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🏢

Level A1 • 20 Mins

Living in an Apartment

Learn 10 everyday words for living in a tall building.

📌 How to use this lesson

👩‍🏫 For Teachers

1. Use this 20-minute lesson to introduce and practice 10 building words.

2. Check answers together after each exercise block.

🎒 For Learners

1. Read the word table first and try the memory tips.

2. Then do the 4 practice tasks and record your voice in Shadowing.

Section 1

Word table

Read these 10 words. Look at the meanings, collocations, sentences, and memory tips.

🏢 Theme 1: In the building

Word	Meaning	Common Collocations	Example Sentence	Memory Tip
basement	lower floor under a building	clean the basement	The bike is in the basement.	Base = bottom of the house.
stairwell	stairs inside a tall building	walk down the stairwell	Walk down the stairwell safely.	Stairs + well = stairs in a tube.
letterbox	box for mail at the door	check the letterbox	I check the letterbox every day.	Box for letters.
intercom	talk box at the building door	press the intercom	Press the intercom to talk to me.	Inter sounds like enter: it lets people in.

🚪 Theme 2: At the door

Word	Meaning	Common Collocations	Example Sentence	Memory Tip
doormat	mat outside the door	wipe feet on the doormat	Clean your shoes on the doormat.	Mat at the door.
doorstep	step outside the front door	leave on the doorstep	The parcel is on the doorstep.	Step right at the door.
keys	small metal tools that lock and open a door	hold the keys	Mum has to lock the door with keys.	Key unlocks the door.

🚶 Theme 3: Moving about

Word	Meaning	Common Collocations	Example Sentence	Memory Tip
upstairs	to a higher floor	go upstairs	She lives upstairs on floor four.	Up the stairs.
downstairs	to a lower floor	run downstairs	We go downstairs to get mail.	Down the stairs.
recycle	put trash in special bins	recycle paper and cans	We recycle plastic bottles here.	Re = do again + cycle = loop.

Section 2

Practice

Complete 16 practice questions from easy to hard.

Part A: Collocation matrix

Match each action on the left with the correct building word.

1. Select the word that goes with "press":

____ doormat ____ doorstep ____ intercom ____ stairwell

2. Select the word that goes with "check the":

____ doormat ____ letterbox ____ upstairs ____ recycle

3. Select the word that goes with "wipe feet on the":

____ stairwell ____ basement ____ intercom ____ doormat

4. Select the word that goes with "walk down the":

____ stairwell ____ doorstep ____ intercom ____ letterbox

Part B: Gap-fill with word bank

Choose the correct word from the word bank to fill each blank.

keys recycle basement doorstep

1. Leave the box on the ____.

2. Put your car in the ____.

3. Take your ____ before you leave.

4. Please ____ your old papers.

Part C: Choose the word

Choose the option that fits the meaning best.

1. I hear the bell and press the _____.

____ a. intercom ____ b. letterbox ____ c. doormat

2. Walk down the _____ when the lift stops.

____ a. letterbox ____ b. stairwell ____ c. doormat

3. The beds are on the second floor. We go _____ to sleep.

____ a. downstairs ____ b. outside ____ c. upstairs

4. Put the wet shoes on the _____.

____ a. intercom ____ b. doormat ____ c. stairwell

Part D: Sentence-building

Put the given words in the right order to form a correct sentence.

Words: [for] [He] [mail.] [downstairs] [goes]

Write the full sentence:

____

Words: [today.] [the] [We] [letterbox] [check]

Write the full sentence:

____

Words: [house] [She] [keys.] [lost] [her]

Write the full sentence:

____

Words: [all] [cans.] [They] [the] [recycle]

Write the full sentence:

____

Section 3

Shadowing

Listen to the audio and record yourself speaking each item.

Collocation 1

press the intercom

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Collocation 2

check the letterbox

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Collocation 3

clean the doormat

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Collocation 4

walk upstairs

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Sentence 1

Put the keys on the table.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Sentence 2

He goes downstairs now.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Sentence 3

We recycle plastic bottles.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Sentence 4

Leave it on the doorstep.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Sentence 5

Press the intercom button.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Sentence 6

Walk down the stairwell.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Hard Word Focus 1

stairwell

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Hard Word Focus 2

intercom

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Vocabulary: Living in an Apartment

Living in an Apartment

📌 How to use this lesson

Word table

Practice

Part A: Collocation matrix

Part B: Gap-fill with word bank

Part C: Choose the word

Part D: Sentence-building

Shadowing

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