Subject File OUR CONSUMER SOCIETY

 Ex. 1: Reflect on your personal shopping behaviour. Complete the sentence starters.

Ex. 2: Complete the gap fill exercise below with concepts from the box.

1. Shopping is also called ________________ (1) because it can cure a bad mood and reduce sadness. Making ___________________ (2) can people make feel instantly happier. Scientists say it is about the whole experience: entering a store, browsing the collections, and buying what you like.
2. ___________________ (3) is a chemical, also known as a feel-good chemical. Every time we go shopping, it is released. Even scrolling through shopping sites online releases this chemical.
3. An issue however is how much we spend on shopping. Many people are of the opinion why earn money if it can’t be spent. This, however, may lead to regrets and retail therapy then becomes ___________________ (4): You may feel instant contentment with your purchases; this happiness does not last, though, if you have spent more money than you can afford.
4. Many people __________________ (5) on their shopping behaviour because they lose control and shopping becomes ___________________(6). ________________ (7) is a behaviour which helps to focus on the experience without making purchases.
5. If control over one’s shopping behaviour is lost, retail therapy becomes ____________________ (8) when it is used to deal with stress or __________________ (9).
6. Retail therapy is about control over your spending, retail addiction makes you shop even if you can’t afford to. As a result, a feeling of ____________________________ (10) may set in. Shopping addiction has yet not been acknowledged as a mental disorder. Nonetheless, it is also called ___________________ (11) (BSD) or_____________________ (12) (CBD). 

Ex. 3: Watch the video and compare your answers. 

Gravitas plus: Is shopping really therapeutic?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO4CMGW3KAQ

Ex. 4: Analyse the reasons for online shopping.

https://illuminationconsulting.com/top-reasons-websites-loose-sales/reasons-for-shopping-online-chart/

Ex. 5: Learn more about payment methods and find the translations for each concept in your own language.

	English	Definition
1	debit card	a plastic card that can be used to take money directly from your bank account when you pay for something
2	cash	tangible items which are used a means of payment
3	credit card	a small plastic card that you can use to buy goods and services and pay from them later
4	international money transfer	transferring money to a bank account overseas via a service provider
5	bank transfer	a payment from one’s bank account to someone else’s without using cash
6	direct debit order	an instruction to your bank to allow somebody else to take an amount of money from your account on a particular date, especially to pay bills
7	online/mobile banking	customers do their banking via the secured website of their banking facility, using a customer number and a password
8	prepaid cards	debit or credit cards which can be charged with an amount in advance
9	mobile wallets	contact-free payment on the Internet or at the checkout with the smartphone, watches or stickers
10	ATMs/cash machines	a machine in or outside a bank, shop, etc., from which you can get money from your bank account using a special plastic card
11	stored online payments/wallets	online service for storage of money or payments, used for smaller and medium amounts, frequently for online shopping

Grammar File _ BASIC GRAMMAR _ USEFUL RESOURCES

 Indefinite articles 'a' and 'an'

Simple present tense 

Present progressive (continuous) tense

Pronouns

Subject Pronouns

Object Pronouns

Plural Forms of the Nouns

Persons _ people _ peoples

Adverbs of Frequency 

Future tenses

Simple Future with 'Will'

Past Simple Tense

BBC Learning English 6 Minute Grammar: Past simple tense

Prepositions

Prepositions of Movement/Directions

Subject File BRANDING and BRANDS

Branding is a vital aspect of marketing. 

Ex. 1: What role does branding play in the marketing mix?

Ex. 2: Discuss the importance of branding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5016fh7TgQ

Ex. 3: Further Aspects of Marketing

Unique Selling Proposition

Product Lifespan

SPOTLIGHT on ENGLISH # 4 _ Varities of English

Ex. 1: Practise the alphabet.

Pronunciation practice

Ex. 2: Find the American English spelling for these words.

	British English	American English		British English	American English
1.	catalogue	catalog	7.	jewellery
2.	centre		8.	litre
3.	colour		9.	programme
4.	favourite		10.	theatre
5.	honour		11.	travelled
6.	humour		12.	tyre

Ex. 3: Match the American English term with its British English equivalent.

	American English	British English
1.	airplane	aeroplane
2.	boot (of a car)
3.	cell phone
4.	cookies
5.	crosswalk
6.	elevator
7.	fall
8.	fries, French fries
9.	garbage trash
10.	gas(oline)
11.	licence plate
12.	line
13.	movie
14.	one-way (ticket)
15.	potato chips
16.	purse
17.	restroom, bathroom
18.	round trip (ticket)
19.	shopping cart
20.	sidewalk
21.	silverware
22.	subway
23.	vacation
24.	windshield

Ex. 4: Video analysis. The linguist David Crystal discusses the concept of ‘Englishes’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_q9b9YqGRY&t=203s

came into being – adopts – vocabulary – loan words –

privileged foreign language – adaptation – variety – adapts

 

1.    The word “Englishes” ………………………. (1) 10 or 15 years ago to reflect the reality of what happens when English becomes a global language.

2.    The ……………………… (2) taking place when a new …………….. (3) develops is mainly visible in the …………………. (4)

3.    Most countries in the world have English as a first language, a second language, or a……………………………… (5)

4.    As a country ………………………… (6) the English language, it immediately ………………… (7) it to suit its own needs and to reflect its own culture and current developments.

5.    When English goes to another part of the world, in come the……………………… (8), the borrowed words from other languages around.

Literature: 

David Crystal, English as a global language

Ex. 5: Think of examples of English words used in your first/second language.

(-> Beware the pseudo-anglicisms, i. e. words that sound English and have been added to the lexicon of your language but are not real English words.)