After the Pandemic. Will Life Change?

After the Pandemic. Will Life Change?

I Lead in. Answer the questions.

a)    What has changed the most because of the pandemic: family life, working life, education?

b)    How have these parts of life changed?

c)    Do you think that after the pandemic people will get back to the old way of life? Why or why not?

II Watch the video and underline the topics it mentions.

family life; hospitals; health problems; shopping; politics; offices; going to work;

school; pollution

III What do people in the UK think about life after the pandemic? Guess the correct numbers in the sentences. Watch the video and check your answers.

27 %; 3%; 40%; 15 %; 33%; 39%; 37%; 59 %; 49%; 47%

a)    _________of people think life will be much the same as it was before the pandemic.

b)    _________of people said life will be significantly different.

c)    _________of people think they'll go back to shopping in stores.

d)    _________ of people will continue shopping online.

e)    _________of people said they'd return to commuting back to the workplace.

f)     _________ of people said that they'd continue working from home.

g)    _________ people said that lockdown brought them closer to their partner. 

h)    _______ of people think that climate change is the most serious problem in the world.

i)      _________ of people think that preventing future pandemics is a priority in the world.

j)     _________of people chose terrorism as the most serious problem.

Glossary: commuting= travelling between home and place of work.

IV Watch the video and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

You can’t always see the exchange/changes/changed that coronavirus is making to the fashion/path/way we will be living our lives. At first see/glance/look everything might seem normal, but what even is normal anymore since you believe there will ever be a overturn/return/turning to life as it was pre-pandemic. A new poll/ questioned /fall for Sky News by YouGov found only 27 % of people think life will be much the same as it was before. Well, far more, 59 %, said it will be significantly differed/different/difference.

Glossary: YouGov = a global public opinion and data company. 

                  poll = a study in which people are asked for their opinions.     

V Do you think people will return to the way of life they had before the pandemic? Look at the answers British people gave to this question. Watch the video and choose the words to complete the answers. 

1)  The fact that there is this kind of a disruptive environment has given us time to ____ and adapt.

      A think                  B sing                  C feel sad

2)          I don’t think we’re going to go back to a ____ that looks the same.

        A work                 B   ways                     C world

3)          People may be more caring towards ______.

        A stray animals     B society                      C strangers

4)          I think that there will be _____ alertness.

         A shopping    B shaping                    C baking

Glossary: disruptive = causing disorder and interruption in activates.

                  alertness = the state of being attentive.

VI How will life change for shops after the pandemic?  Watch the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false statements.

1.    Europe’s busiest shopping street is facing a crisis.

2.    Future is bright and optimistic for the high street shops.

3.    Most people will continue shopping online. 

4.    The man will rush to the stores as soon as they open.  

5.    The man will continue shopping online for some time.

6.    The woman will buy clothes in stores.  

7.    The woman will buy her groceries online.   

VI What are the positive aspects of pandemic for individuals and society? Watch the video. Put the sentences from the talk in order.  

A.   People have started to see how nature is reacting to us not being around.

B.   Breathing in pure air is popular.

C.   Simple things are pleasurable and they matter: relationships and enjoying this amazing weather.

D.   Lockdown has meant a lot less of this, pollutants of all forms.

E.    I got closer to my family, I appreciate my friends, I appreciate simple things.

F.    People have started to appreciate the outside spaces a lot more.

VII OVER TO YOU.

A)  Were there any polls asking people’s thoughts about the pandemic in your country? Are the results different from the answers British people gave? Can you find any article, statistics, and news giving people’s thoughts about life after the pandemic in your country?  

B)   Discuss the questions:

1.           What do people in your country think about life after the pandemic? Will life go back to normal? What is normal now?

2.           How will life change for shops after the pandemic? Where will people buy clothes and food after the pandemic?

3.           What are the positive aspects of pandemic for individuals and society?

4.           What will the most important problems be for countries and individuals after the pandemic?

Eiffel Tower Reopens

Eiffel Tower Reopens

I Lead in.

a)    What do you know about the Eiffel Tower? Where is it located?

b)    Why is the Eiffel Tower popular among tourists? Would you like to visit it?

c)    Do you think many people want to visit the Eiffel Tower? How many people visit the Eiffel Tower every day?

d)    Do you think the Eiffel Tower was open during Covid-19 pandemic in France? If yes, how many people went to visit it?

e)    Do you think people will want to visit the Eiffel Tower in future?

II Match the numbers in the list to make facts about the visits to the Eiffel Tower. Watch the video and check your answers.

World War II;     1,500;           2nd (second);        23,000;     103;      675

1)      The number of days that the Eiffel Tower was closed in 2020 =  ______

2)      The time when the Eiffel Tower was closed for a long time in the past =  ______

3)      The number of people who visited the Eiffel Tower on a day in 2019 (on the same date the video was made) = ______

4)      The number of people who visited the Eiffel Tower on a day in 2020 (on the date the video was made) = ______

5)      The number of steps visitors have to walk to climb the Eiffel Tower = ______

6)      The floor of the Eiffel Tower that visitors reach when they use the steps  =______

III Watch the video and mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F). Correct the false statements.

1)    The Eiffel Tower was closed in 2020 for the shortest time in its history.   

2)    The work of the Eiffel Tower is not back to normal yet.  

3)    The views from the Eiffel Tower are extraordinary and tourists enjoy their visit.  

4)    Now tourists who want to get to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower take the elevator.  

5)    Tourists who want to visit the Eiffel Tower can go up without masks.

6)    Paris like so many cities needs tourists.

IV OVER TO YOU. Think of the place that tourists like to visit in your city. How many people visited this place in the past?  Was this place closed for visitors because of the Covid-19 pandemic? What will be the rules for the visitors when the famous tourist places open again? How many people will visit this place?

Working Life in a New Era

Working Life in a New Era

I Lead-in.

a)    What does a typical working day in an office look like?  When does it start and finish? What can people do in an office?

b)    How did working life change during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown? How did people work without going to their offices?

c)    What problems did people have working from home?

d)    What was good about working from home?

II Vocabulary focus. Match the words to their definitions. Use six words in your sentences.

1.	employee	A.	morally and socially good enough
2.	shift	B.	to stay away without permission
3.	to take advantage of	C.	to suffer something difficult or unpleasant
4.	broadband	D.	to not do something that you have to do
5.	manufacturing	E.	to demand something
6.	power cut	F.	a person who is paid to work for an organization or for another person
7.	to affect	G.	believing that you are more important than other people
8.	acceptable	H.	a change
9.	to bunk off	I.	to allow something to continue
10.	to insist	J.	to make good use of
11.	self-important	K.	the business of making things in factories
12.	to stuff	L.	a system of connecting computers to the Internet and moving information at a very high speed
13.	crowded	M.	a period of time when there is no electricity supply
14.	to endure	N.	to push something into a small space and fill it
15.	to sustain	O.	full of people
16.	downside	P.	to have influence on someone or something
17.	to skip	Q.	the negative part of something

 III Follow the link below. Focus on the words and expressions (study definitions), match the terms to their definitions, solve the crossword puzzle, complete the quiz, chase downthe correct answer to earn points, unscramble words and phrases (correct order of letters), type in words to fill in the blanks, test your knowledge of  vocabulary.

https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-3233559

IV Look through the article. Nine sentence fragments have been removed. Read the article and choose from the sentence parts (A-I) the one which fits each gap (1-9).  

Farewell BC (before coronavirus). Welcome AD (after domestication)

1________, but people adapted. January and February seemed like an ancient era – the BC (before coronavirus) to the new AD (after domestication).

The shift may look a lot like great workplace transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the past factories were designed around one great power system. Then electrification allowed individual machines to have their own power source. But half a century went by 2________.

The current, rapid shift to AD was possible for several reasons. First, broadband

services are quick enough 3________. Second, advanced economies revolve around services, not manufacturing. Back in the 1970s, when Britain adopted a three-day week, there were power cuts and home life was severely affected as well. The pandemic has not turned the lights off. Not only that, the lockdown has made remote work seem both normal and acceptable. 4________ had to overcome the suspicion that they were bunking off. Now those who insist on being at the office sound self-important.

 Although offices will not disappear, 5________that working life will return to BC ways. For more than a century workers have stuffed themselves onto crowded trains and buses, or endured traffic jams, 6________, five days a week. For the past two months they have enjoyed the break.

Another aspect of the AD era may be the disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the pandemic 7________. In the AD era the barrier between home and working life will be even harder to sustain. 8________, with the company video call the only fixture. The downside, however, is that the rhythm of life has been disrupted and new routines are needed: as Madness, a British pop group, sang, people are “trying different ways to make a difference to the days”.

Looking further out, the AD era may bring other changes. Some may decide to live in small towns where housing costs are lower, 9________. Men will have fewer excuses to skip cleaning or child care if they are not disappearing to the office. In a sense, this is a return to normal: until the 19th century most people worked at or close to their homes. But social historians may still regard 2020 as the start of a new age.

A.   since they have no need to commute

B.   it is hard to imagine

C.   In future employees may work and take breaks when they please

D.  many workers took phone calls or answered emails at the weekend

E.   to get into the office and back

F.   In March a lot of employees left their offices with no date for a return to the workplace in sight

G.  In the past employees who stayed home

H.  before factories were reconfigured to take advantage of electricity

I.    to allow for document downloads and videoconferencing

 V Comprehension check. Answer the questions.

1.    What meaning can the abbreviations BC and AD have in the modern world?

2.    What workplace transformation does the shift to working from home look like?  

3.    How is 2020 workplace transformation different from the changes that happened   in the past?

4.    Why were people and economies able to adapt to new working conditions very quickly?

5.    Did current workplace and working week transformations affect home life?

6.    How have attitudes to working from home changed because of the lockdown?

7.    What may happen to the five-day working week and barriers between working life and home after the pandemic?

8.    What other changes may life after pandemic bring to employees?

9.    Is working close to home a completely new idea? Why or why not?

 VI OVER TO YOU. Get ready to discuss the questions:

a)    What are the attitudes to working from home in your country?

b)     How has office workers’ life changed because of the pandemic? How do you see the office of the future? What will a typical working week look like?