Topic 2 – change

Speaking lead-in

You're going to watch part of a TV programme about the 'Noughties*', the first decade of the 21st century.

What do you think the most important changes are that have happened in this decade? How will it be remembered in the future?

Think about: fashion and style, technology, world events, the economy, social trends

Video comprehension 1

Which of the following statements do you think are true? Discuss with your partner(s).

The generation gap between young people and old people is getting bigger.

Increasingly, old people are afraid of young people and young people do not appreciate older people.

The idea of being a teenager only really started in the 1960s.

The market for selling toys to adults is large than the market for telling toys to children.

Now watch the extract from the TV programme and check your ideas.

Complete the extracts.

  1. The first decade of the new millennium saw waves of massive and at times ______.
  1. Age is to the twenty-first century what social class was to the twentieth century. It's one of the ______in our society.
  1. We had a situation where everybody wanted to be young but the only people who could afford ______were the old.
  1. Adults and young people are probably more divided than they ever were in the past, partly because of the ______and the role that youth culture has in dominating our society.
  1. People say, 'Well, in the 1950s, you know, there was a transition. You went from having ______to wearing ______.
  1. Why not have toys, why not ______, why not carry on behaving like you might have behaved when you were eighteen, nineteen or twenty?

Speaking

The programme was made in the UK. How much do you think this description of society is true of Hong Kong?

What is the same and what is different?

Do you agree we are living in a society that is dominated by youth culture?

How do old and young people treat each other in your country? Do you think this is different in other countries?

Listening 2

Listen to someone talking about a decade. Which decade does she describe? What does she say about the following topics?

historical events

mobile phones / technology

economics

music

fashion

Choose the correct alternatives to complete the key phrases.

  1. The nineties was when the internet first went downhill / took off
  2. Generally thought, the nineties was quite a poor / prosperous time.
  3. I think one of the most memorable / terrible things about the 1990s has to be the music.
  4. I remember wanting to go / going to the Take That concert in '93.
  5. Clubbing was generally really big / cool too
  6. Thinking about fashion / music back then makes me cringe.