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Unit 8 Lesson 2
Waste not, want not
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• discussed the necessity of being careful about our resources
• role-played a dialogue on past habits
• answered question based on the dialogue
• written a paragraph on your own past habits
A If we are not careful about spending essential resources such as electricity, gas and water, what do you think might happen as a consequence? Think for a few minutes and discuss with your partner.
B A journalist of The Rising Sun interviewed an elderly lady about how life was in the past when she was a child and how it is now in the present. Read the following dialogue between the lady and the journalist and then answer the questions that follow.
Journalist: Hello Mrs Sharif. I'm going to ask you a few questions today about how things used to be in the past. Firstly, how long have you been living in Dhaka?
Mrs Sharif: Since my childhood. For more than forty-five years.
Journalist: That's a pretty long time indeed. Could you please tell us how people used to get water for their everyday use when you were a child?
Mrs Sharif: Well, we used to have water supplied by the Dhaka WASA in those days also but many houses had wells too. Besides there used to be many ponds in the neighbourhood where people used to bathe, wash clothes and take water from, for their household use. There didn't use to be so many people in Dhaka in those days as there are today so there wasn't a very big demand for the supply of water.
Journalist: And how are things nowadays?
Mrs Sharif: Nowadays life is very different. Most of the ponds have been filled
up and buildings made on them. The houses are very close to each
other and many people live in multi-storeyed flats, so it isn't
possible to have tube we Hs or wells anymore. People have to rely
almost entirely on the water supplied by WASA, which is hardly
enough because the population of Dhaka has increased manifold
since my childhood.
Journalist: How do you cope with this problem then?
Mrs Sharif: Well these days we have to be very careful with the way we use water. We can't afford to waste water because there is such a shortage.
Journalist: What do you actually do to save water?
Mrs Sharif: We try to keep wastage to a minimum by not leaving the taps running whenever we brush our teeth,, take a bath or do the washing and things like that. We collect water in containers and use water from them instead of directly from the tap. You see, we have to be careful with the way we use our water. Or we are the ones who are going to suffer. In fact you can say the same about our other resources like gas and electricity as well.
Journalist: Yes, indeed! You are quite right. If only all our citizens were as conscious as you are! Thank you very much. It was really nice speaking to you.
Mrs Sharif: Thank you.
1 Underline all the sentences with used to/didn't use to. Are there any sentences in which you can insert used to/didn't use to?
2 What are the- things that didn't use to be when Mrs Sharif was a child?
C Write a paragraph about what you used to do as a child and what you didn't use to do.
Focus :
Skills.
Reading.
speaking,
writing.
Functions.
Talking about past habits.
Grammar/Structure.
Used to/ didn't use to.
Vocabulary.
rely on, nowadays,
cope with.
This text will be replaced
Unit 8 Lesson 2
Waste not, want not
Objectives: By the end of the lesson you will have
• discussed the necessity of being careful about our resources
• role-played a dialogue on past habits
• answered question based on the dialogue
• written a paragraph on your own past habits
A If we are not careful about spending essential resources such as electricity, gas and water, what do you think might happen as a consequence? Think for a few minutes and discuss with your partner.
B A journalist of The Rising Sun interviewed an elderly lady about how life was in the past when she was a child and how it is now in the present. Read the following dialogue between the lady and the journalist and then answer the questions that follow.
Journalist: Hello Mrs Sharif. I'm going to ask you a few questions today about how things used to be in the past. Firstly, how long have you been living in Dhaka?
Mrs Sharif: Since my childhood. For more than forty-five years.
Journalist: That's a pretty long time indeed. Could you please tell us how people used to get water for their everyday use when you were a child?
Mrs Sharif: Well, we used to have water supplied by the Dhaka WASA in those days also but many houses had wells too. Besides there used to be many ponds in the neighbourhood where people used to bathe, wash clothes and take water from, for their household use. There didn't use to be so many people in Dhaka in those days as there are today so there wasn't a very big demand for the supply of water.
Journalist: And how are things nowadays?
Mrs Sharif: Nowadays life is very different. Most of the ponds have been filled
up and buildings made on them. The houses are very close to each
other and many people live in multi-storeyed flats, so it isn't
possible to have tube we Hs or wells anymore. People have to rely
almost entirely on the water supplied by WASA, which is hardly
enough because the population of Dhaka has increased manifold
since my childhood.
Journalist: How do you cope with this problem then?
Mrs Sharif: Well these days we have to be very careful with the way we use water. We can't afford to waste water because there is such a shortage.
Journalist: What do you actually do to save water?
Mrs Sharif: We try to keep wastage to a minimum by not leaving the taps running whenever we brush our teeth,, take a bath or do the washing and things like that. We collect water in containers and use water from them instead of directly from the tap. You see, we have to be careful with the way we use our water. Or we are the ones who are going to suffer. In fact you can say the same about our other resources like gas and electricity as well.
Journalist: Yes, indeed! You are quite right. If only all our citizens were as conscious as you are! Thank you very much. It was really nice speaking to you.
Mrs Sharif: Thank you.
1 Underline all the sentences with used to/didn't use to. Are there any sentences in which you can insert used to/didn't use to?
2 What are the- things that didn't use to be when Mrs Sharif was a child?
C Write a paragraph about what you used to do as a child and what you didn't use to do.
Focus :
Skills.
Reading.
speaking,
writing.
Functions.
Talking about past habits.
Grammar/Structure.
Used to/ didn't use to.
Vocabulary.
rely on, nowadays,
cope with.