Could you live in such a tiny space?
Could you live in a house or apartment that was only 30 square metres in size?
There is currently a housing crisis in the UK, where there aren't enough homes for people to live in and the homes that are being built are getting smaller and smaller. People have to become 'creative' with their space in order to have enough room for their family and belongings.
In this week's programme, Jen and Neil discuss the growing number of people who are living in small houses.
This week's question:
Which European country's homes are almost 80% bigger than those in the UK?
a) Ireland
b) The Netherlands
c) Denmark
Listen to the programme to find out the answer.
Listen
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Vocabulary
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- housing crisis
- shortage of houses / high prices of houses available to buy
- to get a foot on the property ladder
- to buy your first house
- on the market
- available to buy
- room to swing a cat
- lots of space
- to squeeze
- here: to push into a small space
- minimalist
- having no more than what is necessary
- de-clutter
- get rid of things you don't want or needJennifer: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com. My name is Jennifer and with me in the studio is Neil. Welcome, Neil!Neil: Hi there Jen. In this programme, we take a look at a topic in the news and learn some new vocabulary and phrases from it.Jennifer: In this programme, we’re talking about the growing number of people living in very tiny places. How big is your house, Neil? I bet you live in a castle!Neil: I wish! No, I live in a small, two-bedroom flat, which is not big enough because there are four of us in it! How about you, Jen?Jen: Well, my house is very small indeed, but I do feel grateful to have it, particularly asNeil: There’s a shortage of houses inJennifer: The prices have become so expensive that people can’t afford to buy their own home. A popular way to describe buying your first home in English is ‘to get a foot on the property ladder’.Neil: Even if you can afford to buy your own home, you might find that your money doesn’t buy very much. Research out this week has revealed that theJennifer: I’m glad you mentioned that, Neil, as it reminds me: I haven’t asked you the quiz question yet!One European country has new homes which are, on average, almost 80% bigger than the homes ina)Neil: I don’t really know and I’m going to guess that it’s b) theJennifer: Well, we will find out if you are right at the end of the programme. So, we know that there is a housing crisis inNeil: That is tiny! You could say ‘you wouldn’t have room to swing a cat’: now don’t take that phrase literally; it simply means that a room is very small.Jennifer: The people building the houses are trying to meet the demand for properties, so they are building houses with two or three bedrooms, but those rooms are much smaller than anywhere else inNeil: And that’s an interesting difference betweenHere in theJennifer: You’re right, Neil. The number of bedrooms you have in your house is very important to many people inNeil: Yes, especially if you have a lot of belongings and kids to squeeze into a small space! So what can you do to make a small space more habitable, or easy to live in?Jennifer: Well, the design of your house can make a difference. If you have a minimalist approach it can make your house feel bigger. Listen to this clip from BBC correspondent Jennifer Pak. She describes a man inBBC correspondent, Jennifer Pak:Architect Gary Chang lives alone. He has created a walk-in closet, with the help of sliding walls. This apartment is only 30m², but, using tracks on the ceiling and wheels,Mr Chang can transform it into a linen closet, a bathroom, and even a full-size kitchen behind the television set. But the renovation cost as much as the flat itself, so for other homes in the territory, it’s a constant battle against clutter.Jennifer: So Mr Chang has modified, or changed, his tiny apartment using sliding walls. That’s great if you’ve got the skills to do that, but lots of people won’t be able to.Neil: As we heard in the report, other people have a real battle against clutter.If you de-clutter your house, you get rid of lots of things that you don’t need, like ornaments, books or CDs.Jennifer: It’s not so bad nowadays – you can store all of your music and books digitally, which does save a lot of space.Neil: Many people who live in small places will buy gadgets which save space and make their lives easier. Here’s Jennifer Pak again, describing a multifunctional cooking gadget:BBC correspondent, Jennifer Pak:Maple Ma likes to make food. This pot can grill, bake, fry and steam using a halogen lamp to cook. It replaces her oven, microwave and stove. TheNeil: An oven, microwave and stove, all in one! That’s really handy for small spaces.Jennifer: Now, we’ve heard a lot about small homes ina)Neil: And I said b) theJennifer: And you were wrong! It's homes inNeil: So, all in all, living space is pretty small here in theJennifer: Yes, if you want more space, you’ll have to move abroad. We’re almost out of time now, so Neil, could you remind us of some of the words and phrases we’ve heard today?Neil: Yes. They were:housing crisisto get a foot on the property ladderon the marketroom to swing a catto squeezeminimalistde-clutterJennifer: Do join us again for another edition of 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. Bye for now!Neil: Goodbye!
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