Summary
Topic: Urban communities Listening: I wish this was …
Vocabulary: Antonyms: urban regeneration
Functional language: Deciding on a new community
project
Speaking: Talking about community spirit and the
importance of public spaces; planning an innovative community project
Communication worksheet 2A: A team crossword
Lead-in 1
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Ask students to work in groups and think about the facilities available in their local area. Give them some ideas, e.g. children’s playgrounds, sports centres.•
Elicit students’ ideas and write them on the board. Then ask students to rank them in order of importance for the whole community. Remind them to think about the needs of all the people who live in their community.2
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Students work in groups and construct a word web around the word city. Encourage them to think of different categories, e.g. buildings, adjectives, positive features, negative features.•
Give students two minutes to discuss their ideas and then build up a word web on the board, eliciting suggestions from different groups.Exercise 1 page 20
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Students look at the photos and discuss the questions. Encourage them to guess where these buildings might be. Ask if there are buildings or areas like this near where they live. Have they seen any new community projects or developments in these areas?•
You can expand this discussion by referring students to www.iwishthiswas.cc. There they will see many more examples of stickers.Exercise 2 $ 1•08 page 20
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Play the recording for students to listen and find out if any of their ideas from exercise 1 are mentioned.•
Write the following questions on the board to check comprehension of the recording:Where are the buildings? (New Orleans) Were the stickers popular? (yes) Were all the suggestions practical? (no) Who is Candy Chang? (a young artist)
How did she expand the project? (She set up a social
network site called Neighborland.) Audio script
In 2010, small stickers started to appear on empty storefronts and boarded-up buildings in neighbourhoods in New Orleans.
These stickers weren’t like posters advertising products. They weren’t offering work or publicizing events. On each one, a single sentence was written – ‘I wish this was’ – and a pen was left for people to add their suggestions. Soon, the buildings were covered with ideas from local residents: there was a big demand for practical solutions like cafés and shops. But a handful of suggestions were poetic and humorous: ‘I wish this was a place to sit and think.’ ‘I wish this was heaven.’ ‘I wish this was Brad Pitt’s house.’
This unusual project was the idea of Candy Chang, a young artist who lives in New Orleans. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, many buildings and public spaces were damaged or destroyed. A few years later, when Candy moved to the city, many neighbourhoods still had run-down buildings and empty, abandoned plazas in desperate need of regeneration. They were no-go zones that needed someone to turn them into thriving, dynamic spaces attractive to the local community. The question was: what and where? ‘Who knows a place better than the people who live or work there?’ reasoned Candy, and ‘What if we could easily say what we want, where we want it?’ The ‘I wish this was’ project used people’s knowledge of places and helped them record their ideas for shops and services on an actual location. ‘The responses reflected the hopes, dreams and colourful imaginations of different neighbourhoods,’ she explained. But the project didn’t stop there. Inspired by the response, Candy developed the idea and started a social network website called Neighborland.
Extra activity
Prepare similar stickers for the class, one for each student. Ask them to write their idea for how to develop an empty building in their area. Then collect all the stickers and display them on a poster or on the board. Students can read each other’s suggestions and discuss them. Culture note: SIER hierarchy
The SIER hierarchy of active listening was developed in the early 1980s by American communication researchers Steil, Watson and Barker. It is often used in marketing and sales. Exercise 3 $ 1•09 page 20
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Go through the strategy with the class and encourage students to keep a record of the SIER hierarchy so that they can apply it in the future when they have a listening task.•
Give students a minute to read the questions and then play the recording. Students answer the questions individually.•
Ask a few students to share their answers with the class and encourage the class to respond. Questions 3 and 4 require individual responses – there are no right or wrong answers.Audio script
Interviewer Nowadays, in most neighbourhoods, people don’t usually knock on your door, offer help or even introduce themselves. Communities are less sociable and open than they used to be in the 1940s or 50s, for example, and residents don’t often come together as a community. However, people still care about their local environment – they also use social media. That’s why Neighborland is so exciting. Today in the studio we have Shelley, who works for the Neighborland website in Manhattan, and she’s here to explain exactly what it is and the projects it will be supporting in the future. Welcome, Shelley.
Shelley Thank you. Well, put simply, Neighborland provides an area for people to share ideas about how to improve their urban environment. By signing into the website, you can connect with other residents and propose and discuss issues like better shops and services, more efficient public transport, less wasteful use of resources, or local spaces which need to be renovated. You can see what other people want and click the ‘me too’ button. It’s a totally new idea and a real opportunity for citizen-powered change, an opportunity to reclaim our public spaces.
Interviewer What kind of things are people asking for?
Shelley Things like ‘I want more bicycle lanes’, ‘I want the canal to be cleaned’ or ‘I want free Wi-Fi in the park on 57th Street’.
Interviewer All very practical suggestions.
Shelley Yes, they are. But besides the practical suggestions, there are also more innovative ideas which might make public spaces worthwhile and improve the quality of everyday life. For example, in New York, residents want to create stairs with a line from a story on each step. So the story will gradually develop, encouraging people to carry on walking rather than take an elevator. Another suggestion is for daily music and dance performances in neglected plazas in Manhattan, supporting businesses and encouraging regeneration.
Interviewer Yes, I can see the benefits of that.
Shelley Other proposals include a free community stage or table tennis facilities in the park. So we have a lot of ideas, and hopefully some of them will be realized. After all, public space is where life happens – it gives you a sense of community.
Interviewer So how will these projects be realized?
Shelley Well, once enough people have clicked the ‘me too’ button to support an idea, Neighborland makes sure that local agencies see it, and encourage funding. Inevitably, many of them won’t happen, but the most popular ideas have a good chance of funding.
Interviewer So it’s a valuable way to put pressure on the local authorities to listen to what local people want.
Shelley Exactly. It’s about creating a conversation among citizens who care. The 21st century is being called the urban century, and in the near future, seventy per cent of the world’s population will be living in urban places. Ideas like Neighborland help us take responsibility for that future and shape the environment we want to be part of. It makes us consider the type of communities we live in today and how they can be improved.
Interviewer Thank you, Shelley. And now to look at another approach, we have …
1 It’s about the Neighborland website, which encourages people to discuss their local environment.
2 Social networking websites like Neighborland bring about changes in local environments, encourage funding, publicize regeneration projects and put pressure on local authorities to respond to the community.
3 Students’ own answers
4 Students’ own answers
Exercise 4 $ 1•09 page 20
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Ask students to read the questions before listening to the recording again. If they already know the answers, encourage them to make a note of them and check their answers when they listen again.•
Students compare their answers in pairs.1 They were more sociable and open in the past than they are today.
2 People care about their local environment and they use social media.
3 It allows people to share ideas about how to improve their local environment.
4 They want more bicycle lanes, they want the canal to be cleaned and they want free Wi-Fi.
5 They improve the quality of everyday life and encourage a sense of community.
6 When enough people have clicked the ‘me too’ button, Neighborland shares the ideas with local agencies, which encourages funding.
7 It is known as the urban century.
8 They will help us to take responsibility for the future and to play a part in shaping our local environment.
Exercise 5 page 20
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Focus attention on the different adjective endings, and remind students that they should look at the root of the word for clues about meaning.•
Check answers as a class.1 neglected 2 abandoned 3 thriving 4 attractive
5 wasteful 6 worthwhile 7 run down
Extra activity: Fast finishers Write the following on the board:
an attractive park, a neglected building, a pointless shop, a thriving area, an unappealing café/restaurant
Ask fast finishers to think about their local area. Can they name one place in their town or village to match each of the descriptions above? Give an example: Rijsblok Park is
an attractive park in my town, Schilde.
Exercise 6 page 21
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Focus attention on the photo and ask students to guess what Candy Chang’s project is. They then read the text quickly to check their prediction.•
If necessary, remind students that a synonym is a word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word. Students do the exercise in pairs.•
Check answers as a class.1 abandoned 2 attractive 3 thriving
4 neglected 5 worthwhile 6 renovated 7 efficient
Exercise 7 page 21
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Students can discuss the opinions in groups. Choose one of the statements. Students vote on whether they agree or disagree with it. Then ask a few students to give reasons for their answers. Build up a list of reasons for and against the statement. Finally, ask students if they have changed their minds at all and have another class vote to find out. Extra activity: DiscussionStudents discuss the following opinion in groups:
We don’t do enough to create an environment we want to be part of. We need to consider the type of communities we live in today and how they can be improved.
Vocabulary bank: Urban landscape page 135 1 1 speed bump 2 parking meter 3 road sign
4 bus shelter 5 pedestrian crossing
6 industrial estate 7 high-rise building 8 cycle path
2 1 bus shelter 2 cycle paths 3 pedestrian crossings 4 speed bumps 5 high rise buildings 6 road signs 7 parking meters 8 industrial estates
3 positive: flourishing, prosperous, refurbished, robust negative: boarded-up, crumbling, derelict, shabby
4 Students’ own answers
Exercise 8 page 21
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Brainstorm some ideas for community projects with the class and write their ideas on the board, e.g. local arts centre, recording studio for local bands, community vegetable garden.•
Students work in pairs and choose three things from the list on the board. Ask a few pairs to share their choices with the class and explain their reasons for choosing them. Exercise 9 $ 1•10 page 21•
Tell students to be prepared to take notes as they listen to the recording. You could choose one or two students to write notes on the board as the rest of the class listen.•
Play the recording. Then ask students if any of their ideas from exercise 8 were mentioned.Audio script
Tom Our top priority today is to discuss proposals for the abandoned area in Firth Street near the school. Would anyone like to make an opening suggestion?
Katie Um, well, we could do with a park. My main concern about this area is the lack of green space. It’s so grey and run-down – there’s nowhere to just sit and think.
Ryan I know what you mean, but I think that’s a ‘nice to have’.