Teachers' Zone 15
Dear Teachers,
Today I would like to share with you some ideas concerning the upcoming Buy Nothing Day- and just to remind you -this year it is November , 26th. Why? Well, there are plenty of reasons- by conducting a lesson on this issue we can raise our students’ awareness and draw their attention to the pressing problems of the contemporary world. Another advantage is that we can introduce new vocabulary items and expose our teenagers to well-designed materials that we can adjust in any way we wish. Finally, it is a great opportunity to develop all the necessary skills which can be integrated or we can focus on one aspect only within a lesson- we can decide ourselves how to approach the Buy Nothing Day.
So, to start with let me suggest some lead-in activities such as answering the questions in pairs or individually:
- When was the last time you went shopping?
- What did you buy? How did it make you feel?
- Would your life be much different if you hadn’t bought the things you did?
- Do you think shopping can be a hobby or a favourite pastime? Why?
- Why do you think people love shopping that much? Will that ever change? Should that ever change?
Alternatively, we could engage students in the lesson by making them guess what the lesson can be about. Students have to find connections between receipts, leaflets from shops, black cardboard cards, credit cards, shop adverts, pictures of queues, landfills and black zeros.
After that we could ask our students about their associations with Buy Nothing Day or use the questions from the video material.
- What is Buy Nothing Day?
- Why is the Day important, especially during the pandemic?
- Are there alternative to not buying at all?
Once the students have some ideas, they can check whether their predictions were right while watching a short you tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrMTCToHb9w.
Having checked the answers we can use the title of the video: Buy Nothing Day: the antidote to Black Friday overconsumption? in order to discuss the concept of overconsumption and possible solutions to the problem. We can organise a class debate between advocates and opponents of Buy Nothing Day. Obviously, that must be done when the groups have prepared the list of arguments for and against and revised the structures useful during the debate.
Before summing up the lesson we can divide students in groups and ask them to come up with the ideas how to promote Buy Nothing Day, how to celebrate it and how to introduce the philosophy of Buy Nothing Day into our school community.
There are lots of other ideas for lessons on the following websites, to name just a few:
https://eltfootprint.org/materials/buy-nothing-day/
https://eslholidaylessons.com/11/buy_nothing_day
So, enjoy preparing the lesson and celebrate Buy Nothing Day!
See you next time!
Katarzyna Nowak
