Compelling Conversations - Home

“The strength of the nation derives from the integrity of the home.”

Confucius (551 BC -479 BC), great Chinese philosopher

Sharing Experiences
Everybody lives somewhere. Share the story of your home with your partner by responding to these questions. Feel free to add other questions.

1. Do you live in a house or an apartment?
2. How long have you lived there?
3. How did you find your current home? What attracted you?
4. Did you have a checklist when looking for a home? What was on it?
5. What legal documents did you have to sign before moving in? Lease? Mortgage? Other? Did you have to pay any fees?
6. What do you like about it? How long did it take you make a decision?
7. What do you dislike about it? What, if anything, annoys you?
8. Which is your favorite room? Why? What does it look like?
9. Which room is the heart of your current home? Kitchen? TV room?
10. What changes have you made to this residence? Paint? Repairs?
11. What further changes would you like to make?
12. What paintings, posters, or other artwork do you have?
13. Do you have any pets? What’s their favorite spot?
14. What, if any plants or flowers, do you have? Where are they?
15. By the way, how did you find your current home? Word of mouth? Ad?
16. When you were a child, did you live in a house or an apartment?
17. How long did you live in one residence?
18. What did you like about it? What did you dislike?
19. With whom did you live as a child? Which was your favorite room? Why?
20. Which room was the heart of your childhood home?
21. Have you ever felt homesick? What did you miss the most?
22. What is your favorite memory of your childhood memory?
23. Would your old neighborhood be the same as it was when you were a child?
24. Would you like to live there now? Why or why not?
25. Would you rather live in an apartment or a house? Why?
26. Would you rather live in a city, a suburb, a small town, or the country? Why?
27. Can you suggest some places to find interior design ideas?
28. What would your dream residence be like? Can you describe it in detail?
29. What modern appliances would your dream house have?
30. What makes a house or an apartment a home?

Vocabulary: Which words do you already know? Guess the meanings of the other words.

Sayings: What do these proverbs and saying mean? Which is your favorite?

Mi casa es su casa.

- Spanish proverb

Home is where the heart is.

You can’t go home again.

Home is where we grumble the most and are treated the best.

Birds return to old nests.

- Japanese proverb

A house is not a home.

Quotations: Please read and review these quotations in a small group. Discuss what each one means. Then Pick one quote that you like – and one you dislike. Explain your choices.

1. “He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.”
   
   - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German playwright, poet
2. “Anger in a home is like rottenness in a fruit.”
   
   - Talmud
3. “A man’s house is his castle.”
   
   - Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634), English lord
4. Home: “The place where when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
   
   - Robert Frost (1875-1963), American poet
5. “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”
   
   - John Howard Payne (1791-1852), American lyricist
6. “A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life: he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days.”
   
   - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
7. “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.”
   
   - George Moore (1852-1933), Irish playwright
8. “No matter under what circumstances you leave it, home does not cease to be home. No matter how you lived there – well or poorly.”
   
   - Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), Russian born American poet. Nobel winner.
9. “Home is the girl’s prison and the woman’s workhouse.”
   
   - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright and Nobel winner
10. “A woman should be home with the children, building that home and making sure there’s a secure family atmosphere.”
    
    - Mel Gibson (1956- ) film director, actor, and producer
11. “The best way to keep children at home is make the home atmosphere pleasant, and let the air out of the tires.”
    
    - Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), American writer
12. “Modern apartments are built on the principle that half as much room should cost twice as much money.”
    
    - Evan Esar (1899-1995), American humorist
13. “Peace and rest at length have come, All the day’s long toil is past, And each heart is whispering, Home, Home at last!”
    
    - Thomas Hood (1798-1845), English poet

EXTENSIONS

1. Select five adjectives (spacious, cozy) for your dream home.
2. Before the next class, find a home or apartment building that you would like to live in. Bring a specific address to class. Describe the building to your group.