Tasks for the article. Ex. 1. Reading:read and translate the article

Ex.1. READING: Read and translate the article.

Ex.2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

Ex.3. LIVING COSTS DISCUSSION: Discuss the living costs in Moscow.

Ex.4. DISCUSSION ON LIVING COSTS IN YOUR TOWN: In pairs / groups, talk about the cost of these things in your town:

rent transportation food English lessons

telephone bills entry to museums clothes water

Ex.5. PAIR WORK: In pairs / groups, give a score for the items below - what is most important to you about city life? 10 = a must; 1 = no need for it/them

a. _____ safety

b. _____ good public transportation

c. _____ affordable accommodation

d. _____ parks and trees

e. _____ no car zones

f. _____ good refuse collection

g. _____ near an airport

h. _____ sports facilities

Ex.6. SPEAKING ON THE TOPIC “I’M AN EXPAT”: Your partner will choose a new city for you to live in (from another part of the world). Walk around the class and talk to the other “expats” about your cities.

Ex.7. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these phrases or words from the article are most interesting and which are boring.

moving / world capitals / human resources / Moscow / bad news / rent / data / currency / exchange rates / US dollar / expatriates / fast food / hyperinflation

Ex.8. WRITING ON MOSCOW: Spend one minute writing down all the words you associate with Moscow. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

Ex.9. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think living in expensive cities is better than living in the boring, cheap countryside. Students B think the opposite. Change partners often. Share your findings.

Ex.10. TRUE / FALSE: Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Moscow is the world’s costliest city for human resource companies.	T / F
b.	Students might not be able to afford to study and live in London.	T / F
c.	An international price comparison was made between 143 cities.	T / F
d.	Expatriates need to write assignments before living overseas.	T / F
e.	Changes in exchange rates made cities more expensive to live in.	T / F
f.	The dollar has become weaker and the euro stronger recently.	T / F
g.	Asuncion was the cheapest city for the fifth consecutive year.	T / F
h.	The world’s most expensive fast food is in Copenhagen.	T / F

Ex.11. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	moving	reasonably priced
b.	ranks	keep an eye on
c.	invaluable	considerable
d.	expatriate	precious
e.	monitor	changes
f.	significant	relocating
g.	primarily	running
h.	fluctuations	emigrant
i.	in a row	is placed
j.	affordable	for the most part

Ex.12. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	A new report compiled	off lands
b.	London a close	assignments
c.	This data is invaluable	due to its rates of hyperinflation
d.	open offices in far-	fluctuations
e.	send employees on expatriate	for companies
f.	currency movements have changed	in a row
g.	exchange rate	by the human resources consultancy
h.	down a	the rankings of different cities
i.	for the fifth year	second
j.	Harare dropped off the list this year	place from last year

Ex.13. GAP FILL: Fill in the gaps using the words on the right.

Moscow is the world’s costliest city

Thinking of moving to another world ________? A new report compiled by the human resources ________ Mercer suggests you need to think carefully about how ________ it is in other parts of the world. Surprisingly, Mercer ranks Moscow as the world's costliest city, with London a close ________. This is bad news for students wanting to study in the Russian and English capitals. Mercer gathers information on 143 cities around the globe. Its annual survey measures and ________ the costs of more than 200 items, including rent, transportation, food, clothes, household goods and entertainment. This data is ________ for companies wishing to open offices in far-off ________. A Mercer spokeswoman said: "As companies continue to send employees on expatriate assignments, they must ________ monitor changes in the cost of living."

second closely consultancy invaluable capital compares costly lands

A ________ theme of the latest survey is how currency movements have changed the ________ of different cities. Mercer stated: "There have been some significant changes in the rankings since last year….These are ________ due to exchange rate ________ - in particular the weakening of the U.S. dollar and the strengthening of the euro." Last year, London was ranked fifth, but due to a weak dollar, it has risen three places. Seoul was the third-placed city, followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong, both down a place from last year. Asuncion was the cheapest city for ________ for the fifth year in a row. The world’s most expensive apartments are in Tokyo and the most ________ are in Johannesburg. The ________ fast food is in Copenhagen. Zimbabwe’s Harare ________ off the list this year due to its rates of hyperinflation.

fluctuations dearest rankings affordable dropped major expats primarily

Ex.14. READING: Read and fill in the spaces.

Moscow is the world’s costliest city

Thinking of moving to another world capital? A new ______ human resources consultancy Mercer suggests you need to think carefully about _____ other parts of the world. Surprisingly, Mercer ranks Moscow as the world's costliest city, with London ____. This is bad news for students wanting to study in the Russian and English capitals. Mercer gathers information on 143 cities around the globe. Its ____ compares the costs of more than 200 items, including rent, transportation, food, clothes, household goods and entertainment. This data is invaluable for companies wishing to open _____. A Mercer spokeswoman said: "As companies continue to send employees on expatriate assignments, they must _____ the cost of living." A major theme of the latest survey is ______ have changed the rankings of different cities. Mercer stated: "There have been some _____ the rankings since last year….These are primarily due to exchange rate fluctuations - in particular the weakening of the U.S. dollar and _____ euro." Last year, London was ranked fifth, but due to a weak dollar, it has risen three places. Seoul was the third-placed city, followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong, both _____ last year. Asuncion was the cheapest city for expats for the fifth year in a row. The world’s most expensive apartments are in Tokyo and the most affordable are in Johannesburg. ____ is in Copenhagen. Zimbabwe’s Harare dropped off the list this year due to its rates of hyperinflation.

Ex.15. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocatoins, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘capital’ and ‘city’.

capital

city

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

Ex.16. VOCABULARY: Circle the words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

Ex.17. LANGUAGE: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article.

Moscow is the world’s costliest city

Thinking of moving to another world capital? A new report (1) ____ by the human resources consultancy Mercer suggests you need to think carefully about how (2) ____ it is in other parts of the world. Surprisingly, Mercer ranks Moscow as the world's costliest city, with London a close (3) ____. This is bad news for students (4) ____ to study in the Russian and English capitals. Mercer gathers information on 143 cities around the globe. Its annual survey measures and compares the costs of more than 200 items, including rent, transportation, food, clothes, (5) ____ goods and entertainment. This data is invaluable for companies wishing to open offices in far-off lands. A Mercer spokeswoman said: "As companies continue to send employees (6) ____ expatriate assignments, they must closely monitor changes in the cost of living."

A major theme of the (7) ____ survey is how currency movements have changed the rankings of different cities. Mercer stated: "There have been some (8) ____ changes in the rankings since last year….These are primarily due to exchange rate fluctuations - in particular the weakening of the U.S. dollar and the strengthening of the euro." Last year, London was ranked fifth, but due to a weak dollar, it has (9) ____ three places. Seoul was the third-placed city, followed by Tokyo and Hong Kong, both down a place from last year. Asuncion was the cheapest city for (10) ____ for the fifth year in a (11) ____. The world’s most expensive apartments are in Tokyo and the most affordable are in Johannesburg. The dearest fast food is in Copenhagen. Zimbabwe’s Harare dropped off the list this year (12) __ to its rates of hyperinflation.

1.	(a)	complained	(b)	compiled	(c)	complied	(d)	crumpled
2.	(a)	costly	(b)	costs	(c)	costliness	(d)	cost
3.	(a)	last	(b)	minute	(c)	first	(d)	second
4.	(a)	wanted	(b)	wants	(c)	wanting	(d)	want
5.	(a)	homework	(b)	housework	(c)	household	(d)	house
6.	(a)	on	(b)	in	(c)	by	(d)	with
7.	(a)	later	(b)	latest	(c)	late	(d)	lately
8.	(a)	significantly	(b)	signal	(c)	signify	(d)	significant
9.	(a)	rose	(b)	risen	(c)	driven	(d)	drove
10.	(a)	expats	(b)	experts	(c)	ex-bosses	(d)	exports
11.	(a)	rowed	(b)	rowing	(c)	row	(d)	column
12.	(a)	so	(b)	because	(c)	dew	(d)	due

Ex.18. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

thinking surprisingly bad news measures invaluable monitor

movements significant strengthening expats affordable dropped

Ex.19. STUDENT COST OF LIVING SURVEY: Write five questions about living costs.

Ex.20. LIVING COSTS DISCUSSION:

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS

a. What did you think when you read the headline?

b. What is the cost of living like where you live?

c. Have you noticed changes in the cost of living in your town?

d. Would you like to live in Moscow or London?

e. Do you think the quality of life is good in cities that have a high cost of living?

f. Which world capitals would you choose to live in?

g. What things are reasonably priced where you live?

h. Do you like moving house/city/country?

i. Do you think you’d like an expatriate life?

j. Do you think it is/would be difficult to live in foreign country?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS

a. Did you like reading this article?

b. Are you interested in currency fluctuations?

c. Do you follow what is happening with the dollar or your own currency?

d. Would you recommend your city to human resource officers as a good place to live?

e. What do you think life is/would be like in the world’s most expensive cities?

f. Do you think today’s most expensive cities will always be among the world’s costliest places to live?

g. Do you think there are any advantages of living in very expensive cities?

h. Would you prefer to live in an expensive city or a cheap village in the mountains, far from any city?

i. Are city dwellers different from country people?

j. Did you like this discussion?

Ex.21. AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

a. What was the most interesting thing you heard?

a. Was there a question you didn’t like?

b. Was there something you totally disagreed with?

c. What did you like talking about?

d. Which was the most difficult question?

Ex.22. SPEAKING: COST OF LIVING PRESENTATION:

You are a marketing executive for your town. You want people to come and live there. With your partner(s), write down the cost of living in your town for the items in the table. In the next column, explain why these prices are very reasonable.