Black Friday: Breathe, take a break – the planet can’t handle it anymore

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are expected to generate billions of dollars in sales for clothing and other products this year. But this shopping bonanza also generates greater volumes of waste than ever. That is bad news for the environment.

Fast Fashion – Environmental Impacts illustration by Greenpeace

Black Friday: Origins

Wondering how Black Friday got its name? You're probably not the only one. 

Each year the famous sales weekend, which follows Thanksgiving Day and begins tomorrow - November 29 - this year, sees a significant amount of shoppers head to high street stores and online brands in attempt to find the best deals. 

Ahead of Black Friday 2019, several retailers including Amazon, Currys PC World, John Lewis and Argos have already launched a range of early offers.

Yet, many people are unaware of the phenomenon's history.  Here is the story behind Black Friday. 

The early origins and history

The term "Black Friday" was actually first associated with financial crisis, not sales shopping.

Two Wall Street financiers Jim Fisk and Jay Gould, together bought a significant amount of US gold in the hope of  being able to sell it for huge profits.

On Friday, September 24 1869, in what became referred to as "Black Friday", the US gold market crashed and Fisk and Gould's actions left Wall Street barons bankrupt. 

Black Friday tales

When shops in the US recorded their accounting details by hand, they noted profits in black and losses in red.

It is thought that many shops were "in the red" throughout most of the year but they later "went into the black" the day after Thanksgiving, when shoppers bought a significant amount of discounted merchandise. 

Who coined the name Black Friday?

Police officers in Philadelphia were first to link Black Friday to the post-Thanksgiving period in the 1950s. Large crowds of tourists and shoppers came to the city the day after Thanksgiving for the Army-Navy football game, creating chaos, traffic jams and shoplifting opportunities. 

Police officers in the city weren't able to take the day off work and instead had to work long shifts to control the carnage, thus using the term "Black Friday" to refer to it.

Today, Black Friday is the USA's biggest shopping event of the year, when many shops cut their prices on a range of products, in order to boost profits and officially kick off the festive season.  

Although some retailers such as Ikea and Marks and Spencer chose not to join the shopping craze, many retailers have successfully boosted their profits by participating.

Article taken from The Telegraph.

Now, there are two other  important dates around Thanksgiving, Cybermonday and Givingtuesday. What do you know about them?

Mr Bean´s Daily Routine -- 1º ESO

If you had an extra day in the week ... what could you do?

SPEAKING: 2nd Type Conditionals

Film English Lesson Plan

• In pairs, ask five questions about your partner’s daily life:  age, job, studies, journey to school, routine and evening pastimes, for example.

•  Say to each other what you do on a normal day. 
•  Look at this question:

"If you had an extra day in the week, what could you do?"

• Write down five things you think your partner would do if he/she had an extra day in the week.
• When you have finished writing your sentences,  read them to your partner, for example:

“If you had an extra day, I think you’d spend more time with your grandparents.”

• Your partner should say whether the sentence is right or not.

Now, you  are going to watch a short film called Everyday in which a young couple imagine they had an extra day. 

•  Watch the film and note down as many of the activities the young couple would do.

Fridays with Songs 4º ESO

Maroon 5: Memories

Exercise 1: Listen to this beautiful song and complete the lyrics

Chorus

Here's to the ones that we _____

______ to the wish you were here, but you're not

'Cause the drinks bring back all the _____________

Of everything we've been __________

Toast to the ones here _______

Toast to the ones that we lost on the __________

'Cause the drinks bring back all the __________

And the memories bring back, ___________ bring back you

There's a time that I __________

When I did not know no pain

When I __________ in forever

And everything would stay the same

Now my heart feel like ____________

When _________ say your name

'Cause I can't reach out to call you

But I know I will one day, yeah

____________ hurts sometimes

Everybody hurts someday, ay-ay

But ___________ gon' be alright

Go and raise a glass and say, ay

BACK TO CHORUS

Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo

___________ bring back, memories bring back you

There's a time that I remember

When I ________ felt so lost

When I felt all of the hatred

Was too powerful to stop (oh, yeah)

Now my __________ feel like an ember

And it's lighting up the dark

I'll carry these torches for ya

That you know I'll never drop, yeah

Everybody hurts ____________

Everybody hurts someday, ay-ay

But ___________ gon' be alright

Go and raise a glass and say, ay

BACK TO CHORUS 

Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo (ooh, yeah)

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no

Memories bring back, memories bring back you

Exercise 2: Find as many Relative Clauses as you can.(4 in the first stanza, 3 in the second)

Let´s sing the song now!

SPEAKING ABOUT FILMS AND SERIES

Part 1
1. Do you often watch series/ films?
2. What kind of series/films do you watch?
3. Do you prefer American series/films or series/films made in your country?
4. Do men and women watch the same kind of series/films?

Part 2
Talk about a series which you enjoy:

- what type of series/film is it
- when you first saw it
- what it is about
- why you like it

Part 3
Discuss in pairs/groups
1. Do you think subtitles are better than dubbing for foreign films?
2. Why do many people prefer watching a film in the cinema rather than at home?
3. What makes a series/film successful?
4. What kind of films are not suitable for children?

Film Vocabulary

It´s important that you know the film genres. How many do you know?
Click here. FILM TYPES to get a listening practice lesson and learn the different film types.

For extended vocabulary (B2), Click HERE