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WARM-UPS

1. FASHION MAGAZINES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about fashion magazines. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

Girl Guide / fashion mags / models / airbrushed photos / clear skin / cosmetic surgery / celebrities / eating disorder / perfect bodies / recovery / true to life / upset / unfair

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. FASHION INDUSTRY: Good or bad? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	Good or bad (and why)
Airbrushed photos
Size zero
Role models
Fur
Sweatshops
Brand clothes

4. PHOTOS: Students A strongly believe there’s nothing wrong with airbrushing photos in fashion magazines; Students B strongly believe there’s a lot wrong with it.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. WORRIES: What do you worry about most? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner and say why. Change partners and share your rankings again.

Face Hair Confidence Voice

Sense of humour English ability Height Weight

6. FASHION: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘fashion’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Girl Guides want to be told when their photos are airbrushed.	T / F
b.	The Guides are going to add their names to a list as a protest.	T / F
c.	Guides go to photo shops to get their facial photos altered.	T / F
d.	Around 50% of teenage girls in this article want cosmetic surgery.	T / F
e.	A British actress thinks “touching-up” photos is a good thing.	T / F
f.	A charity boss said “touched-up” photos help girls eat better.	T / F
g.	The boss said photos of people as they really are are more helpful.	T / F
h.	A girl said airbrushed pics upset her because they aren’t true images.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	spoken out	a.	reach
2	fed up	b.	defect
3.	tackle	c.	mean
4.	altered	d.	sort out
5.	blemish	e.	illness
6.	disorder	f.	talked openly
7.	perfect	g.	recuperation
8.	recovery	h.	faultless
9.	achieve	i.	tired
10.	unfair	j.	changed

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	spoken out	a.	to life
2	glossy	b.	about their appearance
3.	added their names	c.	much more difficult to achieve
4.	led to a rise	d.	mags
5.	teenage girls worry	e.	disorder
6.	“touched-up”	f.	against the fashion magazine industry
7.	eating	g.	in eating disorders
8.	so	h.	how they look
9.	natural and true	i.	to a petition
10.	that's not really	j.	photos in magazines

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

The world’s Girl Guides have spoken ____________ against the fashion magazine industry. They are fed up with the way ____________ mags change the faces of models, singers and actresses to make them look more beautiful. They have added their names to a ____________ to tackle airbrushed images of glamorous celebrities. Girlguiding U.K. wants publishers to be more honest and ____________ photographs that have been altered. Many pictures are changed using computer software like Photoshop. This makes teeth look whiter, eyes ____________, and skin clearer and blemish-____________. Young girls want to look like these unrealistic images, which has led to a ____________ in eating disorders and a lack of confidence. The Guides point to research that shows half of teenage girls worry about their appearance and want ____________ surgery.		free petition rise label out cosmetic glossy brighter
Many high-____________ celebrities, including British actress Kate Winslett, have called for the labelling of “touched-____________” photos in magazines. Susan Ringwood, the CEO of the eating ____________ charity Beat, said: "Young people…tell us that being surrounded everyday ____________ pictures of unnaturally 'perfect' bodies makes their own recovery so much more difficult to ____________." She added: "We know the difference it would make…if [young girls] could be sure which of the images they see are natural and ____________ to life." Lauren Fletcher, an 11-year-old Guide, told reporters that magazines often "really upset" her “because people in magazines are ____________ to look different when that's not really how they look”. She said: “It might make people uncomfortable about themselves. I ____________ think that's unfair.”		true up just achieve profile made disorder by

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The world’s Girl Guides _______________________ the fashion magazine industry. They are fed up with _______________________ the faces of models, singers and actresses to make them look more beautiful. They have added their names to _______________________ airbrushed images of glamorous celebrities. Girlguiding U.K. wants publishers to be more honest and label photographs _______________________. Many pictures are changed using computer software like Photoshop. This makes teeth look whiter, eyes brighter, and skin _______________________. Young girls want to look like these unrealistic images, which has led to a rise in eating disorders and a lack of confidence. The Guides point to research that shows half of teenage girls worry about their appearance _______________________.

Many high-profile celebrities, including British actress Kate Winslett, have _______________________ of “touched-up” photos in magazines. Susan Ringwood, the CEO of _______________________ Beat, said: "Young people…tell us that being surrounded everyday by pictures of unnaturally 'perfect' bodies _______________________ so much more difficult to achieve." She added: "We know the difference it would make…if [young girls] _______________________ the images they see are natural and true to life." Lauren Fletcher, an 11-year-old Guide, told reporters that magazines often "really upset" her “because people in magazines are made to _______________________ not really how they look”. She said: “It might make _______________________ themselves. I just think that's unfair.”

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘fashion’ and ‘magazine’.

fashion

magazine

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

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 how they were used in the text:

spoken fed altered whiter rise half

called charity recovery true upset unfair

STUDENT FASHION PHOTOS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about fashion photos 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.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

FASHION PHOTOS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘fashion’?
c)	What do you think of fashion magazines?
d)	Is it right or wrong that most models are good-looking?
e)	Are models good role models for teenagers?
f)	Do you think airbrushed photos should be labelled?
g)	Is it wrong for photos in fashion magazines to be altered to make the people look more beautiful?
h)	Should the government do anything about the link between fashion magazine photos and eating disorders?
i)	What do you think of the fashion for “size zero” models?
j)	Would you ever have cosmetic surgery?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Do you think actors and singers would be for or against their photos being airbrushed?
c)	We are surrounded by images of ‘unnaturally perfect’ bodies. Does this bother you in any way?
d)	Is there anything wrong with the fantasy of fashion?
e)	How do fashion magazines affect boys and girls differently?
f)	Would a magazine showing normal and unattractive people work?
g)	What would life be like without the fashion industry?
h)	Would you like a professional to airbrush a photo of you?
i)	Should teenagers be able to sue fashion magazines that upset them?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Susan Ringwood?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

The world’s Girl Guides have spoken (1) ____ against the fashion magazine industry. They are fed up with the way glossy (2) ____ change the faces of models, singers and actresses to make them look more beautiful. They have added their names to a petition (3) ____ tackle airbrushed images of glamorous celebrities. Girlguiding U.K. wants publishers to be more honest and label photographs that have been (4) ____. Many pictures are changed using computer software like Photoshop. This makes teeth look whiter, eyes brighter, and skin clearer and blemish-(5) ____. Young girls want to look like these unrealistic images, which has led to a (6) ____ in eating disorders and a lack of confidence. The Guides point to research that shows half of teenage girls worry about their appearance and want cosmetic surgery.

Many high-profile celebrities, including British actress Kate Winslett, have called for the labelling of “touched-(7) ____” photos in magazines. Susan Ringwood, the CEO of the eating disorder charity Beat, said: "Young people…(8) ____ us that being surrounded everyday by pictures of (9) ____ 'perfect' bodies makes their own recovery so much more difficult to achieve." She added: "We know the difference it would make…if [young girls] could be sure which of the images they see are natural and true (10) ____ life." Lauren Fletcher, an 11-year-old Guide, told reporters that magazines often "really upset" her “because people in magazines are (11) ____ to look different when that's not really how they look”. She said: “It might make people uncomfortable (12) ____ themselves. I just think that's unfair.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	in	(b)	out	(c)	on	(d)	by
2.	(a)	bags	(b)	nags	(c)	mags	(d)	tags
3.	(a)	to	(b)	at	(c)	on	(d)	of
4.	(a)	altering	(b)	alters	(c)	alter	(d)	altered
5.	(a)	frees	(b)	freely	(c)	free	(d)	freer
6.	(a)	rise	(b)	raise	(c)	up	(d)	higher
7.	(a)	down	(b)	in	(c)	in	(d)	up
8.	(a)	voice	(b)	tell	(c)	speak	(d)	say
9.	(a)	natural	(b)	unnatural	(c)	naturalized	(d)	unnaturally
10.	(a)	of	(b)	by	(c)	to	(d)	on
11.	(a)	got	(b)	made	(c)	taken	(d)	did
12.	(a)	about	(b)	from	(c)	to	(d)	as

WRITING

Write about fashion photos for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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HOMEWORK

1. 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 out more about airbrushed fashion photos. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. FASHION PHOTOS: Make a poster about fashion photos. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. TOUCHED-UP: Write a magazine article about touched-up photos. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against them.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to a fashion mag boss. Ask him/her three questions about airbrushed fashion photos. Give him/her three ideas on how to make fashion magazines more responsible. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

T

d.

T

e.

T

f.

F

g.

F

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	spoken out	a.	talked openly
2	fed up	b.	tired
3.	tackle	c.	sort out
4.	altered	d.	changed
5.	blemish	e.	defect
6.	disorder	f.	illness
7.	perfect	g.	faultless
8.	recovery	h.	recuperation
9.	achieve	i.	reach
10.	unfair	j.	mean

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	spoken out	a.	against the fashion magazine industry
2	glossy	b.	mags
3.	added their names	c.	to a petition
4.	led to a rise	d.	in eating disorders
5.	teenage girls worry	e.	about their appearance
6.	“touched-up”	f.	photos in magazines
7.	eating	g.	disorder
8.	so	h.	much more difficult to achieve
9.	natural and true	i.	to life
10.	that's not really	j.	how they look

GAP FILL:

Girl Guides want photo airbrushing warning

The world’s Girl Guides have spoken out against the fashion magazine industry. They are fed up with the way glossy mags change the faces of models, singers and actresses to make them look more beautiful. They have added their names to a petition to tackle airbrushed images of glamorous celebrities. Girlguiding U.K. wants publishers to be more honest and label photographs that have been altered. Many pictures are changed using computer software like Photoshop. This makes teeth look whiter, eyes brighter, and skin clearer and blemish-free. Young girls want to look like these unrealistic images, which has led to a rise in eating disorders and a lack of confidence. The Guides point to research that shows half of teenage girls worry about their appearance and want cosmetic surgery.

Many high-profile celebrities, including British actress Kate Winslett, have called for the labelling of “touched-up” photos in magazines. Susan Ringwood, the CEO of the eating disorder charity Beat, said: "Young people…tell us that being surrounded everyday by pictures of unnaturally 'perfect' bodies makes their own recovery so much more difficult to achieve." She added: "We know the difference it would make…if [young girls] could be sure which of the images they see are natural and true to life." Lauren Fletcher, an 11-year-old Guide, told reporters that magazines often "really upset" her “because people in magazines are made to look different when that's not really how they look”. She said: “It might make people uncomfortable about themselves. I just think that's unfair.”

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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