Lesson 5 – A business proposition

Warm-up

1. Put students in pairs. Tell them to describe their home neighborhoods to each other.
2. Ask questions about their neighborhoods. Ask if there are schools, restaurants, parks, etc. to introduce the vocabulary in the Key language.
3. Tell them to discuss what facilities would improve their neighborhood and why. Ask for examples of their ideas.

Main Activity

1. Tell the class this anecdote.
   There is a story by Somerset Maugham (an English novelist about a young man who visits a small town and wants to buy some cigarettes. He walks nearly a mile (about 1.5 km) before he finds a shop, so he goes back to the place where he started from and says, I’ll open a tobacconist here. He does and it is a great success. For the next 20 years, the man walked the streets of England looking for cigarettes. When he had to walk too far, he opened another shop. He was a millionaire by the time he was 35.
2. Tell them they  are going to start a business as the man in the story did.
3. Put them in groups of four
4. Tell them to look at the image down below.
5. Tell them to evaluate the three different neighborhoods and decide which one site would be the best to open a shop or start a business in. They must decide what type of shop or business they think would be successful and choose the best area for it. E.G. an internet café, gym/health club, late-night convenience store: (A late-night convenience store is usually open until about 11:00 pm It sells newspapers, cigarettes, basic groceries, and often alcohol. It also stocks other simple necessities like pens, notebooks, aspirins, etc.)
6. After discussion, one student from each group gives their group’s decision and reasons to the class. There is not one obvious, best location.

Imagine that you are business people who are going to open a shop or start a business together. There are three possible shops available that you could rent, shown in the maps below. Discuss the alternatives. Decide what type of shop or business would be successful and choose the best neighborhood for it.

Follow up

• Ask the students to watch this video below:
  
• Ask the group if they think their business idea would be successful in their town or the immediate neighborhood around the school, and why/why not?
• Tell the groups to think about the best shop or business proposition for their town or the immediate neighborhood around the school, and where exactly to put it. Tell them to think of a good name for their shop or business.
• After discussion, one student from each group explains their group’s idea and reasons to the class.