Matura: Speaking

Consumer society

Activity 3

Teacher’s notes
Aim: to prepare students to talk about
shopping, buying habits and being a Note: Personalizing material makes it more
consumer memorable and gives the students more to talk
about. Tasks like this can be very useful as lead-in
Level: Upper intermediate / B2
activities before doing exam style practice tasks.
Language: talking about advantages and
1. Put the students into small groups.
disadvantages; comparing and contrasting
different pictures; negotiating 2. Ask the students discuss the questions in
their group.
Time: 30 - 45 minutes + 15 - 20 minutes for
exam task 3. Monitor and help where necessary.

Materials: one copy of the worksheets and 4. Ask one or two students to briefly report back to
exam task per student the whole class about their group discussion.

Activity 4
Activity 1
1. Divide the class into four small groups: A, B, C
1. Put the students in pairs or small groups.
and D. If the class is small, have fewer groups.
2. Ask the students to look at the pictures and
2. Photocopy the handout and distribute a task
discuss the questions (a – c).
card to each group. Students should read the
3. Monitor and help where necessary. Students background information on their card.
may need extra help with question c, as they
3. Check student comprehension of the context.
might not have lots of ideas.
4. Set a time limit of about 30 minutes. Groups
4. Finally, have a short class discussion.
discuss the points on their cards, and write their
Suggested answer(s): In general, the pictures radio commercial.
show that today people often buy far more than
5. Encourage students to use the language for
they need and throw too much away. We are
negotiating and reaching a compromise.
‘consumers’ who always want the newest things.
Useful language
Activity 2
Reaching a compromise
Note: We often associate particular people or We have to come to a decision …
things with aspects of culture, e.g. Shakespeare OK, what are we going to go for?
with literature, the Beatles with music, the Eiffel On balance, I think the most effective …
Tower with architecture, etc. All things considered, ...
I’m going to go with what I originally thought ...
1. Put the students into small groups.
Are we in agreement ...?
2. Ask the students to read the quote and discuss All in all, I would say that ...
what the person is saying and whether they In a nutshell, I think the most effective method is
think it’s good advice. … because …

3. Monitor and help where necessary. 6. Monitor and help if necessary. If students have
time, ask them to record their advert using a
4. Finally, have a class discussion.
mobile device.
Note: Vivienne Westwood is a famous fashion
7. Ask a student from each group to play (or read)
designer and business woman who is best known
their advert to the whole group.
for some of her outrageous designs and was
closely linked to punk music in the 1970s. 8. Ask students to comment on each other’s
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Matura: Speaking

Consumer society

Teacher’s notes
commercials and say if they would buy the
Content – answering the question
product, giving reasons why / why not.
5 answers the question and all the
information included
Practice exam question 4 answers the question but one or two

Note: There are two parts to this section: things missing

an individual turn and then a pair work 3 answers the question but a number of
discussion activity. things missing
2 tried to answer the question, but quite a
Depending on the number of students you have
lot missing
in the class you could either take the role of
1 failed to answer the question
examiner yourself or, especially in large classes, get
the students to work in groups with one of them
Range of vocabulary and grammar
taking the role of the examiner.
5 used a wide range of vocabulary and
For example, put the students in groups of three. grammar appropriate to the task
For the individual activity: 4 used a wide range of vocabulary and
grammar but not always appropriate to the task
• one student takes the role of ‘candidate’
3 used a fairly wide range of vocabulary and
and speaks
grammar appropriate to the task
• one takes the role of ‘interlocutor’ asking
2 used a limited range of vocabulary
questions and prompting the ‘candidate’
and grammar
• and one student takes the role of ‘examiner’
1 used a very limited range of vocabulary
using the mark scheme
and grammar
For the pairwork, two of the students speak to
each other while the third student takes the role of Accuracy of language (i.e. pronunciation,
examiner. functional language, etc.)
5 minimal errors, well-developed control
Suggested marking scheme
of language
Total mark out of 20 with each criteria worth up to 4 errors occur when attempting more
5 marks. complex language
3 a number of errors but they do not
impede communication
2 a lot of errors, distract the reader,
difficult understanding
1 frequent errors, difficult understanding

Fluency
5 speaks well with only natural pauses (i.e. to
collect thoughts)
4 sometimes hesitates when trying to think of a
word or what they want to say next
3 often pauses to think about what they want
to say, but can use fairly complex language
at times
2 struggles to put together full sentences and
pauses frequently
1 only uses a few words and can’t fully talk
about the task
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Matura: Speaking

Consumer society

Activity 1

Worksheet
1. Look at the pictures and answer the questions.

a) What does each picture show?

b) What do you think of the people in each picture?

c) ‘Waste not, want not’ – what does this phrase mean to you?

1 2 3 4

Activity 2
Look at the quote. What do you think the person is trying to say to people?

WHAT I’M ALWAYS TRYING

TO SAY TO THE CONSUMER
IS: BUY LESS, CHOOSE WELL,

MAKE IT LAST. – Vivienne Westwood (fashion designer)

Activity 3
Work in groups and discuss the questions.

a) What was the last thing you bought?

b) Did you need it?

c) Why did you buy it?

d) Did you shop around to get the best deal?

e) Do you ever waste your money? If yes, what on and why?

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Matura: Speaking

Consumer society

Activity 4

Worksheet
Group A Group B
You are part of a team designing You are part of a team designing
an advertising campaign for a new an advertising campaign for a
perfume. In your group, come up with new dog food. In your group, come
ideas and make decisions about the up with ideas and make decisions
following things: about the following things:

• a name for the product • a name for the product

• your target market • your target market
• a slogan for the advertising campaign • a slogan for the advertising campaign
• what the poster should feature • what the poster should feature

You will also have to write a short radio You will also have to write a short radio
commercial for the product. Decide on the commercial for the product. Decide on the
information it should include, whether you want a information it should include, whether you want a
jingle etc. jingle etc.

Negotiating Negotiating
language

language

OK. I accept that, but … OK. I accept that, but …

Useful

Useful

Realistically, don’t you think … Realistically, don’t you think …

If we do that, then we could also … If we do that, then we could also …
How about we meet halfway? How about we meet halfway?
I think there’s a way of using both ideas … I think there’s a way of using both ideas …

Group C Group D
You are part of a team You are part of a team
designing an advertising designing an advertising
campaign for a new washing campaign for a new box of
powder. In your group, chocolates. In your group,
come up with ideas and make come up with ideas and
decisions about the following things: make decisions about the
following things:
• a name for the product
• your target market • a name for the product
• a slogan for the advertising campaign • your target market
• what the poster should feature • a slogan for the advertising campaign
• what the poster should feature
You will also have to write a short radio
commercial for the product. Decide on the You will also have to write a short radio commercial
information it should include, whether you want a for the product. Decide on the information it
jingle etc. should include, whether you want a jingle etc.

Negotiating Negotiating
language

language

OK. I accept that, but … OK. I accept that, but …

Useful

Useful

Realistically, don’t you think … Realistically, don’t you think …

If we do that, then we could also … If we do that, then we could also …
How about we meet halfway? How about we meet halfway?
I think there’s a way of using both ideas … I think there’s a way of using both ideas …
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Matura: Speaking

Consumer society

1 Individual activity

Practice Exam Question

1 2

• Compare and contrast the pictures.

• Describe the clothes you buy and the shops you would usually buy your clothes in.
• Nowadays, people are buying more things online. What are / would be the advantages and
disadvantages of buying your clothes online?

2 Paired activity
Your local sports club has decided it needs to get sponsorship in order to help improve the facilities and
expand what it can offer, i.e. buying new equipment for different sports. The club wants ideas from you.

Discuss the following:

• the type of companies that might sponsor a sports club for teenagers
• how you could approach them to ask for sponsorship
• how much money you would ask for
• what the sponsors would get in return, i.e. their name on the kits, a poster in the clubhouse, etc
• what restrictions there might be in terms of sponsorship

You should agree on three key ideas.

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