LSC S1:Urban and rural life

Introduction
Living in rural and urban areas has advantages and disadvantages. People sometimes think that there are more opportunities for employment in urban areas. this may be true, but there are also people who live in extreme poverty in the cities.

You will listen to and read factual texts for information to support your arguments in discussion or debates and write creatively on the topic of urban and rural life.

Socio-economic challenges Whether you live in the city or in a small village, your immediate
surroundings will present various opportunities and challenges.

Understanding urban and rural life

People generally view urban life as faster-paced and more complex than rural life. More people live in smaller spaces in cities and towns. Houses are closer together, so there is more noise, more air pollution and more water pollution. There may be more work opportunities, but there is also more competition. There are usually more schools and entertainment opportunities. Some people love the vibe or atmosphere of city life, while others long for the peace and open spaces of rural life.

Activity 7.1 State the advantages and disadvantages of urban and rural life 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Form four large groups, each with a leader, secretary and spokesperson (who will report your discussion to the class). You will be assigned one of the following tasks:

Group A: Discuss and list the advantages of urban life.

Group B: Discuss and list the advantages of rural life.

Group C: Discuss and list the disadvantages of urban life.

Group D: Discuss and list the disadvantages of rural life.

3. The group leader must make sure all group members take part and contribute to the discussion.

4. The scribe should write down or type out the list of advantages or disadvantages. The members must all agree with the list the scribe compiles and revise it as needed.

5. Exchange your group’s list with another group. (If you have access to a computer and the Internet in our classroom, type and print out the list or e-mail it to another group.)

6. The spokesperson of each group must read the other group’s list aloud, so that the group can on it.

7. The scribe must record the comments. The four spokespeople will then take turns to read the comments on the lists they received from other groups.

Activity 7.2 Discuss markets and role-play a visit to a market
Visiting a market can be an exciting experience. It is a place to bargain and negotiate in order to get the best value for your money. You can save up to 20% on the price of something by bargaining with the seller. Although fresh fruit and vegetables are mostly sold at markets, other food products, including tea, coffee, sugar, spices and dried products, such as cereals, beans and peas, are also traded. Many markets deal in hardware and building materials, as well as furniture and clothes. Some markets specialise in second-hand or used clothing and furniture. Good bargains can be found at markets.

1. Share your market experiences with a partner. Discuss your experiences of shopping at markets. What have you bought at markets? Have you bargained to bring down the price? What bargains have you found? What market experiences have you enjoyed?
2. 2Share your partner’s experience with the group.
3. Take note of the differences between rural and urban market experiences.
4. Choose the most interesting market experience related in your group for your role play.
5. Make up a role play in your group to demonstrate activity at a market. The role-players should include stall holders and customers. Decide on what you want to buy, and role-play the process of bargaining and buying the chosen goods.
6. Present your group’s role play to the class.
7. Watch and listen to the other role plays. Evaluate how successful each one
   is in terms of:
   portraying role-players
   illustrating a typical market activity
   keeping you interested

• clearly showing what is happening.

Activity 7.3 Appreciate young people’s experiences of success

1. Read the text and then write down the answers to the questions.
   Unemployment, particularly of the youth, is a serious problem in Africa. For many young people, the only way to change their economic situation is to set up their own businesses and become entrepreneurs. This may seem daunting, but many young people have been successful, providing
   their own income and employment for others at the same time. Bethlehem Alemu, a girl who grew up in poverty in Ethiopia, managed to launch one of the most popular and successful African shoe brands in the world — SoleRebels. Her collection of eco-friendly footwear is made from recycled materials and marketed in more than 50 countries.
   She started off by borrowing $10,000 from her family and friends as start-up capital. She found it very embarrassing to ask for money, but she carefully planned how she would use it. The business is now a great success.
   Jacent Nyamahunge, who hails from Kiziranfumbi sub-county in Kikuube district, won the women’s 200 metres race at the Dubai Police Stadium on Saturday night, beating Japanese Mayak Kimura and
   Jahannah Mogale of South Africa by 24 and 28 seconds respectively. The student at Uganda Christian University won the Women’s 100 metres earlier. Nyamahunge, who is an orphan, also won double gold in the 100 and 200 metres at the 2015 Special Olympics in
   Los Angeles, USA.
   On her return to Uganda, she was received with jubilation as hundreds of her supporters led her to meet the King of Bunyoro, Dr Solomon Gafabusa Iguru 1. In 201 5, the president of the country
   awarded her 5 million shillings and a scholarship. She used about half of this money to buy land and build a house on it.

2. Both young women became successful in spite of their backgrounds.

What disadvantage did each woman have to overcome?
3. What, in your opinion, was the most difficult thing Bethlehem had to do to achieve success?
4. Explain Bethlehem’s So/eRebe/s business in your own words.
5. Jacent faced different challenges. What do you think she had to do in order to achieve success in athletics?

Activity 7.4 Use regular and irregular verbs

1. Revise the information about regular and irregular verbs in the table below. Use the Internet and/or library to find more examples of irregular verbs. Write down irregular verbs that you might find difficult to remember.
2. Explain what regular and irregular verbs are to a partner. Provide examples of each.
3. Complete the sentences below, Look at the first sentence to see what the tense is, and then continue using that tense to write down the correct form of the verbs.
   (be) poor, but
   Mina was born in a village in Uganda. Her parents had they — (send) her to school at a time when many other parents (think) that girls did not need education. She — (work) hard and (learn) to read, write and calculate. Mina was aware that her parents (find) it difficult to pay her school fees and buy her school uniform and books. She — (rack) her brains to find a way to earn money, even though
   she (be) only II years old. Mina’s mother used to make a kind of flatbread. She (use) ground wheat and corn, a little sugar and salt — (make) into a dough with water. She (roll) the dough into balls and then — (flatten) them and — (bake) them on a flat pan over an open fire. When Mina — (take) them to school for lunch all her friends (want) to taste her lunch. They— (love) the taste of her mother’s flatbread. Mina — (suggest) to her mother that they bake more of the flatbreads for her to take to school to sell. Mina — (work) out what the ingredients cost and they (decide) on a price for the flatbreads. Mina — (sell) the flatbreads within five minutes. That (be) the beginning of a bakery business that is still doing well today. Mina is now 30 years old and employs ten people to bake
   enough bread for the community. Work in pairs and read your paragraphs aloud to each other. Listen for errors in tenses and help each other to correct your work.

Speaking about urban and rural life
People have many different opinions about urban and rural life. Some people believe that moving to a town or city will satisfy every need they have. It is true that urban areas often offer more work opportunities and better-equipped schools. However, quality education does not depend on better equipment, but on the commitment of teachers and learners. People in rural areas can often live healthier and safer lives, and can be more self-sufficient by producing some of their own food.

The consonant c
The consonant c is often confused. It can be pronounced as /s/ or /k/.
The soft c sounds like /s/. For example: Cyril, city, receive, cell, ceiling, cent, dancing, ice, certain, ace and decide.
The hard c sounds like /k/. For example: cup, class, fact, colour, cat, cover, cool, cut, curtain and cause.
The rule is that when c comes directly before the letters e, i or y, we use the /s/ sound. In all other cases, we use the /k/ sound.

In the words soccer, succulent, succour and succumb we pronounce the double c as one /k/ sound, for example, [‘soka]. In some words with a double c, we often use both 1k/ and /s/, for example,
success [sak’ses] and succinct [sak’siokt].

Activity 7.6 Pronounce the c correctly when you read
1.Work with a partner. Read the text on your own. Then take turns to read
it aloud to each other.
As the teacher walked into the classroom, the noise ceased. Yosefu had been rocking on the back legs of his chair and there was a final crash as he straightened up. Silence reigned.
“Thank you for being so quiet!” remarked Miss Joan ironically.
“l have just received the names of the successful candidates for next
year’s scholarships. I wish to declare that there has been no gender
discrimination, and that the central committee has decided based solely
on the quality of the essay you wrote on the ecology of this region.
One learner wrote a thought-provoking essay on the clash between
civilisation and the need to develop and maintain a balance in nature.”
2. While listening to your partner, write all the words spelled with a c.
3. Decide together whether you have pronounced the words correctly.
Add to the table you made in Activity 7.5 by writing down the words in the correct column. Explain why each column of words is pronounced in that way.

Activity 7.7 Listen to a news broadcast
I. Listen carefully to the broadcast. If possible, record it so that you can listen to it again. Pay particular attention to how the newsreader pronounces words.
2. Take notes while you listen to capture the main ideas in the news broadcast.
3. Write at least three words that you don’t know the meaning of. Even if you are not sure how to spell them, write them down as you hear them.
4. Ask a partner if they know what the words mean, and how to spell them correctly.
5. Look up the words in a dictionary together to check the meaning and correct pronunciation. Say the words aloud to check your pronunciation.
6. Take turns to tell each other what you heard on the news.

Use of adverbs
Activity 7.8 Find information on adverbs

1. Read through the notes on adverbs. You can also look back at Chapter 6.
2. Create a table on the computer or draw a table with five columns in your exercise book. Head the columns Adverbs of manner, Adverbs of time, Adverbs of place, Adverbs of frequency and Adverbs of reason.
3. Read the passage. Work with a partner to identify the adverbs. Remember to check that the adverb tells you more about the verb, not the noun. Write the adverbs in the correct columns of the table.
   Yesterday we went to the nearest town because we wanted to do some shopping. We got up early and walked quickly to the bus stop. Since the road was uneven, the bus lurched dangerously from one pothole to the other until we eventually reached the tarred road. We make this trip
   regularly, at least once a month. At the market we soon met people we knew, and we chatted excitedly with friends and relatives. We seldom had much money, but my mother usually put something aside for us to buy a treat. We, the boys, always bought something to eat, but our
   sister usually looked for something pretty to wear. She soon found a string of pottery beads to wear around her neck.

Adverbs of time, manner, place, frequency and reason
Adverbs are words that modify, or tell us more about, verbs. They may also modify adjectives, other adverbs, or even the tone of the whole sentence. For example:
She runs fast. The adverb fast tells us more about the verb, runs. Apolo was exceptionally clever at school. The adverb exceptionally tells us more about the adjective clever.
There are several types of adverbs. Adverbs of time (tell when something happens), for example: yesterday, tomorrow, now, then, soon and today. Adverbs of manner (tell how something happens): slowly, well, fast, rapidly, thoroughly and quickly.
Adverbs of place (tell where something happens): down, behind, outside and up. Adverbs of frequency (tell how often something happens): once, twice, seldom, often, never, frequently and occasionally.
Adverbs of reason (tell the reason behind something happening): therefore, so, since, because, thus and co

3.Groups 1 and 2 must each choose a main speaker and two supporting speakers. Each group must then decided what points they are going to make to support their position. Each speaker must make a different point.
4. Group 3 must choose a coordinator to collect the opinions and votes and report these findings to the class.
5. The speakers in each group should not repeat information or arguments.

When learning a language, it is very important to acquire a broad vocabulary of words. The more words you know, the better and more clearly and accurately you can express ourself. One way to improve your vocabulary is to read as much as possible. When you come across a word in your reading that have not heard before, stop and study the word. Use word-attack skills to work out its meaning. Is there any part
of the word you know? Think of a word such as disbelief. It is a fairly long word, but it consists of two parts: (dis-) and (belief). Do you know what any of the parts mean? Dis- means without and belief means something you believe in, therefore disbelief must mean without belief. If you cannot work out the meaning, read the words around the word you don’t know, as sometimes they will give you a clue. Your last option is to look up the word in a dictionary.
Keep a vocabulary list in a notebook and add new words to it. Write down the word, its meaning, and a sentence in which the word is used correctly.

Activity 7.11 Use appropriate vocabulary and tenses

1. Read the text silently. Then copy it into your exercise book.
   Nangoma’s parents decided to move to Kampala. Nangoma and her brother, Nangila, were diligent children, and their parents wanted them to be able to attend good schools. At first, life was very challenging. They couldn’t find a house and had to cohabit with another family in
   an informal settlement. Fortunately, their father found a good job at a supermarket, and they could rent a small house with a tiny garden.
2. Their mother also found a job. The children attended a government school, where there was
   electricity and water. There was also a library and a computer centre. When the children finished school, they would be able to attend a university in Kampala.

2.Identify and underline all the verbs in the text. What tense is used in the text?
3. Compare your underlined words with a partner’s words. Do you agree on the verbs and the tense? Decide why this tense has been used.
4. Draw a circle around any words in the text that you do not know. Compare
your circled words with those of your partner. Discuss these words and
together use word attack skills to find their meanings.
5. Write the correct form of the verbs in brackets to complete the text.

Writing about urban and rural life
Writing an essay on any topic is a challenge. You have to think about your topic and the tense in which to write the text, the type of sentences you use, and the order of sentences and paragraphs. You also need the best vocabulary to express your thoughts, and you need to spell the words correctly. What other skills do you need to write a good essay?

Sentence connectors are like links in a chain, joining together large groups of words, phrases and sentences. You can also use them to link paragraphs. They are usually placed at the beginning of a sentence. Examples of sentence connectors to show contrast: however, nevertheless, yet, on the other hand, on the contrary and instead. Examples of sentence connectors to show similarity: likewise, similarly, in the same way, correspondingly and also.
Conjunctions are also useful to join two or more words, phrases or clauses. Coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so. You can use the acronym FANBOYS to remember these conjunctions.
Subordinating conjunctions: although, because, since and unless.

Activity 7.13 Defend your views in writing
When you write an essay to defend your views on a particular issue, we call it an opinion essay.
Your essay should be divided into three parts.

• Introduction: State your point of view. You may also mention what the opposing point of view is and say that you will explain why you think your point of view is more valid.
• Body: Explain the reasons for your point of view and then support them with evidence. Three points (paragraphs) should be enough to support your case.
• Conclusion: Repeat your view with brief references to your reasons to conclude our argument.

2. Check your graphic organiser, taking note of the tips in the example: Does the first block contain several ideas that you want to include in your essay?
   Have you written a suitable introduction that leads into what you want to say about the topic?
   Have you sorted your information into three main points, and written the key words in the relevant blocks?
   Have you pulled your thoughts together for a short, effective conclusion in which you briefly summarise your main point?
3. Now work on your own. Use your graphic organiser to plan and write an essay of about 200 words in which you defend your views on whether it is better for a child to grow up and attend school in the city, or in a rural area. Follow the guidelines provided.
4. When you have finished writing, review it using the checklist below. Then exchange books with a partner and use the same checklist for their essay.

Use a computer to type up your essay, if possible.

Activity 7.14 Use comparatives and superlatives

1. Work in groups. Tell one another about your family and things that you like. For example, My father is taller than my mother, but my brother is the tallest in our family.
   My favourite fruit is the mango, but the sweetest fruit is a banana.
2. Read the text and write down the comparatives: the objects or feelings being compared, and the word used to express the comparison. Our class is very interesting as we are a mix of learners who look different, have different talents and perform differently. Achen is the tallest in the
   class, even taller than our teacher. Dembe is the shortest. Achen is also the best at athletics. With her long legs she can run faster and jump higher and further than anyone else in the class. Sanyu is the cleverest and scores the highest marks. Mukisa is not as clever as Sanyu but, because he works
   the hardest of all, his marks are usually better than mine.

Comparatives and superlatives
You use the comparative form when you compare two things, and the superlative form when you compare more than two things. For example: Akoa is tall, but Enso is even taller (comparative). Jonathan is the tallest boy in the class (superlative).
If a word has more than two syllables, it takes more to form the comparative, and most to form the superlative. or example: Treasure Island is more exciting than this book but The Swiss Family Robinson is the most exciting book of all. Here is a list that you can learn with examples of the nouns they describe in brackets:

Activity 7.15 Use the conditional form
1.Find out more about conditionals in grammar books in the library or on
the Internet.
Read this text.
We were disappointed by our move to the city. If we had known that it would be so difficult to find accommodation, we would not have packed up all our possessions. If we find a place today, we will be able to move in this afternoon. If it wasn’t raining all the time, we would feel better about not having anywhere to stay.
2. Identify and write down the conditionals in the text. Which conditional phrase says that:
a) they didn’t know it would be difficult to find accommodation? How do
you think that knowledge might have changed their plans?
b) they still hoped to find a place to stay that same day?
c) it rained a lot? What effect did the rain have on their feelings?
3.Take turns to explain to your partner the difference between Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 conditionals.
4.Complete the sentences by adding a main clause to the conditional.

Conditionals
A conditional sentence is used to express something that might happen if conditions were different. Conditionals use if. It is called a conditional because the writer or speaker is guessing what could happen, what might have happened or what they wish would happen. There are three types
of conditionals:
Type 1 conditional: The condition is possible and realistic. For example: If I study hard, I will be promoted to the next form.
Type 2 conditional (if + simple past tense): The condition, in theory, is possible but not always realistic.
For example: If you travelled by air, you would get there sooner.
Type 3 conditional (if + past perfect tense): The condition is unrealistic —
it will not happen.
For example: If you had warned me that I had to study harder, I would have
been promoted to the next form. (You didn’t warn me, so I didn’t study hard,
so I will not be promoted to the next form.)

Future plans
If you want to tell a friend what you will be doing on the weekend, what tense do you use? If you need to message your mother about an arrangement later today, what tense are you likely to use?
The future tense is useful for expressing actions that are still going to happen.

Future tense
Expressing future actions can be done in a number of ways:
Use the present progressive tense for something that has just started and will continue for a short while in the future.
For example: We are moving to Kampala next week. Use be + going to to express your intention of doing something or something that will happen in the near future. For example: I think it is going to rain soon.
Use the simple present tense for events that are going to happen in the future, but which also happen frequently or regularly.
For example: The morning bus to Kampala leaves at six. (It leaves at six every morning.)
Use the simple future tense to talk about something that will happen. It has the modal will + the infinitive.
For example: Jan will look for work tomorrow.