News lessons the people making a difference: the teacher running a free school uniform exchange on her doorstep Level

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The people making a difference: the teacher running a free school uniform 
exchange on her doorstep
Level:
 
Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
Key:
1. determination 
2. struggling
3. smart
4. surging 
5. drop 
6. horrified 
3. Understanding the article 
a. Students read the statements and decide whether 
they are true or false according to the article. They 
should correct any that are false.
Key:
1. False. Jo Land and her husband are both 
teachers, but even so she was horrified at the 
cost of her youngest son’s school uniform.
2. False. She bought the plastic dustbin and 
placed it outside her house so that people could 
drop off unwanted items of school uniform.
3. False. The items are dropped off into the bin 
and then Jo Land posts details about them on 
Facebook. The first person to message her 
about the item can come and collect it or she 
will take it to them.
4. True
5. True
6. False. Jo Land does not ask people about their 
finances. She says that everyone is struggling 
with the high cost of living.
4. Key language 
a. Students find phrases that fit with the meanings.
Key:
1. down the road
2. cost of living 
3. financial hardship
4. in stock
b. Next they use the phrases to complete the 
sentences about the article.
1. Warmer 
a. In this warmer task, students look at the picture and 
label as many clothing items as they can. They can 
do this task individually. Then, students work with a 
partner or in groups of three and discuss the warmer 
questions about school uniforms in the UK. The 
article says that a complete secondary-school uniform 
costs around £400 (paragraph 6). According to the 
Children’s Society (www.childrenssociety.org.uk), in 
2022, the average cost of a primary-school uniform
is £315, and £337 for a secondary-school uniform.
2. Key words 
a. Students write the correct word from the wordpool 
next to the definitions on the lines provided. Then 
students find and highlight them in the article to read 
them in context.
Key:
1. horrified
2. comprehensive
3. dustbin
4. drop
5. preloved
6. struggling
7. surging
8. smart
9. landfill
10. determination
b. Before reading the article carefully, students 
use some of the key words to fill the gaps in the 
sentences to ensure that they understand and know 
how the words are used in other contexts.
Article summary:
Why a teacher decided to 
set up a popular and successful free school 
uniform exchange scheme 
Time:
90 minutes 
Skills:
Reading, speaking, writing 
Language focus:
 Vocabulary, speaking, writing 
Materials needed:
 One copy of the 
worksheet per student

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•PHOT
OCOPIABLE•
CAN BE DOWNLOADED
FROM WEBSITE
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2022.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
The people making a difference: the teacher running a free school uniform 
exchange on her doorstep
Level:
 
Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
If you’d prefer to make this a speaking task, get 
students to record their nominations instead of 
writing them and play the recordings to the class.
Key:
1. cost of living 
2. in stock
3. financial hardship
4. down the road
c. Then they use each of them in sentences of their 
own that are not related to the article.
5. The British school system
a. Students use the words in the box to complete the 
text about the UK school system.
Key:
1. State
2. Public
3. fees
4. free
5. colours
6. logo
b. Check their answers and ask them to talk about 
how the UK school system compares to that in their 
own country.
6. Discussion
Students discuss the questions related to the article, and 
give their reasons and justifications for each answer, 
referring to their own experiences wherever possible. 
7. In your own words 
a. Students first think about someone they know who 
is making a difference in their community. If they 
don’t personally know anybody who is making a 
difference, they can draw on articles they may have 
read as well as their own imagination to invent 
a person.
Next, they write the emails stating why their person 
should win the award – a certificate, publicity for their 
cause, and a weekend at a spa hotel.
Finally, share all the emails so that students can vote 
for a winner.