Keep your English
up to date 3
Teacher s pack
Lesson plan and student worksheets with answers
Excessorise
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007
BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Excessorise
CONTENTS
1. Level, topic, language, aims, materials
2. Lesson stages
3. Answers
4. Audio script
5. Student worksheets 1, 2, 3
Level: Intermediate and above
Topic: Greed and excess
Aims: Listening skills  A short talk
Language   Excessorise and other verbs ending in 'ise'
Materials: Worksheet 1  Introductory speaking and vocabulary exercises,
Listening section 1
Worksheet 2  Listening section 2
Worksheet 3  Extra work: Vocabulary, language and discussion
Audio script  Available in teacher s notes
Recording of the talk  Available online at bbclearningenglish.com
This plan was downloaded from:
bbclearningenglish.com/radio/specials/1130_uptodate2/page2.shtml
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Excessorise
LESSON STAGES
A
Explain to the students that they are going to listen to a talk by Professor David Crystal, an
expert on the English language, and that the talk is about the way English is changing. This
particular talk is about the word  Excessorise .
B
Hand out Student Worksheet 1. Students do Speaking, Exercise 1 in small groups or
pairs.
C
Students do Vocabulary, Exercise 2 - without dictionaries at first.
Practise the pronunciation of the vocabulary, as they will hear it in the talk.
D
Students read Listening: Section 1, Exercise 3 and then listen to Section 1 of the talk.
They answer question  a .
Students listen again and do Listening: Section 1, Exercise 4.
E
Hand out Student Worksheet 2.
Students read Listening: Section 2, Exercise 5 and then listen to Section 2 of the talk.
They answer question  a .
F
Students try to answer Listening: Section 2, Exercise 6. They listen again to Section 2 to
check/complete their answers.
G
If you wish to do some extra work with the class, hand out Student Worksheet 3.
For the vocabulary exercise, give the students copies of the audio script and play the
complete talk as they read.
The language work focuses on other verbs that end in 'ise'.
The final discussion uses the language from the lesson.
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Excessorise
AUDIO SCRIPTS
Listening Section 1
Excessorise. It s based on the word  excess , of course. But it s a lovely play on words
because it reminds you of  accessories .  Accessorise is actually an older usage, from the
1930s in the United States. It means to furnish with accessories.
 Excessorise is unusual because there is no word in English,  excessory , as there is
 accessory . So when I heard the verb for the first time, I didn t really know what it meant
  let s excessorise with some whiskey somebody said  it was the first time I d heard it,
years ago. And I thought,  excessorise?  I thought it was  accessorise and then I worked
it out, that it couldn t be, and I realised that it was based on this word  excess -  let us
drink to excess it meant in that particular case. And that s how the word is used  to eat or
to drink, or to take drugs, or whatever it might be, for personal indulgence in excessive
amounts  that s the point - if you re excessorising, you re doing something excessively.
Listening Section 2
I ve heard it applied to jewellery as well.  He (or she) is really excessorised! In other
words, there s too much jewellery being used on the person. I ve heard somebody talking
about his car  or somebody else s car  usually you talk about somebody else s things in
this way, not your own - somebody who had excessorised his car  in other words, it s got
all kinds of little gimmicks and gadgets all over it.
And the other day, for the first time - I couldn t believe this - I heard somebody in a
restaurant putting all sorts of things on his beef burger, all kinds of extras, onions and
sauce and all that sort of thing - and somebody said  hey, you re excessorising!  talking
about the beef burger!
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Excessorise
ANSWER KEY
VOCABULARY
Exercise 2
a. accessories extra things that you add to a main thing e.g. a CD player in a car
b. a play on words a joke that uses the double meanings of vocabulary
c. excess too much, or a very large amount, of something
d. indulgence something you have for pleasure, not because you need it
e. gimmicks things of no real use or value, which are used to get people s
attention
f. gadgets a small device or machine with a special purpose
LISTENING: SECTION 1
Exercise 3
a. iii. having too much of something
Exercise 4
a. False    Excessorise is unusual because there is no word in English,  excessory , as
there is  accessory .
b. True   when I heard the verb for the first time, I didn t really know what it meant.
c. False   to eat or to drink, or to take drugs, or whatever it might be, for personal
indulgence in excessive amounts  that s the point - if you re excessorising,
you re doing something excessively.
LISTENING: SECTION 2
Exercise 5
a. i. necklaces and rings - jewellery
iii. motor vehicles - cars
v. fast food - beef burgers
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Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Excessorise
Exercise 6
a. False   usually you talk about somebody else s things in this way, not your own.
b. True   I couldn t believe this.
c. False   somebody in a restaurant putting all sorts of things on his beef burger, all
kinds of extras, onions and sauce and all that sort of thing
EXTRA WORK
VOCABULARY
Exercise 7
a. worked it out
b. reminds
c. excessive amounts
LANGUAGE
Exercise 8a
a. industrialise
b. economise
c. specialised
d. advised
e. advertise
f. revise
g. prioritise
h. personalised
8b.
Industrialise: industry, industrialisation, industrial, industrially
Economise: economy, economisation, economical, economically
Specialised: speciality, specialisation, special, specially
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Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Excessorise
Advise: advice, advisor
Advertise: advertisement (advert, ad), advertiser, advertising
Revise: revision, reviser
Prioritise: priority
Personalise: personality, person, personalisation, personal, personally
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
WORKSHEET 1
SPEAKING
1. Discuss these questions with your partner.
a. Which of the following things do you think you do too much of, too little of or the
right amount of?
Eating chocolate Using the internet
Eating beef burgers, chips and fast food Watching TV
Listening to music Sleeping
Spending time with friends Playing computer games
Using your mobile phone Shopping for clothes
b. Do you think it is possible to have, or do, too much of a good thing? Why/why not?
c. How greedy do you think you are, on a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 is very, very,
very greedy?
d. Do you think your country has a general culture of moderation (people don't do too
much of something that is pleasurable) or is there a culture of excess (people do too
much, or want too much, of the good things in life)?
VOCABULARY
2. Match these words and phrases to their definitions.
a. accessories things of no real use or value, which are used to get people s
attention
b. a play on words extra things that you add to a main thing e.g. a CD player in
a car
c. excess a small device or machine with a special purpose
d. indulgence too much, or a very large amount, of something
e. gimmicks a joke that uses the double meanings of vocabulary
f. gadgets something you have for pleasure, not because you need it
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LISTENING SECTION 1
3. Now, listen to Professor Crystal talking about the use of the word  excessorise
in English and answer this question.
a. If you excessorise, what are you doing?
i. not having enough of something
ii. having the right amount of something
iii. having too much of something
4. Listen to Section 1 again and decide if the following statements are true or
false, according to Professor Crystal.
a. 'Excessorise' is made from the noun an 'excessory'.
b. Professor Crystal was confused when he first heard the word 'excessorise'.
c. 'Excessorise' is only used with reference to food and drink.
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WORKSHEET 2
LISTENING SECTION 2
5. Listen to Section 2 of the talk and answer this question.
a. Which 3 of these things has Professor Crystal heard people use 'excessorise' with?
i. necklaces and rings
ii. other people
iii. motor vehicles
iv. small machines
v. fast food
6. Listen again to Section 2. Are the following sentences true or false?
a. We usually use 'excessorise' to talk about our own behaviour.
b. Professor Crystal was surprised to hear 'excessorise' used to refer to beefburgers.
c. The person was eating lots of beefburgers.
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WORKSHEET 3 - EXTRA WORK
VOCABULARY
7. Find the phrases in the text that have the following meanings.
a. makes you think of, or remember, something
b. find the answer or solution to a question or problem
c. very large quantities
LANGUAGE
8a. There are many verbs that end in 'ise', like accessorise and excessorise.
Complete the sentences with a verb from the box. Use the correct grammatical form.
advertise economise prioritise advise
personalise specialise revise industrialise
a. Many countries need to ________ in order to improve the lives of their citizens.
b. Our electricity bills are too high. We should economise by turning the heating down.
c. During my studies of history, I have specialised in the history of medicine.
d. When I was at school, my teachers advised me to go to university rather than leave
school to find a job.
e. Companies are not allowed to advertise cigarettes on television.
f. It's important that you revise hard before an exam.
g. He's not a good manager: he can't prioritise all the tasks that need doing, so he wastes
important time on things that aren't urgent.
h. When I was at university, I personalised my room by putting music posters on the
walls.
8b. What other words can you make from the verbs in Exercise 8a? e.g. Excessorise:
excess, excessive, excessively
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DISCUSSION
9a. Discuss these questions with your partner.
a. What kind of accessories do you buy for your clothes and look/your car/your
computer?
b. Do you think you ever 'excessorise'?
c. In your studies, have you ever specialised in a particular area?
d. If you had to save money, how would you economise?
e. What are the advantages and disadvantages of rapid industrialisation in a country?
f. How do you revise for exams? Do you have any special techniques or approaches?
g. How have you personalised your bedroom?
h. Do you think that companies should be allowed to advertise unhealthy food to
children? Why/why not?
i. Are you good at prioritising? What have you got to do this coming week? Can you
prioritise the different things?
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