Firstly, write FAST FASHION on the board.

Then ask your learners to discuss the topic in pairs to come up with everything they know about fast fashion or with what they think fast fashion could be about. You set 1 minute for the pair discussion.

After their time is up, ask a few learners what ideas they came up with. Reflect on their thoughts.

This might be the first time your learners came across the term fast fashion, they might not come up with many words.

Explain briefly what fast fashion is: (Fast fashion means making and selling clothes very quickly and cheaply so people can buy the newest styles right away. Brands like Zara, H&M, and Shein copy popular runway looks or celebrity outfits and produce them fast to keep up with changing trends. This way, clothes are affordable and trendy, but often made with low-quality materials and in factories where workers may not have good conditions. Fast fashion helps people get the latest fashion at low prices but also causes problems like a lot of waste and pollution, and unfair treatment of workers. Source: Perplexity.ai)

1. The teacher writes "FAST FASHION" on the board.

2. The teacher asks learners to discuss the term fast fashion in pairs for one minute and to think about everything they already know or what they believe the term could mean.

3. During the pair discussion, learners write down words or short phrases they associate with fast fashion in their exercise books.

4. After one minute, the teacher invites several pairs to share their ideas with the class and briefly reflects on their responses.

(5. If necessary, the teacher explains that the term may be unfamiliar and acknowledges that learners may not have many associations yet.)

6. The teacher provides a short introduction to the concept of fast fashion, explaining that it refers to the rapid and inexpensive production of fashionable clothing to keep up with trends. The explanation also highlights both the advantages (e.g., affordable and trendy clothing) and the disadvantages (e.g., environmental pollution, textile waste, and poor working conditions).

7. The teacher links the introduction to the lesson by explaining that learners will explore the topic of fast fashion in greater depth throughout the lesson.

Tell the learners that they are going to watch a short video about fast fashion to learn a bit more about the topic.

Play a video called "The Problem with Fast Fashion" (time 2:10) by Huff Post accessible via YouTube to the learners.

After the video, ask your learners if any of the words they came up in the previous discussion appeared in the video.

Let them explain their words or phrases, react to comments. This should take up to 6 minutes.

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Give

your learners a paper with these 10 phrases written in one column. (these

phrases are taken from the short video):

developing

countries

cheap

labour

living

wage

dangerous

conditions

drinking

water pollution

textile

waste

clothing

industry

child

labour

increase

profits

fast fashion

Put

these explanations of the terms (they are in a mixed order) in a

column next to the first one.

sum

of money workers need to earn to be able to pay for food, housing

and other basic needs

making

more money by selling more products, sometimes by cutting costs

clothes

that are not sold or donated and end up in landfills

nations

with lower income, underdeveloped industry and infrastructure

cheap

trendy clothes, often of low quality that people wear only a few

times

people

who are paid little money for their work, unable to cover their

living costs

contamination

of water sources with chemical substances that make the water not

suitable for drinking

conditions

that are unsafe and not suitable for work, often causing accidents

business

manufacturing and selling clothes on a large scale

children

working instead of going to school

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Ask

your learners to match the terms with their explanations. Give them 5 minutes to complete the task. Some of the words might be difficult, so

tell the learners to underline the words in the numbered column that

they don’t know. Walk around the classroom and provide translations

into their first language to help them understand the terms and find

the correct meanings more easily.

When

the learners are done, go through the terms with them and make sure

they all matched the terms and explanations correctly. This will take about 2 minutes.

Correct

answers: 1D, 2F, 3A, 4H, 5G, 6C, 7I, 8J, 9B, 10E.

This way, learners will gather some knowledge about fast fashion and will be able to learn some phrases connected to this topic. They will later use these phrases in a discussion.

Now that they know the terms and their explanations, ask them about some terms you find important. Find out whether they know what it means. Ask them to explain it in their own words. Make them think about this topic. Ideal time is 5 minutes.

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1. The teacher tells the learners that they are going to watch a short video about the topic of fast fashion to deepen their understanding of the topic.

2. Before watching, the teacher asks the learners to pay attention to important facts and key vocabulary presented in the video.

3. The learners watch the video "The Problem with Fast Fashion": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDLSRl9lJE0

4. After watching the video, the teacher divides the class into small groups.

5. Each group receives a set of topic-specific terms taken from the video (e.g., pollution, textile waste, cheap labour, landfill, polyester, pesticides, recycling). In their groups, learners discuss the meaning of the terms, explain how they are connected to fast fashion, and use them to summarize the main ideas of the video.

6. The teacher monitors the group discussions, provides language support where necessary, and clarifies any misunderstandings.

7. Finally, the teacher reviews the vocabulary with the whole class and briefly summarizes the key messages of the video before moving on to the next activity.

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1. PREPARE THE ACTIVITY:

Divide your learners into 5 groups.

Cut the paper with role descriptions and give each group one role description. (you find the role descriptions below).

Write

the newspaper headline on the board: Global

Ban on Fast

Fashion Factories

by

2030.

2. INTRODUCE IT:

Tell your learners: "Imagine, you are reading a newspaper and you come across this headline: "Global Ban on Fast Fashion Factories by 2030". Step into your role and think how you would react to this headline as a single mother, environmental activist or a factory worker..."

The

learners will take part in a discussion in which they will pretend to be the role you gave them.

They will try to come up with arguments for the discussion from the

point of view of their role. Remind them it is not their opinion, it should be the opinion of the character they play.

3. WHAT YOU WANT FROM THEM:

First, they should discuss if they think the ban is a good or bad thing.

Next, they should step into their roles.

Tell them to concentrate on the positive and negative effects the ban has on their role. Here are some sentence beginnings which they can use for their arguments:

From my point of view as a…My biggest concern is…I think this ban is fair/unfair because…What worries me most is…I agree/disagree with you because…

Tell

them that each of them should present at least 2 statements their role would come up with if the

factories really closed by 2030.

Give

them 8 minutes to read the role description and to come up with their statements.

Learners could use or address some of the phrases/terms from the previous activity.

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Also

tell them to ask you for translation if they don´t understand words

in their role description.

ROLE DESCRIPTIONS:

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Fashion

Influencer

You

are a popular TikTok fashion influencer with thousands of

followers. You love sharing stylish outfits and promoting affordable

fast

fashion

brands like

Zara, H&M

and etc.

You

want your followers to stay trendy and get new clothes easily, but

you also know some people criticize fast fashion for harming the

environment and workers. You believe fast fashion helps many people

enjoy fashion without spending too much.

Single

Mum

You

are a single mother trying to raise your small

twin

daughters

on a tight budget. You rely on affordable fast fashion clothes for

yourself and your children

because you cannot afford expensive brands. Your

children

grow quickly and need new clothes every few months. You

worry about the quality and safety of these clothes but appreciate

the low prices. Pepco

always has nice dresses for your daughters. You often have to throw their shirts or dresses away as they wear out quickly and there are holes because the clothes were not sewn properly.

Fashion

Factory Worker

You

work long hours in a Primark

factory

in a developing country. Your job pays very little, and there

is no air conditioning in your factory. There are too many

workers which makes the environment you work in

dangerous. Despite

all this, your job helps you support your family. If the

factory

closes,

you fear losing your income and not being able to feed

your family.

You want safer working conditions but worry about losing your job if

the industry changes too quickly.

Fashion

Factory Owner

You

own a

Victoria´s

Secret

factory that employs many local workers. You aim to make a huge

profit

but also want to keep your workers employed. A ban on fast fashion

factories by 2030 threatens your business. You claim

that

fast fashion creates jobs and supports local economies. You also

face pressure to improve labour

and environmental policies but believe banning fast

fashion factories

is too extreme.

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Environmental

Activist

You

are

an

environmental activist who works on campaigns against pollution and climate

changes.

You believe fast fashion is one of the biggest threats to the planet

because it uses huge amounts of water, produces chemical waste, and

creates tons of textile garbage every year. You argue that fast

fashion encourages people to buy more clothes than they need, which

harms the environment. You want fast

factories to close to

protect nature and reduce global waste, but you worry that some

people will lose jobs unless governments create new opportunities.(text adapted from ChatGPT)

4. LISTEN TO THE OUTCOME

After the time is up, start the discussion. Tell them the government wants to ban fast fashion factories. You act as the government representative and would like to ask individual roles for their opinions.

If the group is advanced, you can suggest that individual roles will react to the arguments of other roles.

You have a magic mic or some other object (a softball) they can pass to the person who wants to speak. This way you avoid learners shouting and distractions in the class.

You lead the discussion and encourage all learners to share their statements or arguments. Ideally, the discussion will develop and the learners will want to express their opinion.

If the class doesn´t want to have a real discussion, just ask individual groups for the arguments their group came up with.

Allow 7 minutes for the discussion. Reflect on what your learners say.

A) Preparation and introduction

1. The teacher divides the learners into five groups and gives each group one role description (see below).

2. The teacher writes the newspaper headline "Global Ban on Fast Fashion Factories by 2030" on the board.

3. The teacher introduces the scenario: Learners imagine they read this headline and have to react from the perspective of their assigned character.

B) Group preparation

1. Learners read their role descriptions and prepare arguments from their character’s point of view.

Task: Discuss whether the ban is a good or bad thing. Focus on the positive and negative effects the ban would have on your role.

2. Learners prepare at least two statements their character would make if fast fashion factories closed by 2030.

Learners use topic-specific vocabulary from previous activities and discussion phrases:

From my point of view as a… / My biggest concern is… / I think this ban is fair/unfair because… / I agree/disagree with you because…

Learners have eight minutes to prepare.

3. The teacher supports learners with vocabulary and explanations if needed.

C) Role-play discussion

1. The teacher acts as a government representative and asks the different roles for their opinions.

2. Learners present their arguments and react to other viewpoints while staying in their assigned roles.

2. The teacher moderates the discussion and encourages learners to use English discussion phrases.

D) Reflection

1. The teacher reflects on the different perspectives and summarizes the main arguments discussed.

Role Descriptions

Fashion Influencer

You are a popular TikTok fashion influencer with thousands of followers. You love sharing stylish outfits and promoting affordable fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M. You want your followers to stay trendy and buy new clothes easily. However, you know that fast fashion is criticized because of its impact on the environment and workers. You believe fast fashion allows many people to enjoy fashion without spending too much money.

Single Mum

You are a single mother raising twin daughters on a tight budget. You depend on affordable fast fashion clothes because you cannot afford expensive brands. Your children grow quickly and need new clothes regularly. You worry about the quality and safety of cheap clothes, but you appreciate the low prices. Some clothes wear out quickly and have to be thrown away.

Fashion Factory Worker

You work long hours in a fast fashion factory in a developing country. Your job is poorly paid, and the working conditions are difficult. The factory is crowded and sometimes unsafe. Although you want better working conditions, your job helps you support your family. If the factory closes, you fear losing your income.

Fashion Factory Owner

You own a fast fashion factory that employs many local workers. You want to make a profit but also want to keep your employees. A ban on fast fashion factories threatens your business. You argue that fast fashion creates jobs and supports local economies, but you are also under pressure to improve working conditions and reduce environmental damage.

Environmental Activist

You are an environmental activist campaigning against pollution and climate change. You believe fast fashion is a major threat to the planet because it uses large amounts of water, creates pollution, and produces huge amounts of textile waste. You support closing fast fashion factories to protect the environment, but you also worry about people losing their jobs.

1. The teacher reads out reflection questions about the topic and the activities.

2. Learners react to each question by showing thumbs up or thumbs down to express their opinion.

Possible questions:

Did you understand the main idea of fast fashion from the video?

Do you understand why some people are for and some are against fast fashion?

Has your opinion on fast fashion changed?

Did you learn something new today?

Would you still buy clothes from fast fashion companies?

Do you think closing fast fashion factories would be a good idea?

Did you enjoy playing different characters?

Would you feel confident discussing this topic with friends?

3. The teacher asks learners to summarize their understanding of the topic by answering the question:

How would you explain what fast fashion is to a friend in one sentence?

4. Learners formulate their own explanation of fast fashion and share their answers with the class.

You will now sum up the discussion with the class. You will also try to come up with your answer to this question:

How would you explain what fast fashion is to your friend in one sentence?