Is there more to life than shopping?

Amanda Ford

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Shops and Shopping. Money and Payment.

Activity1.Whoever said money can’t buy happiness 

simply didn’t know where to go shopping.

Step 1. Have a look at the pictures and match them to their names.

a	b	c	d
e	f	g	h
i	j	k	l
m	n	o	p
q	r	s	t

1	A supermarket	8	A newsagent’s	15	An off-license shop
2	A flea market	9	A stationer’s	16	A jewel(l)er’s
3	A shopping center	10	A travel agent’s	17	A florist’s
4	A bakery	11	A shoe shop	18	A greengrocer’s
5	A bookshop	12	A clothes shop	19	An on-line shop
6	A butcher’s	13	A fishmonger’s	20	An electrical appliance shop
7	A chemist’s	14	A pet shop

Step 2. Look at the list of goods and decide where you can get them:

Buns, a brooch, a bottle of champagne, a book of rarity stamps, a tour to India, a chicken pie, antibiotics, fish rolls, a bottle of shampoo, a pair of trainers, minced meat, ground beef, shellfish, a bag of flour, caviar, a bunch of tulips, eye drops, pet food, a vitamin bone, silver earrings, canned tuna, a ruler and some felt-tip pens, paper, paper clips, a head of cauliflower, a nightie, herring, spare ribs, some veal, some envelopes, salmon steaks, sunflower oil, sour cream, a LCD TV, an emerald brooch, a magazine, a fish tank, some parsley and dill, a pencil sharpener, a cactus in a pot, green leeks, a pencil case, lamb chops, a cup of yoghurt, a pair of slippers, a carton of milk, a coach tour to Kyiv, oranges, a tablet, a new pair of headphones, a nasal spray, a can of caviar, blister packs of tablets.

Step 3. Work in groups of 3. Use the Internet and add other goods which can be bought in the shops above. Present your ideas to the class.

Step 4. Match the words which mean the same:

A pharmacy, cobbler’s, a liquor store, a fishmonger’s, a shoe shop, a botanist, a vegetable shop, a drug store, an off-license shop, a greengrocer’s, stationer's shop, a florist, a charity shop, a home supply store, an office supply store, a second-hand shop, DIY store, seafood store.

Step 5. Look at the containers and label the pictures:

a tin of a tube of a jar of a tub of

a sack of a pack of a packet of a bag of

a carton of a cup of a can of

a box of a basket of a bottle of

Think of the containers for these goods (sometimes several answers are possible):

beer	hand cream	butter	tomatoes
matches	sour cream	salt	cigarettes
jam	Coca-cola	vinegar	orange juice
flour	tea	instant coffee	margarine
apples	shampoo	onions	milk

Step 6. You and your partner are having a party at the weekend. Discuss what you will have to buy, where and why. Talk about the things you won’t buy and why. Use as many words and expressions from the previous steps as possible.

Activity 2. “I don’t shop because I need something, I just shop for shopping’s sake”

(Cat Deeley).

Step 1. Work in pairs. Discuss the differences between:

1. A street market and a supermarket;

2. A baker’s and a butcher’s;

3. A newsagent’s and a chemist’s;

4. A pet shop and a fishmonger;

5. A florist’s and a greengrocer’s.

Use the key structures to help you:

… is different from … because in … they sell …, … and … .

… is different from … because in … you can buy … , … and … .

... Differs from ... as/since/because ... .

Step 2. Ask three group mates and report their answers to the class.

What/ the last/ shop/ you / be /to? Where/ it/is?

What/ you /buy /there? How much/ it /cost?

Activity 3. Shopping venues.

Step 1. Read the text and fill in the gaps with the words given in the box.

thrift	give-away	stores	pawn	secondhand
pricey	op	antique	venues	charity
surplus	nonprofit	hubs	cheap	textbook bookstores

There are various shopping ___ where you do the shopping. Not just window-shopping, for sure. For instance, shopping ___ , larger commercial zones that can be found in many cities, more formally called a central business district, but more commonly called “downtown” shopping hubs, or shopping centers, are collections of ___ ; that is a grouping of several businesses. Stores are divided into multiple categories based on the disposable income of the shopper. They can be tiered from ___ to ___ .

Some shops sell ___ goods. Often the public can also sell goods to such shops. In other cases, especially in the case of a ___ shop, the public donates goods to these shops, commonly known as ___ stores in the United States, ___ shops in the United Kingdom, or ___ -shops, opportunity shops in Australia and New Zealand. In ___ shops goods can be taken for free. In ___ shops, the public can find goods that are older and harder to find. Sometimes people are broke and borrow money from a ___ shop using an item of value as collateral. College students sometimes resell books back through college ___ . Old used items are often distributed through ___ stores.

Step 2. After you have checked Step 1, work in pairs: one of you puts down where and how people can do the shopping, the other writes down what exactly particular shops sell. Then you exchange your notes and check how much you remember by discussing that. You may ask each other questions in turns. For example, “What shop/which of the shops sells…?”, “What does a pawn shop sell?”, etc.

Activity 4.

Step 1. Read and fill in the gaps.