Wednesday 18 March 2015

Topic Video: Charity

Hello everyone!

This is a video about a very particular charity shop. A pair of shoes for 850 pounds... is that a rip-off or a bargain? Well, here, it turns out to be a bargain! The proceeds of this charity must have been really high!

I propose a gap-filling exercise to practise collocations, either related to this topic or not. You know my insistence on collocation, and my firm belief that it is the key to successful comprehension and natural expression.

Some vocabulary to check before listening (remember to use a monolingual dictionary! You have a dictionary widget on this same page):

cobbler
cast-offs
highstreet
kudos



Notice the emphatic structure at the beginning of the report (cleft sentence):


________________________ buy  Beyoncé’s dress, Shirley Bassey’s shoes or Natalie Imbruglia’s hat all under one roof.



Complete with a suitable word or phrase:


But you can at this ________________________ charity shop inside London’s department store Selfridges.


The idea came from ________________________  Annie Lennox, and Vanessa Branson, sister of ________________________  Richard, was one of several of her friends ________________________ .


Vanessa Branson highlights that:


  • Everybody feels ________________________ the project.
  • It’s not just about ________________________  every year.
  • You know you’re making ________________________ .


So far, 30,000 pounds ________________________  by the shop.


Charity shops in general are ________________________ : profits were up by ________________________  to 100m pounds.


With more than 700 ________________________ , Oxfam is the biggest UK charity retailer.


Theresa Colonette runs a boutique selling only the creme of ________________________ cast-offs.


She thinks that charity shops can be an alternative fashion resource, offering a ________________________  for anyone.


The last dress shown doesn’t have a celebrity connection, but it is still ________________________ , something which more people are likely ________________________ in the ________________________ .


Key here. But I hope to see your comments anyway, about the activity or about the vocabulary you've learnt with it. Thanks!

2 comments:

  1. Hello Beatriz.
    These video activities make a (direct) difference to me. In response to your request I must say that I didn't know the words 'kudos' and 'High-Street fashion'; and for the listening itself, the two words that I wasn't able to distinguish were actually commonplace to me: 'rock(legend)' and 'entrepeneur'. Funny!

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    Replies
    1. Kudos to you, Verónica! Thanks for commenting!

      Curious how sometimes we discover it's a word we have known for a long time, and yet it eludes us... Time to repeat and repeat to get a better idea of its pronunciation.

      Glad it makes a difference to you!

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