Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. an initiative
    • ex. My company started an initiative to have employees go home early on Fridays.
  2. donate
    • ex. I’m going to donate my old books to the library.
  3. a voucher
    • ex. The restaurant gave me a voucher for a free meal.
  4. a good cause
    • ex. I volunteer at a place that gives free meals. I think it’s a good cause.
  5. dispose of
    • ex. A lot of people don’t dispose of their trash properly.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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U.K. company Marks & Spencer (M&S) is working with the charity Oxfam on an initiative to have customers donate old clothes. Customers can bring their old clothes to M&S stores or to Oxfam offices. If they donate at least one M&S clothing item, they will receive a £5 (about ¥700) voucher for M&S clothes or home products.

M&S started this initiative back in 2008 because they wanted customers to support a good cause and dispose of old items properly. According to Oxfam’s latest report, Oxfam and M&S stores have received more than 28 million clothes. After customers donate them, the old clothes are recycled or re-sold.

This is not M&S’ only charity initiative. In addition to clothing and home goods, the company also sells food products, and in 2017, they started donating their unsold chilled food to U.K. charities. These food products include meat, dairy and packed meals. M&S started this initiative to make sure that unsold food is not wasted.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Old Clothes

  • What should people do with their old clothes? Why? Discuss.
  • How often should people replace their old clothes with new ones? Why? Discuss.
  • Are there stores in your country that sell a lot of old or used clothes? Why or why not? Discuss.

Donating to Charity

  • Do a lot of people in your country donate to charity? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Do you think it’s better to donate to big charities or small charities? Why? Discuss.
  • Do you think how much a person donates is important (ex. $10 vs. $100, one shirt vs. many shirts)? Why or why not? Discuss.