PREVIEW ACTIVITY 1 Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.

How Did Black Friday Start? (B1 - B2)

PAGE 1

Work with a partner, group, or your teacher. Do the activities below together.

PART 1 Discuss the questions below about Black Friday.

1 What do you know about Black Friday? Are you a Black Friday shopper?
2 What do you think people like/dislike about Black Friday?
3 What kind of impact do you think Black Friday has on stores and shops?

What kinds of differences come to mind between big-box stores and small retail
PART 2
shops? What are the pros/cons of shopping at each? Which do you prefer shopping at?

BIG-BOX STORES SMALL RETAIL SHOPS

The images below depict events in Black Friday’s history. Try to use the images below
PART 3
to predict how Black Friday may have started or something about its history.

1 2 3
GOLD MARKET

PART 4 Match each noun below to its correct definition on the right.

1 profits a. large, disorganized groups of people

2 collapse b. special discounts or deals
3 congestion c. financial gain or money that a business earns
4 bargains d. blocked or crowded area
5 hordes e. a sudden fall or breakdown

Which words from the list above would you associate with each image in Part 3?
HOW DID BLACK FRIDAY START? Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.
How Did Black Friday Start? (B1 - B2)
PAGE 2

PREVIEW DISCUSSION: Read the discussion topic

below and discuss it with your partner or teacher.

Why do you think Black Friday is called Black

Friday? What do you think the color “black”
refers to in its name? Try to guess.

VIEWING ACTIVITY
Match the answers to each question with the images below in the story of Black
PART 1
Friday according to the video.

0:02 1 What did Black Friday originally refer to in 1869? ______

0:10 2 What did Philadelphia police use the term “Black Friday” to describe? ______

0:17 3 What were downtown streets clogged with? ______

0:26 4 How did retailers “reinvent” the name “Black Friday” in the 1960s? ______

0:36 5 What is Black Friday all about today? ______

A B C

D E

Refer to Preview 1, Part 3, and/or the Preview Discussion. How close were your
PART 2
answers/predictions to the actual story of Black Friday according to the video?
POST-VIEWING ACTIVITY 1 Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.
How Did Black Friday Start? (B1 - B2)
PAGE 3
It’s mentioned at the end of the video that Black Friday has dark roots. What
PART 1
do you think this could mean? Why does Black Friday have dark roots?

Rewrite the sentences below and replace the words in bold with the actual words
PART 2
or terms that were used in the video.

1 ‘Black Friday’ sounds kind of scary, and it was. Black Friday first referred to the
sudden fall of the US gold market in 1869.

2 A century later, the Philadelphia police used ‘Black Friday’ to describe chaos
and crowded areas.

3 Downtown streets in Philadelphia were clogged with disorganized groups of

shoppers headed to the big department stores.

4 Black Friday really started catching on in the 80s and 90s, pushed by the
growth of big corporate stores.

5 Today, Black Friday is all about special deals and discounts.

PART 3 Discuss the questions below.

1 What could be some causes/effects of a gold market collapse?

2 What could be some different causes of congestion on the streets?

3 In what ways can hordes of shoppers be unpleasant?

4 Many people dislike buying from or prefer not to buy from big-box stores. Some
people even protest this on Black Friday. Why do you think this is the case?

5 Would you consider yourself to be a bargain shopper? Why or why not?
POST-VIEWING ACTIVITY 2 Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.
How Did Black Friday Start? (B1 - B2)
PAGE 4
INTERVIEW TASK:

STEP 1: Choose one of the people from the list below.

1 2 3

A PHILADELPHIA A BIG-BOX STORE A BLACK FRIDAY

POLICE OFFICER EMPLOYEE SHOPPER

STEP 2: Write 3 interview questions about Black Friday for the person you chose in Step 1.

OPTIONAL: Choose a few of the nouns from the list below to include in your questions.

bargains congestion collapse hordes profits

STEP 3: Give the questions you wrote in Step 3 to your partner/teacher. Your partner/
teacher will interview you. Imagine you are answering the questions as the person you
chose in Step 1.

STEP 4: Discuss how your interviews went. Who did you interview? What do you learn
about this person?
 OPTIONAL BONUS ACTIVITY
Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.
How Did Black Friday Start? (B1 - B2)
PAGE 5

PART 1 Study the usage and examples of non-defining relative clauses in the passive voice.

In the video, the reporter talks about the growth of Black Friday. She says...

“ ‘Black Friday’ really started catching on in the 80s and 90s, pushed
by the growth of big-box stores.”

We use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about someone or something.
When used in the passive voice, the clause starts with the past participle + “by” + the subject
of the active voice. See the examples below:

ACTIVE VOICE Black Friday really started catching on in the 80s and 90s. The growth of big-
box stores pushed this.

PASSIVE VOICE ‘Black Friday’ really started catching on in the 80s and 90s, pushed by the
growth of big-box stores.

Combine the two sentences below into one sentence with two clauses. Make the
PART 2
second clause a non-defining clause in the passive voice.

EX. There was congestion during the shopping season. Police referred to it as ‘Black Friday’.

There was congestion during the shopping season, referred to by police as ‘Black Friday’.

1 There was a global surge in e-commerce in 2020. The pandemic caused this.

2 The shopping mall in our hometown is huge. Our city built it a few years ago.

3 My mom wants a specific type of purse as a gift. Only one shop in our town sells this purse.

4 Thanksgiving falls on the day before Black Friday. 88% of the US population celebrates it.

5 Black Friday is not a holiday, but a commercial retail event. Consumerism drives it.

QUIZ & REVIEW ACTIVITY Fluentize, LLC. Copyright 2022. For use only with license.
How Did Black Friday Start? (B1 - B2)
PAGE 6
Work with a partner. Complete the quiz and review activities below.

PART 1 Questions. Describe the history of Black Friday using the images below.

PART 2 Vocabulary: Explain the meaning of the following vocabulary terms used in the video.

bargains | profits | collapse | congestion | hordes

Grammar: Combine the two sentences below into one sentence with two clauses.
PART 3
Make the second clause a non-defining clause in the passive voice.

1 Black Friday started catching on in the 80s. The growth of big-box stores pushed this.

2 There was a global surge in e-commerce in 2020. The pandemic caused this.

3 Black Friday is not a holiday, but a commercial retail event. Consumerism drives it.