What is beauty?

You are going to

• discuss fashion, beauty and health
• practise words to describe people
• listen to someone talking about ideas of fashion, beauty and health

1) Discuss in pairs / write a list
In 60 seconds how many words can you think of which describe a person's appearance?
Make a note / write a list of them
eg tall, short...










2) Match
A) Choose the right category for each of the words below. Is it Build, Hair, Height or Opinion?







B) Now make a table and put all the words from the exercise and your list in the right column

Build	Hair	Height	Opinion
		tall

3) Discuss

• What is beauty?
• What makes someone beautiful or attractive?
• Where do we get our ideas of beauty from?
• Do ideas of beauty vary around the world?

4) Watch
Watch the clip "Food for Thought" below.
You are going to watch a woman called Mable talk about the first time she came to the UK.
A) Listen and answer

• Where does Mabel get her idea of beauty from?
• Why is she scared of coming to England?
• What does she learn about the British?

B) Watch again and fill in the gaps in the sentences

5) Discuss

• Why does Mabel think that beauty is what she sees in the magazines?
• What do you think “junk in the trunk” means? Junk = rubbish. Trunk (American) = the place where you put the bags in a car (boot in UK English). Can you guess what she means when describing people?
• Why do you think it is easier for an African to eat well and be healthy than for the British?
• Is it easy to eat healthily in your country? 
• Do you eat healthily?
• She says "the magazines show what the British want to look like."  Do you think this is true for all nationalities?
• Why do we want to look like the people in the magazines?
• Why does Mabel think she is lucky at the end?

6) Do the crossword

Click on a number and type in your answer. Click check to see the answers.

All the words are used to describe people.

Crossword printable version here

Printable exercises here






7) Play a game
20 questions.
Someone in the class thinks of a famous person. The others ask Yes / No questions to guess the name of the person.
- Is it a man? Yes it is
- Is he tall? - Yes he is.
- Has he got long hair? Yes he has

Continue until you guess. If you can't guess in 20 questions you lose!








8) Discuss / Write

A) In Pairs. Describe someone. Talk about their appearance and their personality. Don't say their name. Read your description to your partner or to the class. Can they guess who you are describing?


B) - IELTS

• The Fashion and clothing industry is becoming increasingly important in modern society. Is this a good or bad thing?

• Eating a balanced diet is the most important factor for a healthy life. To what extent do you agree?

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