Pre-Intermediate

Shopping Mania

Discussion | Chain Stores

  • What do these global chain stores sell?
  • Do you know which country they started in?
  • Do you have them in your country or city? If not, would you like to have them? Why (not)?
  • Do you ever buy from their websites? Do you prefer shopping online or in physical stores? Why?
  • What other big chain stores are there in your city? Which do you go to most often?
  • Do you prefer shopping at chain stores or independent shops?
  • What are the advantages of shopping at chain stores?
  • Do you think chain stores have a negative impact on small businesses?
  • Are there any chain stores that you avoid? Why?

Vocabulary | Shopping

Vocabulary | Explain how shopping on the ... website works.

Have you used them, or similar websites? What did you buy? Was it good quality? Was the user experience good? Would you shop there again?

Grammar | Present Perfect / Past Simple

  • Kate, Rosie  and John talk about shopping. Which chain stores do they mention?
  • Listen again. What did each person buy? Are they happy with what they bought?
  • Complete the missing verbs.

    A  ¹________ you ________ to a chain store recently?
    B Yes, I ² ________. I ³ ________ to H&M three weeks ago.
    A And what ⁴ ________ you ________?
    B I ⁵ ________ a skirt.

Grammar | Present Perfect / Past Simple

Been or Gone?

Grammar Practice | Present Perfect / Past Simple

  1. Have you ever ________ (sell) anything on eBay or a similar website? What did you sell?
  2. Have you ever ________ (buy) something online and had a problem with it? What was it? What did you do?
  3. Have you ever ________ (find) a great deal or discount while shopping? What was it?
  4. Have you ever ________ (buy) something expensive and regretted it later? What was it?
  5. Have you ever ________ (get) to the supermarket checkout and then found you didn’t have enough money? What did you do?
  6. Have you ever ________ (lose) a bank card? Where did you lose it? Did you get it back?
  7. Have you ever ________ (use) a self-checkout machine? Did you have any problems with it?
  8. Have you ever ________ (forget) to scan an item at self-checkout? Did you notice later?
  9. Have you ever ________ (try) to take something back to a shop without the receipt? Did they change it?
  10. Have you ever ________ (have) an argument with a shop assistant? What was it about?

Reading | The Story of the Ice-cream Sellers

  1. Are there any areas with a lot of the same kind of shops where you live?

Reading | The Story of the Ice-cream Sellers

  1. Do you think it's a good or bad thing to have the same kind of shops near each other?
  2. If you needed to buy something specific, would you rather go to a shopping mall or a street with many small shops selling the same thing? Why?
  3.  
  4. Have you ever travelled a long way to a shop? Why? How long did you travel?