Unit 11 Page 113 Lesson C3C

Page 113:

3: speaking and listening: changes we see.

C: listen again.

Do the people think the trends are good?

why or why not?

check the boxes and write the reasons in the chart.

1:

did you go to one? I never did.

No, neither did I.

I don’t even remember them being around when we were kids.

No, my mother took care of us at home.

Right, it was the same with me.

my mom was always there.

But you see them everywhere now; there are really big trend.

yeah, a lot of kids are there for 10 or 12 hours a day, and they do a lot there, like art projects and music and special trips and things.

they have fun and it’s really good for them I think; being with other kids.

I heard that about 90% of parents work these days.

I mean, those parents wouldn’t be able to work if they didn’t have places like these for their kids.

especially single parents.

Yeah, they’re really good thing.

2:

our office is so noisy, I can hardly get any work done.

people are always stopping by my desk and chatting.

And the phones always ringing.

It must be hard to concentrate.

yeah you could say that again.

well I know what you mean; even in my small office it’s noisy, and to make things worse, it’s being renovated right now.

so, it’s even noisier.

I wonder why they don’t let us telecommute?

so many companies are allowing that these days.

I mean we all have computers and email, right?

so, we could do everything at home and then just send in the work.

yeah, we could; but my boss is kind of old-fashioned; he would never agree to it, even though we’d all get a lot more work done.

I think everyone should do it.

no more interruptions. I’d love it!

Oh, so would I!

no more morning traffic, no more suits and makeup. Yeah…

3:

I think they’re gonna let us choose our work hours.

I heard the managers discussing it.

Really? choose our own hours? like any hours at all?

well not exactly; I think we can choose to start anytime between 8 and 10 in the morning, and then work eight hours.

a lot of places are doing this now.

Wow! When this is supposed to start?

I don’t know, but I’m not sure I like the idea.

Why not? It might be good!

well maybe for some people; but I think in our department, it make it impossible to get anything done.

what if you really needed someone but they’d already left? everything would have to wait.

Ha, that’s a good point.

it’s probably better if we were all here the same time.

Exactly; I hope they decide not to do it.

Well you could say something, couldn’t you?

I’m not supposed to know!

We will have to wait for the announcement.

4:

you know, it seems like more and more guys in my company are getting time off work when their wives have babies; not just a couple of days, but like several weeks.

Right; most places used to just give maternity leave, but now a lot of new dads get leave too.

Yeah; even my boss took off for a couple of weeks when his wife had their baby.

I don’t know if my company does it.

I mean, a guy I work with, took some time off when his baby was born.

but that might have been his vacation.

but still, I think new fathers should be able to take time off work, don’t you?

oh yeah.

it really takes two parents to look after a new baby in those first couple of weeks.

or at least, so I’ve heard.

you know, maybe I should find out my company’s policy is on this, for the future.