Modern Cities
Lesson 7.1 opens Unit 7 with urbanisation vocabulary, the three conditionals and Speaking Part 1 on where you live.
- Use 10 collocations about cities and urbanisation
- Form first, second and third conditionals accurately
- Answer Speaking Part 1 questions about your hometown
Get Ready · Your city
- What's the best thing about where you live?
- What would you change if you could?
- Has your city changed in the last 10 years?
Vocabulary · Cities & urbanisation
Pathway focus · Academic urbanisation vocab
These appear in Academic Reading on cities and in Task 1 maps showing urban change.
Grammar · Conditionals
✓ If I had more money, I would buy a flat in the centre. ✗ If I would have more money, I would buy a flat.
Listening Skills — A Lecture on Modern Cities
You will hear part of a university lecture about the growth of megacities. Read the questions first and underline the key words so you know what information to listen for.
- Predict whether missing answers are numbers, dates, or names.
- Listen for signal words like 'firstly', 'however', and 'the main reason' to track structure.
- Watch for the lecturer correcting herself — the correction is often the answer.
- Do not leave any gap blank; guess from context if you miss something.
Listen first — the transcript stays hidden so this works like the real exam.
Listening audio
Tap play to generate and listen.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- A megacity is defined as an urban area with over ____ million people.
- In 1950, only two cities qualified as megacities: New York and ____.
- By 2020, the number of megacities in the world was ____.
- The most significant cause of city growth mentioned is ____ migration.
- Lagos's population in 1950 was around ____.
- Lagos's population could reach ____ million by 2030.
- Informal settlements can house up to ____ per cent of the population in some countries.
- ____ growth (building upwards) is a solution favoured by planners.
Answer key
Speaking · Part 1 — Where you live
- Do you live in a house or a flat?
- What do you like most about your area?
- Would you like to move somewhere else?
- 'Yes, maybe. My area is a bit noisy.'
- 'I'd genuinely consider moving if I could find somewhere quieter — my street backs onto a main road and it's pretty relentless during rush hour.'
Exam Strategy
- Time Strategy
Decide which conditional matches the time frame BEFORE you start the sentence.
Independent Practice
1 real future, 1 unreal present, 1 past regret — all about your city.
Answer the 3 Part 1 questions, 30 seconds each.
Key Takeaways
- Conditionals = high-leverage Band 7 grammar.
- Pair every urban vocab item with a real example from your city.
- Common errors clinicError pairs: choose the sentence an examiner would accept.
- Sentence & summary completionWord-limit discipline: NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.
- Trend language workoutDescribe movement precisely — verbs, adverbs and noun phrases.
Optional — this doesn't affect your lesson or course progress.