Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on DisneyBaby.com

The Walt Disney Company is venturing into a new and untapped market - newborns. It already has a dominant presence in every other area of childhood, but now wants to start making money from babies. It has released a new product called Disney Baby. Sales agents have been visiting new mothers in maternity hospitals offering a baby suit in exchange for signing up to e-mails from DisneyBaby.com. Disney’s new campaign is attracting criticism. Jeff McIntyre, director of the group Children Now, said: “This is taking advantage of families at an extremely vulnerable time.” New mother Elizabeth Carter said: “It surprised me that Disney was in there promoting something right as the baby was born, but we figured as new parents we weren’t in a position to turn free things down,” she said.

Disney CEO Robert Iger believes his company is offering a fantastic product, saying: “If ever there was an opportunity for a trusted brand to enter a market and provide a better product and experience, it’s this.” He added: “It’s about making something easier and providing [mothers] with a personalized, high-quality product.” Iger estimates the North American newborn baby market alone to be worth $36.3 billion a year. Other world markets will offer significantly more. Disney’s last venture to sell products for babies did not prove to be wholly successful. In 2009, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood forced Disney to acknowledge that its Baby Einstein products did not turn babies into geniuses. The company ended up offering Baby Einstein refunds.

WARM-UPS

1. DISNEY: Walk around the class and talk to other students about Disney. 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.

venturing / dominant / new product / sales agents / criticism / taking advantage / fantastic products / opportunity / newborns / commercials / Einstein / refunds

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

3. UNTAPPED: What new markets could Disney venture into? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Disney for…	Product	Benefits for target market
babies
studying English
world leaders
sports stars
doctors
the aged

4. DISNEY BABY: Students A strongly believe it’s wrong for Disney to target babies; Students B strongly believe it’s OK. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. BABIES: Is it OK for any company to target babies? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most appropriate at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

Disney
Nike
McDonald’s
BMW

HSBC bank
Berlitz language schools
Apple
BBC

6. NEWBORN: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘newborn’. 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.	Disney is planning a new movie about newborn babies.	T / F
b.	Disney sales staff are getting new mothers to sign up for e-mails.	T / F
c.	A child protection organization is unhappy at Disney’s e-mail campaign.	T / F
d.	A mother said it was difficult to turn down Disney’s offer.	T / F
e.	Disney’s CEO has cast doubt on the quality of the product for babies.	T / F
f.	The global market value for newborns is close to $40 billion.	T / F
g.	Disney has always been successful in its attempts to profit from babies.	T / F
h.	Disney had to return money to those who bought Baby Einstein goods.	T / F

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

1.	venturing	a.	guesses
2	untapped	b.	pushing
3.	dominant	c.	totally
4.	vulnerable	d.	unopened
5.	promoting	e.	finished
6.	opportunity	f.	going
7.	estimates	g.	greatly
8.	significantly	h.	main
9.	wholly	i.	chance
10.	ended up	j.	defenseless

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

1.	venturing into a new and	a.	significantly more
2	It already has a dominant	b.	things down
3.	attracting	c.	product
4.	taking advantage	d.	presence
5.	turn free	e.	into geniuses
6.	offering a fantastic	f.	was an opportunity
7.	If ever there	g.	untapped market
8.	Other world markets will offer	h.	successful
9.	did not prove to be wholly	i.	criticism
10.	turn babies	j.	of families

WHILE READING / LISTENING

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

The Walt Disney Company is venturing into a new and (1) ____________ market - newborns. It already has a dominant presence in every other (2) ____________ of childhood, but now wants to start making money from babies. It has released a new product called Disney Baby. Sales (3) ____________ have been visiting new mothers in maternity hospitals offering a baby suit in exchange for (4) ____________ up to e-mails from DisneyBaby.com. Disney’s new (5) ____________ is attracting criticism. Jeff McIntyre, director of the group Children Now, said: “This is (6) ____________ advantage of families at an extremely vulnerable time.” New mother Elizabeth Carter said: “It surprised me that Disney was in there (7) ____________ something right as the baby was born, but we figured as new parents we weren’t in a position to turn free things (8) ____________,” she said.

signing
down
area
taking
promoting
untapped
campaign
agents

Disney CEO Robert Iger believes his company is offering a (9) ____________ product, saying: “If (10) ____________ there was an opportunity for a trusted brand to enter a market and provide a better product and experience, it’s this.” He added: “It’s about making something easier and (11) ____________ [mothers] with a personalized, high-quality product.” Iger (12) ____________ the North American newborn baby market alone to be worth $36.3 billion a year. Other world markets will offer significantly (13) ____________. Disney’s last venture to sell products for babies did not prove to be (14) ____________ successful. In 2009, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood forced Disney to acknowledge that its Baby Einstein products did not (15) ____________ babies into geniuses. The company ended up offering Baby Einstein (16) ____________.

wholly
providing
fantastic
more
refunds
estimates
ever
turn

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The Walt Disney Company _______________________ new and untapped market - newborns. It already has a dominant presence _______________________ of childhood, but now wants to start making money from babies. It _______________________ product called Disney Baby. Sales agents have been visiting new mothers in maternity hospitals offering a baby _______________________ signing up to e-mails from DisneyBaby.com. Disney’s new campaign is attracting criticism. Jeff McIntyre, director of the group Children Now, said: “_______________________ of families at an extremely vulnerable time.” New mother Elizabeth Carter said: “It surprised me that Disney was in there promoting something right as the baby was born, but we figured as new parents we weren’t in a position _______________________,” she said.

Disney CEO Robert Iger believes his company _______________________ product, saying: “If ever there was an opportunity for a trusted brand to _______________________ provide a better product and experience, it’s this.” He added: “It’s about _______________________ and providing [mothers] with a personalized, high-quality product.” Iger estimates the North American newborn baby market alone to be worth $36.3 billion a year. Other world markets will _______________________. Disney’s last venture to sell products for babies did ________________________ successful. In 2009, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood forced Disney to acknowledge that its Baby Einstein products did _______________________ geniuses. The company ended up offering Baby Einstein refunds.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

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

maternity

hospital

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:

venturing
start
visiting
exchange
taking
down

fantastic
provide
high
alone
wholly
up

STUDENT DISNEY AND BABIES SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about Disney and babies 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.

DISNEY AND BABIES 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 ‘Disney’?
c)	Do you think Disney is a good company?
d)	What do you think of what was said in this article?
e)	Do you think it’s OK for Disney to tap into the market for newborns?
f)	What do you think about Disney sales agents visiting hospitals to get new mothers to sign up for DisneyBaby.com?
g)	Do you agree with what Jeff McIntyre said?
h)	What three adjectives would you use to describe Disney?
i)	Should hospitals keep sales agents out of maternity wards?
j)	Do you think other global countries will now also start targeting the mothers of newborns?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Would you like to be the CEO of Disney? What would you do?
c)	Do you think Disney is going too far to make money?
d)	Do mothers really want personalized products from Disney?
e)	Do you think Disney will try and tap into markets all over the world?
f)	Do / Did you have any Disney things?
g)	What do you think of Disney movies?
h)	Disney is focusing on the teen market with creations like Hannah Montana. What do you think of this?
i)	What’s the best product for a newborn baby / new mother?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Disney’s CEO?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

The Walt Disney Company is venturing (1) ____ a new and untapped market - newborns. It already has a dominant presence in every other area of childhood, but now wants to start making money (2) ____ babies. It has released a new product called Disney Baby. Sales agents have been visiting new mothers in maternity hospitals offering a baby suit (3) ____ exchange for signing up to e-mails from DisneyBaby.com. Disney’s new campaign is (4) ____ criticism. Jeff McIntyre, director of the group Children Now, said: “This is (5) ____ advantage of families at an extremely vulnerable time.” New mother Elizabeth Carter said: “It surprised me that Disney was in there promoting something right as the baby was born, but we (6) ____ as new parents we weren’t in a position to turn free things down,” she said.

Disney CEO Robert Iger believes his company is offering a fantastic product, saying: “If (7) ____ there was an opportunity for a trusted brand to enter a market and provide a better product and experience, it’s (8) ____.” He added: “It’s about making something easier and providing [mothers] with a personalized, high-quality product.” Iger estimates the North American newborn baby market (9) ____ to be worth $36.3 billion a year. Other world markets will offer significantly more. Disney’s last venture to sell products for babies did not (10) ____ to be (11) ____ successful. In 2009, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood forced Disney to acknowledge that its Baby Einstein products did not (12) ____ babies into geniuses. The company ended up offering Baby Einstein refunds.

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

1.	(a)	to	(b)	onto	(c)	at	(d)	into
2.	(a)	into	(b)	from	(c)	towards	(d)	rather
3.	(a)	in	(b)	at	(c)	by	(d)	for
4.	(a)	attractive	(b)	attracted	(c)	attracting	(d)	attraction
5.	(a)	making	(b)	waking	(c)	taking	(d)	faking
6.	(a)	added	(b)	figured	(c)	subtracted	(d)	numbered
7.	(a)	ever	(b)	even	(c)	never	(d)	event
8.	(a)	even	(b)	anything	(c)	the	(d)	this
9.	(a)	lonely	(b)	alone	(c)	loner	(d)	lonesome
10.	(a)	proven	(b)	provable	(c)	proof	(d)	prove
11.	(a)	holy	(b)	whole	(c)	wholly	(d)	holed up
12.	(a)	turn	(b)	learn	(c)	earn	(d)	yearn

WRITING

Write about Disney and babies for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 DisneyBaby.com. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. DISNEY: Make a poster about the Walt Disney Company. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. DISNEY BABY.com: Write a magazine article about DisneyBaby.com. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.

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 the CEO of Disney. Ask him three questions about DisneyBaby.com. Give him three of your opinions on it. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	venturing	a.	going
2	untapped	b.	unopened
3.	dominant	c.	main
4.	vulnerable	d.	defenseless
5.	promoting	e.	pushing
6.	opportunity	f.	chance
7.	estimates	g.	guesses
8.	significantly	h.	greatly
9.	wholly	i.	totally
10.	ended up	j.	finished

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	venturing into a new and	a.	untapped market
2	It already has a dominant	b.	presence
3.	attracting	c.	criticism
4.	taking advantage	d.	of families
5.	turn free	e.	things down
6.	offering a fantastic	f.	product
7.	If ever there	g.	was an opportunity
8.	Other world markets will offer	h.	significantly more
9.	did not prove to be wholly	i.	successful
10.	turn babies	j.	into geniuses

GAP FILL:

Disney Company targeting newborns

The Walt Disney Company is venturing into a new and (1) untapped market - newborns. It already has a dominant presence in every other (2) area of childhood, but now wants to start making money from babies. It has released a new product called Disney Baby. Sales (3) agents have been visiting new mothers in maternity hospitals offering a baby suit in exchange for (4) signing up to e-mails from DisneyBaby.com. Disney’s new (5) campaign is attracting criticism. Jeff McIntyre, director of the group Children Now, said: “This is (6) taking advantage of families at an extremely vulnerable time.” New mother Elizabeth Carter said: “It surprised me that Disney was in there (7) promoting something right as the baby was born, but we figured as new parents we weren’t in a position to turn free things (8) down,” she said.

Disney CEO Robert Iger believes his company is offering a (9) fantastic product, saying: “If (10) ever there was an opportunity for a trusted brand to enter a market and provide a better product and experience, it’s this.” He added: “It’s about making something easier and (11) providing [mothers] with a personalized, high-quality product.” Iger (12) estimates the North American newborn baby market alone to be worth $36.3 billion a year. Other world markets will offer significantly (13) more. Disney’s last venture to sell products for babies did not prove to be (14) wholly successful. In 2009, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood forced Disney to acknowledge that its Baby Einstein products did not (15) turn babies into geniuses. The company ended up offering Baby Einstein (16) refunds.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - b

3 - a

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - a

8 - d

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

Breaking News English

PRINT

13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities

LISTEN

MP3 (2:02 - 979KB)

Disney Company Targeting Newborns (9th February, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT DISNEY AND BABIES SURVEY

DISNEY AND BABIES DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Disney Company targeting newborns

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You

My 1,000 Ideas e-Book	Breaking News English HOME \| HELP MY SITE \| 000s MORE FREE LESSONS	My 1,000 Ideas e-Book

Breaking News English

PRINT

13-Page PDF Handout - with all-skills activities

LISTEN

MP3 (2:02 - 979KB)

Disney Company Targeting Newborns (9th February, 2011)

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT DISNEY AND BABIES SURVEY

DISNEY AND BABIES DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

WRITING

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Disney Company targeting newborns

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You

13-Page PDF
Handout - with
all-skills activities