Activity 1

Identify one change that has occurred in the last few years in each of the following areas.

• Your home

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

• Your workplace

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

• Your nearest town

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

• The country as a whole

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________________________________________

There are, of course, numerous things that you could have written down, depending on your particular situation. But to get an idea of the variety of changes that have occurred, let's consider Janice's situation.

A mother of two teenage children, Janice works as the supervisor of the meat and fish counter in her local supermarket. At home she and her husband have recently bought a high-powered computer in response to the demands of her children, who like to spend many hours each week on the Internet. They have also recently bought a DVD player and a digital TV. Now she and her husband are considering borrowing 8000 to buy a new car because interest rates are so much lower than they were a few years ago. Janice has no financial worries, but she is concerned about her children, one of whom struggles to cope with the growing number of public exams.

At work, Janice is spending more and more time overseeing the packaging of orders...