Using Supermarket Flyers in ESL/EFL Classes

Nur Yigitoglu
yigitogl (at) msu.edu
Michigan State University (East Lansing, Michigan, USA)

Introduction

This paper focuses on the use of shopping flyers in various levels of ESL and EFL classrooms. Authenticity in creating classroom materials have always been discussed in ESL/EFL literature and especially in lower levels, it is very important to use authentic materials in a way that can help students to learn more language. In daily life, shopping flyers are used frequently and thus this type of authentic material can also help the students to learn about the real language and target culture.

Rationale

This lesson plan is developed to help the students understand quantifiers such as a cup of, a gallon of, etc. Considering possible differences among multilingual and multicultural students are taken into account, the quantifiers in the English versus the Metric system becomes more important for the practical implications of the lesson. As Kelly et. al. (2002) has suggested, effective use of authentic materials can be useful to make classroom more realistic as well as to help students understand culture better.

The quantifiers may not be easy to acquire and can be confusing for students especially in lower levels. As Frodesen (2001) has acknowledged ESL students can benefit greatly from learning how various grammatical features and grammatical systems are used inauthentic written texts (p. 237). As such, it is important to make them learn these structures in meaningful and daily activities using authentic materials.

Overall Information

The skills emphasized in this lesson are mainly speaking with some emphasis on writing. The lesson starts with a warm-up activity which prepares students for the structures emphasized in this lesson. This fill in the blank activity does not include words but authentic materials so as to make students exposed to real language use. The activity with the shopping flyers builds up the students' lexical and structural knowledge.

Objectives

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to read the flyers and understand the meaning of basic quantifiers used in daily life and use the correct form of measure words with appropriate nouns. Thus, the objectives for this lesson are grammatical and structural.

Materials

Handout of a paragraph describing what you have in the refrigerator/shopping list
Some authentic materials like bottles, boxes (depending on what you write on the handout)
Flyers from two different grocery shops (one per student)

Sample Handout for Warm-up

Last week I came back from my summer holiday. When I got home, I realized that I had to go to the grocery store as there was nothing left in my house. Firstly, I bought a half gallon of _______ and a box of _________for breakfast. In the dairy section, I got a cup of _______ and _________. Then I got a jar of__________. I bought a cup of_______ and I also bought a bottle of_______to put on the salad. I got a bottle of _______to drink. Lastly, for laundry, I got a bottle of________ and ________. I also got a bottle of _________, and a tube of_______________for personal cleaning.

Procedures for the Lesson

Warm-up

The teacher will distribute the handouts and give students two minutes to read the paragraph.
The teacher will explain the activity.
While students are reading, the teacher will put some authentic materials on the table.
Students will look at the objects on the table
Students will try to fill in the blanks.
Students will read their answers aloud.

Main Activity

The teacher will ask students about the values of the advertisements and about the flyers.
The teacher will distribute flyers and handouts for the activity.
Students will work in pairs and find similar and different items.
Each pair will read aloud similar and different items they find.

Sample Handout for this Activity

Look at the flyer and describe items in the flyer to your partner. Working in pairs, try to find similar and different items in the flyers.

(For the Flyer X Grocery Market)

SIMILAR ITEMS	DIFFERENT ITEMS

Follow-up

Prompt: Imagine you are invited to a potluck dinner *. You have only $20. Decide your favorite dish. First write down what you have in your refrigerator then use the flyers and make a shopping list for the dish you want to prepare. (*Potluck dinner is a gathering of people where each participant is expected to bring a dish of food to be shared among everyone in the group. The purpose and benefits of potlucks include fun, socializing, good food, and building a healthy community.)

Reflections

Especially the warm-up activity worked very well and students were motivated to look at the authentic materials to find more information.
I chose the flyers from local grocery stores and this made the lesson very realistic for them.

Possible Adaptations

This activity with flyers can be adapted for beginners, as well. For beginners, the use of flyers can be overwhelming and thus some pictures taken from flyers can be used. The discussion or pair work can be supported with picture dictionaries, which may raise their awareness of vocabulary knowledge, as well.
It can also be adapted for children. In a similar way to Total Physical Response, the children may be involved in a role-play activity. One of them can be the seller and the other can be the customer who decides to buy something looking at the flyers.
A similar modification can be done to adapt the activity for a group of beginners, as well. For beginners, the teacher can supply some kind of basic script for the role play the students will tell. In this way, the script can make the activity more controlled and show the way for the students. In order to encourage students in the beginning, some scaffolding can also be added. Also, a listening activity addressing target structures, quantifiers and relevant vocabulary, may prepare the students for the speaking activity.
For high level students and adult learners, the use of flyers can be a step toward getting the students to talk about more general concepts such as the values emphasized in flyers, and the strategies employed to attract customers.

References

Frodesen, J. (2001) Grammar in Writing. In M. Celce-Murcia. (Ed.). Teaching English as a Second and Foreign Language, 3rd Edition. (pp.233-248). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Kelly, C. , Kelly, L., Offner, M., Vorland, B. (2002). Effective Ways to Use Authentic Materials with ESL/EFL Students.http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kelly-Authentic.html ,The Internet TESL Journal, VIII, 11.
Kilickaya, F. (2004). Authentic Materials and Cultural Content in EFL Classrooms. http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kilickaya-AutenticMaterial.html,The Internet TESL Journal, X, 7.

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XIII, No. 7, July 2007
http://iteslj.org/

http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Yigitoglu-SupermarketFlyers.html