Unit 1 - Cities

learn to describe and compare cities • learn geographical and city vocabulary • study comparative and superlative adjective forms • practise describing where you are from

Descriptors

Check what you know about Australia and other countries.

Read about Sydney.

Learn words describing geography and cities, country names and place adjectives.

Study comparatives and superlatives.

Listen to a conversation comparing two cities.

Review what you have studied so far.

Share opinions about "the best" and "the worst" things, and compare your city with others. (This is an optional activity designed to give you extra writing practice.)

Describe different cities in your country. Write about transportation in your city and about travel in your country.

Practice describing exactly where places are.

Look at stress patterns and how to say new words from this unit.

Find out more about Sydney. (This is an optional activity designed to give you extra reading and writing practice.)

Write a guide to your city.

Talk to your tutor about the unit and the topic you wrote about in Tutorial 2.

Review the work in the unit.

Send us your feedback on this unit.

Test what you have studied in this unit.

Practise the language you study in this unit, and improve your reading, listening and speaking skills.

Wordlist

barbecue

barbecue (n)

when you cook food on a fire, outside, not in a house

bay

bay (n)

part of the sea enclosed by a curve of land

border

border (n)

the dividing line between two countries

desert

desert (v)

a place where it never rains, it is very dry and there aren't many plants

ferry

ferry (n)

a boat for transporting people

halfway

halfway between (adj, adv)

in the middle, between two places

harbor

harbor (n)

a protected place for boats and ships, like a port (British English spelling: harbour)

heading

heading (n)

the title of a text, or of a paragraph in a text

immigrant

immigrant (n)

a person who comes to a different country to live

inhabitants

inhabitants (n)

people who live in a place, a city, or a country

inland

inland (adv)

in the interior of a country, not on the coast

mouth

mouth of a river (n)

where a river opens into the sea

outdoor

outdoor (adj)

not in houses or buildings, outside in the gardens, parks, beaches, etc.

parade

parade (n)

a collection of things on display, moving past you

seventies

the seventies (n)

the years of 1970-1979

shorts

shorts (n)

short pants

spotlight

(be) in the spotlight (v, prep, n)

v: to be famous or well known; n: something everybody is talking about

wave

wave (n)

the regular raised lines of water in the ocean, usually caused by the wind; also, a movement like an ocean wave, such as a movement of a group of immigrants

well

well-known (adj)

famous, everybody knows about it

yacht

yacht (n)

a large sailing boat, used for pleasure and usually with beds for sleeping