This document provides guidance for English teachers on unit 4 which focuses on the theme of clothes, fashion, and beauty. It suggests using students' interest in these topics to help improve their English skills. Suggested activities include having students list names of clothes, ask and answer questions about the lists, solve riddles about clothing items, and discuss natural and synthetic materials used to make clothes. The goal is to engage students while developing their speaking, reading, and vocabulary skills.

1. ENGLISH
TEACHER SUPPORT UNIT 4
CLOTHES, FASHION AND BEAUTY

2. EnglishTeacher Support Unit 4
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Teacher Support Unit 4
Theme
CLOTHES, FASHION AND BEAUTY
BEFORE WE START...
The Fourth TSU
Congratulations! You have successfully impleme Don‘t you notice a change for
better in the attitude of your students towards English? You would also
enthusiastically in conversations and discussions. Well, you should not be surprised. This has been made
possible thanks to your constant efforts in encouraging them over the past few months through strategies
like group work, pair work and others.
You have now set the stage to take them to the next level - to further develop their speaking skill and
also improve their reading skills.
With the fourth TSU, we begin working at the second level of skills that we would like our students to
have. These include:
・ answering questions relating to =what‘, =where‘ and =when‘
・ talking about objects and events
・ answering and creating puzzles and riddles
・ taking part in word games
・ doing simple language exercises
・ using the dictionary
・ reading simple descriptions
・ writing sentences about pictures
・ writing one‘s observations
Your students in class 9 and 10 are in their teens (i.e., age between 13 and 19). Students in this age group
tend to be highly beauty and fashion conscious they show a lot of interest in fashion
and dressing up. They spend a lot of time in front of the mirror and want to be noticed by others. Can
we use their increasing interest in fashion and beauty to help them learn English? Yes, we can. This TSU
has a number of activities that are based on the theme 'Clothes, fashion, beauty'. Here are some of our
suggestions based on the theme. Please feel free to improve them and add to them.

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Activity – 1: Names of Clothes
Begin by saying 'Take your notebook and pen. Get ready to write. I will give you only three minutes,' and write
'shirt, trousers, sari, kurta, salwar...' on the board (rather quickly!). Then say 'How many more words can you add
to the list in three minutes?' Make them start after setting your watch. At the end of one minute, l ook at your
watch and say 'One minute over! You have only two more minutes'. Do the same after the second minute. All this
adds to the thrill and encourages students to focus. At the end of the third minute, tell them all to stop.
'Who has written more than 20 words?' Such a question would give them an idea about how many words
you are expecting. (It could be above 15 but…use your discretion).
Select a few students to present their lists. Make sure you ask each one for words that are not already
list as
you keep writing on the board. You would now have a long list of names of clothes on the board. Ask
the students if they would like to write down the words that they don‘t have in their lists. If many want to
do so, give them 5 minutes or so to c opy words from the board.
If someone is still writing beyond after three minutes, what should you do?
Hint: this is not a time-bound exam. The idea here is to encourage students to express words they
continue writing beyond the time limit that you had set, it is perfectly all right. Maybe you could ask
the student to write those words added beyond the third minute on a separate page.
If you ask questions beginning with =what, where, when, who‘, you might end up with a list. What can
you do with the list? Here are some ideas. You could add more.
・ Ask them to group/ classify those words on the basis of certain categories – for e.g., if you
have a list of clothes, then you could classify them into categories: worn in winter, worn in
summer, worn anytime (silk), etc.
・ Ask a few questions based on the content.
・ – e.g., ?I have a word that is in Hindi and starts
with a letter after =N‘, it is a six letter word, etc (say, pyjama‘).
・ – e.g., shirt (show the
action for wearing it).
Ask them to group words based on any categories they can think of. If the students use many
equivalent.

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Did it work?
interesting
Activity – 2: Making Questions
Now, t he students have names of clothes in their notebooks. What can we do with it? Write the
following questions on the board, SILENTLY . You can add to these questions.
・ Which is your favourite (in your list)?
・ Which one is the most expensive in your list?
・ Which would you want to wear for a function?
・ Which is the item of clothing that you cannot wear right through the year? (e.g., sweater)
Have a discussion with the students on the following lines: 'Here are four questions. Can you make more questions
on the basis of the words in your list? How would you want to do it? Individually? In groups? Or would you like to
How much time do you want?'
Tell a student to ask a question (Which is your favourite ?) Let others answer. If many answer, pick a few
randomly to say their answers. Now, ask them why they say that a particular . (Could it be
the design or the material or something else that makes it the favourite? Should the favourite be of a
particular colour? What if a is stitched perfectly but the material is not so good?
Would you still buy it?...)
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Don’t you think it – individually or in
pairs or groups? It will help them become more responsible.

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Did it work?
Activity – 3: Riddles about clothes
'I am going to write three words about an object. You can that object on some kinds of clothing.' Saying so
write 'small, round, shirt' on the board. Appreciate the student who says 'button' as answer. Then write 'small,
hand, cloth' (kerchief / hankie). You may continue similarly with a few more items of clothing.
Then ask 'Ok, now I am going to tell you a riddle about a particular item of clothing. Can you solve it?' and say 'I
have a body, two arms and a neck. But I can’t walk. Who am I?' (Shirt)
Here are some riddles (and questions) that you could ask:
・ Why is a T-shirt called T-shirt? (Ask them to guess; it is the neck-less shape and two arms, resembling the
letter 'T')
・ If you change one letter in a word meaning ‘sword’, you will get a particular item of clothing. What is that?
(Salwaar)
・ What is usually a rectangular-shaped piece of clothing that can be used by a man, a woman as well as a
・ What could be
have a brim —
projection in the front. Hats have a brim, don’t hug the head like caps do). Let the students guess the
difference. Get them to express themselves.There is no wrong answer here.
(Optional: To keep the interest level high, y ou could engage them with some trivia:
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・ In England, a couple of centuries ago, a married woman had to wear a hat when she went out
— this was to let people know that she was married. Single women, on the other hand, were
allowed to go without hats.
・ The world‘s most expensive dress is a long robe made for someone in Dubai by a British
Designer. $17.6 million (Rs. 105 crore). You could
buy 200-300 houses in Lucknow by selling that one dress. ('What else can you do with Rs.
105 crore?')
・ Cotton is now an affordable material. It was not always so. (You wore silk because you could
not afford cotton!) Only when the 'cotton gin', a machine was
invented, in mid-1800s, did cotton become the most widely used fabric.
・ In ancient Rome, only the Emperor had the right to wear clothing that was purple in color.
・ In India, white is the dress for morning. In western countries, black is the dress for morning.
・ It is said that the Muslim cloth from Dacca (in Bangladesh now) w
Muslim sari )
Now, back to questions. Ask the students, 'Can you create more riddles like these about clothing? You need ideas.
To discuss more ideas, i t is better to work in groups, isn’t it?' Divide them into groups of four using a simple
strategy. Move around the class, observe them and help them whenever they struggle
for words. When the time is over (say, after 15 or 20 minutes), let some groups present their riddles and others
try to solve them.
Tell them: 'Most people like riddles and puzzles. I'm sure some of our teachers and students in other
classes would also like to read our riddles and puzzles. Shall we put them up on charts and display them?
Who will volunteer to collect the riddles and write them on the charts?' (For writing the riddles on
charts, you would obviously need chart papers and marker pens. If your school can afford to buy a few
it).
・ How
these to them?
・
f you do riddles on some
・

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Did it work?
Activity – 4: Materials for clothes
'What are the materials used for making clothes? Can we list them under two heads – natural and synthetic?'
Saying this, make two columns on the board and write
and ‘polyester’ in the second column. Encourage the students to get more words for both columns. (Natural –
cotton, silk, rubber, leather, wool, jute, denim for jeans) (Synthetic – lk, nylon, polyester)
Ask them what 'unusual' materials can be used for making any kind of dress that we wear. (plastic? recycled
paper? bamboo? jute?).
You can initiate a discussion along two lines here. First, some of the material commonly used for clothing
is also used for other purposes:
・ Cotton - Bags, curtains for windows and doors, covers for seats in cars, table clothes, hand
kerchiefs, caps, bedspreads, blankets, pillowcases and cushion covers, mops, dolls…
・ Polyester – blankets, carpets, ropes…
・ Silk – parachutes, ropes, surgical sutures, bicycle tires, disposable cups….
You could try and create a discussion on what qualities of these materials make them usable for other purposes –
hence its use in parachutes.
Secondly, clothes are sometimes made of unusual materials:
・ Jute – which is also used to make ropes, bags, wall hangings…
・ Bamboo –
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You could ask them interesting questions:
・ re are becoming popular. Bamboo grows very fast. Can you link the two
statements / cloth is said to be ‘eco-friendly’?
・ Silk worms usually die inside the cocoons during the extraction process in silk factories. About 1500 silk
worms have to be killed to get one metre of woven silk. Now, what could ‘ahimsa’ silk be? Let the students
(Ahimsa Silk is made from Eri and Tassar varieties of moths instead of the mulberry moths of
proper silk. Eri and Tassar cocoons are allowed to hatch. However, because the moths break the
s
not as strong as normal silk, but it is warmer and softer).
What kind of dress materials would they like to create
all; so one always feels safe in the kitchen.
There are fabrics now that don’t require ironing or pressing. What other materials with interesting properties can
be thought of? Here are some ideas. You could ask them to form pairs and present lists.
・ A dress material that automatically keeps you warm in winter and cold in summer.
・ A dress material that cannot be stained. All dirt can be simply dusted off, so you don’t have to wash at all.
・ A dress material that will never tear. If you don’t outgrow it, you can wear it forever!
・ A dress material that will change color when you dip it in water!
・ A fabric that can be dried in one minute after washing
Did it work?
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
Did you make
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Activity – 5: Dress and professions
Different professions demand different types of dress. Can you think of what kin d of clothing following people
should wear?
・ President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister – (hint: high security risk, so bullet proof vest/ banian)
・ –
・ Athlete – ’t help)
・ Classical dancer - (e.g., Kathak dancer)
・ Painter or car mechanic - (hint: cannot be white, new, good dress)
・ Chef (cook) – (hint: make sure his hair does not fall into the food)
・ Surgeon – (hint: he /she cannot sneeze with a patient on the operating table!)
・ Astronaut, nurse, policeman, electrician….
Which other professions require unique clothes?
Accept all answers. The idea here is to encourage students to express their views.
Did it work?
Activity – 6: Phrases connected to dress
Most languages have proverbs and phrases regarding dress. English is no exception. Can we look at some
of the phrases to see what they mean? A good idea would be to ask the students to guess what it could
mean:
Wha
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・ All dressed up and / with nowhere to go (what could it mean?) (The movie show was cancelled and we
were all dressed up with nowhere to go)
・ Dress someone down (scold – I know my parents will dress me down when I go home)
・ Dress someone up (Dress up someone to look like someone else)
・ Dress for something. (Finally, I learnt how to dress for success).
・ Dressed to kill (wearing clothes that are intended to make people notice you)
ometimes,
they might be close to the right answer. Let them take the credit in such situations!
Proverbs regarding dress and beauty:
・ Eat to please yourself; dress to please others (Do you agree?)
・ Language is the dress of thought (What do you make of it?)
・ Good humor is the best dress one can wear in society.
・ Beauty is about perception; not about make up. (Can they explain? Check.)
・ Those who make their dress the main part of themselves, will have no more value than their dress. (Do
you agree?).
・ Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it. (Do you agree?)
There must be proverbs in Hindi (anmol vachan) as well based on the theme ‘dress’. You could get them to even
create some phrases based on dress.
Did it work?
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Activity – 7: Maintaining clothes
Write 'Use and throw' silently on the board. Ask 'What is the meaning of this phrase?' (If they are unable to get
the meaning of the phrase, translate it to Hindi. Have a discussion based on the phrase. 'Can you think of an
example for this? Can you list some things which you use and throw? Is your pen a ‘use and throw’ thing? What
about newspaper? Or paper cups that we see in tea stalls?
Now, can we include dress in this? Will you use your once and throw it away? Though such dresses are available
our normal dress is not a ‘use and throw’ object, you would agree.
Ask these questions one after another. Get each question. Then move to the
next question. Give them enough time to add objects to the ‘use and throw’ list. If you want to your students to see
the written form of the words you can write them on the board.
Then ask 'We have to use our clothes several times. What do we do to keep them in good condition? First list out
your ideas then we will discuss them.'
After everyone has listed some ideas, pick some of them randomly and write each idea on the board – preferably
in short form. If they speak in Hindi, translate it and write it in English. If you missing in their
responses, add it. Then say 'Here is a long list. Look at the list in your note book. A few things that are on the
board may be missing in your lists. I will give you Please copy the missing items in your note book'.
(Some of the caution points could be: If you have a stain on the dress, wash it away at once; check the buttons
and stitches of the dress regularly; make sure that your trousers don’t touch the road when you walk; some
dresses should not be dried in the sun, so dry them only in shade; use neem leaves or other such material to
prevent insects from spoiling your clothes in a trunk or in cupboards…)
Are the students Then you may tell them something on these
lines: 'About 50 years ago, there were no soaps. No iron s. In most villages, there was no electricity. How
do you think people maintained their clothes in those times?' Allow them to write their answers in Hindi
as well, but encourage them to write in English. You may give them a few days to complete this, if they
are keen to do it. It has the potential to become a project where the students can make a presentation to
the whole school, in Hindi or English, on how to maintain clothes.

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Did it work?
Activity – 8: Shopping for clothes
Decisions to buy clothes are usually collectively taken. Often, some mon ey is allotted for buying clothes
express their opinions on choice of clothes, money constraints, discounts, etc.
Try and develop a discussion on the following lines:
・ Where do you usually buy clothes from?
・ When do you buy clothes?
・ Who decides how much money can be spent on clothes?
・ If money is a constraint, as it often is, how are clothes bought?
・ Are there families that share ‘hand-me-downs’ (used clothes)?
・ Whom do you give your old clothes to?
・ Do you stitch clothes? Does anyone in the family stitch clothes?
・ Are there sewing machines in your neighborhood?
If students are interested in this discussion add some more questions. Ask them to narrate interesting
incidents related to buying clothes. Try to ask questions related to their answers.
Then write 'Take two, get one free; 10% to 50% discount' on the board silently. Ask the students the following
questions:
・ What do you understand from these phrases?
・ When will a shopkeeper announce such discounts?
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13. EnglishTeacher Support Unit 4
・ Will they give discount on all kinds of clothes?Why?
If the family of anyone in the class is involved in the making or selling of clothes, get the student to
describe some details of how the business is run.
Did it work?
Interesting
Activity – 9: How Many People It Takes to Make a Dress
Ask 'What are the objects without which a piece of cloth wouldn’t become a dress? Can you name at least ?'
(Buttons, thread, colour, paint, scissors, sewing machine, measuring tape...)
Ask 'I know six types of workers without whom you won’t get your clothes? Who are they?'
(Hint: Tailor , textile mill worker, button / hook maker, weaver, cotton farmer, designer, fabric painter and so on).
Ask 'What are the processes involved in making a shirt?' Can you list them in order?'. You could tell them to
suggest more such themes: chamki work on women’s dresses, sweaters, silk sarees, etc.
In most discussions with students, you could follow a proces s that would help you make the most of
the activity. Here are some suggestions:
・
processing the list)
・ to a group task.
・
encourage them to guess the words.
・ After processing each list, ask ?Do you want to have this list in your notebook?? and give them
some time to copy it.
・ If there is any confusion, make use of the opportunity to get to them express their views on
the point of confusion.
・ If your class has both boys and girls, make sure that neither gender group feels left out.
What is the focus
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Did it work?
Some more activity ideas:
・ If any student in the class knows how to stitch, how to do embroidery, ask him/her to
demonstrate and explain the process.
・ If any student knows , ask him/her to demonstrate that much-needed
skill.
・ If a student or for that matter, anyone in the school, knows how to make cloth puppet, ask them
to do a demonstration.
・ Get your students to collect advertisements regarding beauty, fashion and clothes from local
newspapers – they could be in Hindi only but that is ok – and have a discussion in the class on one
theme – e.g., advertisements.
InTSU 4
・ Which activity did your students like the most?
・ Did you try out the variations of some of the activities? How did you modify or adapt them?
・ Have most of the students started participating in the activities?
・ Were you able to organize group-work and pair-
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・ Was the textbook activity interesting to your students?
・ Do more students speak in English or respond in that language to your questions? If not, what
could the reason?
Don‘t forget to write down your views about the activities. It will help us to improve the forthcoming
TSUs.
After these activities you can assess your students with the following performance indicators.
Don‘t forget to write your views and observations. Share them in the cluster meetings.
All the best!
At the end of the fourth TSU, your students would be able to:
・・ Answer questions having what, where & when
・・ Talk about objects and events
・・ Solve as well as create puzzles and riddles
・・ Take part in word games
・・ Do simple language exercises
・・ Refer to the dictionary
・・ Read descriptions
・・ Write sentences on pictures
・・ Write their observations

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