5 Fashion and consumerism

Unit Objectives
Grammar: future in the past; emphatic structures
Vocabulary: consumer collocations; compound adjectives formed with nouns; suffixes (nouns 1)
Scenario: discussing hypothetical ideas; developing a recovery strategy
Study skills: reading complex texts effectively
Writing skills: summarising

5.1 GLOBAL
CONSUMERISM
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
This lesson looks at global consumerism. Students
begin by considering opinions on shopping and
possessions, then read short texts about a radio series
on global consumer trends. They listen to one of the
radio programmes and discuss the radio series as a
whole, before practising collocations with the word
consumer. Finally, students do a role-play/problem-
solving activity that involves thinking about the pros
and cons of a consumer society.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• considered the issue of global consumerism
• read for gist and specific information
• listened for specific information
• learnt and practised collocations with consumer
• talked about consumer society and considered the
pros and cons.
Timings
If short of time, omit Exercise 4b.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 4b.
WARM-UP
• Before starting Exercise 1, direct students’ attention
to the pictures. Elicit what they can see. Ask them
how they feel about the pictures and why.
• Find out next what students understand by the
quote. Ask students how far they agree or disagree
with the quote and why.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach quote: This implies
that fashions change so quickly that by the time one
fashion becomes generally popular, the next one
has already superseded it.
SPEAKING
1 Give students about five minutes to discuss the
statements in groups of three or four.
• Do class feedback but try not to start too much of a
debate at this stage as it may pre-empt Exercise 6.
Note: You may feel that you need to pre-teach the
phrase on impulse (suddenly/spontaneously and
without any planning).
READING
2 Refer students to the text heading and ask what
they understand by the term (global) consumerism
(consumerism is an ideology where the buying of
goods and services is actively encouraged in a
social and economic sense).
• Give students no more than three minutes to read
the text individually and find the three aspects that
are mentioned.
• Give students time to compare answers in pairs
before class feedback.
Possible answers: what consumer trends tell us
about the mindsets of different countries; what
people buy defines who they are or would like
to be; what is driving our passion to consume;
whether consumerism increases our fulfilment
3 This activity asks students to match possible topics
to different radio programmes. Allow them a
maximum of four minutes to do this individually.
• Allow time for students to then check answers in
pairs before doing class feedback.
a Japan b Botswana c India d UAE
e Botswana f India

New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism 1

LISTENING
4a Tell students that they are going to hear about
consumerism in Japan. Elicit what they think they
are going to hear, then let them read the questions.
• Play the recording twice.
• Give them a minute to check answers in pairs
before doing class feedback.
Audio track 5.1 and answer key to Exercise 4a
(in bold)
Narrator, Mika Ando, Professor Caroline
Ishikawa, Jun Tanaka
N: Japan is one of the most highly developed
consumer societies in the world. Some people
even call it a hyper-consumer culture. And
1for a long time brands, especially luxury
brands, have been important to the Japanese.
Even in the current economic climate and after
the devastating tsunami of 2011, Japan is still
responsible for nine percent of the world’s
luxury purchases. Mika Ando has her own
advertising agency, TokyoMA, located in the
trendy Omotesando district of central Tokyo.
She explains why brands are so important to
the Japanese.
MA: You have to look as if you come from a
middle-class family. Erm, but one of the
problems we have here, especially in large
cities like Tokyo, is that 2the value of land is
astronomically high. So most people, even
those with good jobs, live in very small
apartments. So people want to show their
status by means of clothes, shoes and bags.
This is really where brand value comes from.
N: Critics of this consumer society – many of
them Japanese – believe it’s far too
materialistic. But how did Japan get to this
point? Professor Futaba Ishikawa is a historian
from Ueno Gakuen University.
FI: 3After the devastation and defeat of the
Second World War, Japan was determined to
rebuild. By the 1980s, it had become
extremely successful at developing advanced
manufacturing techniques in a wide range of
industries. The growth rate was phenomenal.
The Japanese had money to burn and
consumerism became a sport, a hobby. But it
wasn’t to last. The spending excesses of the
1980s were brought to a sudden halt when
the bubble burst in the early 1990s.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
N: From the mid-1990s, however, Japan began to
recover and conspicuous consumption
bounced back. But not all consumers were
equally influential. By the mid-noughties, one
group in particular had emerged as the most
important of all – young women aged between
eighteen and thirty. They maintain their
spending power by living off their parents. Jun
Tanaka is a sociologist who is concerned by
this phenomenon.
JT: 4Men’s earnings have decreased, so these
days women don’t want to get married. It
would mean a lowering of their standard of
living. This has profound implications for
family life in Japan. What we’re seeing now
is a situation in which consumerism
outweighs having children. It’s actually more
attractive to be a consumer than to have kids.
A parallel phenomenon is affecting men. In
recent years, people have started using the
term ‘herbivores’ to describe young men who
don’t want to get married or even have a
girlfriend. Instead, they prefer to spend their
money on personal grooming and Manga.
N: The consequence of all this is a population
that’s ageing and shrinking. What are the
solutions? 5Some Japanese are suggesting a
move away from this rampant materialism to
more traditional Japanese cultural values,
with a greater emphasis on the family. But
others just want to get on with some more
retail therapy.
4bCritical thinking: Expanding the topic. Students
work in groups of three or four. Give about five
minutes for them to consider all the questions.
• Round up by eliciting and discussing ideas as a
class. Encourage students to justify their opinions.
Ask students which other countries’ consumer
habits they would like to know more about and
what they think might be included in a programme
about consumerism in their country. Be careful not
to cover the same material as Exercise 6.
VOCABULARY: consumer
collocations
5a Put students in pairs and ask them to make sure
they understand all the words in the box.
• Students then work in pairs to do the activity.
• During class feedback, elicit answers and check
understanding before continuing to Exercise 5b.
2
 advice, boom, choice, confidence, demand,
goods, group, issues, price index, products,
society, spending, trends, watchdog
5bStudents complete the sentences.
• They check answers in pairs before class feedback.
You could ask students to make some sentences of
their own with the other collocations. Alternatively,
set this as homework for additional practice.
1 consumer group/watchdog 2 consumer
boom 3 consumer advice 4 consumer society
SPEAKING
6 In a class of ten students or fewer, make two
groups (A and B). With a larger class, make four
groups and have two simultaneous debates.
• Ask students to read their briefs. Check that they
understand the meaning of materialistic (excessively
concerned with material possessions).
• Give the groups up to ten minutes to prepare,
making sure that each student will take part in the
debate for at least one and a half minutes. Suggest
that one student introduces and one concludes, and
the other students present one argument each.
For classes in universities and university
preparation courses, remind students that debating
is a very useful skill for academic studies and some
universities have debating societies.
• Students have the debate and an open discussion
and then take a vote on the class’s opinion.
For homework, students could write an advantages/
disadvantages essay on consumerist society, based
on the information from their debate.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do Exercise V1–5 on page 135 in the
Language reference.
Students do the reading, vocabulary and
pronunciation exercises for this lesson in
MyEnglishLab.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
5.2 DESIGN CLASSICS
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
This lesson focuses on design classics, particularly
relating to cars. Students talk about classic design and
read an article about an iconic car, which provides
examples of future in the past for students to study
and practise. They then learn different ways to make
compound adjectives with nouns and practise using
them. Finally, students evaluate design classics and
write about something well designed that they own.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• found out about what makes a design classic and
an iconic car
• read for gist and specific information
• discussed how to combine different sources of
information
• learnt about future in the past
• learnt and practised using compound adjectives
formed with nouns
• evaluated and written about design.
Timings
If short of time, omit Exercise 2b and/or set
Exercises 6 or 9 for homework.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 7a.
SPEAKING
1 Students do the activity as per Coursebook in pairs.
• Do class feedback, compiling a list of ideas for
question 3 and aiming to reach a consensus.
2a Elicit the meaning of iconic (of great cultural
significance) and cars that are considered iconic.
• Students then read the text, noting key events in
the timeline.
• Students check in pairs before class feedback.
1934: Porsche commissioned to develop
‘people’s car’ 1938: site chosen for factory
Spring 1939: first workers recruited
(Autumn 1939: start of Second World War)
1945: production of ‘people’s car’ restarts
1949: company passes back into German
ownership 1972: Beetle becomes most
produced single make of car ever
2bStudents reread the text, answering the questions
individually in no more than four minutes.
3
 For classes preparing for IELTS, remind them to
pay close attention to any word limits set in the
instructions (i.e. in the Reading or Listening
exams). Failure to comply with them will result in
answers being marked incorrect and marks lost.
• Allow time for students to check answers in pairs
before getting class feedback. Students should be
able to justify their answers.
1 designers 2 transport routes 3 in 1939/
spring 1939 4 (a) toy 5 post-war regeneration
READING
3 Critical thinking: Combining sources of
information. Students work in groups of three or
four. Give them about five minutes to consider the
question and then get class feedback.
Possible ideas from the text: it was relatively
cheap, the company made a good choice of
location, the advertising was good
GRAMMAR: future in the past
4a First ask students what they understand from the
grammar heading. See if any of them know this
and can explain it to the other students.
• Students then locate further examples in the text.
• Give students time to compare answers in pairs
before doing class feedback. Feed in any examples
that are missed.
Answers to 4a and 4b (given in brackets):
chassis design for what was to become (1); It
was to be a basic vehicle (1); and would cost
about 900 (1); It would be available to … (1);
Beetle was about to be born (1) (3); where the
new cars were going to be built (1); if workers
were to be attracted to the project (1); five
people would have found (2); 10,000 cars
were supposed to be produced (2); would
ever see their car (2); it would go on to be the
most produced (1); the company … would
become an important symbol (1)
4bGive students time to discuss ideas in pairs before
eliciting answers from the class. Add in any
answers that they miss.
4c Briefly discuss the difference between the three
registers given before asking students to categorise
the examples, either individually or in pairs.
• Do class feedback.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
1 chassis design for what was to become;
It was to be a basic vehicle; if workers were to
be attracted to the project 2 Beetle was about
to be born; where the new cars were going to be
built; 10,000 cars were supposed to be produced
3 and would cost about 900; It would be
available to; five people would have found;
would ever see their car; it would go on to be
the most produced; the company … would
become an important symbol
Students can look at the Language reference on page
134 and do Exercises G1–1 and G1–2 on page 135
either in class or for homework.
5 Students do the activity individually and then
check in pairs before doing class feedback.
1 was likely to 2 was to be 3 were going to
4 would continue
6 This can be done in class or for homework. Students
then share their sentences and correct each other’s.
VOCABULARY: compound
adjectives formed with nouns
7a Check that students understand the meaning of the
four compound adjectives before asking them to do
the activity quickly in pairs. Check their answers.
Students create a sentence of their own using each
of the compound adjectives to check they
understand the meaning of all the words.
1 life-long 2 eye-catching 3 world-renowned
4 present-day
7bStudents refer back to the text to find examples of
compound adjectives.
• Allow time for students to compare answers in
pairs before checking as a class. Elicit the meaning
of all compound adjectives found.
half-consumed (3) year-old (1)
war-damaged (3) post-war (post = prefix)
7c Students match the words to form compound
adjectives, either individually or in pairs.
• Do class feedback, eliciting the meaning of each
compound adjective.
high-quality time-consuming hand-made
smoke-free (Note: Hands-free in the plural is
possible, e.g. a hands-free kit, for a car phone.)
4
 In small groups, students think of two compound
adjectives (with nouns) for each category. Then
write sentences using these on a sheet of a paper,
leaving the compound adjectives blanked out.
They then swap papers with another group, who
guess the missing compound adjectives.
SPEAKING
8 Students work in groups of three or four. First, they
decide on their five items.
• Next they discuss and evaluate each item’s design
and decide which might ultimately become iconic
or a classic in the future.
• During feedback, elicit ideas and make sure
students can justify their opinions.
In order to practise critical thinking skills, ask
students to work in small groups to rank the items
in terms of those most likely to become a design
classic to the least likely. Remind them to justify
their choices. Round up by reaching a consensus on
the top three items.
WRITING
9 Students write a description of an object, either in
class or for homework, but avoid saying what the
item is.
• They then see if other students can guess what it is.
• Discuss the items and let students decide which
ones are most likely to become iconic in the future.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do exercise V2–6 on page 135 in the
Language reference.
Students do the listening, grammar and vocabulary
exercises for this lesson in MyEnglishLab.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
5.3 CATWALK
CONTROVERSIES
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
The lesson focuses on issues related to fashion.
Students start by pooling knowledge of controversies
surrounding fashion before reading and matching
extracts from newspaper articles. The texts provide a
springboard for revision of noun suffixes. Students
then listen to a radio programme on fashion and
social responsibility. They take notes and identify
support for the main points of an argument then focus
on the grammar objective; emphatic structures.
Finally, students work in groups and debate issues
related to clothes and the fashion world.
Meet the expert video
Watch the video to hear the co-founders of
CuteCircuit talk about their backgrounds and how
they established a successful fashion brand through
the design and creation of wearable technology.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• found out more about fashion controversies
• revised and practised noun suffixes
• read for specific information
• listened for gist and specific information
• practised making notes and identified support for a
main argument
• learnt about emphatic structures
• discussed topics related to fashion and social
responsibility.
Timings
If short of time, set Exercise 8 for homework.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 5c.
SPEAKING
1 Ask students to work in pairs and describe the
pictures. Which controversial issues related to the
world of fashion do they evoke? Can students think
of any other controversies not pictured here?
• Then do class feedback.
Check that students understand the meaning of the
noun catwalk.
5
READING
For classes preparing for IELTS, point out that
matching headings to paragraphs is one of the
question types in the reading exam.
2a Refer students to the headlines and give them two
minutes to decide the focus of each story. Do not
get class feedback at this stage.
2bStudents match the headlines to the extracts.
• Students compare answers in pairs before class
feedback. Make sure they justify their answers.
1b 2d 3f 4c 5a 6e
VOCABULARY: suffixes (nouns 1)
3a Focus on the heading and elicit what a suffix is.
Then, with books closed, brainstorm noun suffixes.
• Students then do the activity individually.
• Conclude with a class check.
activist, activity, consciousness, convenience,
emergence, obsession, popularity, sustainability,
violation
3bStudents complete the extracts, then compare
answers in pairs before doing class feedback.
1 activists 2 violations 3 sustainability
4 consciousness 5 obsession 6 convenience
7 popularity 8 emergence
3c Put students in pairs or threes and check they
understand before giving them three minutes.
• After three minutes, tell students to stop writing.
Explain that each correct answer will get one point.
• Elicit answers, compiling a list on the board. Check
understanding and usage, adding in other answers
as useful. You could also do some work on
pronunciation and word stress patterns.
• Give students time to count up their points before
finding out who had the most and won.
a 4: protest, jump, wave, chant b 7: nation,
statement, responsibility, concern, commitment,
supply and supplier c 5: response, increase,
environment, introduction, greenness
d 2: suggestion, relentlessness e 12: claim and
claimant, strength, cheapness, availability,
greatness, society, environment, increase, worth,
worthiness, worthlessness f 4: significance,
appearance, whiteness, blackness Total: 34
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
LISTENING
4a Tell students they are going to listen to a radio
programme about fashion and social responsibility.
• Elicit what they expect to hear, writing notes up on
the board.
• Play the recording only once. Allow time for
students to compare their answers and predictions.
• Do class feedback.
1 b, d, e 2 Diana
Audio script 5.2
Narrator, Mark Hamblin
N: In India, in a hot, airless factory and for the
sixteenth hour today, Amitosh carefully sews
some tiny plastic beads onto the blouse he is
making. No sooner has he attached one than
he picks up the next from the thousands in the
bag. The blouse bears the label of an
internationally famous fashion chain.
Amitosh, whose name means happiness, is only
ten years old.
In Paris, the shockingly skinny male model
walks moodily down the catwalk. Little does
he realise that he is about to spark a huge
debate about fashion, models, men and
anorexia. Not only has the use of thin models
long been controversial, but it has also been
revealed recently that men account for twenty-
five percent of all eating disorder cases.
In London, the cash tills ring incessantly as
shoppers grab the latest bargain outfits to
replace the ones they bought only a month
ago. At no time are they aware of the effect
this fast fashion is having on the environment.
M: Three different snapshots of the fashion
industry and in each one you have a victim.
All of which begs the question, does the
fashion industry do enough to be socially
responsible? To discuss this, I have with me in
the studio Sarah Maitland from the campaign
group Making Fashion Better, and Diana
Spooner from the Fashion Industry Association.
4bStudents first predict individually, then in pairs
and then as a whole class, but do not give answers.
• Then students listen once only. Check answers.
1 Diana 2 Sarah 3 Sarah 4 Diana
6
 Audio script 5.3 and answer key to Exercises 5a
(in bold) and 5b (underlined)
Mark Hambling, Diana Spooner, Sarah Maitland
M: So Diana, that’s a fairly damning introduction
to the workings of the fashion industry.
What’s your response?
D: Well, it may have been damning, but it’s the
fairness of your introduction that I question.
1I think you’ll find that the fashion industry
as a whole has been taking steps to improve
things.
M: Such as?
D: Well, to take the example of sweatshops,
almost all 1major fashion chains now make
their suppliers and manufacturers sign
agreements which detail the rules for fair
employment, concerning everything from
child labour to working hours.
S: If that’s the case, how come 2we still keep
hearing about the appalling conditions that
workers face all over the world when
producing products for multinationals?
Surely, it’s because these agreements are not
worth the paper they’re printed on. 2It’s the
enforcement of these rules that fashion
chains have to focus on and companies are
not doing enough on that front.
D: In defence of the industry, it’s not easy to
check working conditions in small remote
factories all over the world.
S: Yet they seem to be 3able to check the quality of
their displays in their shops all over the world!
3What the companies do is maximise their
profits, not improve their workers’ lives.
D: Yes, but remember, 4the suppliers are
independent companies who have a contract
with the fashion house. 4We can’t be held so
responsible for the way they treat their staff;
technically, they’re not our workers.
M: OK, well, er, perhaps we should move on and
deal with the whole size zero question. Sarah?
S: Indeed, and not only is this about the health of
the models, but also about the psychological
health of young women – and men, all over
the world. 5The continual use of very thin
models is harmful to young people.
5It leads to both men and women having a
very poor body image and, I believe, directly
leads to the ever-increasing prevalence of
anorexia and unhealthy dieting.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
D: Well, that has always been a hard thing to
prove. 6You mustn’t forget that the slimmer
look is both attractive and popular. Our own
6research shows that people feel more positive
towards clothes that are modelled on such
models rather than on people with fuller
figures. Also, 6the clothes hang much better on
a thin model – designers want their work to be
shown as well as possible, you know, and a
thinner model is perfect for that. 6Many
designers see themselves as artists and, you
know, you wouldn’t expect to see a Picasso in
a gallery with the lights turned off, would you?
S: That’s just so irresponsible. Fashion isn’t art;
7it’s a global industry and its imagery directly
affects people’s health and sense of self and
identity, and at the moment the industry’s
creating unreasonable and dangerous
expectations in both women and men. What’s
even more dangerous is the immediate effect
this has on the models. It’s widely recognised
that 7models frequently ruin their health in
order to suit the whims of the designers and
the industry.
D: Well, on that point, 8the industry’s taking
steps to help models look after their health.
For example, we make sure that 8healthy food
is always available at shoots and shows and
some agencies are providing health check-ups,
and I should say, not all thin models are
unhealthy; many of the girls are naturally just
built that way.
S: But that’s just missing the point again – what’s
important is not providing a few carrots at a
photo shoot. I mean, it’s not that kind of
shallow change that I’m talking about. What
you need to do is change the whole approach
of the industry towards body size.
M: Well, on that point about deeper changes,
perhaps we should now consider the effect
fashion, particularly contemporary fast
fashion, has on the environment.
4c Students listen a second time and make notes on
both sides of the arguments presented.
5a Critical thinking: Identifying support for main
argument. Check students realise that they should
be using the sentences from Exercise 4b as headings
for their notes before they do the activity in pairs.
• Do class feedback.
To ensure that students finish with a good set of
notes, write out the correct notes yourself, mixing
up the order and add a few false notes. Read out
7
 the notes or put them on a projector / handout.
Students sort which go with which heading and
which are false.
See Audio script 5.3 for bold answers.
5bStudents do the activity in pairs. Remind them to
look at the notes to support their opinions.
• Conclude with class feedback. Make sure students
justify their opinions.
See Audio script 5.3 for underlined answers.
5c As a class, discuss students’ opinions about the two
arguments. Who do they agree with and why?
Which argument is the best supported?
For classes preparing for IELTS /PTE-A, students
could write an opinion essay on the topic. Set a
250–280 word limit if your students are preparing
for IELTS, and a 200–300 word limit for PTE-A. Set
a 40-minute time limit for the planning and
writing of the essay, in class or for homework.
GRAMMAR: emphatic structures
6a Refer students to the heading and ask what they
think emphatic structures are and why we use
them. Explain that they are going to look at
different ways of making speech more emphatic, to
be more assertive, show annoyance, disagree, etc.
• Students complete the sentences then listen and
check answers. Play the recording only once.
• Do class feedback. Give further examples if useful.
1 No, he 2 Little, that 3 no, they
6bStudents first discuss the questions in pairs before
opening the discussion to the class.
1 There is an inversion, with the verbs (has, does,
are) coming first. 2 When we use inversion
with the present or past simple form of verbs
other than be, have or modals, we have to use the
do auxiliary.
7a Explain that these are used when a particular object
or subject is being emphasised.
• Students do the activity as per Coursebook. Play
the recording only once.
• Elicit answers and discuss the structure used,
making sure students understand that It is/was and
What cleft sentences both emphasise a particular
subject or object but that It is/was will be followed
by a relative pronoun (e.g. It was her who received the
commendation.). Whilst, What (which is effectively
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
the subject) will be followed by to be (e.g. What he
needs is a good holiday.).
1 It 2 What, do 3 not, that 4 What, is
7bStudents could do this activity individually or in
pairs. Alternatively, with a weaker class or if time is
short, this could be done as a class.
1 two 2 In sentences 1 and 2, the first clause
concerns the object of the verb in the second
clause. In sentences 3 and 4, the first clause
concerns the verb itself in the second clause.
7cStudents rewrite the sentences.
• Give time for students to compare ideas before
eliciting sentences from the class. Compile a
collection of ideas for each of the sentence
beginning on the board.
1 The fashion chains have to focus on the
enforcement of these rules. 2 The companies
maximise their profits, not improve their
workers’ lives. 3 I am not talking about that
kind of shallow change 4 You need to change
the whole approach of the industry towards
body size.
8 Students rewrite the sentences.
• Give students time to check ideas in pairs before
going through the answers as a class. Elicit which
sentences are examples of inversion and which are
cleft sentences.
1 Seldom do we see naturally sized models.
2 Not only has he designed clothes for film
stars, but he has also opened stores all around
the world. 3 Under no circumstances must we
use child labour. 4 It was the accusation about
the use of sweatshops that the press officer
denied./It was the press officer who denied the
accusation about the use of sweatshops. 5 It is
the cost of a product, not its environmental
impact that people are concerned about.
6 What the fashion industry does is encourage
young girls to worry about their body size.
7 What the designer created was a new style
using traditional materials. 8 What I think is
(that) fashion shows and models should be
heavily regulated.
Students can look at the Language reference on page
134 and do Exercise G2–3 on page 135 either in class
or for homework.
8
SPEAKING
9 Divide students into four or eight groups. Tell
them that they are going to discuss the issues by
outlining the pros and cons for each statement and
then deciding where they stand as a group.
• Give each group one issue and then four or five
minutes to discuss it. Then give them another issue
and repeat. In total you will do this four times.
• Elicit whether students are for or against each
statements and why. Then as a whole group,
decide on the class’s position for each issue.
MEET THE EXPERT
1 Students discuss the two questions in small groups
before a brief class feedback. Alternatively, if time
is limited do this as a class discussion.
Suggested answers:
1 fitness bracelet/activity tracker, Google Glass,
smartwatch, heart rate monitor
2a Give students two minutes to match the words and
phrases to the descriptions.
2bBefore playing the video ask students to predict
how these two designers might have incorporated
technology into fashion garments.
• Then play the video. Give students time to compare
their answers in pairs before checking as a class.
Elicit how technology has been incorporated into
the clothing.
1a 2e 3c 4f 5b 6d
3 Students try to answers the questions in pairs
before you play the video again.
1 NG 2T 3F 4T 5T 6 NG 7 NG 8F
4a Go through the instructions with the class before
giving students five to ten minutes to come up with
their own idea for a wearable item of technology. If
time is limited, this could be set for homework.
For classes in universities and university
preparation courses, ask students to prepare a
short presentation of their ideas (4–5 minutes) for
the following lesson.
4b Students take turns to present their ideas to the
class. Encourage the class to ask each pair
questions after their presentations and end class
feedback by encouraging the class to reach a
consensus over which design should be chosen
and why.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
Meet the expert video
Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz,
Co-founders of CuteCircuit
F: I’m Francesca Rosella and I’m Chief Creative
Director and co-founder of CuteCircuit.
R: And I’m Ryan Genz, Chief Executive and co-
founder of CuteCircuit.
F: CuteCircuit is a wearable technology company
and a fashion brand and it was founded in
2004 and is based in Shoreditch, London.
R: At CuteCircuit we design the future of fashion,
so we look five to ten years in the future and
include new technologies and new materials
in fashion to make them do something
spectacular.
We use a wide variety of materials. Er, some
materials we actually have to invent ourselves
because we want a certain effect or a new –
incorporate a new technology in some way
that it’s not possible. So some of the things that
we do involve researching new materials and
sometimes inventing something completely
new.
F: Yeah, when we started the company, all the
materials that we have today didn’t exist and
so we were getting extremely frustrated
because we wanted to make a fashion garment
look really beautiful and fashionable but, of
course, we wouldn’t want to have wires in it
or very large car batteries to power it. So we
just had to spend very many months
developing new materials.
R: If you imagine clothing that includes some
form of interactive technology, usually also
includes some small amount of electricity. But
to make electricity go from point A to point B,
you need a conductor of some kind. And one
of the early pieces of research that we spent a
lot of time doing was figuring out a way to put
electricity into fabrics, so that now our
garments, when people buy them, they have
no wires in them anywhere.
One of the unique things about CuteCircuit is,
in order to make the garments look really
beautiful and seamless and not have anything
that looks unusual or is uncomfortable for the
wearer, we have to design every part of the
garment, so every part of the system is
designed at CuteCircuits. So that includes the
fashion design, but it also includes the circuit
design, the software design and all of the
9
 production to figure out how to assemble this
thing into a final garment that looks beautiful.
F: Well, I first became interested in something
that could be described as wearable
technology in 1998 because I started, er,
designing garments and, er, I was working in
a very big fashion house in Italy, doing, er,
haute couture and evening wear and I came
up with the idea of having an evening gown
made out of black lace and embroidered with
electro-luminescent thread. And I thought,
‘Oh, wouldn’t it be awesome and fantastic to
see a woman on the red carpet wearing this?’
and they just looked at me like I was
completely crazy. And so I got so frustrated
and then I started reading online and I found
this very interesting article about a research
institute starting in Italy, about merging
fashion and technology and I decided to resign
my position and just go for it. I applied, I
received a scholarship and that was back 2001.
And this is where I met Ryan.
R: Francesca and I met at Interaction Design
Institute Ivrea, which is a, a small interaction
design institute in Northern Italy, and when
we were researching there, we were looking at
technologies five to ten years in the future and
when we left the institute, there was a
graduation ceremony and one person came to
give the keynote speech from Silicon Valley
and during the question-and-answer period
just after the keynote speech, someone asked
her, ‘Where will these researchers get jobs?’
and she said, ‘They’re not. Their research is
too far in the future and nobody’s doing this
kind of research. I suggest they go and start
companies.’ And so that’s what we did. We
decided that, er, this was a fertile enough area
of research and it was really interesting to both
of us because both of us loved fashion and the
new approach to it, that we decided to start
CuteCircuit.
As you can imagine, many of the clothes are
quite spectacular, so they work really well for
celebrities that need something startling on a
special occasion. For example, you might have
seen in the news that we designed a, a very
spectacular dress called the Twitter Dress, for
Nicole Scherzinger, and she wore this at the
launch of the EE Mobile Network at, er,
Battersea Power Station, and as she was
arriving on the red carpet, her dress was
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
receiving tweets from the internet in real time,
so as she’s walking down the red carpet, her
fans were able to send her messages that
would appear on her dress. But we had to do
the dress so quickly that she actually didn’t
see the dress functioning until the moment
that she arrived on the red carpet and luckily,
along the red carpet, there were a few large
mirrors, so as she arrived at the venue, she
happened to look sideways and she saw
herself in the mirror and she was like, ‘Wow!’
– it was the first time that she saw the dress
and there were all these tweets from her fans
spinning around the hem of her dress.
F: Yeah, we have some celebrity clients that, er,
wear and buy our clothes but we also have
normal people that buy our clothes, ready to
wear collection, for their everyday activities or
for a special occasion. So we have any –
anybody between eighteen and thirty-five
years old, um, mostly from the United States
and Japan and Europe – um, they really like to
have something special in their wardrobes.
R: I think that the look and the function are both
important, so even if somebody has
something that functions in a certain way, so
just imagining you have a, a T-shirt that, um,
lets you receive hugs, as one of our T-shirts
does, that’s a function. But no one will ever
wear that if it doesn’t also make them look
cool, so it’s very important when you design
fashion of any kind – whether it’s interactive
wearable technology or even a normal T-shirt
off the rack – it has to also look cool cos one of
the functions that it’s performing is to make
you feel comfortable and confident about who
you are.
If you think about how technology has
revolutionised many parts of our lives, like,
for example, a hundred years ago
transportation was completely different,
healthcare was completely different, cinema,
entertainment, all of these things were
completely different, and yet our clothes have
pretty much stayed the same, so for example,
the jacket that I’m wearing now could have
existed a hundred years ago and no one would
have thought it’s strange. We think that it’s
time that clothing can be revolutionised by
technology as well, to do much more amazing
things, things that are fun, things that are
10
 helpful and things that are – help people
express themselves.
F: And also if you think about what the future
should be, we have this vision where
everything that comes in a box today, such as
a camera or a mobile phone, is gonna become
so small and miniaturised that it can be easily
embedded in your garment. Then you can
have a garment that makes a phone call or a
garment that takes photos and if everything is
soft and very small and washable, then it’s
also gonna last a little longer. So imagine that
every interface that you see today is gonna
disappear and is gonna be in your garments
and your garments are gonna become your
second skin that is an interface between you
and other people and places that you visit. So
it’s gonna become so much more like a sort of
a three hundred and sixty degree view, where
your whole life is on your garment.
R: So and this is what we really see as the future
fashion – it’s that people will be able to do
much more with their clothes.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do Exercise V3–7 on page 135 in the
Language reference.
Students do the vocabulary, reading and grammar
exercises for this lesson in MyEnglishLab. They can
also do the MyEnglishLab video activities after this
point.
Students create their own sentences using the nouns
from Exercise 3c.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
5.4 SCENARIO:
RETAIL REVAMP
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
This lesson provides a scenario to practise the key
language of discussing hypothetical ideas. Students
have to develop a recovery strategy for a clothing
retailer that is in trouble. They start by talking about
the fashion and clothing industry in their own
country, then discuss different business strategies.
They also listen to the CEO of a clothing retailer
outlining the problems facing his company, which
provides the key language of discussing hypothetical
ideas. The students’ task is then to take part in a
meeting to save a company, using the Key languagr
and Useful phrases.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• discussed the clothing industry in their country
and various business strategies
• listened and made notes
• listened to and practised language for discussing
hypothetical ideas
• participated in a meeting to choose a proposal to
save a company.
Timings
Possible lesson break: after Exercises 2 or 3b.
SPEAKING
1 Begin the lesson by eliciting the meaning of the
title. Read through the business strategies as a class
and check students understand them all.
• Divide the class into groups of three or four. If your
class is not homogeneous in terms of nationality,
try and make sure that each group has as many
different nationalities as possible and this will
become a comparison activity.
• Give students five minutes to discuss the questions
before doing class feedback. Find out if students
can think of any other business strategies. There are
a lot of business strategies here so you might want
to divide them up among the groups to save time.
You might also want students to critically evaluate
the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy.
11
SITUATION
2 Now they have considered the industry and
strategies for business, students can read the
situation for this lesson. Check their understanding
with some basic comprehension questions, e.g.
What type of store is All Seasons? How big is it? What’s
been happening recently? What is the cause of this?
• Give time for students to look at the headings
before they listen to the CEO and make notes.
For classes in universities and university
preparation courses, remind students of the
importance of taking concise but clear notes. Point
out that it is a skill that requires practice and that
they should only note down key ideas, rather than
everything they hear. Suggest they practise by
watching the news or accessing TED talks online.
TED, a non-profit organisation, shares knowledge
and ideas through giving engaging talks on a wide
variety of topics. For more information visit
www.ted.com.
• Allow time for students to compare notes before
checking as a class. Ensure students have a clear set
of notes by compiling ideas under the headings on
the board, adding in any key points missed.
1 shops: dull, dated in appearance, not a
pleasant shopping experience; customer service:
poor standards; overall: not uplifting or relaxing
2 positive points: good quality, good fabrics,
long lasting; look and design: not up-to-date;
cost: not cheap; accessories and homeware:
limited
3 current target market: everyone – all ages, a
general market; consultant’s opinion: does this
market exist?
4 current website: very limited, basic store info,
limited product selection, store locator
Audio script 5.6
CEO, Mandy, Sean
CEO:First of all, I’ll run through the feedback from
the consultant’s report, which basically
divides into four main areas: our shops and
their facilities, the product range, our key
markets and our internet presence.
It seems that our shops are seen as dull and
dated in appearance. Basically, they don’t offer
a pleasant shopping experience. For example,
bookshops often have cafés inside them
nowadays, whereas we don’t even have
seating areas for people to rest in. All of this is
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
exacerbated by poor standards of customer
service. Overall, shopping in our stores is not
an uplifting or relaxing experience. Now; any
comments?
M: That all has a ring of truth, but I think we
should be careful how we change things.
Suppose we did have a café, wouldn’t that just
reduce our sales space? And also, it’d mean
that we’d have to have food storage and
preparation facilities. Most of our shops are in
restricted high-street locations – I’m not sure
how feasible that’d be.
CEO:Indeed, but we’ll leave such discussion till
later in the meeting. Right … erm, moving on
to our product range, on the positive side, our
clothes are seen as good quality. The fabrics
are good and the clothes are long-lasting.
However, they are not seen as up-to-date in
terms of look and design, and they’re not
cheap, although this is balanced by the
impression of quality. Oh, and er, our
accessories and homeware ranges are clearly
limited.
S: Can I just say something here?
CEO:Sure.
S: Well, if we were to copy new designs by major
designers rather than use our own in-house
designers, we’d certainly be more up-to-date.
Mind you, we’d need to produce the clothes
quickly then, otherwise we’d still be behind
the times.
CEO:Well, we’d need to look into that carefully.
OK, moving on to our markets, at the moment
we cater for everyone; we aim our clothes at
all ages and at a very general market. The
consultants wonder if this market really exists
anymore; exactly who are our customers? Yes,
Mandy?
M: Just on that point, I was wondering if we
might introduce an element of specialisation
rather than make a total change.
CEO:How do you mean exactly?
M: Well, if we had a special range, say one for
kids, but still offered a wide general range for
customers, we’d differentiate ourselves from
other stores without losing our current
customer base. There’d be a chance to market
the special range and use this as a way to get
people into our shops.
S: Erm, Mandy, I think a special range is an
interesting idea, but surely, it’d be better to
target one part of the market much more
12
 aggressively. Admittedly, that’d mean taking a
big risk and possibly losing some of our
traditional customers. But then we’d have to
think about how we go about, how we go
about …
CEO:OK, save those thoughts for later. I’ve got just
a couple more points to make. Firstly, our
website is extremely limited, with just basic
store information, a limited selection of items
featured and a store locator. It’s so outdated.
We must focus on our web strategy and do
much more with, and over, the internet. You
know, would social media be useful? Whatever,
we need to develop our online presence and
services. In a way, that connects to the final
point, which is about the shops’ brand
identity. As you know, we currently are …
3a Students do the activity as per Coursebook. Let
them try and fill in the gaps first and then listen
and check. Play the recording only once.
• Give students a minute to compare answers in
pairs before doing class feedback.
1 Suppose, we’d have to have, that’d be 2 were
to copy, we’d certainly be, otherwise we’d still
be 3 might introduce 4 still offered, we’d
differentiate, There’d be
3bStudents discuss the questions in pairs before
discussing them as a class.
1 Because they are not trying to make a decision,
they are just discussing different possible ideas.
2 if = suppose; if we didn’t = otherwise
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
TASK: developing a recovery
strategy
4 Read through the instructions with the students
then allot roles A–D to students. Refer them to the
relevant page and give them time to read the
information about their role.
• Then give them five or six minutes to prepare their
ideas and review their notes from the consultant’s
report. You might like to put all the As together, Bs
together, etc. so they can pool their ideas.
• Before putting students into their groups for the
meeting, go through the Useful phrases and make
sure they understand them. Check if students have
any questions before continuing.
5 Put students in groups with one A, B, C and D in
each group. Tell them to hold their meetings,
present their proposals and then decide on the
right proposal. Direct their attention to the meeting
guidelines and remind them to consider all the
issues on the guidelines.
• Allow 15 minutes for groups to hold their meetings.
• Round up by asking them to present their decisions
to the class.
Score the groups during the meeting for correct use
of the Key language. A group gets two points for
using Key language correctly and one point for
using Useful phrases correctly.
Students can write up their group’s final
recommendation as a proposal for homework,
outlining their reasons for making the proposal.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do exercise KL–4 on page 135 in the
Language reference.
Students do the Key language, listening and
pronunciation exercises for this lesson in
MyEnglishLab.
13
5.5 STUDY AND
WRITING SKILLS
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
This lesson is in two parts. In the first part, students
practise reading complex texts effectively, using a text
on youth culture and learning to build an overview
before reading for detail. In the second part, students
write a summary. They practise identifying the main
points, making notes in the form of a flow chart and
avoiding plagiarism through rephrasing. They revise
linkers and then complete a full summary of the text.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• read and discussed youth culture, fashion and
music
• learnt how to read a complex text effectively
• made notes from their reading of a complex text
• analysed a summary
• revised how to avoid plagiarism by paraphrasing
• practised using flow charts to summarise a text
• written a summary.
Timings
If short of time, set Exercise 11c for homework.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 6.
STUDY SKILLS: reading complex
texts effectively
1 First, direct students’ attention to the pictures.
What do they show? Ask students what they think
the topic of the text and the lesson will be.
• Allow one minute for students to do the activity
alone before working in groups of two or three.
• During class feedback, make sure students justify
their answers when giving them. For question 1,
ask students not only what type of text it is, but
also where they might expect to find it.
1 a short academic article, from a journal or
academic textbook 2 the emergence of youth
culture, relationship to the mainstream
3 Youth fashion began after the Second World
War. Young people had more money.
2a Give students two minutes to do the activity and a
further two minutes to check with a partner.
• Finally, get class feedback and check answers.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
As an initial revision of paraphrasing, you might
ask the students to paraphrase the main ideas. This
is useful as it stops plagiarism before it starts.
para 1: post-Second World War emergence of
separate youth fashion para 2: young people
became consumer market para 3: some types
of youth culture develop in other ways
para 4: punk – a reaction against the
commercialisation of youth culture
para 5: hip-hop similar, originally an urban
black phenomenon para 6: Manga is different
in its origins para 7: relationship between
youth culture and the mainstream not
straightforward
2b Tell students that more than one paragraph will
usually focus on the same main idea in a text.
• Make sure students have closed their books, then
ask them to do the task quickly in pairs.
• Do class feedback.
paras 1 and 2: changes after 1945
paras 4, 5 and 6: other types of youth culture
Note: paras 4 and 5 could be grouped together
as there are similarities in content and purpose.
3 Make sure students have closed their books to do
this exercise. Give students only 30 seconds to
answer the three questions and then check.
1 para 5 2 para 2 3 para 4
4 Before students do this task, go through the
instructions and examples with them. Check they
understand what is meant by complex noun phrases
and reference words.
• Students do the activity individually.
• Let students check in pairs, then do class feedback.
1 a significant economic developments after
1945; b elevation in salary levels 2 a relatively
large amounts of disposable income; b these
young people; c the punk culture of 1970s
England; d this specific style (hip-hop culture)
5 Before starting the task, check students remember
the difference between main idea and supporting
points and elicit what sort of things supporting
points will be (examples, facts, quotations, etc.).
• Students do the activity individually.
• Let students check in pairs, then do class feedback.
14

1 distinct styles of fashion and music after 1945;
huge demand for labour led to elevation in
salary levels, giving young people money to
enjoy themselves between school and marriage
2 the television, fashion and music industries
started producing goods and services directly
aimed at young people; these products came to
define youth culture 3/4 punk culture in
England in the 70s was created by young people
reacting against commercialisation of youth
culture; but its style was in turn adopted by the
fashion industry (green hair, vivid make-up,
ripped clothes) 5 hip-hop – similar
phenomenon to punk: rap music, baggy jeans
and baseball caps started among young blacks
in North America, but were soon marketed by
music and clothes companies throughout the
world 6 Manga – different origins to the other
two as it come from the commercial world of
video games. In some ways similar, as once
becoming a youth sub-culture it then entered
the mainstream. 7 relationship between youth
culture and the mainstream not straightforward
6 Do this activity as a whole-class discussion.
To make this task interact more with the text, you
might like to change the question to How has the
development of youth culture in your country been
similar to/different from that described in the text?
Students can prepare their response in groups.
WRITING SKILLS: summarising
7a Refer students to the flow chart. Ask them to
identify what it is and what its purpose is.
• Students read the first sentence of the instructions.
Make sure they understand that the flow chart is
only for the first two paragraphs.
• Students complete the chart individually and
compare ideas in pairs before class feedback.
1 1945 2 spend 3 products 4 defined
7bElicit from students the sort of things that are left
out of summaries, e.g. anything irrelevant to the
main idea or the main points, examples, quotations,
most supporting ideas, repetition.
8 Elicit from students the meaning of plagiarism.
• Discuss what that they can do to avoid plagiarism
(use quotation marks, cite the reference,
paraphrase) before students make their own notes.
This could be done individually or in pairs.
New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism
• Do class feedback. Discuss words and ways to
change language from the original.
had more money to spend: had relatively large
amounts of disposable income to spend as they
wanted: with which they could enjoy their lives
businesses targeted young people’s disposable
income: industries … produced goods and services
that were directly aimed at them
9 Make sure students know they are practising
paraphrasing. Elicit various techniques (changing
the structure, using synonyms/antonyms, linking
sentences or breaking one sentence into two).
• Students do the activity as per Coursebook
individually, then check in pairs before doing class
feedback.
Possible answers:
1 because of an increase in levels of pay
2 money that can be spent on non-essential items
3 these goods came to shape youth culture
10 Check students know they are making a flow chart
for paragraphs 4–6. Students do this individually.
• Students compare ideas in pairs.
• During class feedback, create the flow chart on the
board with the students’ help.
two types of youth culture: the first results
from commercial activity; the second results
from innovation by young people, e.g. punk
and hip-hop (sub-cultures) punk: a reaction
against commercialised fashion and music;
created by youth, not business; mainstream
fashion and business later used punk style
similar thing happened to hip-hop: urban
American style that has spread globally due to
marketing by large companies Manga:
resulted from commercial activity, perhaps
indirectly, then influenced mainstream fashion
11a Go through this activity in stages with the
students. First, as a class, read the summary
sentence. Identify the number of clauses (three).
• Then let students spend a minute in pairs
comparing it with the flow chart.
• Discuss the differences as a class and then again, in
pairs, students compare the summary sentence
with the first paragraph of the original text.
• During class feedback, make sure students note all
the changes in the paraphrasing.
15
 Two clauses: 1 Particular fashion and styles for
young people emerged after 1945 2 which was
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
a time when the high demand for labour Students do the study skills, writing and academic
provided young people with higher salaries and collocations exercises for this lesson in MyEnglishLab.
thus more spending money This is also a good time to do the MyEnglishLab video
• Compared to the flow chart, the writing is activities.
now more elegant. Conjunctions and linking
phrases have been added. One point omitted
in the flow chart has been added back in by
the writer: high demand for labour.
• Lexical change: youth subcultures has become
fashion and styles for young people.
• In contrast to the flow chart, the writer has not
started the sentence with the date. This is
because the flow chart is concerned with
finding the information required for the
summary, while the summary looks to
re- present those ideas as effectively,
coherently and cohesively as possible.
• The summary sentence is significantly shorter,
in terms of word count and number of
sentences. Language register is similar; steps
in the argument have been condensed; some
information omitted as a result of using the
flow chart approach.

11b Students do the activity as per Coursebook

individually. Remind them to use linkers.
• Give time for students to compare ideas in pairs.
• Make larger groups and then let the groups put the
final agreed piece on the board for feedback.

However, after 1945, young people had more

money to spend on what they wanted as there
was a significant increase in pay. Consequently,
businesses produced products specifically for
young people and these products shaped youth
culture and style.

11c Students write a summary of the article using

their flow chart, either in class or for homework.
For classes in universities and university
preparation courses, remind students they must
cite their references e.g. Speigler (p.447) says that …
For classes preparing for IELTS, remind them that
the diagram for Writing task 1 can sometimes be in
the form of a flow chart. Set a limit of 150–180
words and a time limit of 20 minutes.

New Language Leader Advanced Fashion and consumerism 16