Renting an Apartment and Living- English Foundation

Please Note: Many of the activities on the Pathways Project OER Repository were created by upper-division students at Boise State University and serve as a foundation that our community of practice can build upon and refine. While they are polished, we welcome and encourage collaboration from language instructors to help modify grammar, syntax, and content where needed. Kindly contact amberhoye@boisestate.edu with any suggestions and we will update the content in a timely manner.  — The Pathways Project

About the Boise State World Languages Resource Center (WLRC) Language Activity Repository

The activities provided by the Boise State World Languages Resource Center (WLRC) serve as foundational activities which can be adapted by any language and scaled up or down on the proficiency scale. Many of these activities offer an English Version that is “language-agnostic” to provide language instructors from around the country a platform to remix these instructional materials, infusing them with their target language and culture! The activities within the Pathways Project OER Repository seek to help students solidify their interpersonal speaking and interpretive skills through task-based situations or communicative activities. These activities should be facilitated in the target language for approximately 90% (or more), per the recommendation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

How to use the WLRC Repository’s Activities:

1. Use the Activity as is:

Before you begin:

• Most activities are 30 minutes in duration, unless otherwise specified.
• Be sure to read through the activity description, and review the list of required materials. You will notice that the activity materials are also highlighted in yellow throughout the activity instructions.

If you have any suggestions about grammar, syntax, and content, please kindly contact amberhoye@boisestate.edu.

2. Remix for Your Language Classroom:

When you are ready to begin remixing the activity, in order to adapt it for the needs of your language classroom, simply click the blue “Remix This Resource” button at the top of your screen. This will then take you to a screen with a NEW, editable version of this activity. The text provided in purple is a suggestion of what you might say to your students in the target language, and may be altered for different levels and age groups. All activities have “NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do” statements, a warm-up, a main activity, and a wrap-up.

Many of the activities include printable cards and other instructional materials such as Google Slideshows. If you would like to make changes to these materials in Spanish, follow the instructions below:

• Google Slideshows:
  
• To begin, go to File -> Copy to create an editable version of the slideshow.
• Once finished with your changes, please complete the following steps to share:
• Click on Share
• Who Has Access
• Ensure link sharing is on and allow external access.
• Materials Saved as PDF: Please email WLRCLAR@gmail.com and we will provide you with an editable copy. Please allow up to two business days for a response. For YouTube videos and other websites, hyperlinks are provided. 
  

3. Adapt for Another Language:

• See the linked English Version at the top of the activity (English Version may not be available for all activities)

Renting an Apartment

Description:

In this activity, students will partner up and practice talking about their house, what rooms and basic furniture they have. Discuss what they want to have and then give suggestions to each other. Students will then practice talking to a landlord about renting an apartment. 

Proficiency:

Intermediate Low/Mid

Keywords:

renting, apartment, landlord, rent, bills, looking for an apartment, furniture, bedroom, kitchen, college

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

• I can name common pieces of furniture.
• I can describe my living quarters.
• I can discuss my preference of living arrangements.

World-Readiness Standards

• Standard 1.1 Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
  
• Standard 1.2 Students understand and interpret spoken and written (target language) on a variety of topics.
  
• Standard 1.3 Students present information, concepts, and ideas in (target language) to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

Idaho State World Language Standards:

COMM 1.1: Interact and negotiate meaning (spoken, signed, written conversation) to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions

COMM 2.1:  Understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.

COMM 3.1:  Present information, concepts, and ideas

to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media in the target language.

CLTR 1.1: Analyze the cultural practices/patterns of behavior accepted as the societal norm in the target culture.

CLTR 1.2: Explain the relationship between cultural practices/behaviors and the perspectives that represent the target culture’s view of the world.

Materials Needed:

Questions Cards

Warm-up

Main Activity

1. Explain to the students that they will be discussing their current living arrangements, and what they will prefer to have. Just practicing having a conversation about things they are familiar with, using the question cards for suggestions if they get stuck. After they will pick one as the landlord and practice asking to rent a place. The landlord will briefly describe the place and then the lease will ask about it.

2. Have students partner up and practice asking each other questions about leasing an apartment. 

Wrap-up

Ask some of the following questions to finish the lab: 

Ask students as a whole:

"If they have ever lived alone?"

Ask the partnered groups "If they were able to come to an agreement on the apartment?"

"How much was the rent?"

"How long they have stayed in their current place?"

End of lab:

• Read Can-Do statements once more and have students evaluate their confidence.
(Use thumbs up/thumbs down or download our student cards.) 
• Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation.
• Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future labs!

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

• I can name common pieces of furniture.
• I can describe my living quarters.
• I can discuss my preference of living arrangements.

Where are we? Rate yourself on the weekly Can-Do Statements using this scale: I get it!, I got it!, I kind of get it..., I don't get it...