eBay facts…

eBay is one of the biggest websites in the world.

1 in every 3 internet pages viewed in the UK is a page on eBay.

eBay is a website where you can buy and sell almost anything.

eBay is an auction website where things are sold to the highest bidder.

Each auction on eBay normally lasts for 7 days.

People normally pay for things on eBay using PayPal a special and safe online banking service.

At any time there are at least 70 million things for sale on eBay around the world.

After you buy something on eBay the seller will send the product to you.

In 2005 over £4 billion worth of stuff was sold in the UK.

33 different countries around the world have their own eBay sites.

eBay is a brilliant place to find really strange and original things that are often very hard to find in a shop.

At any time there are at least 3 million things for sale in the UK.

You can buy new and 2nd hand things on eBay.

Some people sell things for a fixed price instead of selling things through an auction.

Some people open eBay shops and make a living out of selling their products on eBay.

Teacher’s Notes Upper Intermediate 90 minutes

Objectives > Students will learn about eBay and how to use the site to search for Christmas presents. > Students will discuss what presents they want to buy different people and why. > Students will practice and learn vocabulary associated with products and describing products.

> Students will choose a variety of presents, write descriptions and justify why they chose those presents.

Task 1 - What is eBay This worksheet will introduce students to what eBay is. They will learn some key statistics about the site and have the chance to share their knowledge with other students. Before starting on the worksheet, the students need to understand that eBay is essentially a shopping site where anybody can buy and sell almost anything. They should understand that most things are sold by auction where people bid for an item and whoever bids the most wins and has to pay the price they bid for the item. The photograph on the worksheet has been especially chosen to help students understand this concept if it is new to them. You do not need to discuss every detail of the auction as these are included in the facts the students will talk about.

• Once students have a basic overview of the site you should distribute the cut-up facts about eBay. The aim is for students to go around the class reading their facts to the other students. By sharing their information the students will build up a variety of interesting information about eBay.

• Students should write down the facts they hear on their worksheet in order to compile the information for future reference.

• All the eBay facts used here and many more can be found on the eBay website in the ‘About’ section. Task 2 – The eBay Christmas Shopping Mission Start by having an open discussion about Christmas presents. Ask students to think of someone to buy a present for. What would they get? Why? What would they like?

• Explain that the students are going to use eBay to find 3 Christmas presents. Use www.ebay.co.uk for British English and www.ebay.com for American English.

• Have a look at the eBay website yourself first. Look at the types of categories. You could choose to give your students a lexical focus based on classroom study (eg clothes) or leave it open. Either way, you need to be aware of the sort of things students won’t find on the website and get them to think of alternatives.

• Before allowing the students to go online, practice searching for a couple of items as a class. For this purpose you have the worksheet: ‘How to read an eBay listing’.

Searching for presents

• The easiest way to search for items is to type the item you are looking for into the search box and wait for the results. Encourage students to think about their search terms. For example, if you type in: ‘mobile phone’ you will get thousands of results including accessories and various other things. Highlight the importance of being specific, and show students how they can filter their search results using the options in the left hand column.

• An essential part of the process is how students read the results and not just jumping for the first thing they see. During the demonstration stage use the worksheet ‘How to read an eBay listing’ to show the students how to examine the results and descriptions before making their choice.

• Students need to read these descriptions and shouldn’t worry about looking through several products before choosing the one they want. It is not a race!

• Once they have made their choice they need to summarise the text about the product in their own words. You could also get the students to cut and paste an image of the product they choose into a Word document. They can then print out these images to help them talk about their presents in the final activity.

• Give students dictionaries to look up new words they encounter in their searches. Speaking about their choices

• Once the students have made their choices and completed their worksheets they should then compare and explain their choices to a partner.

• Get students to try and use any new vocabulary they have learnt. • You could also have a vote on who found the best present.