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1. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
Warmer
Find and circle the words in the article. Then answer the questions.
a. Do these words typically describe men or women, or both? How do you know?
b. Which describe professional people, and which describe people who sew as a hobby?
Key words
a. Find and underline the words in the article that match the definitions below.
1. a man who has never been married (para 2)
2. activities that you enjoy (para 3)
3. cloth, especially when it is used for making things such as clothes or curtains
(para 3)
4. the activity of decorating cloth with coloured stitches
(para 4)
5. reacted to something in a way that shows you did not think it was worth paying attention to
(para 7)
6. an activity that few other people do (para 7)
7. a drawing or shape that you use when you are making something so that you get the shape and
size correct (para 8)
8. not the same as anything else (para 9)
9. metal goods and things for your home or garden such as pans, knives, tools
(para 10)
10. controlled by, or mainly consisting of (two words, para 10)
b. Use some of the key words above to complete these sentences.
1. The industry is five multinational companies.
2. The tailor used pins to fasten the to the cloth.
3. Each person’s DNA is .
4. Damien spent a lot of time and money on his artistic
5. She’s never really found her in life.
‘When I tell people, they might laugh’ – George Clooney and the men who sew
Level: Intermediate
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seamstress sew bros sewer tailor

2. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
Priya Elan
4 February, 2021
‘Sew bros’ is the name for the growing number
of men who are taking up sewing. And George
Clooney is now part of that community.
Clooney, a father of three-year-old twins, told
AARP magazine: “I do a lot of sewing the
kids’ clothes … and my wife’s dress that tore
a couple of times. I was a bachelor for a long
time and didn’t have any money, and you have
to learn how to repair things.”
The pandemic encouraged people to
become interested in a number of domestic
pursuits – including making marmalade and
hairdressing – so sales of sewing machines
have increased massively. “I feel incredibly
lucky to have a business that has done so well
during the pandemic,” says Michelle Zimmer
from a fabric shop in Sussex.
Sewing is usually seen as a typically feminine
pursuit, a stereotype that is good for no-one.
“What’s particularly interesting is the number
of young male crafters joining our community,”
adds Edward Griffith, the CEO of craft
community LoveCrafts. “The majority of our
male community is aged 25 to 34, compared
with our female audience, which is mainly
35- to 44-year-olds.” He says that about a third
of them took up sewing and embroidery during
the pandemic and lockdown.
People post photographs on social media of
clothes they have repaired, or made, in the
name of slow fashion. But most sewers remain
female and most ‘Sew Bros’ I spoke to get
raised eyebrows when they tell others about
their hobby.
“When I tell people, they may laugh because
they think I’m joking or they look quite surprised
that I sew as a guy,” says Thabo Sabao, 22,
who posts photos his self-made collection
of tops and coats on Instagram.
Peter Cant also noticed this attitude about
assumed gender roles. He says people
dismissed it as a typically female pursuit.
Perhaps this is why, even now, the ‘sew bro’
remains a niche of a niche. “The sewing
community can be strange towards men.
Tailors are well respected, but men who sew
at home can be seen as feminine,” he says.
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But the sew bros continue to join the craft
world, regardless of cultural expectations
and raised eyebrows. Sabao says that after
“looking for something to take me away from
my computer screen,” he found a sewing
machine. Ironically he went back online for
help. “YouTube helped a tremendous amount,”
he says. “Nearly everything I know came from
YouTube.” He speaks about the first pair of
trousers he made. “They gave me a real sense
of achievement because I made the pattern
myself, and it took me a few attempts, but when
I finished, they looked great,” he says.
“I’ve been contacted by many men through
Instagram who have taken up sewing in recent
years,” says Cant. “They want to mend and
reuse clothing,” like Clooney, “as well as
to make unique clothes.”
“I think men look at our store like a hardware
shop and can spend hours comparing latch
hooks, rings, buckles, rivets,” Zimmer says.
“The men’s Foreman jacket was our bestselling
pattern of 2020.” Despite this, Sabao thinks
sew-broing is still a niche pursuit. “The online
community is dominated by women,” he says.
“I don’t think it is something a lot of men even
consider. I think, when we are growing up,
mothers and grandmother are more likely
to teach a girl to sew.”
But for Sabao, sewing is a full-circle moment.
“I recently found out that a lot of my family in
Zimbabwe are tailors and seamstresses, so
my mum was pleased that I started to sew.”
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 04/02/2021
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‘When I tell people, they might laugh’ – George Clooney and the men who sew
Level: Intermediate
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3. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
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Comprehension check
a. Find the following information in the article.
1. the name of a craft community
2. the age of the majority of men who join this kind of community
3. things men want to do with their sewing skills
4. reasons for the increased interest in sewing, especially among men
b. Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the article? Correct any that are false.
1. George Clooney refuses to sew in case other male celebrities laugh at him. T/F
2. Other men often laugh at Thabo Sabao’s sewing hobby and they think he is joking. T/F
3. There is a new-found interest in sewing, and mending among young men. T/F
4. Despite this new interest, men who join sewing groups are still a minority. T/F
5. Since Thabo Sabao took up sewing, he hasn’t gone on the internet. T/F
6. His family in Zimbabwe are pleased that, for the first time, a man in their family can sew. T/F
Expressions
a. Match the beginnings and endings of these expressions. Then underline them in the article.
1. domestic a. achievement
2. raised b. expectations
3. gender c. pursuits
4. cultural d. moment
5. sense of e. role
6. full-circle f. eyebrows
b. Match the expressions above with the meanings below.
1. a feeling you get when you know you have done or made something good
2. hobbies you do at home
3. the way that people from your family, race, tribe, country, etc. think you should act
4. used for saying that people are shocked or surprised by something
5. what people think or believe about what tasks should be carried out by men or women
6. when you go back; have a connection to something that happened previously
c. Use the expressions to talk about the article.
‘When I tell people, they might laugh’ – George Clooney and the men who sew
Level: Intermediate
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4. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home Adults General English NEWS LESSONS
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Discussion
• Talk about whether and why you agree or disagree with the quote from paragraph 6:
• “Tailors are well respected, but men who sew at home can be seen as feminine.”
• Can you sew?
• If so, how good are your sewing skills? Who taught you?
• If not, why not? Would you like to learn?
• What will your next, or first, sewing project be? Will you make something new, or will you
repair or mend something?
In your own words
You are setting up a sewing group. With a partner, write a text for a social-media post or for a lo-fi
poster advertising for members. Give your sewing group a name and include all the facts new
members will need to know to be able to join the group. For example:
• where and when you meet
• how often you meet
• who can join
• what members are expected to do.
Make your advert sound as welcoming and interesting as possible and include something special
so that new members will want to join your group and not another group.
‘When I tell people, they might laugh’ – George Clooney and the men who sew
Level: Intermediate
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5. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home Adults General English NEWS LESSONS
‘When I tell people, they might laugh’ – George Clooney and the men who sew
Level: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
3. fabric
4. embroidery
5. dismissed
6. niche
7. pattern
8. unique
9. hardware
10. dominated by
b. Before reading the article carefully, students
use some of the key words to fill the gaps in the
sentences to ensure that they understand and know
how the words are used in other contexts.
Key:
1. dominated by
2. pattern
3. unique
4. pursuit(s)
5. niche
3. Comprehension check
a. In the first part of this two-part comprehension
task, students find information in the text to answer
the questions.
Key:
1. LoveCrafts
2. 25 to 34
3. mend and make clothes – especially unique
pieces of clothing that they could not buy
elsewhere
4. lockdown: meaning that they are unable to go
out and buy new items, and that they have more
time than before to spend on lo-fi pursuits and
hobbies that they can do from home
b. In the second part, they decide whether the
statements are true or false according to the
information in the article.
Key:
1. False. George Clooney has publicly said that he
does a lot of sewing and mending for his family.
2. True.
3. True.
4. True.
1. Warmer
Students decide whether the words typically describe
men or women, or both, and whether they describe
people who sew professionally or as a hobby.
Key:
sew bros = men who sew as a hobby; Note that ‘sew’ /
səʊ/ and ‘bros’ /brəʊz/ rhyme.
tailor = a man whose profession is sewing; A tailor will
often make suits for other men.
seamstress = a woman whose profession is sewing
sewer = a word used to describe anyone who does
sewing at home, pronounced /səʊə/. (This is not to be
confused with the word ‘sewer’ meaning ‘an underground
pipe or passage that carries sewage’, which is
pronounced /suːə/.)
2. Key words
a. Students find words in the article that match the
definitions and write them onto the lines provided.
Key:
1. bachelor
2. pursuits
Article summary: More men have taken up
sewing during the pandemic. Why are they
doing this, and what stopped them from doing
this in the past?
Time: 90 minutes
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
Language focus: Vocabulary
Materials needed: One copy of the
worksheet per student
Note: bros is short for brothers and is more
often used in company names. The suffix -ess
in seamstress is used to show that the word
describes a woman.
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6. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home Adults General English NEWS LESSONS
6. In your own words
Students work in pairs and write a text for a social media
post or for a lo-fi poster that should entice new members
to join their newly set up sewing group.
They should give their group a name, provide all the facts
new members would need to know, and also include
something special and unique that will make people want
to join their group and not a rival sewing group.
If you have enough students, turn this into a competition.
Each pair should post or share their ad, and students
should decide which group (not their own) they
would most like to join. The group with the most new
members wins.
5. False. He found a lot of sewing help online,
especially on YouTube.
6. False. They are happy that he has taken up
sewing, but he is not the first man in the family
to do so. There are / have been a lot of tailors
and seamstresses in his family.
4. Expressions
a. Students first match the words on the left and right to
make expressions from the article. Then they should
find and circle or highlight them in the article and
read them again in context.
Key:
1. c
2. f
3. e
4. b
5. a
6. d
b. Students match the expressions with the definitions.
Key:
1. sense of achievement
2. domestic pursuits
3. cultural expectations
4. raised eyebrows
5. gender role
6. full-circle moment
c. Students then use the expressions to talk about or
summarize the article.
To extend this task, ask students to write personalized
sentences, one for each expression that they would like
to integrate into their active vocabulary. Ask them to
make the sentences relevant to their own lives if possible
as this will make it easier for them to remember the new
language and use it correctly in the future.
5. Discussion
Students discuss the questions that are directly related to
the topic of the article.
‘When I tell people, they might laugh’ – George Clooney and the men who sew
Level: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
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