S2E19 - What Shall I Wear?

Objective & content

Rosie and her mum Kate go to a boutique on the high street to find an outfit for Rosie's party. Rosie tries on a blue dress, rejects a jacket, swaps shoes that are too small, and Kate cannot find her purse. The episode gives a second pass at the object pronouns it and them, now with clothes: I love it! Can I try it on? and These fit perfectly. I love them. The vocabulary field is clothes and describing an outfit (dress, shoes, jacket, necklace, fit, too small). Learners listen, then check their understanding with the in-app quiz.

Pedagogical guide

There are several single items (dress, jacket, necklace) and one plural pair (shoes), so the pronoun changes with the noun it replaces. Many learners repeat the noun (Can I try the dress on?) or drop the pronoun (Can I try on?): German learners tend to do the first and Italian learners the second, but English always needs the pronoun.

Suggested procedure

1. (8 min) Pre-listening: ask about shopping for clothes, meet Rosie and Kate, and preview dress, necklace, scarf and purse.
2. (4 min) First listen: where are Rosie and Kate and what are they shopping for?
3. (8 min) Second listen with pauses: what is it in the jacket sentence, and what is wrong with the first shoes?
4. (9 min) Comprehension check and vocabulary practice.
5. (7 min) Grammar: two columns on the board, it for one item and them for a pair, filled with sentences from the script.
6. (6 min) Speaking: learners describe an outfit to a partner using at least one it and one them.

Materials & prerequisites

The episode in the PLAY app (audio, slideshow, text and quiz), a student sheet and a teacher sheet with the answer key. Learners should already have met it and them as object pronouns (episode 17 of this series).

Curriculum alignment

Cycle 3 (6e), axis "The child and their close environment": clothes and shopping with family.