UNIT 1

BUYING AND
SELLING [Link]. Heber F. Aldazosa Ruiz
Master in Teaching English as a Foreign Language TEFL /TESOL
BACKGROUND
 Do you like shopping?
 Yes, I like shopping but I Don’t have many money.
 How often do you go shopping?
 Each two once a moth.
 When going shopping, how much do you spend?
 I spend 100 Bs.
 What do you buy when going shopping?
 We buy when going shopping clothes, shoes, jeans or shirts.
 Do you like to go to the same shop or store, or you definitely
prefer to try a new one?
 I prefer same shop and same “caserita”.
 What makes you buy things?
 We buy by need……..
 Do you use any apps to buy online?
 No, I usually prefer to go to the store.
COMMERCIALS
POST-LISTENING
 What is the difference between an advertisement and a
commercial?
 The commercial promote a product and an advertisement
promote a person, polity or ideology.
 What features do a commercial and an advertisement have?
 Product name, benefits of the product and price and how to
buy.
 What information do we need to include in a commercial?
 Product description, target audience and promotions or
discounts and brand name.
 What information do we need to include in an advertisement?
 Are commercials and advertisements used for gaining profits?
Yes, They are used to make money by selling products or
services to customers.
AD OR COMMERCIAL?
 POST VIDEO ACTIVITY
 Were they ads or commercials?
 They were ads.
 What do they have in common?
 Make people aware.
 Were they offering services or a product?
 Services.
 Do you have to spend money on getting them?
 Yes, because is a bank.
 What do they show us?
 A different video about different places and to learn about their
cultures.
 The second video is that some Asian people have different
habits regarding food.
 I suppose the difference between cultures.
 What did they talk about?
 The difference between cultures and countries.
VOCABULARY
READING
READING ACTIVITIES
F
T
T
F
T
F

brand
price
sample
retailers
goods
 READING 2
 Social media, magazines and shop windows bombard people daily with things to buy,
and British consumers are buying more clothes and shoes than ever before. Online
shopping means it is easy for customers to buy without thinking, while major brands
offer such cheap clothes that they can be treated like disposable items – worn two or
three times and then thrown away.
 In Britain, the average person spends more than £1,000 on new clothes a year, which
is around four per cent of their income. That might not sound like much, but that
figure hides two far more worrying trends for society and for the environment. First, a
lot of that consumer spending is via credit cards. British people currently owe
approximately £670 per adult to credit card companies.
 That’s 66 per cent of the average wardrobe budget. Also, not only are people
spending money they don’t have, they’re using it to buy things they don’t need.
Britain throws away 300,000 tons of clothing a year, most of which goes into landfill
sites. People might not realize they are part of the disposable clothing problem
because they donate their unwanted clothes to charities. But charity shops can’t sell
all those unwanted clothes. ‘Fast fashion’ goes out of fashion as quickly as it came in
and is often too poor quality to recycle; people don’t want to buy it second-hand.
Huge quantities end up being thrown away, and a lot of clothes that charities can’t
sell are sent abroad, causing even more economic and environmental problems.
 However, a different trend is springing up in opposition to consumerism – the ‘buy
nothing’ trend. The idea originated in Canada in the early 1990s and then moved
to the US, where it became a rejection of the overspending and overconsumption
of Black Friday and Cyber Monday during Thanksgiving weekend.
 On Buy Nothing Day people organize various types of protests and cut up their
credit cards. Throughout the year, Buy Nothing groups organize the exchange
and repair of items they already own. The trend has now reached influencers on
social media who usually share posts of clothing and make-up that they
recommend for people to buy. Some YouTube stars now encourage their viewers
not to buy anything at all for periods as long as a year.
 Two friends in Canada spent a year working towards buying only food. For the
first three months they learned how to live without buying electrical goods,
clothes or things for the house. For the next stage, they gave up services, for
example haircuts, eating out at restaurants or buying petrol for their cars. In one
year, they’d saved $55,000. The changes they made meant two fewer cars on
the roads, a reduction in plastic and paper packaging and a positive impact on
the environment from all the energy saved. If everyone followed a similar plan,
the results would be impressive.
 But even if you can’t manage a full year without going shopping, you can
participate in the anti-consumerist movement by refusing to buy things you don’t
need. Buy Nothing groups send a clear message to companies that people are no
longer willing to accept the environmental and human cost of overconsumption.
POST READING
TASK 2

fasshion

away
spending
shops
hand

sites
BUYING THINGS
 Complete the following conversation with specific ideas.
 A. Hello! Welcome to our boutique. What are you looking for
today?
 B. Good afternoon, I am looking for a black dress in M size.
 A. We have a lovely selection. How about this one? It’s very
popular.
 B. Thanks, Can I try it on?. And if it’s possible can you bring me
a jacket to combine?
 A. Of course! I’ll get you a few options. Do you prefer a specific
style for the jacket?
 B. I would like a short, denim jacket in black or red colors
please.
 A. No problem! Here’s a black denim jacket and a red one. Let
me know which one you like better!
 B. Excellent. I definitely like how they look and both fit me well.
 A. That's wonderful! Would you like to complete your purchase
today?
WORK WITH A NEW CONVERSATION.
 Using the words from the list write a conversation.
 You can choose one of the three situations below
 Situation 1. You are looking for casual clothes to go
to your best friend’s birthday party. But the store
doesn’t have the brand you like. However, you buy
the clothes but you don’t feel happy.
 Situation 2. Is your mother’s birthday and you want
to give her a present, unfortunately you don’t know
her size, and you want to buy her a dress. Ask the
store assistant advice to buy that dress for her.
 Situation 3. You have a formal party in your job, but
you don’t like wearing suits. Ask the store assistant
advice of buying some clothes that make you feel
formal but without wearing a suit.
 SIMPLE PAST
 We can use the past simple of the verb to be to talk about situations
and states in the past.
 I was at my gran's house yesterday.
She was with her friends last Saturday.
We were happy yesterday.
 Use was for I, he, she and it. Use were for you, we and they.
 I was hungry this morning.
You were in the garden yesterday.
It was sunny yesterday.
They were at the beach last weekend.
 For negatives, use not. We can contract not and the verb, especially
when we're speaking.
 I was not late for school this morning. = I wasn't late for school
this morning.
He was not at home last Saturday. = He wasn't at home last
Saturday.
We were not cold yesterday. = We weren't cold yesterday.
 EXERCISE 1
 Complete the conversation with WAS / WASN’T / WERE /
WEREN’T.
 A: Where were you last night? I phoned you but you weren’t at
home.
 B: I was out with friends. We were at the Bluenote Café.
 A: Was Julia there?
 B: No, she wasn’t. Why?
 A: Oh, I just wondered.
 B: She was out with Nick. They were at the Oasis, I think.
 A: No, they weren’t.
 B: How do you know?
 A: Because I was there!
EXERCISE 2
EXERCISE 3
EXERCISE 4

was

was

was
wasn’t
were