Reading eLesson Week starting 1 July 2013

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanglobal.com It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013.

From high street to istreet

Language

Vocabulary connected with shopping online and in traditional shops; linkers

Level

Pre-intermediate to intermediate (equivalent to CEF level B1–B2)

Comment

This eLesson looks at changes in our shopping habits.

How to use the lesson

1 Set the context for the reading: shopping. You could ask students how often they go shopping and what kinds of shops they like. Ask them if they prefer to shop in a high street or online and what type of things they usually buy from each place. This could be done as a whole class activity or in pairs / small groups followed by class feedback.

2 Before setting exercise 1, pre-teach e-commerce and consumers. Give a brief time limit, eg 1–2 minutes depending on students’ level, to encourage fast reading. When the time limit is up, students can discuss their answers in pairs if appropriate. Take feedback.

3 Exercise 2 gives students practice in question words. If you feel your students might have problems with any of the words, you can refer them to the Glossary. Students could compare their answers in pairs. Take class feedback.

4 Exercise 3 focuses on referencing words (in this case, anaphoric reference). You could give an example to demonstrate what to do: As more people turn to the Internet for their shopping ... ; their refers back to more people. Ask students to scan the text quickly, find the italic words from the exercise and circle them. They then decide what each referencing word refers back to. You could ask them to draw an arrow back to the word(s) it refers to in the text, either in pairs or as a whole class task. Take feedback.

5 Exercise 4 focuses on guessing the meaning of unknown vocabulary from context. If your students are not used to guessing words from context, you may need to explain why this is important: if they stop to check each unknown word in a dictionary it will stop the flow of their reading and the words might not be worth looking up as they could be very uncommon. Ask students to scan the text and underline the words given in the box. You could do the first example with them. Students then match the remaining words with their meanings. Allow time for students to compare answers in pairs before taking feedback. If appropriate for your students, you could highlight the fact that showroom and pastime have the stress on the first syllable while expand and inviting have the stress on the second syllable. You could also point out that try on, expand, turn to and browse are all regular verbs.

6 Sound / spelling connections are particularly difficult for some students. With stronger students you could let them try and guess the odd one out without support for Exercise 5. With weaker students, model the first one with them (web is the odd one out as it has the /e/ sound). In feedback it would be useful to drill the words to help students with the pronunciation; or you could model the pronunciation using the Macmillan online dictionary by clicking on the pronunciation icon, eg for technology: www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/technology

7 Exercise 6 gives students personalised speaking practice on the topic of shopping. Set the discussion task for small groups if appropriate. Take feedback.

Reading eLesson Week starting 1 July 2013

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanglobal.com It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013.

Answer key

1 1 3 2 4 3 5 4 2 2 1 What: technology / the Internet 2 Why: because it’s easier, quicker and cheaper 3 Which: the under 40s 4 Whose: consumers’ 5 Why: to stay in business (as more and more people shop online) 6 Where: the high street 3 1 This: showrooming 2 them: goods (eg clothes or perfumes) 3 Others: other shops 4 they: high street shops 5 Many: consumers 6 it: the high street (experience) 4 1 pastime 2 expand 3 trend 4 inviting 5 turn to 6 try on 7 browse 8 showroom 5 1 web /e/

2 relax /ɪ/ 3 under /ə/ 4 habits /æ/

5 growing /əʊ/ 6 Students’ own ideas.

Related websites

The following websites might be useful for either you or your students. http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/shops.html (Article on the history of shops) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-2098575 (Article on showrooming) http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jon-worley/consumer-shopping-habits_b_3359611.html (Article on consumer habits) http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/jun/14shop.htm (Article on how we’ll shop in the future) http://www.peer1.com/blog/whats-next-ecommerce (Article on the future of e-commerce)