Let’s go shopping

A.Petkoska, EFL Pre-Intermediate Student:

November, 2010
What do you think?
• What are some of the famous brands and products that you can buy in many countries of the world?
Think of clothes, food, cars ....
Make a list. Work in groups and choose the most famous three.

Compare your list with the class.

• What is the main shopping street in your town? What can you buy there that's special?
• Do you enjoy shopping? What do you like shopping for? What don't you like shopping for?

2 Match a famous shopping street with a town, a store, and a product.

Street Town Store Product
Oxford Street Milan Guerlain underwear and
Champs-Elysees New York Marks and Spencer jumpers
Fifth Avenue London Gucci leather goods
Via Montenapoleone Paris Tiffany's jewellery
perfume

3 Here is the headline and the introduction of the newspaper article.

The best shopping street in the world
No, isn’t Oxford Street, the Champs-Elysées, or even Fifth Avenue. A new survey shows that the
most popular shopping street in the world is… Nowy Swiat. Where’s that? In Warsaw, Poland, of
course.

Does anything surprise you? What do you want to find out when you read the article? Write some
questions.
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_d.__________________________________________________________________________________
_e.__________________________________________________________________________________

4 Read the article quickly and answer the questions you have written.
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5. What is the best summary of the article?

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Nowy Swiat is the best shopping street in the world because...
a. so many Polish people go walking there.
b. it is a pleasant place to shop and the shops are small.
c.. everything is very expensive and very exclusive.
d. the shops sell quality goods that you can't buy anywhere else.

6. Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 How do we know that Nowy Swiat is the most popular shopping

street?
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2 Why is it such a nice place to go shopping?
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4 Why don't many foreign people go to Nowy Swiat?
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5 Why are the things produced by Polish manufacturers so good?
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6 What can you buy here? What can't you buy?
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7 What is expensive? What isn't expensive?
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8 What's good about Café Blikle?
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9 What is special about the shops in Nowy Swiat?
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Language work
Complete the sentences with different ideas from the article.
In Nowy Swiat, there are a lot o f
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There isn't any
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There aren't any/many
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There are some
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____________________________________________________________________________________
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The best shopping street in the world

No, isn’t Oxford Street, the Champs-Elysées, or even Fifth Avenue. A new survey shows that the
most popular shopping street in the world is… Nowy Swiat. Where’s that? In Warsaw, Poland, of
course.
A recent survey has shown that the busiest shopping street in the world is not in London, New York, or
Paris, but in Warsaw. It’s called Nowy Swiat , which means New World. An incredible 14,000 Poles walk
down this main street every hour.
It is a lovely place to shop. The pavements are very wide. There are statues, palaces, attractive town
houses, exclusive cafés, and high-class restaurants. The buildings aren’t too tall. They look old, but in
fact the whole city was rebuilt after World War II.
There aren’t any billboards or neon lights. There isn’t any loud music, and there aren’t many tourists.
People think that Polish shops have nothing to sell, so nobody comes shopping here. The world doesn’t
know about this paradise for shoppers – yet.
It is now possible to buy almost everything in Warsaw. There are a lot of shops from the West, but the
interesting thing is that Polish manufacturers are now producing high quality goods. They are good
because they are not mass produced for world consumption.
Nowy Swiat has a lot of small shops, specialist shops, and chic shops. It hasn’t got the huge department
stores that sell the same things everywhere. If you want an exquisite handmade suit, Nowy Swiat is the
place to go. It isn’t cheap. You will pay up to £1.000. for beautiful French baby clothes, go to Petit
Bateau. You will pay £50 for pair of blue jeans for a baby. A dress for a baby girl is about £90. At Désa,
a famous antique shop, a desk costs £5.000, and a 19th century Russian icon is £200.
Not everuthing is expensive. At the shop Pantera you can buy leather goods – handbags, purses, coats,
and belts. Cepelia specializes in folk art. There are also book shops and record shops. And there are a
lot of small boutiques that sell men’s and women’s clothes that aren’t too expensive.
If you’re tired, stop at Café Blikle. This is a fashionable place to meet. You’ll find a lively atmosphere,
and a lot of well-known Poles. The frozen yoghurt and ice-creams are excellent, and its famous
doughnuts are delicious.
It is possible to travel the world and find the same things for sale in every country. But Warsaw is
different because its shops are unique – and they’re in Nowy Swiat.

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Vocabulary
Vocab & Vocabulary as used in
Sample Sentence
Definition this text
course (n) - Line of motion The ship is on a
In Warsaw, Poland, of course.
or direction. course to Spain.
No, isn't Oxford Street, the It costs $10. You pay
even (adv) - Equal or the
Champs-Elysées, or evenFifth $5, I'll pay pay $5,
same.
Avenue. and it is even.
even (adv) - For emphasis; No, isn't Oxford Street, the
It is so easy even a
to make a meaning Champs-Elysées, or evenFifth
child can do it.
stronger. Avenue.
The car's consumption
consumption (n) - The act They are good because they are
of gasoline made it
of using something until it not mass produced for
too expensive to
is gone, by eating, fire, etc. world consumption.
drive.
The frozen yoghurt and ice-creams
excellent (adj) - Extremely The chef's cooking
are excellent, and its famous
good.* was always excellent.
doughnuts are delicious.
exquisite (adj) - Perfectly If you want an exquisite handmade
The Mona Lisa is an
and beautiful in every suit, Nowy Swiat is the place to
exquisite painting.
detail. go.
find (v) - To locate You'll find a lively atmosphere,
I can't find my keys.
something. and a lot of well-known Poles.
The frozen yoghurt and ice-creams The company had to
frozen (v) - Stop all motion
are excellent, and its famous freeze hiring to lower
or action.
doughnuts are delicious. expenses.
At Désa, a famous antique shop, a
icon (n) - A picture that She keeps religious
desk costs £ 5.000, and a 19th
shows an idea. icons in her room.
century Russian icon is £ 200.
mass (v) - To collect or They are good because they are
The crowd massed
gather a large quantity of not mass produced for world
around the fire.
something. consumption.
The built the bridge
means (n) - A method or It is called Nowy Swiat,
by the quickest means
way of doing something. which means New World.
possible.
possible (adj) - Can be It is now possible to buy almost It is possible to sail
done everything in Warsaw. around the world.

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 They look old, but in fact the The family rebuilt
rebuilt (v) - To build again. whole city was rebuiltafter World their house after the
War II. fire.
specialist (n) - A person Nowy Swiat has a lot of small
The doctor is a heart
who focuses on a particular shops, specialist shops, and chic
specialist
thing to study. shops.
specializes (v) - To work at He specializes in heart
Cepelia specializes in folk art.
one thing very carefully. surgery.
But Warsaw is different because
unique (adj) - One of a Picasso was a unique
its shops areunique – and they're in
kind.* painter.
Nowy Swiat.

Additional reading
Possibly London's busiest shopping street, yet until the turn of the century,
Oxford Street and the Piccadilly area were mainly residential.
Today Oxford Street is a solid mile of shops. You are likely to find everything
you want in the street's shops and department stores. Major stores include

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John Lewis, DH Evans and Marks and Spencer. Bookshops include Dillions
and Books Etc, and top music shops are HMV and the new Virgin Megastore.
However the street's most famous shop is Selfridges, a vast department
store near Bond Street tube station. The shop was built in 1909 by the
American Gordon Selfridge, and was the biggest shop in Britain.
The shop is so large that a printed floor plan is available near the entrance to
help you navigate around. As well as the usual big store departments,
Selfridges has a highly popular food hall.
Oxford Street is always very busy, especially at Christmas time, when crowds
get so large that various measures have to be used to prevent gridlock, both
for traffic and for pedestrians. At that time of year mounted police control
the traffic lights and signal pedestrians to cross, using loud hailers. When the
number of shoppers got very large one recent Christmas, the police tried an
experiment whereby pedestrians had to use a one-way system and travel up
one side of the road and down the other. That experiment has not been
repeated. The street is closed throughout the day to all traffic, except for
buses and taxis. Traffic jams however, are still common.
Watch out for mock auctions that are sometimes held in empty shops in
Oxford Street.

Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is considered as one of the most expensive streets in the world.
It is a major thoroughfare in Manhattan and is the traditional route for many
celebrity parades in New York City. There are a lot of over-the-top shopping
opportunities on Fifth Avenue that will satisfy every shopper’s tastes. The St.
Patrick Cathedral is also found on Fifth Avenue. This church is the seat of the
Archbishop of New York. Aside from these, Fifth Avenue houses the famous
Plaza Hotel which earned a reputation of being the best and the Trump
Tower which offers stunning views and luxurious rooms.