Top    a_opencities

title What does migration bring?
date 2019/11
details Audio script for a speaking and listening activity for students based on the theme of migration, using themes from the OPENCities project (http://www.opencities.eu).
link Available from https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/teachers/lessons-and-activities/activities/what-does-migration-bring
terms of use © British Council 2019. For educational use only. For questions about use, email: esolnexus@britishcouncil.org

1What does migration bring?
2Well personally I think it's a great thing.
3It has brought about a lot of changes in my country, but many of them, for me at least are real benefits.
4I know it's a bit of a stereotype that English food isn't very good, but nowadays the UK is one of the best places to eat out and you get a huge diversity and range of food to choose from.
5Even in quite small cities these days you can still usually find a good Chinese restaurant, and Indian, Italian and probably a Thai or even Japanese restaurant.
6I think that's great.
7I also like that the school that my kids go to has kids from a huge range of different cultures and religious backgrounds.
8I think it's great that all these kids go through school together learning about and accepting each other's culture and differences.
9The world is a very diverse place and with the increase of globalisation I want my kids to be able to understand and accept other cultures and work alongside people from other countries.
10I think it's really important for their future and to keep them open minded.
11One of the other things I like is the way the British high street in many towns has been transformed.
12Nowadays you can go shopping and find stuff from all over the world.
13I live in Manchester and I can go and buy a Bollywood movie or a sari from a shop just round the corner.
14I think that's terrific when I walk out in the street and see people wearing colourful clothes from all round the world.
15We British can be pretty conservative, so it's nice to have a change from the grey.
16Now I don't need to travel.
17It's like the world is coming to me.
18The other important thing for the country's economy is that a lot of the people coming here are young.
19When I go to some parts of the UK where there isn't much immigration, I realise how our population is aging.
20We have good health care and pensions which means we have a lot more healthy older people who are retired, and that's great, but we also need more young people who are working and paying into the system still to help support it and keep our economy going.
21I can't understand it when I hear people complaining about immigrants coming here and taking away “our” jobs.
22A lot of the immigrants are young people who come to the UK with valuable skills and really make a contribution to our society and our economy and I for one think that is great.