the summer
bunbury's nice but sometimes I find it a
bit boring
there's not much nightlife and sometimes
it feels a bit cut off from the wider
world
when talking about things you don't like
about your hometown you can use
adjectives like stressful crowded boring
you can make your answer more
interesting by using phrases we saw some
useful ones in our examples
the cost of living is really high you're
always thinking about how to make ends
meet meaning you're always thinking
about how to pay for your basic living
costs
it can be exhausting to live there air
quality can be an issue
there's not much nightlife
it feels a bit cut off from the wider
world
meaning you feel like you're far away
from people culture and activity
could you use any of these phrases to
describe your hotel
remember that you can also change the
phrases to fit your ideas
for example traffic can be an issue
there's not much for young people to do
it can be very stressful to live here
okay what about you try to make three to
four sentences say what you like and
dislike about your hometown
use the keywords and phrases from parts
three and four
go on pause the video and practice
okay we have one more thing to do
part five describing how it's changed
over time
what was your hometown like ten twenty
or fifty years ago how has it changed
how has it changed over time
some places change very fast other
places never seem to change at all
talking about changes can add
interesting and useful information to
your description let's look
Paris has changed a lot in the last 20
years it's much more international and
much more expensive than it used to be
however the soul of the city is still
there Paris will always be Paris
Shanghai is almost unrecognizable
compared to 20 or 30 years ago
the city has expanded so much both
physically and economically
it's amazing when you see old photos of
the city things are so different now
Bunbury hasn't changed much as a place
in the last 20 years but the mix of
people is a bit different nowadays
the population used to be older and
mostly English whereas now there are
more young people living here including
many people from other parts of Europe
again these examples contain a lot of
useful language you can use to talk
about your hometown
or example
has changed a lot in the last 20 years
is almost unrecognizable compared to 20
years ago
hasn't changed much as a place in the
last 20 years
which of these sentences is true or your
hometown and you add details to explain
why
for example it's much more than it used
to be
the city has so much
the is a bit different nowadays
now you've seen a lot of useful language
you can use to talk about your hometown
let's put everything together and
practice making a longer answer
part six review
do you remember all the
talked about
covered introducing your hometown
adding background and details
about what you like or dislike about it
talking about how it's changed over time
all of these points and you can make a
long detailed answer to describe your
hometown
example I live in st. Petersburg it's
the second-largest city in Russia
and it's a beautiful place to live
I've lived here all my life and I can't
imagine living anywhere else it has such
a rich culture I think partly because
the city's history is a mix of European
and Russian influences I think that's
why I like it here it's a unique place
that can be an issue in the city center
but public transport is very good
the city hasn't changed much in the last
20 years although there are certainly
more and more tourists these days
could you make an answer like this
let's do one more example first I'll
tell you about my hometown
I'm from Denver the capital of Colorado
it's near the Rocky Mountains
so the surrounding area is quite
beautiful
I've been living here for about three
years I really like Denver because it's
a young city with lots of energy but if
you need a break it's easy to drive to
the mountains and find a quiet place to
relax
the only real disadvantage is that
winter can be seriously cold
Denver's changed quite a lot in the last
20 years many people are moving here for
work
unfortunately the cost of living has
also gone up quite a lot
okay now it's definitely your turn
talk about your hometown make a longer
answer like these ones
if you want you can post your answer in
the video comments
we'll give you feedback on your English
that's the end of the lesson I hope you
learned something useful if you want to
see more of our free english lessons
check out our website
oxfordonlineenglish.com
thanks for watching and see you next
time