A Swiss House

 
 

Vocabulary

canton	mineral	living room
knee	various	schnapps
pear	typical	generally
region	devout	cozy/cozier/coziest
wood	discuss	light (2)
decide	interior	comfortable

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Saas Fee, Switzerland

Chantal Anthamatten: “Hello. Welcome to our home in Saas Fee. Come on in. This is our living room. Here are two of our children, Clara and Noel. Their papa and the two older boys are out playing sports.”

Beat Anthamatten: “Hello. Welcome.”

Chantal: “The kids generally aren’t here during the week, but on the weekend, after I get home from work, we often sit together and watch a little TV, or discuss various things.

The kids all have laptops on their knees and of course, they’re busy with their emails and Facebook.”

Beat: “This is a William’s Pear schnapps from our canton. It’s made from a special type of pear and we usually serve it when we have special guests.”

Mineral from Sass Fee

Chantal: “Well, in cooking I can see what everyone in the family is doing. And that’s a lot cozier than if I were off in another room. I don’t cook all that much though because we’ve got a hotel.

A really nice cheese fondue is something our kids love. It doesn’t take long to make. You don’t have to prepare much and everyone likes it.”

Valais fondue with wine and pear schnapps

Beat: “We live in a Catholic region. We’re devout Christians, and we go to church every Sunday. You can’t really call this typically Swiss. We work together in a hotel that’s got lots of wood in the interior.

So we decided that if we ever got our own apartment, we’d like to have as much light and white as possible. And lots of windows, so when we came home in the evening, we could feel comfortable in different surroundings.”

Chantal: “Thanks for coming by, and ciao everyone.”

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Questions

1. The Anthamattens are a big family. True or false?

2. “The kids generally aren’t here during the week.” Why aren’t the kids at generally at home during the week?

3. What sort of activities do the kids do?

4. Their schnapps are made of grapes. Is the right or wrong?

5. Do the Anthamattens work in a company or do they own a business?

6. Does Chantal spend a lot of time cooking? Does she prepare elaborate meals?

7. Are the Anthamattens religious?

8. How does Beat describe his house?

 
 

A. How many children do couples have on average?

B. During the week, do children spend some, most or about half their waking time at home?

C. There are many hotels in my town or city. Yes or no?

D. What are some famous drinks from your region or country?

E. I have visited Switzerland. True or false? Have you met anyone from Switzerland? What do you associate with Switzerland?