Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. a street sweeper
    • ex. The local street sweeper quit last month, and now there’s garbage everywhere.
  2. heartfelt
    • ex. Jenna wrote a heartfelt message to everyone who donated money.
  3. (one’s) true calling
    • ex. Paul realized that his true calling was cooking, so he quit his office job and opened a restaurant.
  4. litter
    • ex. Why is there so much litter? There are plastic bags and soda cans all over the street!
  5. (one’s) civic duty
    • ex. Some people feel that voting in elections is a civic duty, but not everyone agrees.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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Ludovic Franceschet [FRAHN-seh-shey], a 45-year-old French street sweeper, is using the social media platform TikTok to encourage people to keep their cities clean. In his videos, he shares heartfelt requests for people to put their trash in garbage cans. Franceschet’s TikTok account now has more than 80,000 followers and over 910,000 video “likes.”

Franceschet used to work as a caregiver, but he realized that garbage collecting is his true calling in life. He said that his dream is to have a clean planet, and he was concerned about litter from an early age. Franceschet explained that he used to pick up cigarette butts and other trash when he was only seven years old.

The street sweeper said that because of the Covid-19 situation, more people are getting takeout from restaurants, and the amount of trash on Paris streets has also increased. Franceschet wants people to understand that keeping the city clean is their civic duty, and he decided to use TikTok because it’s a good way to share his message with the younger generation.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Cleaning Your Surroundings

  • Do you agree that keeping your city clean is everyone's civic duty? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Do you think litter on the streets has increased since the Covid-19 situation started? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Do you agree that TikTok is a good way to share Franceschet's message with the younger generation? Why or why not? Discuss.

Your True Calling

  • Do you think that everyone has a true calling? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Do you think that Franceschet was right to quit his job and follow his true calling as a street sweeper? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • What advice can you give someone who's trying to find his/her true calling (ex. think about what you love, don't worry about money)? Why? Discuss.