Keep your English
up to date 2

Teacher’s pack

Lesson plan and student worksheets
with answers

Thirty-something

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Thirty-something

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

CONTENTS

1.

Level, topic, language, aims, materials

2.

Lesson stages

3.

Answers

4.

Audio script

5. Student worksheets 1, 2, 3

Level: Intermediate and above

Topic: Media quality

Aims: Listening skills – A short talk

Language – ‘Thirty-something’ and other phrases related to age

Materials: Worksheet 1 – Introductory speaking and vocabulary exercises,

Listening section 1

Worksheet 2 – Listening section 2

Worksheet 3 – Extra work: Vocabulary, language and discussion

Audio script – Available in teacher’s notes

Recording of the talk – Available online at

bbclearningenglish.com

This plan was downloaded from:

bbclearningenglish.com/radio/specials/1130_uptodate2/page2.shtml

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Thirty-something

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

LESSON STAGES

A
Explain to the students that they are going to listen to a talk by Professor David Crystal, an
expert on the English language, and that the talk is about the way English is changing. This
particular talk is about the phrase ‘dumb down’.

B
Hand out Student Worksheet 1. Students do Speaking, Exercise 1 in small groups or
pairs.

C
Students do Vocabulary, Exercise 2 - without dictionaries at first.
Practise the pronunciation of the vocabulary, as they will hear it in the talk.

D
Students read Listening: Section 1, Exercise 3 and then listen to Section 1 of the talk.
They answer the questions ‘a’ and ‘b‘.

Students listen again and do Listening: Section 1, Exercise 4.

E
Hand out Student Worksheet 2
Students read Listening: Section 2, Exercise 5 and then listen to Section 2 of the talk.
They answer question ‘a‘ and ‘b’.

F
Students try to answer Listening: Section 2, Exercise 6. They listen again to Section 2 to
check/complete their answers.

G
If you wish to do some extra work with the class, hand out Student Worksheet 3

For the vocabulary exercise, give the students copies of the audio script and play the
complete talk as they read.

The language work focuses on other phrases connected to different ages

The final discussion activity is connected to the general topic of the lesson – life at
different ages.

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Thirty-something

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

AUDIO SCRIPTS

Listening Section 1

This phrase, ‘thirty-something’, it came in in the 1980s referring to people of an

unspecified age between 30 and 40. These were members of the baby boom, the people

who were born 20, 30 years before and entering their 30s now and not knowing how to

cope – or at least, that was the idea.

It was the name of a television series. It also became the name of a film. People who had

lost their freedom, was the idea. Children, they’d got now, demanding jobs, approach of

middle-age, gloom! There’s a website which says it’s ‘personal growth for thirty-

somethings’.

Listening Section 2

It’s used both as an adjective – ‘she’s a thirty-something career woman’. And it’s also used

as a noun, as I just did – ‘the thirty-somethings’. And then, the ending got applied to

others. We started to hear ‘twenty-somethings’. And now we’ve got ‘forty-somethings’ –

that was a television show in 2003, ‘Forty-Something’.

Well, it can be any age. The implication is always that there’s a set of values or problems

associated with that age.

Me? I’m sixty-something!

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Thirty-something

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

ANSWER KEY

VOCABULARY

Exercise 2
a. unspecified not described exactly or in detail
b. baby boom a period of time when many babies are born
c. gloom

unhappiness, sadness and misery

d. personal growth an individual’s psychological and life improvement
e. implication

a meaning which is not given directly

f. values personal moral standards

LISTENING: SECTION 1

Exercise 3

a. ii. how old someone is, perhaps 35

b. ii. people who had problems when they were young adults

Exercise 4

a. True – The word appeared in the 1980s to describe people aged between 30 and 50

b. False – ‘It was the name of a TV series. It also became the name of a film’’

c. True – ‘demanding jobs’

LISTENING: SECTION 2

Exercise 5

a. As a noun and as an adjective

b. It is used to talk about other age groups e.g. twenty-somethings

Exercise 6

a. False – ‘she’s a thirty-something career woman.’

b. False – ‘that was a television show in 2003 – forty something

c. True – ‘Me? I’m sixty-something.’

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Thirty-something

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

EXTRA WORK

VOCABULARY

Exercise 7

a. came in

b. demanding

c. cope

LANGUAGE

Exercise 8a

someone in their teens = 13-19 years old

a toddler = 2-5 years old

a retired person = probably over 60 years old

a middle-aged person = probably 40 – 55 years old

someone in their 80s = 80 – 89 years old

a yuppy = a young urban professional, probably 20 – 35 years old

a tweenie = 11 or 12 years old

Exercise 8a

a. Simon and Rachel have a couple of toddlers, aged 3 and 5.

b. Now my mother is retired she doesn’t know how to fill her time.

c. Lots of yuppies live around here, the flats are modern and expensive. They’re not

suitable for families.

d. Many middle-aged men go through a mid-life crisis – you know, they buy a sports car,

perhaps they get divorced.

e. My grandmother is in her eighties but she can still live on her own.

f.

Children who are in their teens often argue with their parents.

g. What can I get my niece for her birthday? She’s a tweenie. Is she still too young for

make-up?

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

WORKSHEET 1

SPEAKING

1.

Discuss these questions with a partner

a. Do you know anyone who is aged between 30 and 39?

b. What is life like for people of that age? Are they usually married? Do they have

children?

c. How important is work and career for those people?

d. Would you like to be that age?

VOCABULARY

2.

Match these words and phrases to their definitions

a. unspecified

a period of time when many babies are born

b. baby boom

personal moral standards

c. gloom

a meaning which is not given directly

d. personal growth

not described exactly or in detail

e. implication

unhappiness, sadness and misery

f. values

an individual’s psychological and life improvement

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

LISTENING SECTION 1



3.

Now, listen to Professor Crystal talking about the use of the phrase thirty

something' in English and answer these questions.

a. What does ‘thirty-something’ refer to?

i. the size of someone’s salary, about £30,000 per year

ii. how old someone is, perhaps 35

iii. how much a young child weighs, about 30-40 kilograms

b. How was the phrase used in a cultural/entertainment context?

i. young children who caused problems for their families

ii. people who had problems when they were young adults

iii. rich, ambitious, young adults

4.

Listen to Section 1 again and decide if the following statements are true or

false, according to Professor Crystal.

a. The first thirty-somethings were born in the 1940s and 1950s.

b. ‘Thirty-something’ was only the title of a TV programme.

c. Thirty-somethings’ problems included having to work hard.

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

WORKSHEET 2

LISTENING SECTION 2

5.

Listen to Section 2 of the talk and answer this question.

a. How is thirty-something used grammatically?

b. How else is the word ‘something’ now used?

6.

Listen again to Section 2. Are the following sentences true or false?

a. Professor Crystal gives an example using a housewife.

b. The other phrases with something haven’t been used in an entertainment context.

c. Professor Crystal might be 65 years old.

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

WORKSHEET 3 - EXTRA WORK

VOCABULARY

7.

Find the phrases in the text that have the following meanings.

a. appeared; started to be used

b. challenging and difficult

c. manage to deal with problems and difficult situations

LANGUAGE

8a. What ages do you associate with the following words and phrases.

someone in their teens a toddler a retired person a middle-aged person

someone in their 80s a yuppy a tweenie

8b

Complete these sentences with words/phrases from 8a. Sometimes you have to

change the form of the words/phrases.

a. Simon and Rachel have a couple of _____, aged 3 and 5.

b. Now my mother is ____ she doesn’t know how to fill her time.

c. Lots of _____ live around here, the flats are modern and expensive. They’re not

suitable for families.

d. Many ____ men go through a mid-life crisis – you know, they buy a sports car,

perhaps they get divorced.

e. My grandmother is in her ____ but she can still live on her own.

f.

Children who are in their ____ often argue with their parents.

g. What can I get my niece for her birthday? She’s a ____. Is she still too young for

make-up?

BBC Learning English – Keep your English up to date

© BBC Learning English

bbclearningenglish.com

DISCUSSION

9. Discuss these questions with your partner.

a. What is life like for people at these stages in life? Think about skills and abilities,

family, work, study, responsibilities, problems and advantages.

1. Babies

2. Toddlers

3. Tweenies

4. Teenagers

5. Twenty somethings

6. Thirty somethings

7. Middle-aged people

8. Retired people

9. Elderly people

b. Put those stages of life in order of personal preference. Which age do you think is the

best to be, which is the worst? Explain your decisions.