How to Describe your Neighborhood in English

Learning how to talk about your Neighborhood is one of the topics that you will find in most popular textbooks.

To talk about your neighborhood, you need to become familiar with:

• Vocabulary about places around Town
• Prepositions of place
• Grammar Structure: There is and There are

---

Places around Town

These are some of the most common places that you can find in a city or neighborhood

Bookstore	Bakery	Restaurant
Apartment	Clinic	Supermarket
Church	Bus Stop	Gym
Bus Station	Taxi Stand	Bus Station
Prison	Cinema	Mall
Theather	Hospital	Park
Gym	Shoe Store	City Hall

Prepositions of Place

These are some of the most common prepositions to locate places in a city or neighborhood

Next to	Across From
In front of	Between
Behind	Near

Grammar: There is and There are

You can describe a neighborhood using there is and there are. In the examples, you will see how to make a sentence using

1. There is or There are
2. Prepositions of Place
3. Places in Town

These are examples of Affirmative Sentences about your neighborhood

• There is a church in front of the park
• There is a clothing store next to the library
• There are three drugstores in town
• There are four different supermarkets and two grocery stores

These are examples of Negative Sentences about your neighborhood

• There isn’t a park
• There isn’t a supermarket in my city
• There isn’t a gas station in my town
• There aren’t big supermarket in my small town

These are examples of questions about your neighborhood

• Are there two restaurants?
• Are there three supermarkets
• Is there a restaurant next to the police station?
• Is there a catholic church

Describe Your Neighborhood – There is and There are

I live in a small town in Honduras, in my community, you can find all kind of places, for example, you can go to the swimming pool which is located near the park.

There are three supermarkets and there is a bus station next to the bank. There are no airports or train stations in my town.

There is a hospital near the park and you can find two or three dugstores.

Dialogues about your Neighborhood

This is dialogue #1

Person A:  Hey Derek, What’s up?

Person B:  Not much, I have to go to work

Person A: I  need to go to the repair shop

Person B:  What’s wrong with your car?

Person A: I have to change the oil

Person B:  There is a repair shop nearby

Person A: Where is the repair shop?

Person B: It is next to the Taco Bell

Person A:  Thanks for you help, Take care man

This is a dialogue #2

Person A:  Hey Lisa, How are you doing?

Person B: I am doing great

Person A:  What are you doing here?

Person B:   I have to buy a cake, where is the bakery?

Person A: The Bakery is in front of elementary school

Person B: I also need to buy  a present, what place do you recommend?

Person A:  Try La nueva Store, It is not that expensive

Person B:  Thanks for the recommendation

Person A:  See  you later.

Task-Based Lesson: Describe your Neighborhood

This is a task-based lesson to help you teach about your neighborhood

Schema Activation (5 Mins)

Pop the Balloon

1. The teacher gives students a balloon with a strip of paper inside, the strip of paper has a place from a neighborhood. 
2. The teacher plays a song and students pass around the balloon, when the music stops, the student with the balloon in his/her hands pops it.
3. The students read the strip of paper with the place from a neighborhood and he/ she does mimics so their classmates guess the place around town he/she is referring to.

Pre-Task

Task#1 (10 Mins)

1. Teacher asks their students to turn on the cellphones, he sends a quizlet set using the whatsapp group.
2. The quizlet is made up of places around town in one side and a picture that represents the place on the other side.
3. Students  using the quizlet, check the spelling and pronunciation of  15 words included there.
4. Once they finished reviewing the vocabulary,  they  stand up and quiz each other by showing the picture include in the quizlet set and asking their partners “what’s this?”

Task #2 (10 Mins)

1. Teacher asks students to pair up and read a short description of a community. Each group has a different reading.
2. Then teacher asks them to highlight  expression such as There is , there are, there isn’t  and there aren’t
3. Once they finished highlighting the expressions, they stand up for  and talk to their classmates about the communities they read about. for example
   • There is a park in Bagaces
   • There is a hospital in Liberia
   • There is a Walmart in Nicoya

Main Task

Task: 10 Mins

1. Students are sent a wordle that has places around town.
2. Students check the wordle and identify the places found in their communities and think about sentences such as:
   • “There is a university in Nicoya”
   • “There are three supermarkets in Nicoya”
3. Once they are ready, they stand up and talk to their classmates for a 30 seconds, they do that for three minutes

Post-Task

1. Teacher sends them a google form with sentences to complete  to  see if students know the difference between there is and there are, for example:
   1. There ______________ a  bank
      • is
      • are

Points to Think about

These are some very important things to think about

1. Teacher uses technology at home so students use it in the classroom. If we want to integrate technology in the classroom,  both teachers and students need to use it.
2. Almost all tasks require that  students stand up and interact with others.
3. Most tasks are learner-centered tasks in which we can see students doing collaborative work and having peer to peer interaction.
4. Since tasks are teacher-centered, a teacher can take notes without interrupting the interaction that students are having,  he/ she can assess and provide feedback at the end of the class.
5. Since  the class lasts around 45 mins,  the teacher focuses on 15 words and  part of an structure that students can manage  easily.
6. Grammar is taught inductively through short texts.
7. There is no lengthy explanation about grammar and introduction of vocabulary. Quizlet helps with spelling, pronunciation and meaning.
8. All tasks use pretty much the same vocabulary and definitely the same structure.

Related Information

These are some posts that you might want to check out

1. How to Introduce Yourself in English
2. How to Describe Appearance and Personality
3. How to Order Food in English
4. How to Make, Accept and Decline Invitations
5. How to Express Opinions in English
6. How to Give Directions in English
7. How to Ask for Clarification in English
8. How to Express Feelings in English