29 You have recorded your video series on different family types. Now you want to share some of your ideas in a blog. In your blog post you should: describe one of the family types you presented point out possible advantages of living in it speculate how common it will be in the future Give your blog post a title. Write around 250 words. See Writing coach, Blog post, p. 180. WRITING 17 Strategies box To speculate means to form ideas and theories about something, or to consider possible answers to a question, especially when you don’t have enough information about it to be certain. Expand your vocabulary: Family You are the teacher now! Create a task to help revise the topic vocabulary. You can choose from the following ideas or come up with your own: LANGUAGE 18 When you’ve finished, form small groups and try out each other’s activities. an online quiz a matching task a crossword puzzle a Taboo-style game (where words must be explained without using the words themselves) a bingo game By the way: All together now! There are many collective nouns for humans, some of which are positive, such as a club or a party, and some of which are less positive like a gang or a rabble1. You probably know some collective words for animals too, such as a pride of lions or a herd of cattle, but there are a few you probably haven’t heard of. For example, there may be a mischief 2 of mice living in your cellar, eating away at your food supplies. Not to worry, just get yourself a clowder of cats to chase them away. The cats may have babies which would then be a kindle of kittens. In the cellar, there may also be a clutter of spiders, but they’ll be busy feeding on a business of flies. If it’s starting to feel a little crowded at home, you might go outside and see a gaggle of geese or a scurry of squirrels. An army of frogs might be in the river, along with a shoal of fish. Rather worryingly, there could be an unkindness of ravens or even worse, a murder of crows! Further away from home, there’s a shrewdness3 of apes and a congregation of alligators. Some words for groups of animals seem obvious. For example, if you’ve ever tried to move a buffalo, you’ll know why a group of them is an obstinacy4! Equally, a shiver of sharks and a stand of flamingos make perfect sense. As elephants never forget, maybe that’s why a group is a memory of elephants, and a crash of rhinoceroses speaks for itself. Let’s end on a pleasant note. Who could resist a charm of hummingbirds5 or a loveliness of ladybirds? And wouldn’t you love to meet, in your perfect fantasy world, a blessing6 of unicorns? Work with a partner to make up your own fun collective nouns, for example a rabble of pupils, a depression of teachers, etc. 1 rabble: Gesindel, Pöbel 2 mischief: Unfug 3 shrewdness: Schläue, Klugheit 4 obstinacy: Bockigkeit, Sturheit 5 hummingbird: Kolibri 6 blessing: Segen Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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