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Date: Jan 10, 2008
THE ARTICLEVictoria Beckham worst-dressed celebVictoria Beckham's plan to wow Hollywood with her style took a turn for the worse yesterday. Ms Beckham, a.k.a. Posh Spice from the pop band the Spice Girls, was named by the 85-year-old fashion guru Richard Blackwell as 2007's Worst Dressed Celebrity. The acid-tongued critic Mr Blackwell designed dresses for Hollywood’s rich and famous in the 1950s and 60s and started compiling his lists of the world’s best and worst-dressed stars in 1960. They are now greatly looked forward to, or perhaps not in Ms Beckham’s case, by Hollywood’s dedicated followers of fashion. Mr Blackwell said Posh wore “one skinny-mini monstrosity after another”. His attack on Posh comes exactly a decade after he put the Spice Girls at number one of his list, saying they were "the only spices on the planet that have no taste".
Ms Beckham moved to Los Angeles last year, when her footballer husband David signed up with the LA Galaxy team. She quickly made friends with stars such as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and ventured into the fashion industry. Posh launched her own denim and accessories collections in an attempt to become a global brand. She has also appeared on US TV shows and has written a book on style, called “That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, Heels And Everything In Between”. The second-worst-dressed woman was another Brit, troubled singer Amy Winehouse. Mr Blackwell said Britney Spears would also have made this year’s list but he felt it was “inappropriate…when her personal life is in such upheaval”. The best-dressed female celebs included Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie. WARM-UPS1. CLOTHES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about clothes, fashion and style. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your original partner(s) and share what you found out. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. TO WOW: What do you think of the verb ‘wow’? Talk with your partner(s) about your plans this year (make them up if you need to) to wow these people. What do you think they would say if you carry out your plans?
4. FASHION PARADE: Have a quick class fashion parade. Stand in a circle. Discuss with your partners the fashion of other classmates. Change partners often and share what you talked about. 5. FASHION GURUS: You are a fashion guru. Talk with your ‘fashion guru’ partner(s) about what these people would look best wearing at these places:
6. STYLE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘style’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. 7. QUICK ROLE PLAY: Student A strongly believes people should think carefully about what they wear and take pride in their appearance; Student B strongly believes fashion and clothes are a waste of time. Change partners again and talk about your roles and conversations. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.Victoria Beckham's plan to wow Hollywood with her style ________________ worse yesterday. Ms Beckham, a.k.a. Posh Spice from the pop band the Spice Girls, was named by the 85-year-old fashion guru Richard Blackwell as 2007's Worst Dressed Celebrity. The ________________ Mr Blackwell designed dresses for Hollywood’s rich and famous in the 1950s and 60s and started ________________ of the world’s best and worst-dressed stars in 1960. They are now greatly looked forward to, ________________ Ms Beckham’s case, by Hollywood’s ____________________ fashion. Mr Blackwell said Posh wore “one skinny-mini ________________ another”. His attack on Posh comes exactly a decade after he put the Spice Girls at number one of his list, saying they were "the ________________ planet that have no taste". Ms Beckham moved to Los Angeles last year, when her footballer husband David ________________ LA Galaxy team. She quickly made friends with stars such as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and ________________ fashion industry. Posh launched her own denim and accessories collections in an ________________ a global brand. She has also appeared on US TV shows and has written ________________, called “That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, Heels And Everything In Between”. The second-worst-dressed woman was another Brit, ________________ Amy Winehouse. Mr Blackwell said Britney Spears would also have made this year’s list ___________________ “inappropriate…when her personal life is ________________”. The best-dressed female celebs included Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘rich’ and ‘famous’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:
STUDENT CLOTHES SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about clothes in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
-------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGECORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article. Victoria Beckham's plan to wow Hollywood with her style took a (1) ____ for the worse yesterday. Ms Beckham, a.k.a. Posh Spice from the pop band the Spice Girls, was (2) ____ by the 85-year-old fashion guru Richard Blackwell as 2007's Worst Dressed Celebrity. The acid-tongued (3) ____ Mr Blackwell designed dresses for Hollywood’s rich and famous in the 1950s and 60s and started compiling his lists of the world’s best and worst-dressed stars in 1960. They are now (4) ____ looked forward to, or perhaps not in Ms Beckham’s case, by Hollywood’s dedicated followers (5) ____ fashion. Mr Blackwell said Posh wore “one skinny-mini monstrosity after another”. His attack on Posh comes (6) ____ a decade after he put the Spice Girls at number one of his list, saying they were "the only spices on the planet that have no taste". Ms Beckham moved to Los Angeles last year, when her footballer husband David signed (7) ____ with the LA Galaxy team. She quickly made friends with stars such as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and ventured (8) ____ the fashion industry. Posh launched her (9) ____ denim and accessories collections in an attempt to become a global brand. She has also appeared on US TV shows and has written a book (10) ____ style, called “That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, Heels And Everything In Between”. The second-worst-dressed woman was (11) ____ Brit, troubled singer Amy Winehouse. Mr Blackwell said Britney Spears would also have made this year’s list but he felt it was “inappropriate…when her personal life is in (12) ____ upheaval”. The best-dressed female celebs included Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie.
WRITING:Write about style for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information about Victoria Beckham. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. STYLE: What is style? Make a poster about style in different areas (fashion, furniture, food…). Show your poster to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. CRITIC: You are a fashion critic. Write a magazine article about style and fashion in your country. Include (imaginary) interviews with a top fashion designer and a good friend of yours. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down new words and expressions. 5. LETTER: Write a letter to Victoria Beckham. Ask her three questions about her thoughts on being named Worst Dressed Celebrity. Give her three suggestions on what she should do to wow her critics. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Victoria Beckham worst-dressed celebVictoria Beckham's plan to wow Hollywood with her style took a turn for the worse yesterday. Ms Beckham, a.k.a. Posh Spice from the pop band the Spice Girls, was named by the 85-year-old fashion guru Richard Blackwell as 2007's Worst Dressed Celebrity. The acid-tongued critic Mr Blackwell designed dresses for Hollywood’s rich and famous in the 1950s and 60s and started compiling his lists of the world’s best and worst-dressed stars in 1960. They are now greatly looked forward to, or perhaps not in Ms Beckham’s case, by Hollywood’s dedicated followers of fashion. Mr Blackwell said Posh wore “one skinny-mini monstrosity after another”. His attack on Posh comes exactly a decade after he put the Spice Girls at number one of his list, saying they were "the only spices on the planet that have no taste". Ms Beckham moved to Los Angeles last year, when her footballer husband David signed up with the LA Galaxy team. She quickly made friends with stars such as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and ventured into the fashion industry. Posh launched her own denim and accessories collections in an attempt to become a global brand. She has also appeared on US TV shows and has written a book on style, called “That Extra Half An Inch: Hair, Heels And Everything In Between”. The second-worst-dressed woman was another Brit, troubled singer Amy Winehouse. Mr Blackwell said Britney Spears would also have made this year’s list but he felt it was “inappropriate…when her personal life is in such upheaval”. The best-dressed female celebs included Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie. LANGUAGE WORK
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