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Week 2: English nightmares around the globe: Toronto

Last updated over 6 years ago
28 questions

Learning Goals lesson Week 15:

1 I know, understand and can apply vocabulary related to crime, living, the news, AirBNB and language.
2 I know, understand and can apply reading strategies.
3 I can improvise during a role play about an uncomfortable situation.
4 I can write rules for others to follow.
1

Look at this title: 'I felt like a criminal': Airbnb hosts ask guests to lie, sneak around in covert rentals.

Who said the text from the title? Don't read the article yet.

0

Based on the title and the image below, what is this article about?
Explain in one full sentence.

1

You've just applied a reading strategy. It prepares your brain for the subject you're about to read about. Which of these are also strategies to activate your brain?

1

Look at this subheading: Rogue listings still exist in buildings where short-term rentals aren't allowed

Without looking up the word. What type of word is rogue?

1

Is the word rogue a negative or a positive word to use when describing a banker (someone who works at a bank)?

0

Explain what the word rogue means:

We showed you an image with text at question 2. Answer the following questions about some of the words in that text.
1

What are residents?

1

What is 'to deny access'

1

What is 'to disturb'

1

When doing a reading test you should never read the entire text first. Instead, you take action based on the question type.

In this case, a multiple choice question with four options for locations. This means you will scan de text for locations and, as soon as you find one, decide whether it's the one you're looking for.

The question is:
Which place should you not go to if you're with your bags?

Read the first four sentences from the excerpt below to answer the question >

Use the following excerpt from:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-airbnb-covert-listings-banned-units-1.5066673
for the following questions

Paragraph 1:

1 Use the back door. Avoid the lobby if you're carrying luggage. Don't talk to neighbours. Say you're visiting a cousin.
2 And most importantly, don't mention Airbnb. 

3 As cities and buildings around the world crack down on Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms, some hosts
4 are asking guests to lie about who they are and why they're there.

5 For vacationers or those looking for a weekend getaway, Airbnb offers convenient and affordable accommodations, 6 giving guests a base in local neighbourhoods rather than a traditional hotel.

7 For local governments and residents, however, Airbnb and others are increasingly being blamed for squeezing
8 affordable housing and circumventing the taxes imposed on hotels and other corporate operations.

9 A number of Canadian cities, including Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal, have all moved to tighten the
10 rules around Airbnb and other short-term rentals, through methods like taxation, certification and limits on how
11 frequently a space can be rented out.

12 But it's also happening at a micro level, with individual condo boards issuing guidelines or outright bans for owners
13 and tenants in their buildings.

14 Guests are sometimes caught in the middle.
1

Take another look at question 10. In the question we used the word 'not go to', 'bags' and 'with' instead of the words from the actual text. Which words?

1

For who does AirBNB offer accomodation according to the text?

1

"For local governments and residents, however, Airbnb and others are increasingly being blamed for squeezing affordable housing and circumventing the taxes imposed on hotels and other corporate operations."

Who are meant with 'and others'

1

"For local governments and residents, however, Airbnb and others are increasingly being blamed for squeezing affordable housing and circumventing the taxes imposed on hotels and other corporate operations."

Explain, in English, what is meant with: 'squeezing affordable housing'

1

"For local governments and residents, however, Airbnb and others are increasingly being blamed for squeezing affordable housing and circumventing the taxes imposed on hotels and other corporate operations."

Besides 'squeezing affordable housing', there is another problem according to this excerpt. Which one?

1

Which measures are mentioned to counteract the AirBNB situation?

1

The last sentence of the excerpt is: "Guests are sometimes caught in the middle."

What does the sentence suggest?

Use the following excerpt from:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-airbnb-covert-listings-banned-units-1.5066673
to answer the following questions

Paragraph 2:

'Kind of sketchy'

That's what happened to Patricia Payne, of Labrador, whose trip to Toronto took an unexpected turn when she ended up booking one of these "rogue" units.

"I felt like a criminal, I was afraid to make eye contact with anyone," she said.

Payne was in the city with her boyfriend to visit family, who recommended she try Airbnb for a potentially cheaper option in a more convenient location. She found a condo close to her aunt's home.

"All of the amenities were kind of an exciting extra, because we didn't expect to find a full house to stay in, with a pool and a hot tub and everything."
📷 Patricia Payne booked an Airbnb for a visit to Toronto on her aunt's recommendation. Three days after booking, her host sent her a list of rules that weren't outlined in the online listing. (Dave Macintosh/CBC)
But three days after booking, her host sent her a list of rules that weren't outlined in the listing posted on the online home-sharing platform.

"He told me that if anyone asked, I was just here to visit him and his family, like we were friends … and not to speak to security or the concierge or really anybody who worked there," she said.

"I thought it was kind of sketchy and I thought it was weird," she said. "So I kind of contacted my aunt and asked her if it was a thing that people did, because I don't know. I don't live in a big place, we don't have Airbnb at home."

By the time Payne received these new rules, it was too late to cancel without losing money.

"I kind of panicked," she said. "I was not sure what to do."
1

Which word or collection of words is used to describe AirBNB in the paragraph above?

1

What hapened to Patricia?

1

What did Patricia end up doing?

1

Copy-paste the sentence in which you found the answer to question 20:

1

Describe in 50 words what happened in the video below. Use at least 5 words from this vocab list and bold them in your answer.

Let op! Deze staat ook, overzichtelijker en met meer informatie, in de studiewijzer! (week 15)

Topic 1.1: AirBNB
1 Rogue - adj - foute / bedriegelijke
2 residents - n - bewoners
3 to deny access - v - de toegang weigeren
4 to disturb - v - storen
5 luggage - n - bagage
6 to avoid - v - voorkomen
7 carrying - v - dragen
8 accomodation - n - accodommodatie
9 abroad - n - in het buitenland
10 business - adj - zakelijk(e) :(business trip)
11afforable - adj - betaalbaar
12 corporation - n - bedrijf
13 imposed - adj - opgelegd(e)
14 stay - n - verblijf (tijdens een vakantie)
15 tenant - n - huurder
16 play along - v - net doen alsof voor iemand anders
17 counteract - v - tegengaan
18 potentially - adv - mogelijk
19 recommendation - n - aanbeveling
20 to recommend - v - aanbevelen
21 amenities - n - voorzieningen (zoals een wasmachine, sauna en bubbelbad, etc.)
22 unexpected - adj - onverwacht(e)
23 to outline - schetsen
24 sketchy - adj - vaag, onbetrouwbaar door onduidelijkheid
25 to receive - v - ontvangen
26 to cancel - v - annuleren
27 to misrepresent - v - doen alsof je iemand anders bent
28 non compliance - n - het niet opvolgen van iets
29 nuisance - overlast
30 adjacent (to) - p - aangrenzend

Payne ultimately decided to stay at the listing, but said she felt too uncomfortable to use the building's advertised amenities, like the pool and hot tub.

"I was afraid of being kicked out mid-vacation and being stuck with nowhere to stay," she said.
  • N.Y. enacts restrictions on Airbnb, with fines of up to $7,500 US
  • Deal to limit Airbnb rentals in European cities could lead way for Toronto, Vancouver
Payne isn't the only one who has experienced this. With data supplied by AirDNA, Marketplace analyzed reviews posted on Airbnb in 2018 from major cities across Canada.

Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Winnipeg all had reviews that mention guests having to sneak around or misrepresent themselves. (Reviews from Halifax and Whistler, B.C., on the other hand, had no mention of covert Airbnbs.)
1

Which things, that Patricia and her boyfriend had hoped to benefit from, didn't they eventually do?

Use the following excerpt from:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-airbnb-covert-listings-banned-units-1.5066673
to answer the following questions

Paragraph 3:

One listing in Ottawa had many reviews mentioning having to hide the fact that guests were staying in an Airbnb.

"The check in instructions made it seem suspicious that air bnb [sic] was welcome in the building," read one review. "A letter left under the door by the building management on the second day reconfirmed this."

A Marketplace producer booked a stay with the same host. They were given a long set of strict rules, instructing that the keys were to be "discreetly" collected from a lockbox. The rules also suggested guests use the parking-garage entrance if travelling with luggage.

And upon entering the apartment, more rules were waiting in a printed, framed document on the counter.

"DO NOT talk to the building concierge," read the document. "They will deny you access if you talk to them.… Non-compliance of the house rules … will result in a minimum $200 charge."
1

Mention everything from the above excerpt that makes a visitor notice something is wrong:

Final excerpt

In Question 25 you can read the nine missing paragraphs. Sort them into the right order.


'You can't be friends … with ghosts'


>Paragraph 1-9<

With data analysis from Valérie Ouellet and William Wolfe-Wylie
1

Tip! Grab a piece of paper to do this assignment. It is impossible to do otherwise.
Make sure not to cheat during this one because it is very helpful practise for on the actual test!

  • Toronto is no stranger to crimes happening at Airbnbs. In 2018, police confirmed that they were seeing a trend of human traffickers using Airbnbs in the Greater Toronto Area.
  • According to Devita, the consequences can be even more serious. "The nightmare isn't a nice couple from Chicago staying here for a weekend," he said "The nightmare is a group of criminals coming in ... using this as a base of operations for either human trafficking, prostitution — all kinds of stuff. This happens."
  • Chris Devita is the president of the condo board at 600 Fleet Street, a downtown Toronto highrise that banned short-term rentals about eight years ago. He says he understands why some condo buildings are banning Airbnb, saying too many in one building can mean a lack of community. "You can't be friends with people who're just ghosts … They come and go," he said.
  • And there were calls to re-examine the rules around short-term rentals again earlier this year, when a video of a woman tossing a chair off a highrise balcony went viral. It is believed that Marcella Zoia, a 19-year-old now facing charges of mischief endangering life and common nuisance, was staying at an Airbnb.
  • Airbnb says that it is up to hosts to follow local laws and regulations. Still, Devita said his board hasn't ruled out allowing short-term rentals in the future. "I understand some of the buildings have actually embraced it. That's great, let them be the guinea pigs, see how this rolls out," he said. "Maybe down the road in the future, we'll reconsider this stance — but only after every other building has made the mistakes for us."
  • "Responsible home sharing strengthens neighbourhoods and generates meaningful economic impact for cities, provinces and our hosts.... We are committed to continuing our work with cities across Canada to ensure a healthy, responsible home-sharing community that balances the concerns of housing affordability with the rights of everyday people to share their homes."
  • After no response from Airbnb, he says the building took matters into its own hands.
    "In the past, we have locked [Airbnb guests] out of the unit, cancelled key fobs and escorted them off the property because they're strangers, they don't live here," Devita said. "You will be out on the street in the middle of the night if you're caught."
  • Devita said his condo building tried to work with Airbnb, suggesting an opt-out option where addresses that have rules against short-term rentals can be excluded from the platform.
  • Airbnb declined Marketplace's request for an interview and instead provided the following statement when asked about covert listings.
  • 1
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  • 9
1

Go to the article online and scroll all the way down to the comments. Read at least five of them and choose one you agree with.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-airbnb-covert-listings-banned-units-1.5066673

1

Explain, in English, in 30-50 words, why you agree with the comment you posted at question 26.

1

At the bottom of the page you see a word list (Topic 1.1: AirBNB) with 30 words.
The words will be on a vocab test. You are going to write a script with these words.
You are going to use the script to do role plays (spoken) in the instruction room.

Write a script about an unpleasant situation related to the different problems discussed in the article you've read. Use the words from the vocab list.

Requirements:
-grammatically correct
-equal speaking time for each role
-at least 10 sentences per role
-use at least 15 words from the vocab list in the script

Examples of the three roles:
1. Boyfriend
2. Girlfriend
3. Host

1. Girlfriend 1
2. Girlfriend 2
3. Building manager

1. AirBNBer 1
2. AirBNBer 2
3. Owner of an apartment adjacent to a listed AirBNB place
etc.

Examples of unpleasant situations:
-Getting thrown out
-Having to lie
-Using ameneties and feeling observed
-Your neighbours are AirBNBers and they're a nuissance. You want to confront them.
-etc.

Word List Week 15: (vocab test words)

Let op! Deze staat ook, overzichtelijker, in de studiewijzer!

HAVO/VWO

Topic 1.1: AirBNB

1 Rogue -adj- foute / bedriegelijke

2 residents -n- bewoners

3 to deny access -pv- (What does 'access denied' mean?) de toegang weigeren

4 to disturb -v- (disturbance = n) storen

5 luggage -n- bagage

6 to avoid -v- voorkomen

7 carrying -v- dragen

8 accomodation -n (to accomodate = v) accodommodatie

9 abroad -n- in het buitenland

10 business -adj- zakelijk(e) :(business trip)

11 afforable -adj- (to be able to afford = pv) betaalbaar

12 corporation -n- bedrijf

13 imposed -adj (to impose = v) opgelegd(e)

14 stay -n- verblijf (tijdens een vakantie)

15 tenant -n- huurder

16 play along -pv- net doen alsof voor iemand anders

17 counteract -v- (counteraction = n) tegengaan

18 potentially -adv- (potential = n) mogelijk

19 recommendation -n aanbeveling

20 to recommend -v- aanbevelen

21 amenities -n- voorzieningen (zoals een wasmachine, sauna en bubbelbad, etc.)

22 unexpected -adj- (the expected = opposite) onverwacht(e)

23 to outline -v- schetsen

24 sketchy -adj- vaag, onbetrouwbaar door onduidelijkheid

25 to receive -v- ontvangen

26 to cancel -v- (cancellation = n) annuleren

27 to misrepresent -v- (What does 'to represent' mean?) doen alsof je iemand anders bent

28 non compliance -n- (Compliance = opposite) What does 'a non issue' mean if 'an issue' means 'een probleem'? het niet opvolgen van iets

29 nuisance -n- overlast

30 adjacent (to) -p- aangrenzend


Topic 1.2

Theme: Language
1 Noun - n - zelfstandig naamwoord
2 Adjective - n - bijvoeglijk naamwoord
3 Adverb - n - bijwoord
4 Preposition - n voorzetsel
5 sentence - n - zin

adj = adjective
n = noun
v = verb
adv = adverb
p = preposition
a = article