Laundry in a Host Family Household (Intermediate)

Practice on Your Own

Imagine you are living with a host family in a country where the language is spoken. You want to do some laundry. Make a list of questions to ask your host family about how they do their laundry, and think about the items you might need in order to wash your clothes.

• Practice words for laundry, clothes, water, soap, washing machine, dryer, water tap, outside, inside, clothesline, hot, warm, cold, etc.
• Review how to say that you want to do something.
• Review the terms for have and don’t have as well as for yes and no.
• Review other words you might need, such as pronouns.
• Prepare questions for your host family, asking them how they do their laundry.
  • Do they do laundry at home, go to a laundromat, or hire someone to wash their clothes?
  • Do they use a machine for washing and drying clothes?
  • Is laundry done by hand, and if so, what equipment is used?
  • If they do not use a dryer, where do they hang the clothes to dry?
  • Do they use hot, warm or cold water to wash?
  • What kind of soap is used for laundry?
• Make a shopping list of what you will need. Find out from the host family the cost of the things you will need to do your laundry. In your list include:
  • Soap (bar) or laundry detergent
  • Card (if applicable for the washer and dryer)
  • Bucket and basin (if washing clothes by hand)
• Practice as much as you can. Be prepared to tell your conversation partner and fellow students how you will do your laundry.

Practice in Conversation Session

• Warm‐up practice talking about laundry. Be prepared for a warm‐up activity in which you and your fellow students say words for clothes, soap, water, to do laundry, washing machine, to dry clothes, outside, inside, clothesline, etc. Tell your conversation partner and fellow students how you usually do your laundry.
• Be prepared to role play the situation. In your role play, you are the guest and your conversation partner is a member of the host family, probably the same age as you. As you interact with the person, in an appropriate polite way, say that you want to do laundry. Ask how they do their laundry. Make sure to get all the information you need. For example:
  • Does the family use a washing machine or wash clothes by hand?
  • Where should you do your laundry (inside the house, outside the house, at a laundromat, etc.)?
  • What kind of soap or detergent should you use? Should you use the family’s supply or buy your own?
  • Is there a clothes dryer? If not, where should you hang your clothes to dry?
  • If the family hires someone to do their laundry, does the person come to the house or do you need to bring the clothes to them? How much does it cost?
• Your conversation partner’s answers should be appropriate for the country/ies where the language is spoken. If there are different ways of doing laundry there, you can do multiple role plays.
• Switch roles so that you are a member of the host family and your conversation partner is the guest, and repeat the role play situation. Do this in the language you are learning and see how your vocabulary is improving.