Skills - Speaking - Dialogues - Flatsharing
3 Task-Based Speaking Activities: 1. Sharing a Flat/an Apartment
Go to Organizing a New Flat Party (T2), Moving In - 1st Day (T3)
Activity designed by YT (michelle) - Printer-friendly version of Tasks 1 - 3 
(1 page)
You are living together and have decided on a number of things to get on and make things work. Just going with the flow rarely works. Work out answers to the following questions with your flatmates.
• Which part of the house or flat will be your part? Are there any rooms you're not allowed to go into without permission?
• How will you divide up household bills (electricity, gas, water, phone)? Will there be a money box for the telephone? Remember, even if only one person's name is on the gas and/or electricity bills, you are all jointly and individually liable for paying them. Will you share all household/food expenses, or will each buy their own stuff and just have a kitty for communal food, such as salt and oil, or communal items such as toilet roll and washing up liquid?
• Is there a cleaning/cooking/shopping rota, to save arguments over all kinds of things? Is it weekly or monthly? (Shopping, dusting & vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom and toilet, putting the rubbish out for collection, cooking/dishwashing duties, and periodic jobs such as cleaning the fridge, stove, windows and maintaining the garden...)
• Is there a no smoking rule?
• Friends/Lovers visiting or staying over. Do other housemates' relationships stay over regularly?
• What's the policy on parties?
• What do the other people in the flat do? If they work, what are their hours? Will you be queuing for the bathroom in the morning? Or will you have to keep quiet during the day so flatmates working nightshifts can sleep?
• Are you allowed pets? Does anyone else in the flat own pets?
Useful language
(Agreed stuff) Who's doing this/that? Who's getting that?
(Spontaneous offering) I'll be in charge of. I'll do that.
(Plan/Intentions) So I'm going to . and you're going to. Is that right?
(Proposals/Suggestions) We could have a rota for this, which moves everyone around each week. I would start, on . Then.
We could have a rota to ensure that everyone has access to the computer. Let's draw up a weekly rota for people to take a turn at cooking. How much are we going to put in the kitty, then? How much have we got in the food kitty? Is there any money left in the phone money box?