Challenge at Chateau Slovakia for Brits

URL: http://www.newsflashenglish.com/160407chateau2.htm

Ideas and Articles by David Robinson

16^th April 2007

THE ARTICLE

Challenge at Chateau Slovakia for Brits

A British couple from Epping decided to do something different in their lives. They bought a chateau in Slovakia, renovated and opened it as a hotel The Sunday Times recently reported. Wanting to escape from the stresses of life in the UK David and Ann Darrell decided to sell up their accountancy and web-based graphic design companies and start a new life abroad. The question of where crossed their minds. Touring Europe they ended up in a pension in the Austrian Alps. Inspired and at a suggestion made by their hosts they decided to open a hotel – in Slovakia! Around the same time a TV production crew were looking for suitable people to film buying a property abroad. Tiger Aspect had placed an ad which David’s wife unbeknown to him replied to. With camera crew in tow the couple set off searching for something different. Eventually they found a kastiel in the town of Salgovce, a 45-minute north-easterly drive from the capital Bratislava. £77,000 later they became the owners of a chateau built in 1767 and estate comprising of various outbuildings including a cinema, post office & 40 acres of land. That was in 1993.

Ever since renovation work has taken place. Many challenges had to be overcome. Renovation costs of the 18^th century wreck rose from an estimated £300,000 to nearly a million pounds. The Slovak culture ministry made many visits to ensure restoration was carried out effectively. Furniture was bought from Spain & France. Chandeliers came from Vienna. It’s been a steep learning curve for the couple. David found himself playing a real life Basil Faulty with his Head Waiter Marek – reminiscent of scenes between Basil and his Spanish waiter Manuel! Meanwhile more work needs doing in the vineyards. The cinema will become a conference hall. Would they do it all again? “Yes, but differently,” said Ann. Any regrets? “Absolutely none!” she added. But she is hoping to get a return on all the money invested.

START

1. STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN: If you had the opportunity to quit your job and live abroad where would you go and what would you do? Go round the room swapping stories. Change partners often.

2. RENOVATING PROPERTIES: What do you know about renovating a property? How old was the flat/house/other? What had to be done? Did it take a long time? Go round the room swapping stories. Change partners often.

3. SALGOVCE: What do you know about Salgovce in Slovakia? Where is it? How big is it? What is it famous for? Go round the room swapping stories.

4. DICTATION: The teacher will read the article slowly and clearly. Students will write down what they hear. The teacher will repeat the passage slowly again.

Self correct your work. Compare your work with your partner(s) and try to recreate the full text. Listen again to check, fill in spaces or correct mistakes. Be honest with yourself on the number of errors. Advise the teacher of your total no of errors. Less than 5 is very good. 10 are acceptable. Any more is room for improvement! More than 20 - we need to do some work!

5. READING: Get students to read the passage aloud. Swap readers every paragraph.

6. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting (circle) and which are most boring (underline).

Chateau / Epping / renovating properties / Slovakia / The Sunday Times / TV production crew / Basil Faulty / Vineyards / hotel / touring Europe / an estate

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

7. LIVING ABROAD: With your partner think of four places in the world you would like to live. List them below and discuss. Then answer the following questions…

1 3 2 4

a) Why would you like to live there? b) What would you do? c) Would it be cheaper to live there? d) How might you go about it? e) Would you consider having a TV reality show follow you about? f) Would you consider buying a chateau and renovating it?

8. QUICK DEBATE: Students A believe renovating properties is fun. Students B believe it’s better to buy new! Debate this with your partners. Change partners often.

9. RENOVATING A PROPERTY: List the advantages and disadvantages of renovating a property.

Advantages Disadvantages 1 1 2 2 3 3

10. CHALLENGES OF RENOVATING A PROPERTY: With your partner think of FOUR challenges when renovating a property. List them below and discuss.

1 3 2 4

11. RENOVATING PROPERTY: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with renovating property. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

12. THREE SENTENCES: Choose six/nine of these words. Write three sentences using two/three different words in each. Try to associate them with renovating property. Discuss with your partner. Spend five minutes on this exercise.

13. SENTENCE STARTERS: With your partner(s), finish these sentence starters. Change partner(s) and talk about the sentences you made.

a) A British _______________________________________________________

b) Touring Europe _________________________________________________

c) Renovating a ___________________________________________________

d) A camera crew __________________________________________________

e) The 18^th century ________________________________________________

f) A kastiel _____________________________________________________

g) Renovating costs ________________________________________________

h) A property abroad _______________________________________________

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: After reading the article guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A British couple from Ealing decided to do something different in their lives.	T / F
b.	The couple bought a hotel in Slovakia	T / F
c.	The Brits sold up and started a new life abroad	T / F
d.	Touring the Alps they ended up in a guest house in Italy	T / F
e.	A TV production crew filmed their progress in Slovakia	T / F
f.	The couple bought a kastiel for £87,000	T / F
g.	The chateau includes estate with cinema, golf course and 50 acres of land	T / F
h.	Furniture was bought in Spain and Portugal	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	Acres	Problems
b.	stresses	Guest house
c.	Start	Appropriate
d.	Pension	Some
e.	Crew	Difficulties
f.	Suitable	Restoration
g.	In tow	Following
h.	Various	Commence
i.	Renovation	Team
j.	Challenges	Hectares

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

a.	A British couple from Epping	from the stresses of life in the UK…
b.	They bought	to get a return on all the money invested
c.	Wanting to escape	they ended up in a pension in Austria
d.	The question of where	a chateau in Slovakia
e.	Touring Europe	they found a kastiel
f.	Around the same time	came from Vienna
g.	Eventually	restoration work has taken place
h.	Ever since	a TV production crew
i.	Chandeliers	crossed their minds
j.	She is hoping	decided to do something different…

GAP FILL: READING

Put the words into the gaps in the text.

A _______ couple from Epping decided to do something different in their lives. They bought a _______ in Slovakia, renovated and opened it as a hotel The Sunday Times recently reported. Wanting to escape from the ________ of life in the UK David and Ann Darrell decided to sell up their accountancy and web-based graphic design companies and start a new life abroad. The question of where crossed their minds. Touring Europe they ended up in a pension in the Austrian Alps. Inspired and at a suggestion made by their _____ they decided to open a hotel – in Slovakia! Around the same time a TV __________ crew were looking for suitable people to film buying a ________ abroad. Tiger Aspect had placed an ad which David’s wife unbeknown to him replied to. With camera crew in tow the couple set off searching for something different. Eventually they found a kastiel in the town of Salgovce, a 45-minute north-easterly drive from the capital Bratislava. £77,000 later they became the owners of a chateau built in 1767 and estate comprising of various __________ including a cinema, post office & 40 _____ of land. That was in 1993.

production outbuildings hosts acres chateau property stresses British

Ever since renovation work has taken place. Many __________ had to be overcome. __________ costs of the 18^th century wreck rose from an estimated £300,000 to nearly a million pounds. The Slovak culture ministry made many visits to ensure restoration was carried out ___________. Furniture was bought from Spain & France. ___________ came from Vienna. It’s been a steep learning curve for the ______. David found himself playing a real life Basil Faulty with his Head Waiter Marek – ___________ of scenes between Basil and his Spanish waiter Manuel! Meanwhile more work needs doing in the vineyards. The cinema will become a conference hall. Would they do it all again? “Yes, but differently,” said Ann. Any _______? “Absolutely none!” she added. But she is hoping to get a ______ on all the money invested.

challenges reminiscent couple return regrets effectively renovation Chandeliers

GAP FILL: LISTENING:

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Challenge at Chateau Slovakia for Brits

A __________________________ decided to do something different in their lives. They bought a chateau in Slovakia, renovated and opened ______________ The Sunday Times recently reported. Wanting to escape from the stresses of life in the UK David and Ann Darrell decided to sell up their accountancy and web-based graphic design companies and ________________ abroad. The question of where crossed their minds. Touring Europe they ended __________________ the Austrian Alps. Inspired and at a suggestion made by their hosts they decided to open a hotel – in Slovakia! Around the same time a TV production crew were looking for suitable people to film buying a property abroad. Tiger Aspect had placed an ad which David’s wife unbeknown _________________. With camera crew in tow the couple set off searching for something different. Eventually they found a kastiel in the town of Salgovce, a 45-minute north-easterly drive from the capital Bratislava. £77,000 later they became ________________ chateau built in 1767 and estate comprising of various outbuildings including a cinema, post office & 40 acres of land. ________________.

Ever since renovation ____________________. Many challenges had to be overcome. Renovation costs of the 18^th century wreck rose from an estimated £300,000 to nearly a million pounds. The ______________ ministry made many visits to ensure restoration was carried out effectively. Furniture was bought from ______________. Chandeliers came from Vienna. It’s been a steep learning curve for the couple. David found himself playing a real life Basil Faulty with his Head Waiter Marek – reminiscent of scenes between Basil and his Spanish waiter Manuel! ___________________ needs doing in the vineyards. The cinema will become a conference hall. Would they do it all again? “Yes, but differently,” said Ann. Any regrets? “Absolutely none!” she added. But she is hoping to ___________________ the money invested.

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a) Did the headline make you want to read the article?

b) Did anything in the article surprise you?

c) Have you ever thought of renovating a property?

d) If you had the money would you consider buying a chateau/castle and renovating it?

e) If yes, where would you buy it?

f) What advise would you give to anyone daft enough to want to renovate a castle?

g) What difficulties do you think one could encounter renovating a chateau/castle?

h) Would you consider having a film crew film your every move?

i) Do you think anyone would be interested in watching a TV programme about a British couple renovating a chateau?

$---------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a) Did you like reading this article?

b) What do you think about what you read?

c) Would you buy a kastiel in Slovakia?

d) Would you prefer to buy something new?

e) Why do you think people want to live abroad?

f) Would you like to live abroad?

g) Do you think the British couple had many challenges during the renovation of their chateau?

h) If ‘yes’ can you name some possible challenges?

i) Did you like this discussion?

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

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

PRESS: ROLE PLAY: SPEAKING: LIVING AND BUYING A PROPERTY ABROAD

You have decided to do something different in your life. You are going to live abroad. You have decided to buy a property.

With your partner or in groups of three / four discuss the following:

	Findings
Where you are going to live
What type of property you are going to buy?
Your new job abroad
Your family
Expected difficulties
Things you will leave behind
Your choice

The teacher will select some students to discuss their situations in front of the class.

LANGUAGE: CORRECT WORD: Choose the correct words from a–d below and write them in the article.

A (1) ____ couple from Epping decided to do something different in their lives. They bought a (2) ____ in Slovakia, renovated and opened it as a (3) ____ The Sunday Times recently reported. Wanting to (4) ____ from the stresses of (5)____ in the UK David and Ann Darrell decided to sell up their accountancy and web-based graphic design companies and start a new life (6) ____. The (7) ____ of where crossed their minds. Touring Europe they ended up in a pension in the Austrian Alps. Inspired and at a suggestion made by their hosts they decided to open a hotel – in Slovakia! Around the same time a TV production crew were looking for suitable (8) ____ to film buying a property abroad. Tiger Aspect had placed an ad which David’s wife (9) ____ to him replied to. With camera crew in tow the couple set off searching for something different. Eventually they found a kastiel in the town of Salgovce, a 45-minute north-easterly drive from the capital Bratislava. £77,000 later they became the owners of a chateau built in 1767 and estate comprising of various (10) ____ including a cinema, post office & 40 acres of land. That was in 1993.Ever since renovation work has taken place. Many challenges had to be overcome. Renovation costs of the 18^th century wreck rose from an estimated £300,000 to nearly a million pounds. The Slovak culture (11)____ made many visits to ensure restoration was carried out effectively. Furniture was bought from Spain & France. Chandeliers came from Vienna. It’s been a steep learning curve for the couple. David found himself playing a real life Basil Faulty with his Head Waiter Marek – reminiscent of scenes between Basil and his Spanish waiter Manuel! Meanwhile more work needs doing in the vineyards. The cinema will become a (12)____ hall. Would they do it all again? “Yes, but differently,” said Ann. Any regrets? “Absolutely none!” she added. But she is hoping to get a return on all the money invested.

1.	(a)	French	(b)	Irish	(c)	German	(d)	British
2.	(a)	house	(b)	chateau	(c)	flat	(d)	mountain
3.	(a)	sports centre	(b)	conference hall	(c)	hotel	(d)	hostel
4.	(a)	escape	(b)	escaping	(c)	escaped	(d)	escalope
5.	(a)	living	(b)	lives	(c)	life’s	(d)	life
6.	(a)	in Bognor	(b)	abroad	(c)	in Essex	(d)	broad
7.	(a)	questioning	(b)	questions	(c)	questioned	(d)	question
8.	(a)	folks	(b)	animals	(c)	people	(d)	mugs
9.	(a)	known	(b)	unbeknown	(c)	unknowingly	(d)	unknowing
10.	(a)	outbuildings	(b)	buildings	(c)	in buildings	(d)	building
11.	(a)	ministry	(b)	minister	(c)	ministries	(d)	department
12.	(a)	dance