Talking about your home is an obvious thing to do when you meet someone for the first time. If this person comes from another country, he or she will be naturally interested in learning a few facts about where you live. He will want to know how different your home area is from where he lives.
When you first talk to a stranger, your conversation should be about building up a small snap-shot portrait of yourself. The person you are talking to will want to do the same for him or herself as well. Getting to know a new person can be great fun.
After you have said a few things about your family, the next topic of conversation will probably be your home. You should make sure that what you say is short, interesting and to the point. Deep details of your life will come later when you get to know your new friend better.
Read aloud what these three English teenagers have to say about where they live. They each give just a quick description of their home area and also make things a bit more interesting by saying what they think about where they live. Do you find what they say interesting or boring? 1. My name is Max. I live right in the middle of Manchester, one of the biggest cities in Britain. I love it. We moved here from a small town a couple of years ago. Manchester was once a very rich city because of the cotton industry. But this died a death about 50 years ago and a lot of warehouses and factories in the city were left empty and abandoned. Recently, housing companies have started to convert these buildings into apartments. My parents sold their house two years ago, and we moved into one of these brilliant apartments in the city centre. There are lots of shops and things to do around where I now live. Moving here is the best thing we have ever done.
2. Hello, I'm Clare. I live on a farm in the countryside in the north of England. I have lived here all my life, and I love it. It's very quiet and peaceful on the farm, but the towns of Leeds and Bradford are nearby if I want to go to the cinema or the shops. There are lots of woods and fields round the farm and you can go for long walks without seeing another single person. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I would hate the noise and stress of living in a town. That's not for me at all.
3. My name is Brian. I live in a small village in the Cotswolds in the southwest of England. I hate it. People keep telling me how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful part of the country, but I don't think I'm lucky. Green hills and pretty villages don't interest me at all. I have very few friends. I have to travel miles to school everyday and I never see my school friends when I am at home. There is nothing to do here. The nearest town is 20 miles away and there are very few buses.