Paying Lonely People to Leave the House

B1 – Intermediate

“Hikikomori” is a Japanese term describing the total withdrawal of teens and young adults from the society. This social withdrawal started in Japan during the 1990’s. This is during the “employment ice age” in Japan when young people were unable to find stable jobs. This phenomenon seems to be affecting some young South Koreans at present.

Let’s read the article about the a new measure in South Korea to help solve this problem.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2304/230420-reclusiveness.html

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. Define the noun “recluse“. “The number of recluses has gone up because of the pandemic.” Use it in a sentence.
  2. What is the meaning of the phrasal verb “shut (something/someone) off“? “The government said children shut themselves off from society for many reasons.” Use it in your own sentence.
  3. What does the word “noticeable” mean? “They have noticeable difficulty in living a normal life.” Use it in a sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your opinion on this new initiative by the South Korean government?
  2. What are the reasons young people become reclusive?
  3. What possible effects do social withdrawal have on young people?
  4. Have you had temporary moments of social withdrawal? If yes, how long did it take and why did you want to be isolated?
  5. Share your opinion on this, “Korea has an ageing society. It needs young people to work so they can help old people.”.

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2 replies on “Paying Lonely People to Leave the House”

I think the measuring of South Korea has implemented is a motivation for the people who have this problem

The reasons which are origin of the problem I think are due to the large time the people have had to stay isolated in pandemic’s time

If the young people do social withdrawal, the economy of country could be affected, because there are less people to help to old people for example.

Yes I had temporary social withdrawal because of the covid pandemic. End really it wasn’t large for me because I was able to work at home.

I’m agree because the old people ever will need helps, and without young people they will have problems

Good job answering your lesson’s discussion questions.

Here is a sentence you can improve:

End really it wasn’t large for me because I was able to work at home.

In the end, it really it didn’t last too long for me because I was able to work from home.

Practice more and more to keep improving.

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