ESL Movie Activity - Quantifiers- Comment on Fashion and Style

Devil Wears Prada is a wonderful movie to explore the topic of trends, fashion and styles. Whenever I decide to bring a movie activity, I want to make sure there is a lot of production involved. This activity worked well and illustrated the vocabulary I had to teach: Fashionable, trendy, shoking, flashy, etc.

• Intermediate +
• Teens; Adults
• Speaking -
• Grammar - quantifiers
• Commenting on Fashion and Style
• Fashionable, trendy,shoking, flashy, chic, in poor taste, tacky
• Materials - Powerpoint presentation, movie scenes. (Downloadable)

1. How do you think people in your country would generally suggest dressing for these events? Discuss appropriate and inappropriate dress for each event.

a) A business meeting

b) a dinner at a fancy restaurant

c) A wedding

d) A job interview

2. Compare your classmates opinions. Use quantifiers to summarize your classmates’ ideas.

A majority of the class thinks...

A few students think...

Many people think...

3. Watch the movie segment and complete the sentences that follow.

Would you like to work for this magazine? Why? Why not?

Would you mind working for a place with a very strict dress code?

How much attention to you pay to what people wear?

Have you ever been interviewed for a job? What did you wear?

4. Complete the sentences with the correct quantifiers.

a) ____/ ______/_______/________ people in the office

try to dress appropriately by following fashion trends.

b) It’s true that ____/ ______/_______/________ of these people are in good taste.

It’s also true that____________ people end up getting a bit overdressed.

c) _____________ of the employees, more exactly 66% of them, said that ______ people who

want to keep their jobs should wear tacky bags.

d) The remaining employees claimed that, if people don’t know what to wear, they should talk to _______ fashion specialist. The reason why ____________ of them said that is that they believe they will lose their jobs if they dress innapropriately.

e) What ________ employees ( 100% of them) agree with is that, if a person wants to follow the dress code, he/she must wear _________ old – fashioned or tacky bags.

Comment on fashion and style

What does the assistant think about what she was wearing?

Watch the segment in which she undergoes a makeover and answer the questions that follow.

How would you describe her style after the makeover? How would her boss describe her?

What kind of clothes did she choose?

How would you describe her style?

If you were her, what would you choose from the closet?

Homework

Browse through a magazine. Choose something you would wear for different occasions. Prepare to say why.

Answerkey

1. Many / some / a few / most

2. Many / some / a few / most

3. Many / some / a few / most

4. A majority - no

5. One -

a third

6. All -

no

Teaching Reported Speech to Teens

I have prepared many activities for practicing reported speech, but this time I was teaching a group of teens, and I wanted to bring a topic that would be interesting for them on its own. During this activity, students were super engaged and all of them had something to say.

• 
• Pre-intermediate
• Teens; Adults
• Grammar practice
• Talking to parents
• Reported speech
• Materials Powerpoint presentation,movie segment.

1. Discuss the following questions in pairs.

Have you ever had a difficult conversation with your parents?

What would you tell a friend if she got pregnant? Why?

In the movie scene you’ll watch, the girl will tell her parents she is pregnant.

How will they react? How would your parents react?

Can a teenager girl raise a child? Why? Why not?

2. Write the following sentences in the direct speech. Watch the scene in which Juno breaks the news to her parents in a face to face conversation and check your answers.

She said she wasn’t really sure how she was gonna spit it out.

She said the school would contact the parents in the event of her expulsion.

Her friend said she thought it was best to just tell them.

She said she was pregnant.

She said she was gonna give it up for adoption.

She said she was really sorry.

3. Write a conversation you had with your parents in the reported speech and share with your partner. What does he/she think? Would his/her parents react the same way? Why? Why not? Who has had the most difficult conversation in class?

____________________________________________________________________

Answerkey

I'm not really sure how I am gonna spit it out.

The school would contact you in the event of her expulsion.

I think it is best to just tell them.

I am pregnant.

I am gonna give it up for adoption.

I am really sorry.