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Intermediate Instant Lesson™

Thin is Not In

Pre-Reading Activities

A: Discussion
Answer these questions in small groups.

1. Do you enjoy watching advertisements on television or looking at them in magazines?
2. How much do you think advertisements encourage you to buy something?
3. Complete this sentence: The models in advertisements for things like cars, clothes, alcohol or holidays are usually ______________ and look _______________.

(Choose the answers. Choose more than one word if you want to.)
old, young, fashionable, unfashionable, beautiful, ordinary looking, ugly, thin, medium-build, fat, healthy, unhealthy.

4. How much do you think these models are role models (people who may be copied for their looks or behavior) for you?
5. In tougher economic times what do you think the fashion industry does to survive?
6. Imagine you are at a fashion show. Which is more important: the clothes or the show?

 

Reading Activities

A: Understanding The Main Idea
Work in pairs, one of you read the first part of Article 1, the other the first part of Article 2. Answer the questions for your article.

Questions for Article 1
1. What are fashion houses spending less on?
2. How are they doing this?

Article 1

Fashion firms slim down for shows PARIS/MILAN, Tue Mar 03 (Reuters) - Fancy canapes and champagne have become rarer, guest-lists smaller and celebrities tougher to find in the front rows of some fashion shows these days. From New York to London, Paris and Milan, fashion houses, particularly smaller ones, have cut back on catwalk expenses while others have pulled shows altogether as the luxury sector feels growing pain from the downturn. (Continued...). Article © 2009 Thomson Reuters Limited. Lesson © 2009 www.english-to-go.com

Glossary: celebrity - a famous person, pull - cancel, not have

Questions for Article 2
1. What did the Madrid fashion week decide?
2. Why did it decide this?

Article 2

Skinny models wearing thin in fashion shocker Tue Sep 12, 2006 MADRID (Reuters) - Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders. Organizers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look. (Continued...). Article © Thomson Reuters Limited. Lesson © 2009 www.english-to-go.com

Glossary : underweight - weighs too little, not heavy enough, image - picture
waif-like - someone who is very, very thin and looks more like a child

B: Matching Information
Continue to work in your pairs, one of you draw arrows to match the information below for Article 1, the other for Article 2.

Matching Information for Article 1

A   B The number of fashion shows in Milan decreased and Bertrand Stalla-Bourdillon Etienne Russo believes Fashion houses                    the style of fashion shows and how much is spent is changing. are having fewer, less expensive shows. wants people to think more about the clothes and less about the shows. buyers said they were not going to spend as much money.

Article 1

Fashion firms slim down for shows (Continued...) At Milan womenswear fashion week which ends March 4, the number of shows slipped to 79 against 99 last year... Buyers attending fashion shows -- from small trendy boutiques in Paris or Milan or department stores such as Saks and Bloomingdale's in New York -- said they planned to reduce their purchases this year, some by up to 30 percent. At New York fashion week last month, regulars said shows were smaller, several had empty seats, the usual gift bags were minimal or missing and several familiar faces in the fashion industry were absent from the audiences. Marc Jacobs, who has his own brand and also designs for Louis Vuitton, halved invitations to 1,000 for his New York show. His company said the move meant to reflect the environment. It wished to put more emphasis on the collection. "We wanted to put the focus more on the clothes themselves rather than on the show," Marc Jacobs CEO Bertrand Stalla-Bourdillon said. One guest at the Carolina Herrera show, a collection director herself for another brand, said this year's open bar at the after-show was shorter than usual. She added the buffet at Zac Posen was lighter and simpler than in the past. "At Zac Posen, there were mainly fruit baskets and sandwiches, no fancy canapes," she said. But some organizers admit the industry has entered an era of restraint. "Before, there was a race for the most flamboyant shows at the most prestigious venues," says Etienne Russo, head of Villa Eugenie, a fashion show production company. "Now people now are asking themselves whether certain expenses are necessary...This is the opening of a new chapter."... Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld said at the last show there had been "too much bling-bling, too much of everything," during the bubble years that preceded the downturn. Article © 2009 Thomson Reuters Limited. Lesson © 2009 www.english-to-go.com

 

Matching Information for Article 1

A   B Organizers of Madrid fashion week in 2006 Cathy Gould Concha Guerra Madrid doctors                    says teenagers use models as role-models. wanted their fashion show to have a healthy look. says fashion is being blamed for eating problems. planned to use the BMI to check whether models weigh enough to be in the fashion show.

Article 2

Skinny models wearing thin in fashion shocker (Continued...) The world's first ban on overly thin models at a top-level fashion show in Madrid has made modeling agencies angry...Cathy Gould, of New York's Elite modeling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia. "...I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women, but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer," said Gould, Elite's North America director, adding that the move could harm careers of naturally "gazelle-like" models. Madrid's regional government, which sponsors the show and imposed restrictions, said it did not blame designers and models for anorexia. It said the fashion industry had a responsibility to portray healthy body images. "Fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk," said regional official Concha Guerra. QUALITY, NOT SIZE The Madrid show is using the body mass index or BMI -- based on weight and height -- to measure models. It has turned away 30 percent of women who took part in the previous event. Medics are going to be on hand at the September 18-22 show to check models. Article © 2009 Thomson Reuters Limited. Lesson © 2009 www.english-to-go.com

Glossary : scapegoat - say something is causing a problem, when it isn't
discrimination - to treat a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way
gazelle - a type of animal (antelope) that is very thin, sponsors - pays money for the fashion week

C: Sharing Information
Continue to work in pairs. Share the main points of your article with your partner.

 

D: Reading And Checking
Now read your partner's article. (If you read Article 1 before, read Article 2 and if you read Article 2, now read Article 1. You may like to answer the questions in Reading Activities A and B to check that you have understood the article correctly.)

E: What Do You Think?
Continue to work in pairs. Answer these questions:

1. What positive things are there about the changes fashion houses are making? 2. What negative points about fashion shows is the recession causing?
3. Which point of view do you agree with in Article 2?
	a. the point of view of the Madrid Fashion week or b. Cathy Gould of Elite's modeling agency.
4. Which is more important: the clothes at a fashion show or the fashion show itself? Why?

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Post-Reading Activities
You may do one or more of these.

A: Survey
Use the questions in Pre-Reading Activity A to find out what other people think about advertising, the influence of models and fashion shows. Use the questions or adapt them to survey other people from outside your class to get answers from different age groups (i.e. if your class has mainly teenagers, try to ask people who are older or younger than this etc).

 

B: Magazine Research
Work in small groups. Look at advertisements on television or in magazines etc to make a more careful study of what kinds of models are used in and how they are used.
Report back to your class on what you discovered.

 

C: Language
Read this about two different future forms.

Be going to + base form is used when we have decided to do something in the future. We made this decision some time before the moment of speaking. It can be used with a time expression.
	The show isn't going to have goody bags or a champagne bar. .... (The fashion show decided to do this before now.) A hot new designer is going to present her collection at the fashion week. (This was decided some time ago.) I am going to wear my classic black dress to the show next month. (I decided this before now.)

Will is used when we suddenly decide to do something.
	Fashion week starts tomorrow and I've got tickets. Who wants to come with me? - Yes, please I'll come! (I decided this now.) How shall we get there? - I'll drive. My car is more modern than yours. (I made the decision to take my car now.)

Read the text below. A student who did today's lesson is talking. Choose the correct structure, will or be going to for each gap.

In class today we talked about advertising, models, role models and weight. Most of us said we want to be thin, but we still want to be healthy. Tonight 1. we'll/we're all going to interview other people from outside our class to find out what they think about this.
I'm not sure who to interview. Perhaps 2. I'll/I am going to survey my brother, my 10-year-old sister and my mother. Santi said she has already decided. She 3. will/is going to interview her host mother and also email her best friend in Jakarta.
The teacher told us about tomorrow's lesson. Tomorrow 4. we'll/we're going to compare the answers we got and see if there are different conclusions for different age-groups. It should be quite interesting.
I know! I think 5. I'll/I'm going to go and visit my grandmother as well. 6. She'll/she is going to fly to Rome next week but she always likes to see me. I can ask her what she thinks. I wonder if 7. she'll/she is going to give me a slice of her wonderful chocolate cake. She always tells me I'm too thin so I can ask her for her point-of-view and eat cake as well! 8. I'll/I'm going to take her some flowers.

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TEACHERS' NOTES AND ANSWER KEY

Pre-Reading Activities

A: Discussion - Notes
Answers will vary. If your students come from different countries, it could be interesting to see if advertising is at all different in different places.

Reading Activities

A: Understanding The Main Idea - Answers
Article 1
1. They are spending less on fashion shows.
2. By not providing expensive food or drink, inviting fewer people including famous people or cancelling the shows altogether.

Article 2
1. Not to use underweight models.
2. They decided this after there were protests saying women are copying very thin models and dieting severely which then means they develop eating disorders.

B: Matching Information - Answers
Answers for Article 1
The number of fashion shows in Milan decreased and - buyers said they were not going to spend as much money.
Bertrand Stalla-Bourdillon - wants people to think more about the clothes and less about the shows.
Etienne Russo believes - the style of fashion shows and how much is spent is changing.
Fashion houses - are having fewer, less expensive shows.

Answers for Article 2
Organizers of Madrid fashion week in 2006 - wanted their fashion show to have a healthy look.
Cathy Gould - says fashion is being blamed for eating problems.
Concha Guerra - says teenagers use models as role-models.
Madrid doctors - planned to use the BMI to check whether models weighed enough to be in the fashion show.

C: Sharing Information - Notes
Before students meet in their pairs, they could work with someone who read the same article to check that they have covered and understood the main points of their particular article. Students then meet with their partner to talk about the two articles' similarities and differences. They could then summarize the main points they noted to the class (either orally or by writing a paragraph).

D: Reading And Checking - Notes
If you are running short of time, this activity could be left out or given for homework. It gives students a chance to read the other article, helped by the outline their partner has already given them.

E: What Do You Think? - Notes
Answers will vary.

Post-Reading Activities

C: Language - Answers
1. we're going to, 2. I'll, 3. is going to, 4. we're going to, 5. I'll, 6. is going to, 7. she'll, 8. I'll.

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