Home Entertainment — Then and Now
By the end of this worksheet you will be able to:
– talk about how people watched TV and listened to music in the past;
– use used to for old habits;
– use 12 new words about screens, music and free time.
Home entertainment: then and now
Before you start
What is this text about?
Which of these does the text talk about? Choose THREE.
Read and listen
Fifty years ago a family had one television, and it stood in the living room. It was big and heavy, almost a piece of furniture. There were only three or four channels, so everybody watched the same programme at the same time. If you missed your favourite programme, you waited a long time to see it again.
Music came from the radio or from records. People sat in one room and listened together. Later there were cassettes, and teenagers recorded songs from the radio. The recording always started too late and finished too early, but nobody minded.
Today the picture is different. We carry a small screen in a pocket. We have thousands of films, and we stop them and start them when we want. We listen to music on headphones, alone, on a bus.
Something is better and something is worse. We have more choice than ever, but we watch fewer things together. The old evening in front of one screen was slow, but the whole family shared it.
True or false?
Fifty years ago one family usually had one television.
There were more than twenty channels.
People listened to music together in one room.
Teenagers recorded songs from cassettes onto the radio.
Today we can stop a film and start it again later.
The writer thinks everything today is better than before.
Get the facts right
Why did everybody watch the same programme?
What was the problem with recording songs from the radio?
What does the writer say about today?
What does it mean?
heavy
a channel
to miss a programme
choice
Match the words
Choose the right word
The television was very, so nobody moved it.
There were only fouron the old TV.
I put on myand listened to music on the bus.
Now we have a bigof films, and we watch them when we want.
Listen and write
Type what you hear
Choose the right form
Familiesone programme together.
My fathersongs from the radio.
Peoplea screen in their pocket.
to records together?
Spot the words
Tap the four past forms of the verbs.