A street musician‘s day ‘Susana Martinez is from Argentina, but she’s travelling around Europe at the moment, Back home, she is a classical musician who plays the violin in an orchestra, and she's using this skill to make money while she's travelling. Susana is a 'busker’; a street musician who spends her days performing for passers-by in the crowded streets of Europe's big cities, Check cut this interview with Susana, and find out about her life right now. Where are you right now? At the moment, I'm staying with friends in a suburb of Paris. Every morning, | get up really early before all my friends wake Up and | travel to the streets of Montmartre which is near the centre of the city. Then | find a good place to play, put a bi g hat on the floor in front of me, and get out my violin. Sometimes I sing, too. What sort of music do you usually play? ‘Well, | really like classical music, but what | play changes - | play what | think passors-by will enjoy. | want people to notice me, so I play songs that people know, or songs that make them smile, For example, if it's raining, | play a song about the rain. In the morning, during the rush hour, | usually play lively music that wakes people up. In the evening, when people are tired and stressed, | play something relaxing. Here, in Paris, there are lots of tourists, so | often play French songs - they're Visiting Paris, so they want to hear something French, right? Do you make a lot of money when you play your music in the streets? ‘Well, some days, when the weather's bad and there aren't many people around, | can come home with nothing. But on other days, especially when | find a good place to play, | can make over fify euros an hour. People think that the best places for street musicians are where there are the most tourists, but | don’t think that's true. Busy places are good because there are a lot of children. Kids are always looking for something unusual and fun, so when they see me, they stop. That makes their parents stop, and then they put some money in my hat. ‘Some people think that being a street musician isn't really a job. Are you worried about that? ''m tired of hearing people say that. 'm never embarrassed of what | do. Being a street musician is no different to being an artist or a writer or any other creative job — you perform and you only make money if people like what you do. And | make people smile every day. When somebody stops to say they like my music, I feel happy and selfsalisied 1 Read the text. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)? 1 Susana isn't living in Argentina at the moment. _ She works as a street musician in Argentina. She travels to the city centre with her friends every day. __ She plays the same music all day. _ 2 3 4 5 She plays French songs for the local people. 6 Sometimes she doesn't earn any money at all, 7 She prefers playing in the parts of a city where there are lots of tourists. __ 8 Children aren't usually very interested in her music. She agrees that being a street musician isn't really a job 10. People sometimes thank her for her music when she's playing in the street. __ 2 Look for words in the text that match the following definitions: a) (adj) Full of energy and enthusiasm; interesting and exciting: b)_ (noun) An ability to do an activity or job well, especially because you have practised it: ©) (verb) to observe or pay attention to something/someone: 4) (noun) A time during each day when there is too much traffic:VOCABULARY SECTION ‘Task 4: Comp! adjectives studied in class. 4. Selina doesn't lke talking in front of big groups of people. She is s. 2. think Abdul is very ©... sss He always gets good grades in his tests. 3. Polly was very r. today at lunchtime. She said she didn't want to sit with me. 4. Philippe plays tennis, football and basketball. He’s s 5. Anais. She tells everybody what to do! 6. My brother is | He never works hard 7. Paul's dad is very f. He makes me laugh. 8. Our neighbours are nice, but sometimes n. ‘They play loud music in the evenings. ‘Task 2: Complete the sentences with the missing preposition. 4. Pmbored os. ssscnsadhis TV show. 2. My brother is really bad ccooking 3. I'mexcited going on holiday tomorrow. 4. lam frightened the dark 5. My dad is really interested cold cars. 6. I'mfed this weather. 7. Toms Brat scccsssesessseereeeesees tennis. 8. I love hanging my close friends. 9. Kate is certainly nat keen sports. ‘Task 3: UNDERLINE the correct words to complete the text, | started a new school last week. In my old school, | had lots of friends from the same (1) behaviour /background. | was a confident student and good (2) at / with lots of things, but I felt really (3) stressed / pleased before | arrived at school. | wasn't keen (4) about / on being with people | didn't know. | didn't steep well and | didn't know if the other students were (8) active / ndly. When | arrived, | (6) fed up / hung out with three other students. They were really nice. We like (7) similar / same things like computer games and sports. | think | will ike this school and now | feel much more (8) active / relaxed! Now, I'm not afraid (9) with / of meeting new people. In fact, | now have new friends and | can (10) stay / keep my old friends too! Task 4: Cit a) We can go tomorrow, A) surf 8) surfing ©) surfs b) She enjoys the dogs. A) walk B) walks C) walking 6) Hove music, Ato listen to Bisten C listening to 4) Some children are terrible sports Ain Bat Con $k 5: Complete with new vocabulary items learned in cl a) The verb is TO PERFORM, the person is the PERFORMER and the noun is, b) A bloggers the person and his/her activity is known as ©) John is really good at f. rules at any competition. d) To walk long distances, especially along the country is to 2) Anarea of land between hills and mountains is a f) The area behind the main thing one is looking at is called ......GRAMMAR SECTION ‘Task 4: Complete the sentences with the present simple or present continuous form of the verbs in the brackets. 1 | normally live in New York, but | (stay) with my aunt in Miami at the moment, 2 Raul (play) {quitar, plano and saxophone, He (learn) the drums too! 3 Dani and Sam (study) for an exam that they have tomorrow. They always (study) a lot 4 My brother (learn) French at school now. We (go) to France every year. 51 (save) to buy a Bruno Mars concert ticket because | (like) him a tot ‘Task 2: Rewrite the sentences with the words in brackets, 1 Tom goes to bed early. (usually) 2 Jamie and Rupesh are so lazy! (always) 3 Keirah finishes her homework on time. (rarely) 4 1am late for school. (never) ‘Task 3: Put the words in the correct order to make sentences. 1 cinema / once / We / to the /a month / go/ 2 school /|/ every / go / to / day / 3 now / our grandparents / visit / then / and / We / 4 basketball / play / three / week /1/a / times / ‘Task 4: Complete the text with a / an, the or 0 (=no article). There are over eight million people living in * London, but 37% of them were born outside of the UK. Abani Malhotra, 2 architect from India, is one of them. ‘We arrived in 2011 because | wanted a better life for my children. It was difficult in the beginning and we had to deal with some problems, but ® life is great now. * children made lots of friends and they really ike going to 5 school. I'm happy | made ® decision to come here.’ ‘Task 5: Complete the text with the correct words (ad). Old friends Every month, on a Sunday, three young fends * four of their neighbours over for lunch in their fat in London. So, is that unusual? Well, the friends are only nineteen, and their neighbours are over seventy- five. The three friends belong to a group called Contact the Elderly, and they want to ° good in their community by making fiends with old people who are often alone and afraid * being lonely. ‘Sure, we want 08 a difference to the lives of our elderly neighbours,’ says Josh, one of the three friends. ‘We are worried about them sometimes, but we also enjoy their company. I's fun to chat with them.’ Josh ® it’s dlficutt to have elderly frends. ‘'m proud 7 having elderly people as my friends,” he says. ‘They're fun and very helpful. Old people usually tell great stories. They also give good advice to help you get * hard times. When you're on holiday, they're great neighbours and are always happy to water your plants or look after your dog,’ ainvite binvites cis inviting d are inviting aa b- cthe dan ahave bdo emake dget aof bat con d from aget bdo emake dgo isn'tthinking b don't think ¢ aren't thinking d doesn't think aat bof cwith dfor aaway bout ewith dthrough