Wriiting Hometown part 2

Hello class, Are you still fasting?
Ok, today lesson is Writing Hometown Part two
I want you to describe the following Subjects:

1. Describing the weather and climate in your hometown

2. Talking about Things to do in your Hometown

3. Talking about the Architecture in your Hometown
4. Talking about the Surrounding Area in your Hometown. 
I advise you to read and understand the explanation and the examples.
1. Talking about the Weather and Climate in your Hometown

Before we continue, please watch this following video:

What is the weather like in your hometown? Is it icy cold in the winter? Steaming hot in the summer?

Are the mornings filled with fog from the sea or is the sky brilliant blue and the sun shining?

Some towns and cities have four distinct seasons, while others have very little difference between the seasons or have only one kind of climate all year round.

No matter what the weather, it is a good idea to try to talk about it in the test if the examiner asks you about your hometown.

Let’s look at some examples. Read and translate them to Indonesia.

My hometown is a small town in the north of Thailand. It is always very hot here, usually, the temperature is around 30 degrees centigrade most of the year, but in the winter it goes down to about 24 or 25 degrees. The summer is always very hot. And in the summer it rains a lot. Wow, we get a lot of rain! From around May until September it rains so much. But the rain only falls very quickly. It kind of cools you down a little and then it feels hot again. I come from Marrakesh in Morocco. It can get very hot in my hometown in the summer. Usually over 35 degrees. In the winter it can go down to around 16 degrees, so a big difference. Because Marrakesh is in the desert, the difference between night and day temperature is quite big. It can be 35 degrees in the daytime, then go down to 20 degrees at night. And it hardly ever rains in my hometown. It is usually dry all year round. My hometown is Stuttgart in Germany. We have four very distinct seasons but the summer is the best season in my opinion. The summer is warmer; the temperature reaches as high as 30 degrees on some days. In the winter it gets pretty cold, and it rains a lot in the winter too.

Another thing you can talk about with the weather in your hometown is the kind of activities that people like to do at certain times of the year.

Think about each season and try to think of things that people do, the kind of food they like to eat and the clothes they wear.

	Things to do	Things to eat	What to wear
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter

Exercise 1 A

Using the table above and the examples I wrote above, write down some ideas about the weather in your hometown. If there are differences, then write about all of those things. If the weather is the same all year round you have to talk about that.

When you have written some ideas down, practice speaking out loud.

Exercise 1 B

Write down the vocabulary from the video.

For example, Winter vocabulary: cold days, snow,.rain, umbrella, gloves, etc..

Spring: ...

2. Talking about Things to Do in your Hometown

I have asked students what can people do in their hometown and I often receive one answer — NOTHING!

There’s nothing to do in my hometown. It’s so boring.

That can’t be true. There must be things for people to do. Even if you don’t like to do these things, other people may enjoy doing these things and that means there are definitely some activities that people can do in your hometown.

Here is a list of ideas to inspire you. Please translate it in Indonesia.

Going to the gym

Playing tennis

Walking in the hills on the outskirts of town

Walking on the seafront of the town

Shopping malls and going shopping

Coffee shops and coffee culture

Eating out and going to restaurants

Going to bars and nightclubs (for older students!)

Dancing in the town square

Visiting the library

Helping charity organizations

Fishing in the local river

Swimming in the swimming pool

Yoga

Many evening classes in the local community college

Now let me show you some examples, and translate them in Indonesia.

There is a swimming pool in my hometown and many people go there. Whenever I go there, it always seems very busy. I try to go early in the morning to avoid all the crowds. The pool is really nice and clean. There is an area for the serious swimmers to swim in laps and then there is an area for people and children who just want to lounge around in the water and cool off a little bit. There is also a diving area with three diving boards. The top board is very high, but I jumped off it once! We are lucky because in my hometown we have so many restaurants. I think you could go out to dinner every night of the week and still not visit every restaurant in the city. And the restaurants are all very different in style and cuisine. We have local food but we also have Indian, Thai, French, and Italian. It’s really nice for people to go out in the evening and eat a delicious meal with friends and family. In my hometown, some older ladies like to go to the town square and do a special kind of dancing. They do it for exercise I think but also they can meet up and chat with each other. So it’s a social activity for them too. Some people say that the music they play when they do their dancing is too loud. But I think we should just let them do it. They’re not really causing anyone any harm.

Exercise 2

Look at the list of ideas I gave you above.

Use these and the examples and write down your own ideas for talking about things to do in your hometown. Practice together with a friend or show your teacher.

3. Talking about the Architecture in your Hometown

The architecture in your hometown means all the buildings. Are these buildings very old and traditional? Or new and modern? Is the architecture boring — if so, why do you think so?

How to talk about buildings and houses.

You can use the following words to describe buildings and architecture in your hometown.

Poor	High-rise	Residential
Wooden	Expensive	Old
Traditional	Beautiful	Modern
Luxurious	Spacious	Steel and glass
Brick	Boring	Ugly

Many cities these days have a downtown area with many high-rise buildings, all very modern and expensive. The suburbs of the city might consist of smaller houses and buildings or low-rise buildings — this is where the people usually live.

Let me show you some examples, read it, and translate it into Indonesian.

Bath is a very old city, and the architecture is very old. Most of the buildings in the center of the city are over 200 years old. I think there is a law to protect these buildings and houses. They look nice because they all have the same color, made out of a special sandstone found in the local area. But once you leave the city center, the architecture changes. The houses are more modern in the suburbs. This is where people live. The downtown area of my city is filled full of high-rise buildings. They are all very high and look very modern. It feels so busy walking around this area surrounded by such high buildings. Some of the buildings are so high that you can walk on one side of the street and be in the shade from the sun. I live in a very quiet village in the countryside. All the houses are pretty old and there is no real special architecture. People just need a place to live and the local post office to buy some things. There is an old church though, and it looks very nice from the outside. I don’t know how old it is, but it looks very old.

Exercise 3

Write down your own ideas about the buildings in your hometown. When you have enough sentences speak them out loud with a friend or classmate. 

4. Talking about the Surrounding Area in your Hometown

Your hometown doesn’t just consist of the actual town itself. When talking about your hometown you can also talk about the surrounding area of the town or city where you live.

This is especially true of a smaller town.

Your town may be surrounded by countryside.

What is in the countryside?

Are there farms and little villages?

Are they developing the land and building more houses or factories?

There must be something in this area, now is the time for you to talk about it.

There might be hills or mountains in the surrounding area of your hometown. Or maybe you live near the sea in which case you can talk about that.

Whatever exists just outside your hometown you can talk about it in the test. This is all part of the description of where you live and the examiner wants to hear about it.

I’ll give you an example, read it, and translate it to Indonesian.

The surrounding area of my hometown is just in the countryside. Some small villages with just a few people living there. There is a new factory that makes tires just outside my town. I think many people from my hometown work there now. If you go south of my town, there is a big lake. I have gone past this lake and seen people fishing there. All around my hometown are hills. It’s like my entire town is in a big hole in the ground! But it’s nice to see all the hills around the town. In the summer, they all look so green and in the winter, if it snows, all the hills are covered and everything looks white.

Exercise 4

What is in the surrounding area of your hometown? 

Take a few minutes and write down some ideas and thoughts. You must have seen what is just outside your hometown. Talk about this for a few minutes if you can.

Good Luck! 

Teacher : Nani Kusmiyati