An extract of an Upper-Intermediate EFL coursebook for teenage learners I designed in partial requirement for MA Applied Linguistics & English Language Teaching.\ud
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The material is centred about the topic of 'Body Image' and includes a focus on learner training; infinitives & gerunds; skimming and scanning reading tasks; intensive listening practice; giving opinions/speculating; rhyming words

Clark, Miss `Victoria L

English

Cognitive Sciences ePrint Archive

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart - Kahlil Gibran 
1 
3. Would you ever consider…? 
getting a tattoo/ piercing 
colouring your hair/ having hair implants 
getting a suntan 
using whitening  cream 
having plastic surgery/ cosmetic dentistry 
dieting 
body-building/ taking steroids 
wearing heavy makeup 
 
Why? Why not? Using the idioms, write 
down your answers. Compare with a 
partner. 
 
For example, “there’s a slim chance I’d have 
plastic surgery because it’s very acceptable 
in my country.” 
1. Look at the photographs. Who would be considered the most outrageous looking       
compared to the societal norms of your country? Discuss with a  partner 
 
 
We often use idioms to express how probable we think 
events or ideas are. Which phrases mean ‘never’ and 
which mean ‘maybe’. Mark them ‘N’ or ‘M’: 
 
a) There’s a slim chance 
b) When hell freezes over 
c) Not in a million years 
d) There’s a vague possibility  
 
A 
B 
C 
D 
E G 
H F 
2. Idioms  
Language aim: idioms of probability; infinitives & gerunds 
Skills focus:      speaking - giving your opinion; reading – skimming & scanning; listening – prediction &  
 listening for specific information; writing – short stories; pronunciation – rhyming words & word stress 
2 
8. Read the text as quickly as possible. What do these numbers refer to? 
 
a. 27   d. two  
b. 50s  e. 10  
c. five   f.  one 
 
 
 
Vocabulary 
       7. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box 
 
impart           opt out       prosperity             pursue 
relentless     heritage      rite of passage      starchy 
a. If you…………….of something, you decide not to do it. 
b.  A………………….is something your society expects you to do to become an adult. 
c.  Rice, pasta, potatoes and bread are examples of………………….food. 
d.  ……………is something that comes or belongs to you from birth. 
e.  If you are………………, you do not stop doing something. 
f.  ………………is the same as financial success. 
g.  When you give someone useful information, you ………….knowledge. 
h.   ……………is a synonym for chase or follow something or someone. 
                            Discussion 
                                     4. In your opinion: 
                                           a) Look at the photographs, who do you think is happier with 
                                           her body? Why?  
                                           b) What makes a body perfect? 
                                           c) Why are some people obsessed with their appearance? 
                                           d) Does ‘body perfection’ actually exist?  
                                                                    
                        
Listening  
 5. You’re going to listen to three people talking about body perfection 
         What are their answers to questions: 
 a) ______________________________________ 
 b) ______________________________________ 
 c) ______________________________________ 
 Are their answers different/similar to yours? 
                            
                                      
 
 
3 
Where Fat Is a Mark of Beauty 
 
In a rite of passage, some Nigerian girls spend months 
gaining weight and learning customs in a special room. 
“To be called a ‘slim princess’ is an abuse,” says a 
defender of the practice. 
AKPABUYO, Nigeria— 
Margaret Bassey Ene currently has one mission in life: 
gaining weight. The Nigerian teenager has spent every 
day since early June in a “fattening room” specially set 
aside in her father’s mud and thatch house. Most of her 
waking hours are spent eating bowl after bowl of rice, 
yams, plantains, and  beans. After three more months of 
starchy diet and forced inactivity, Margaret will be ready 
to re-enter society bearing the traditional mark of female 
beauty among her Efik people: fat. 
In contrast to many Western cultures where thin is in, 
many culture-conscious people in the Efik and other 
communities in Nigeria’s south eastern Cross River state 
view a woman’s large figure as a sign of good health, 
prosperity and allure. The fattening room is at the centre 
of a centuries-old rite of passage from childhood to 
womanhood. The months spent pursuing fatness are 
supplemented by daily visits from elderly matrons who 
impart tips on how to be a successful wife and mother.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nowadays, girls who are not yet marriage-bound do a 
tour in the rooms purely as a coming-of-age ceremony. 
And sometimes, nursing mothers return to the rooms to 
put on more weight. “The fattening room is like a kind of 
school where the girl is taught about motherhood,” said 
Sylvester Odey, director of the Cultural Center Board in 
Calabar, capital of Cross River state. “Your daily routine is 
to sleep, eat and grow fat. Like many traditional African 
customs, the fattening room is facing relentless pressure 
from Western influences. Health campaigns linking excess 
fat to heart disease and other illnesses are changing the 
eating habits of many Nigerians, and urban dwellers are 
opting out of the time-consuming process. Effiong Okon 
Etim, an Efik village chief in the district of Akpabuyo, said 
some families cannot afford to feed a daughter constantly 
for more than a few months.  
      However, the practice continues partly because 
“people might laugh at you because you didn’t have 
money to allow your child to pass through the rite of 
passage,” Etim said. What’s more, many believe a skinny 
girl will be sickly or unable to bear children. Etim, 65, put 
his two daughters in a fattening room together when they 
were 12 and 15 years old, but some girls undergo the 
process as early as age 7. 
  
BIGGER IS BETTER, 
ACCORDING TO CUSTOM 
As for how fat is fat enough, there is no set standard. But 
the unwritten rule is the bigger the better, said Mkoyo 
Edet, Etim’s sister. “Beauty is in the weight,” said Edet, a 
woman in her 50s who spent three months in a fattening 
room when she was 7. “To be called a ‘slim princess’ is an 
abuse. The girl is fed constantly whether she likes it or 
not.” 
        In Margaret’s family, there was never any question 
that she would enter the fattening room. “We inherited it 
from our forefathers; it is one of the heritages we must 
continue,” said Edet Essien Okon, 25, Margaret’s 
stepfather. “I remember being  there as a child. It’s a good 
thing to do; it’s an initiation rite.” His wife, Nkoyo Effiong, 
27, agreed: “As a woman, I feel it is proper for me to put 
my daughter in there, so she can be educated.” Effiong, a 
mother of five, spent four months in a fattening room at 
the age of 10. 
 Adapted from the New York Times 
Grammar Point 
1. These two sentences are taken from the text: 
 
I remember being there as a child 
They cannot afford to feed constantly. 
 
What is the difference between these two sentences? 
Are these rules true or false? Correct the false ones. 
• After a preposition, you always use a gerund  T/F               
      For example:__________________________ 
• To explain purpose, you use a gerund              T/F 
      For example:__________________________ 
•  After  somewhere/anywhere you use an infinitive 
      For example:_________________________ T/F  
 
 
 
 
4 
 
 
   Growing/to grow up in the small town of Springfield, it was always 
stressful being/to be an overweight child. Even though I now run my 
own successful business to sell/selling comics, I still find it difficult, if 
not impossible to interact/interacting with customers. I can’t help to 
think/thinking my appearance is blaming/to blame.  Despite to 
star/starring in the hit TV show, the Simpsons, I still don’t know how 
to attract/attracting women. I  want to avoid/avoiding  to end/ending 
up alone, so I have decided losing/to lose weight. I hope to  
become/becoming more confident in order to find/finding  
        the woman of my dreams.  
Reading Comprehension 
1. Check your answers to the prediction task.  
2. What does being in a ‘fattening room’ involve? 
3. Make a list of the positives and negative aspects that are mentioned                  
in the text. 
4. Why does this practice still continue? 
5. Can you think of any equivalent practices in your society? 
3. How does the meaning change? 
I stopped to work 
I stopped working 
See Grammar Reference on page 7 
2. Look at the text below. Delete the incorrect verb form. Compare your answers with a partner.  
Learning Strategy 
 
 
 
 
Add three more to the list: 
Memorising song lyrics                 Learning dialogues from films 
Reading for pleasure                      ______________________ 
Making  mind-maps                       ______________________ 
Learning new collocations            ______________________ 
(i.e. make a mess, do homework) 
 
Creative Writing – let your imagination run wild! 
Using all the words below, write down a short story. Try to make it as inventive as 
possible! 
1. Mama                                      6.  strong 
2. USA                                          7.  decisions 
3. hate                                          8.  older 
4. killin’                                        9.   media 
5. love                                          10.  equality  
 
Pronunciation 
How many words can you think of that rhyme with the words above? Write down as 
many as you can. Compare with a partner.  
 
1.You’re going to listen to a song written and  
performed by the Black-Eyed Peas.  
It’s called ‘Where is the Love?’  
What do you think the song’s going to be about?  
 
                                                             
 
 
         2.Some of the words from the song are                                                                                                                              
missing. See if you can fill them in.                   missing. See if you can fill them in. 
                                                                                 Now listen and check your answers.                  
     Useful language 
 Predicting & Speculating 
 It could be about… 
 It might be something to do with… 
 I think the main ideas could be related to… 
 Maybe the topic concerns… 
 I don’t reckon it’s to do with… 
 It’s unlikely to be about… 
 One of the possible ideas might be… 
 
 
5 
There are many ways to improve your 
language level, but what, in your opinion, 
are the best ways to develop your  
 vocabulary? 
                                                               
 
For example, ‘My mama taught me 
that equality is something important 
for all humankind because…  
                                                                               
What's wrong with the world, _______ 
People livin' like they ain't got no mamas 
I think the whole world addicted to the_______ 
Only attracted to things that'll bring you ______ 
Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism 
But we still got terrorists here livin' 
In the _____, the big _____ 
The Bloods and The Crips and the _____ 
But if you only have love for your own race 
Then you only leave space to _________ 
And to ________ only ________ hate 
And when you hate then you're bound to get ___, yeah 
Madness is what you __________ 
And that's exactly how anger works and _______ 
Man, you gotta have love just to set it ______ 
Take control of your mind and _______ 
Let your soul _________ to the love, y'all, y'all 
 
People _____, people ______ 
Children hurt and you hear them ______ 
Can you practice what you preach 
And would you turn the other cheek? 
Father, Father, Father help us 
Send us some guidance from above 
'Cause people got me, got me questionin' 
Where is the love (Love)? 
Where is the love (The love)? 
Where is the love (The love)? 
Where is the love? 
The love, the love 
 
It just ain't the same, always unchanged 
New days are strange, is the world insane? 
If love and peace is so ______ 
Why are there pieces of love that don't _______? 
Nations droppin' bombs 
Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones 
With ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young 
So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone 
So I could ask myself really what is goin' wrong 
 
In this world that we livin' in people keep on givin‘ in 
Makin' wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends 
Not respectin' each other, deny thy brother 
A war is _____ on but the reason's undercover 
The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug 
If you never know truth then you never know love 
Where's the love, y'all, come on (I don't know) 
Where's the truth, y'all, come on (I don't know) 
Where's the love, y'all 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I feel the weight of the world on my _______ 
As I'm gettin' _____, y'all, people gets ______ 
Most of us only care about money makin' 
Selfishness got us followin' our wrong direction 
Wrong information always shown by the _____ 
Negative images is the main _______ 
Infecting the young minds faster than _______ 
Kids wanna act like what they see in the ______ 
Yo', what ever happened to the values of ________? 
What ever happened to the fairness in _______? 
Instead in spreading love we spreading _______ 
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from ______ 
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' under 
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down 
There's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under 
Gotta keep my faith alive till love is found. 
 
Word-building  
Fill in the gaps with the missing nouns, verbs, or 
adjectives from the same word family: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Discussion 
1. Were your predictions about the meaning of the 
song correct? 
2.  “But when you only have love for your own race, 
then you leave space to discriminate. And to 
discriminate only generates hate”. How does 
discrimination relate to body image? 
3. Have you or anyone you know ever been 
discriminated against based on physical 
appearance? 
4. How can discrimination be prevented? 
6 
shoulder  older drama meditate  
mama          straight        goin’       media 
killin’ trauma CIA      discriminate x2 
         irate       operates        strong  demonstrate 
   KKK cryin’   colder           generate 
belong gravitate bacteria humanity 
criteria    USA            animosity     unity 
dyin’        cinema 
Noun Verb Adjective 
terrorism __________ __________ 
__________ discriminate  __________ 
__________ meditate __________ 
equality  __________ __________ 
__________ gravitate __________ 


Teaching Body Image to EFL Teenagers

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