Conversations about clothes and fashion

Hello!!! Here you have a few questions to get you started talking about this topic. You can use them as monologue or dialogue tasks. I think you have’ll  enough with these…:)

• About how much money do you spend on clothes a year?
• Do you like shopping for new clothes?
• Do you often buy new clothes?
• Do you prefer to go shopping or just browse? Why?
• Do you think men should be allowed to wear skirts?
• What piece of clothing do you spend your money on the most? Why?
• Do you read fashion magazines?
• Do you sometimes wear a hat?
• Do you think it is important to wear fashionable clothes?
  • Do you think it is important to be in fashion?
• Do you wear jewelry?
  • If so, what kind of jewelry do you wear?
  • How often do you wear jewelry?
  • What is your most valuable piece of jewelry?
• Do you wear the same color clothes now that you wore ten years ago?
• Do you wear the same size clothes this year as you wore last year?
• Do you think people feel different when they wear different clothes?
• Have you ever made your own clothes?
  • If so, what did you make?
  • Do you often make your own clothes?
• How many pairs of gloves do you have?
• What are some of the strangest fashions you have seen?
• What colors do you think look good on you?
• What colors do you think look good on your mother?
• What did you wear yesterday?
• What do you think of body piercing?
  • Do you have pierced ears?
  • Do you know anyone with a pierced nose?
  • Would you ever pierce your tongue?
• What do you think of people who dye their hair green?
• What do you think of women who wear high heel shoes?
  • Do you think high heel shoes are bad for a person’s health?
• What fashions that you see today do you think will be out of fashion within two years?
• What is your shoe size?
• What kind of clothes are in fashion now?
• What kind of clothes do you usually wear?
• What’s the most expensive piece of clothing you have ever bought?
• What’s your favorite color for shoes?
• When was the last time you got dressed up?
  • Why?
  • How often do you get dressed up?
  • Do you like to get dressed up?
• Where are some good stores to buy clothes in this area?
• Where do you usually buy clothes?
• Would you like to be a fashion model?

Questions on Styles, Clothing and Fashion-based Stereotypes

• What would you think of a women who cut off all her hair and went around bald as a fashion statement?
• What do you think of a man who is bald for fashion’s sake?
• What do you think of women who wear short mini-skirts?
• Do you think that the clothes we wear reflect what is inside us ?
• What do you think of people who always and only wear black?
• What do you think of people with tattoos?
  • Do you have a tattoo?
  • Do you know someone with a tattoo?
• What do you think of people with body piercing?
  • Do you have pierced ears?
  • Would you pierce other parts of your body?
• What would you think of a high school student who always wore very conservative clothes?
• What type of clothing do you wear when you are angry and you want to express yourself?
• What colors do you choose to wear when you are happy?
• Would you dress the same as you do in your country if you went to America for a visit?
• Do you dress the same when you are depressed as you do when you are very happy?
  • In what ways do you dress differently?
• If you went out with a group of high school friends, would you dress differently then if you went out with your grandmother and her friends?
• In what ways does your Grandmother dress differently then you?
• When you get old do you think you will dress like your grandmother or grandfather?
• Would you ever wear dreadlocks?
  • What do you think of the people who wear them?
• Have you ever worn your hair braided in small braids.
  • Did anyone look at you differently because of it?
• Would you ever wear contacts to change your eye color?
• What is the difference in the people who choose to wear contacts and the people who choose to were glasses?
• What do you think about women who don’t wear earrings?
• What do you think about men who wear earrings?
  • What do you think of women who do?
• Is it possible for women to wear too much make-up?
  • When is a person wearing to much make-up?
  • What do you think of men who wear make-up?
• Is it possible to be beautiful without wearing any make-up, earrings or other accessories?
• Do fashionable clothes really change the way a person looks?
• What differences have you noticed in the fashions here and in your country?
• What do you think of men who where tights?
• What do you think about secondhand clothes?
  • Why do you think people buy secondhand clothes?
  • Have you ever been to a store that sells secondhand clothes?
  • Have you ever bought secondhand clothes?
  • Would you buy secondhand clothes?
• When and where did you buy an article of clothing you’re wearing right now? Why did you choose it?
• What would you think if the mother of the groom wore black at a wedding?
  • What would you think if a bride wore red?
  • Should a bride’s dress be long or do you think it could be the length of a regular skirt?
• What items of clothing do you consider provocative in this country?
  • What types of clothing are provocative in your country?
  • Do you ever dress this way?
• What do you think of men wearing high heels?
• What do you think of women wearing high heels?
• Why is it acceptable for women to wear men’s clothing, but not for men to dress in women’s clothing?
• Is there a stigma attached to people who buy no-name (no brand) clothing?
• Are some people more fashion conscious than others? What types/groups of people?
• Have you ever bought imitation brand clothing?
• What traditional clothes do people from your country wear?
  • When do you wear them?
  • Are they comfortable?
• In your country do children have to wear school uniform?
  • Did you wear a school uniform?
  • Do you think wearing uniforms is a good idea?
• What would you do or feel if you were refused entry to somewhere because of what you are wearing?
• Do you think dress codes should be adhered to if requested on an invitation?
• What would you wear to meet royalty or the President of your country?
• Would you go to a fancy dress party? Why or why not?
• How much do you spend getting ready to go to school? Work? Out with friends? To a party?
  • Do the times vary much?
• What traditional clothes do people from your country wear?
• When do you wear them?
• Are they comfortable?
• Do you think there’s a difference between” fashion ” and “style” ?
• How often do you go clothes shopping?
  • Where do you like to go?
  • Who do you like to go with?
  • How much money do you usually spend?
  • Would you bring your husband/boyfriend with you when you go clothes shopping?
• What do you like to shop for the most?
• Where is your favorite shopping centre?
• What is your favorite brand?
• Are you a shopaholic?
• Do you go to many shops before buying one particular item or do you just buy the first one you find?
• Do you spend a lot of money on clothes your clothes?
• Which type of clothes do you “collect”?
• What’s your favorite piece of clothing?
  • How much did it cost?
  • Where did you buy your favorite piece of clothing?
• Have you ever felt uncomfortable with what you wear?
• Did your parents ever make you wear something you didn’t like?
• Do you like to go shopping during the sales?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG

A Catchy Little Tune 

Read the story and then answer the questions.

This simple four-line ditty was written as a classroom greeting in 1893 by two sisters. Mildred Hill, a teacher at the Louisville, Kentucky Experimental Kindergarten, and Dr. Patty Hill, the principal of the same school, together wrote the song for their five year-old pupils.

The melody of the song was composed by Mildred, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A, on June 27th, 1859. The song was first published in 1893, with the lyrics written by her sister, Patty, as Good Morning To All.

Mildred was an expert on spiritual songs and played the organ in her local church, while Patty, who later became a professor at Columbia University, specialized in kindergarten education. Although the song was published in 1893, it wasn’t copyrighted until 1935. The copyright was taken out under a different name and it wasn’t renewed until 1963.
The song was popularised in the late 1930’s when it was sung in the Broadway production of As Thousands Cheer, and has since become the mega-classic hit of all time.
In 1988, Birch Tree Group Ltd, the original publishers, sold the rights of the song, and all their other assets, to Warner Communications for an estimated $25 million.
During the 1980s, the song was believed to generate about $1 million in royalties annually. Along with Auld Lang Syne (sung at midnight on New Year’s Eve) and For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow (sung to celebrate someone’s achievement), it is among the three most popular songs in the English language.
It continues to bring in around $2 million in licensing revenue each year, according to current publisher Warner Chappell.

Answer the questions:
1. In which city was Mildred born?
2. The song was originally titled Good ______ To All.
3. What’s the word for a short, simple song or poem?
4. Which musical instrument did Mildred play?
5. Which US state were the sisters from?
6. Which sister wrote the words of the song?
7. What do Americans call a school for 5 to 6 year-olds?
8. Which sister wrote the music for the song?
9. The Broadway show which made the song famous was called As ______ Cheer.
10. Money or property that a person or company owns.
11. You get paid this if someone uses your work.
12. What was Patty’s position at her school?
13. What was the name of the university where she later worked?
14. On New Year’s Eve, people sing Auld Lang ______.
15. If something is your intellectual property, it means you own the ______.
16. What kind of songs was Mildred an expert on?
17. The publishers who now own the song are called ______ Chappell.
18. The publishers who first owned the rights were called __________ Tree Group.

Answers:

1. Louisville                    7. kindergarten                         13. Columbia
2. Morning                      8. Mildred                                    14. Syne
3. ditty                              9. Thousands                              15. copyright
4. organ                           10. assets                                      16. spiritual
5. Kentucky                   11. royalty                                    17. Warner
6. Patty                            12. Principal                                18. Birch

Related Websites

Take a look yourself:

http://www.planetpals.com/birthdayparty.html

Scroll down to see Happy Birthday in every language

http://www.warnerchappell.com/wcm/home2.jsp

The current owners of the copyright

http://www.famousbirthdays.com/

Who else was born on your birthday? Anyone famous?

http://www.happybirthdaytoyou.com/

Send your friends a birthday card

MORE PRESENT PERFECT PRACTISE

In our Real English series we are showing three more videos to exemplify the use of the present perfect.

In the first video, a really nice guy answers questions about his job -he is a messenger. At one stage he answers the question How long have you been a messenger for?, which shows the second use of the present perfect that we studied last week, present perfect to talk about a situation which started in the past and continues up to the present.

You can do an interactive exercise on the Real English site here.
You can watch the same video with English subtitles on the Real English site here.

In the second video Michael, a policeman in New York, answers some questions about his life. The two questions in blue refer to the use of the present perfect to talk about experiences. The question in red refers to the use of the present perfect to talk about situations which started in the past and continue up to now.
What’s your name?
What do you like doing in your free time?
What did you do yesterday?
Apart from New York, what other towns have you lived in?
When did you live in Hamburg?
Where were you born?
Was that a long time ago?
What’s been the best year of your life?
What have you been doing in the city today?
Were you good at school?
What’s the most beautiful city in the USA?
Which is bigger New York or San Francisco?
Which is the most beautiful language?
What would you do if you won 10 million dollars?
What do you hope to achieve before you die?
What are you going to do tonight?

In the third video, once again we can see the difference of usage of the present perfect to talk about activities or situations that started in the past and continue up to now (first interviewee, the juggler, who answers the question How long have you been juggling today?) and to talk about experiences (second interviewee, who answers the questions Have you travelled abroad?, Where have you been?).

However, you shouldn’t miss the third interview, where Minda shows her bubbly personality and extroverted manner. In addition, she answers a battery of questions we have been studying in our Real English series and that you can also use to revise all the grammar we have been studying throughout the series.

What is your name?

Would you spell that for me?
What are you doing right now?
Where do you live?
Where do you work?
How long does it take you to get to work?
How do you get to work?
When were you born?
What have you been doing in the city today?
Have you been to Europe?
What are you going to do tonight?
What are you going to do on your next holiday?
What do you like to do for fun?
Can you play any musical instruments?
What time is it?
What’s the weather like today?

PREPOSITIONS OF TIME

Let´s take a  look at some prepositions of time. Exercises below

 

 

PREPOSITION	USE	EXAMPLES
in	in months	in July; in October
	year	in 2005; in 1798
	seasons	in summer; in the summer of 89
	part of the day	in the morning; in the afternoon; in the evening
	duration	in a minute; in two weeks
at	part of the day	at night
	time of day	at 8o’clock; at midnight
	celebrations	at Christmas; at Easter
	fixed phrases	at the end of the week at the same time
on	days of the week	on Sunday; on Friday
	date	on the 25th of December
	special holidays	on Easter Sunday; on my birthday
	a special part of a day	on the morning of September the 11th
after	later than something.	after school
ago	how far something happened (in the past)	20 years ago
before	earlier than something.	before Christmas
between	time that separates two points	between Monday and Sunday
by	not later than a special time	by Wednesday
during	through the whole of a period of time	during the holidays
for	period of time	for three weeks
from … to from… till/until	two points form a period	from Monday to Wednesday from Monday till Wednesday from Monday until Wednesday
past	time of the day	10 minutes past 3 (3:10)
since	point of time	since Monday
till/until	no later than a special time	till tomorrow until tomorrow
to	time of the day	20 minutes to 6 (5:40)
up to	not more than a special time	up to 8 hours a day
within	during a period of time	within a day

 

Now, let´s try some exercises:

 

http://www.better-english.com/grammar/timepreps.htm

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/time-prepositions-exercise-2.html

http://www.englishpage.com/prepositions/time_prepositions_1.htm