| Level: |
Topic: |
Speakers: |
Length: |
| difficult |
cleaning services |
man – woman |
02:16 |
Pre-Listening Exercise
How clean is your house or apartment right now? Are there some areas of your place that get cleaned more often than others?
Idioms
“clean up your act” = improve your behavior
“Hey. You’d better clean up your act, or Mom will throw you out of the house. You can’t be rude to her like that.”
“start off with a clean slate” = start things new again (children used to write on slates that could be erased)
“You had some problems here at home in the past, but I hope you can start off this year with a clean slate. Everyone needs a new beginning from time to time.”
Listening Exercise
A. Listen to the recording and answer the questions.
Post-Listening Exercise
For each item below, explain who in your house is responsible for cleaning these things and how often this person does it (once a day, two times a week, once a month, every day, almost never, etc.):
- washing the dishes
- cleaning the kitchen floors
- straightening up the bedrooms
- cleaning toilets and the shower
- cleaning the windows
- vacuuming the carpets
- dusting the furniture
- washing and drying the clothes
Online Investigation
Use the Internet to find information about a house cleaning service, if possible, near where you live. Then, answer these questions:
- What is the name of the company?
- How long has the company been in business?
- What cleaning services are included?
- Do they bring their own cleaning supplies and cleaners?
- What are the cleaning costs, and how are they determined?
- What kind of cleaning plan or schedule is offered (e.g., they can come two days a week)?
- What guarantees does the service provide on its work?
- Is the company insured in case one of its workers gets injured on the job?