March 6, 2019

Reading Skill
Discussion of English Diagnostic (25 minutes)

Ice Breaker (5 minutes):

What are the things you do to relieve yourself from stress? Why are these things helpful for you?

Word for the Day (10 minutes):

mer·cu·ri·al
(mer-cure-yal)
adjective
1. (of a person) subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.

"his mercurial temperament"

synonyms:
volatile, capricious, temperamental, excitable, fickle, changeable, unpredictable, 
variable, protean, mutable, erratic, quicksilver, 
inconstant, inconsistent, unstable, unsteady,
fluctuating, ever-changing, kaleidoscopic, 
fluid, wavering, vacillating, moody, flighty, 
wayward, whimsical, giddy, impulsive; 

technical labile

"a mercurial temperament"

 Use the word in a sentence

Grammar Activity (10 minutes):

Prepositions Worksheet

Many prepositions express opposite ideas.

Fill in the following blanks with prepositions that express the opposite idea to the one listed.

Example: under --- over ___________________ outside

___________________ from
___________________ before
___________________ behind
___________________ down
___________________ unlike

___________________ without
___________________ around

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Pronouns Worksheet 2

Underline the prepositions in the following sentences.

1. No one knew about the dangers of standing too closely to a microwave.

2. Della refused to open her purse during the security check.
3. Like her ancestors, Zoe studied psychology and became a doctor.
4. Children play with each other as they develop motor skills.
5. The directions were to go around the barn, through the field, toward the big oak, and to
stop after we had crossed the finish line.

Readings (45 minutes):

Male Shopping Habits Versus Female Shopping Habits

Bogdan Rancea -- February 20, 2019

We all know that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Well, not literally, but males
and females are very different types of people. Each gender has a different way of processing
information, dealing with problems, and spending free time. You can even take this dichotomy
and apply it to ecommerce since it turns out that men and women have different online shopping
habits, as well. This factor is especially important if you run a store that sells products geared
towards a specific gender. You can shape your store design and marketing strategy around
gender habits and, in turn, see a larger response from your targeted audience. Here is how men
and women are different when it comes to online shopping.

The Differences in Shopping Psychology

It’s no secret that most men and women view shopping differently as an activity. Based on a
survey conducted by the Key Note Media Centre, males tend to view shopping as a chore. They
do what needs to be done as quickly as possible and are more than happy to be on their way. As a
result, they are less likely to check on competitors’ prices or listen to their friends for advice. So
for an ecommerce store aimed towards males, you want to make the experience something
extremely simple and straightforward.

Women, on the other hand, treat shopping as a fun event. They tend to bring their friends along
during sprees, are more receptive to other people’s opinions, make impulse purchases, and
devote a lot of time to shopping. You want to make their online shopping experiences social and
comprehensive. Try to add social media features to your product pages and expose female
shoppers to as many products as possible. For instance, you can let them share purchases on
Facebook, send them product recommendations, and display similar items to the ones in their
carts somewhere on your page.

Visually Designing Your Online Store with Gender on the Mind

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Men and women perceive colors differently due to a number of environmental and biological
factors. It makes sense to have your site’s design and theme be male or female friendly if you are
trying to win over a specific gender. From a recent study of 232 people from across 22 different
countries, it was shown that blue was the most popular color between both genders, while orange
proved to be universally unappealing. The similarities stop there, though. A high number of
females indicated fondness for purple (24%), while no male participants listed purple as their
favorite at all. Additionally, men preferred bright colors, and the women were more into soft
ones. Lastly, men reacted more positively towards shaded colors (colors that have black added to
them), while females preferred tints (colors that have white added to them).

For site layout itself, gender again plays a large role in online shopping habits. Between the two
sexes, a Shopzilla survey from June 2013 showed that males are more likely than females to
make a purchase from a desktop or laptop (87% to 82%), while females were more likely to use
a mobile device to complete a checkout (18% to 14%). What this means is that you need an
effective mobile webpage if you’re going to win over women customers. Make sure that you can
easily browse pages, search for items, and quickly checkout from a mobile device. This same
study also mentions that women were slightly keener on making sure they were getting the best
price available (77% to 74%). You can capitalize on this by offering in-page price comparisons
when your price stands above competitors’.

Formulating the Right Marketing Plan

Once you have your site’s design wrapped up, the next big step is getting people to your website
and keeping them happy as customers. The same Shopzilla ecommerce research survey indicated
that men and women respond to marketing strategies differently. If you’re in a male-dominated
ecommerce subindustry, you want to invest in paid search advertising campaigns and SEO. Men
typically like to research products before purchasing, and SEO can drive your website’s rank
higher in a search engine results page. Meanwhile, you can continue to attract the consumer’s
attention with search engine ads that appear in the results pages’ columns. If you want to get
even fancier, you can roll out retargeted search engine ads, which help you drive consumers back
to your site after they have visited and interacted with it. Retargeted ads create a continuous
branding experience, ultimately driving up your conversion rate.

If you’re trying to win in a women-based subindustry, marketing is a bit different. Women are
more responsive to marketing emails, so investing in an email marketing platform would best
suit you. The best time to send out online messages is around mid-afternoon when work starts to
die down and after dinnertime since that time is usually spent relaxing. Additionally, coupons
play a large part in enticing women to shop. 77% of the surveyed participants found that pricing
mattered when it came to completing a purchase. Women are going to try their hardest to find as
many ways as possible to cut costs, and you should play on that. These coupons don’t have to be
direct discounts. You can offer free shipping, specials, and other creative little surprises. What’s
good about these two marketing avenues is that it’s easy to combine them, as you can literally
send out coupon-filled emails.

Lastly, it pays to know which social media sites are more popular for each gender since you can
shift your marketing resources accordingly. Taken from a 2012-2013 Pew Research Center

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Reading Skill
report, both genders have large presences in Twitter and Facebook. However, 72% of all
Internet-enabled females use Facebook, compared to 62% for men. The number ratio is tighter
for Twitter, with men just edging out a larger presence (18% to 17%). Pinterest in particular saw
the largest gap between males and females, with 25% of online women having profiles,
compared to just 5% for men.  So, to summarize, social media marketing for women and men
works well across Twitter and Facebook, and Pinterest is a great avenue if you work in a popular
female subindustry.

Conclusion

Men and women react differently to online shopping. If you work in an industry that primarily
sells things to just one of the sexes, it makes sense to hone your marketing and site design to
appeal to that one gender. While some of the numbers don’t indicate a large difference between
the two, keep in mind that every little piece of strategy helps when it comes to winning
conversions. For instance, more women complete checkouts via mobile device than men by just
4%, but what if your online store has six figures worth of Internet traffic? If you can service that
4% by making their lives more convenient, that’s a lot of money right there. Anyway, it’s nice to
take a look back and see if you in particular are prone to any of these habits. Are you a male who
loves clicking on search engine ads? Are you a female who just adores the color purple? Humans
can be such fascinating creatures.

Comprehension Questions:

 Why do you think men and women are too different in terms of their shopping
preference?
 Do you think marketing appeals more to women than men? Why? Why not?
 Are you yourself a shopaholic? Describe your shopping habit.
 Do you think women are more visual? Why?

Travel Reading Comprehension Passage

Travel is something which people do every day. It is very difficult to avoid the need to travel. It
may be a trip to school, university or to work. Travelling can often take a long time, especially
when great distances need to be covered. People often enjoy travelling abroad for holidays. But
for some people travelling is not fun at all. Some people suffer from travel sickness. This means
that they will become very unwell each time they travel. 

Travelling can be either affordable or costly. It often depends on how far you want to travel and
the choice of transport. Using a bicycle will not cost anything as you power it by using your legs.
However, the use of a bicycle can be hard work and can take a lot of time to travel long
distances. Cars and motorcycles are faster modes of transport, but are more expensive to use as
gasoline is needed for them to work. It can usually be assumed that the longer you wish to travel,
the more expensive and time consuming it will be.

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The use of a plane is necessary for people wanting to travel very long distances. A pilot will fly a
plane from an airport for many thousands of miles to take people to places far away. Although
traffic is rarely a problem for airplanes, it can take a lot of preparation to travel by plane. People
often need to arrive at the airport three hours prior to departure. 

A train is another mode of transport which is ideal for travelling long distances within the same
country, or between countries which are connected by land. A train driver will stop at train
stations on route to allow passengers wishing to proceed to the scheduled destination to board the
train.

A number of destinations can be travelled to by using the sea. People often depart from a harbour
in a ferry which is driven by a captain. If the journey is a long distance, people may choose to
sleep on the ferry while they wait to arrive at their destination. Some people choose to go on a
cruise for their holiday, which would involve stopping at many different city ports for a short
amount of time. People who need to travel short distances may choose not to use any transport at
all. People often rely on their legs to take them to places nearby. This is often encouraged as
certain modes of transport have been said to produce harmful emissions and damage the
environment. 

Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension questions that go with the above reading passage. 

1) Which mode of transport does not cost money?

    A) Train
    B) Car
    C) Walking
    D) Bus

2) Why do some people not enjoy travelling?

    A)  They find it a waste of time 
    B)  It is not comfortable 
    C)  It is expensive 
    D)  They become unwell 

3) Name the mode of transport which is controlled by a pilot and stops at an airport.
    A) Train
    B) Airplane
    C) Car
    D) Bus

4) Name the mode of transport which is controlled by a captain and stops at a port.

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Reading Skill
    A) Train
    B) Car
    C) Ship
    D) Airplane

5) Which mode of transport is ideal for travelling between countries connected by land?
    A) Bicycle
    B) Train
    C) Airplane
    D) Car

Communication (20 minutes)

Share some insights regarding your childhood. What are some good memories that you still
cannot forget and has affected you so much.