Once students have moved past the absolute beginner stage, it’s fun to move beyond the basic “Where do you live?” question and get really specific. Where in the world do you live? Where are you now?
You could add to this vocabulary list below, depending on the level of your students, if you are working with kids, for example, and want to give coordinates for space ships, such as Milky Way Galaxy and Earth. Teenagers may want to add GPS coordinates. But here are the basic words:
World
Continent
Country
State or Province
City
Neighbourhood
Street
Number
Room
Chair
So, if I were in the classroom now with my students, I could say, for example, that I am in the World, in the continent of North America, in the country of Canada, in the province of British Columbia, in the city of Vancouver, in the neighbourhood of Fairview, at 555 West 12th Ave. in Callan’s ESL School in room number 8, on the left side of the room in my chair.
Students can take turns giving their location as above and also saying where they live.
Below is a free handout I made to practice answering the question “Where are you now?” and “Where do you live” in writing. Following it is a speaking exercise from Callan’s Conversation Surveys that I follow it up with, for speaking practice. You are welcome to download both worksheets and copy for your classroom use.
This handout below from Callan’s Conversation Surveys is great for teaching students how to give the location of their home more specifically than just a street address.
