Lexis Careers › Architecture › Unit 01 › Lesson 01

Describe This Backyard

B1 Reading the Site
About this lesson ▾

Before we teach anything, we find out what you can already do. Describe a site you have never seen, out loud, from its labels alone.

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01
Warm-up · 5 min

The last site you walked

No preparation. Just talk.

Think about the last property you visited for work. Tell your teacher, in one minute:

  • What was already there when you arrived?
  • What was in bad condition?
  • What did the owner want to change?

Do not prepare. This is a photograph of your English today, not a test.

Sequencing · Warm-up

One quick one before you start talking. Put these five moments of a typical site walkthrough in the order they actually happen.

1
2
3
4
5
Teacher note This is a lead-in, not a test — real practice varies and she may reasonably defend a different order. The point is getting the sequencing mechanic warm and priming the vocabulary before she talks, not grading a "correct" workflow.
Teacher note Do not correct anything in this phase. Write down every error you hear instead — they become Lesson 6. Note especially: missing there is/are, preposition choice, and stress on compound nouns like RETaining wall.
02
Input & Noticing · 10 min

A plan you have never seen

These are the real labels from an existing-conditions sheet for a house on Colonial Lane, San Jose.

Existing site plan — Colonial Ln.

(e) concrete · (e) A/C · (e) fence · (e) stair case · (e) deck · (e) steps · (e) artificial turf · (e) gravel · (e) post · (e) paver · (e) SOD · (e) sidewalk · (e) sidewalk strip · (e) curb ramp · (e) 30" wooden retaining wall · (e) 18" wooden retaining wall · (e) block retaining wall · (e) 6" retaining wall

Every label begins with (e). Nothing on this sheet is new. The drawing records only what the surveyor and the designer found on the day they visited.

Notice three things before your teacher explains anything:

  1. What does (e) mean, and why is it on every single label?
  2. Four labels describe the same kind of object with different numbers in front. Which four, and what do the numbers tell you?
  3. Which two labels are about the street rather than the property?
Teacher note Let her work it out. (e) = existing should be a discovery, not a gift. If she gets stuck on (2), read the four retaining-wall labels aloud in sequence and let the pattern land.
Discovery Check

Now check what you noticed. Guessing first was the point — nothing here has been taught yet.

1. What does the abbreviation (e) mean on every label on this sheet?

2. Four labels describe retaining walls with a number in front — e.g. (e) 30" wooden retaining wall. What does that number tell you?

3. Which two labels describe the street right-of-way rather than the private property?

03
Focus on Form · 8 min

Existing and new

One convention, two letters, used on every drawing you will ever produce in the US.

The convention

On the drawingMeansYou say
(E) or (e)existing — already on site“There is an existing concrete driveway.”
(N) or (n)new — proposed, not built yet“We are putting in a new paver patio.”
(E) TO BE REMOVEDexisting, coming out“The existing deck is coming out.”
TYPtypical — repeats everywhere“That detail is typical throughout.”

Abbreviations on your own sheets

Read them aloud in full. On a phone call nobody says “dee ess”.

Abbreviations

Match each abbreviation from your own sheets to what it stands for.

downspout
hose bib
cleanout
concrete
retaining wall
irrigation
04
Diagnostic Practice · 14 min

What do you already know?

This is measurement, not teaching. Answer from what you know now.

Lexical Matching

Match each label from a real site plan to what it actually is. Click a term, then click its description.

The short piece of paving between the sidewalk and the street, where the driveway crosses
The planted band between the sidewalk and the curb
The sloped section of curb that lets a wheelchair cross
A wall that holds back soil where ground levels change
A long, narrow channel drain set into paving
A capped access point for rodding out a blocked drain line
Teacher note If she scores 4+ here without hints, her passive site vocabulary is stronger than B1 and you can move faster through Lessons 2–3. If she scores 2 or fewer, slow Lesson 2 down and stay on the label harvest longer.
MCQ Reading

Choose the best answer. Guessing is fine — this tells your teacher where to start.

1. A label reads (e) 30" wooden retaining wall. What does the 30" tell you?

2. Your drawing shows (E) BROKEN DRAINAGE PIPE. What is the drawing telling the contractor?

3. Which sentence describes an existing condition correctly?

4. The note says PORTION OF 6" CURB & CONCRETE SIDEWALK AND ENTIRE APRON NEED REPLACEMENT. How much of the sidewalk is being replaced?

05
Baseline Performance · 15 min

Describe a backyard you have never seen

This recording is your Day One marker. You will listen to it again at the end of the unit.

Task card

Two minutes, no notes, no preparation

Using only the Colonial Lane label list from Phase 02, describe the backyard out loud as if the person listening cannot see the drawing.

  • Start at the house and work outwards.
  • Say what is there, what it is made of, and roughly how big.
  • Do not stop to look words up. If you do not know a word, describe it another way and keep going.
Before You Record

Before you press record, complete the strategy above from memory.

Start at the and work . Say what is there, what it is of, and roughly how . If you do not know a word, it another way and keep going.

Record it on your phone. Do not listen back yet — you will compare it with Lesson 8.

Teacher note Time it strictly at two minutes and do not interrupt, even for a serious error. Capture the recording. Score it against the Lesson 8 rubric now, privately, so the two are comparable.
06
Feedback & Reflection · 5 min

What ran out first?

Answer honestly — this shapes the next seven lessons.

  1. Did you run out of vocabulary (you knew the thing, not the word), or grammar (you had the words but could not build the sentence)?
  2. Which single object did you most want a word for?
  3. In Portuguese, this description would take you how long? Less than two minutes?
Error Correction

Three errors people very often make in exactly this recording. Fix them now — you will meet all three again in Lesson 3 and Lesson 6.

1. Have a concrete driveway on the left side.

2. It has four retaining walls at the back.

3. The deck is above of the concrete pad.

Teacher note Do not be surprised if she produced one or more of these live in the recording above — that is the point. This is the first time she sees the pattern named; Lesson 3 and Lesson 6 come back to it on purpose.
07
Wrap-up · 3 min

Before the next lesson

Homework. Open one of your own existing-site-plan sheets. Photograph or screenshot it, and list every label on it that you would have to think about before saying out loud. Bring the list. That list becomes Lesson 2.

Quick Check

One question before you go.

1. What exactly should you bring to Lesson 2?