Lesson 13

Location, Location, Location

Learning Intention: Explore how location of your work and home can influence the quality of your life.

Success Criteria

#. I can identify how much time and money it will cost me to get from my home to my job.

Do Now

Following up from your experience looking at flats/houses on TradeMe, what are some things that you/your group found important when selecting a place to live?

Learning Tasks

Choose one of the two House Hunters episodes to watch and complete the corresponding worksheet (page #).
1. - Coromandel - A couple, who are long-distance lovers, search for a rental home on New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula. One partner wants rural seclusion, whereas the other wants town proximity. What will their happy compromise be?
  - New Plymouth - An engaged couple searches for their New Zealand dream home from a diverse range of properties, which include city apartments to suburban cottages. How will this couple find their perfect place?
Find a classmate or group that watched a different episode than the one you selected. Discuss the challenges each couple had and what compromises they made to find their dream home.
Complete the "Location, Location, Location" worksheet in your workbook (page #). If you have decided to flat with some classmates, you might need to make some compromises on the rental you selected, or pick a new job.
Once you have completed step 3, add the transportation costs to your budget.
If you finish early, watch the other episode of House Hunters, catch up on incomplete work, or work on the extension tasks.

Websites you'll need for the "Transport Costs" worksheet.

Google MapsFind local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

Jobs on SEEK - New Zealand's no. 1 Employment, Career and Recruitment siteSEEK is New Zealand’s number one employment marketplace. Find jobs and career related information or recruit the ideal candidate.

Kia Ora Auckland,Auckland Transport is responsible for Auckland's transport services excluding state highways. From roads and footpaths to cycling parking and public transport.

Lessons: 10-12 Renting

Lessons: 14-15 Groceries

Teacher Notes

Make sure to tell students that House Hunters is a good episode to watch because it gives you a clear idea of what real estate agents do.
If you didn't have a chance to watch the House Hunters episodes, here are the highlights - Coromandel Answers, New Plymouth Answers
Print out two copies of the "Location Location Location" Worksheet per student. Label one clearly as "Teacher Example" and the other as "Yours" before photocopying.
Task 2, again feel free to use my example or again to build those connections, use the place you live and your place of employment. It is important that when you're doing the example show them the idea of the process. Like using Google Maps to figure out the distance and time for their commute and AT website. Don't need exact addresses, you can do a rough estimate from a key location in the suburb.
When students complete this for themselves (Task 3), they will need to use Google Maps to help them get an idea of suburbs to live in. Granted, some of them might already know where they want to live based on being close to family or areas they know they like of Auckland. For their pretend job, they can use Google Maps or Seek. For example, if they want to be a vet or doctor they can look for clinics in Auckland. It doesn't necessarily need to have a job opening. For others, like those wanting an IT job, students should use Seek instead to get an idea of where these employers are. It's just really to give them an idea of the cost of a commute, both time and money. It's important to discuss with students that financial choices are just made based on money, but also the time cost. From this activity, they might find that they will want to change where they live or work or even their career.