Tuesday January 11, 2005

Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

“Prime Ad Space, Advertise on my face”. This is the web banner of a 20-year-old American man selling advertising space on his forehead to pay his college bills. Andrew Fisher of Omaha, Nebraska, has started a company called www.HumanAdSpace.com in the hope that human advertising will be the next big thing. Companies have been invited to advertise their company logo or website domain on his forehead in the form of a temporary tattoo for 30 days. He is set to make a fortune from this revolutionary idea. At the time of writing the highest bid is $21,150. All bids end on January 13th –at 9.45PM American Pacific Standard Time. On his website he posts, “This auction has just been covered by all four of the major news networks where I live (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC), and I have just been interviewed by BBC.” He says, "Take advantage of this radical advertising campaign and become a part of history." Such is the media interest, the winning ad is likely to be seen around the world for the next month as TV companies and documentary crews gauge the level of interest in the human ad. Your forehead next?

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about advertising / your forehead / forehead advertising / great ideas / get rich quick schemes / Mr. Andrew Fisher of the above article / eBay …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. IDEAS BRAINSTORM: Brainstorm ideas for adverts which might go on Mr. Fisher's forehead. Students talk about what is on the board, and put them in different categories (of their own choosing) or rank them according to those that would work best or least.

3. MY FOREHEAD: Students have to think about the possible uses for their foreheads to make money. Once they have their ideas, mill around the class 'selling' their ideas. The other expresses their opinions on the idea. Don't worry if all stuents cannot think of an idea, as long as around half the class has one.

4. AUCTION: Students talk about their experiences with auctions (eBay, Yahoo etc) and whether they have anything to sell - physical things or astoundingly great ideas like forehead advertising space.

5. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
- This is a truly revolutionary idea. vs. It's a flash in the pan idea.
- Mr Fisher will get more than $1,000,000. vs. Which crazy company / person will pay that kind of money?
- Mr. Fisher has started a whole new world of advertising. Soon Brad Pitt will have McDonalds ads on fis face. vs. Don't be ridiculous.
- At a local level, you could advertise your local newspaper on your forehead, or your local burger bar. vs Now you're being more ridiculous.
- The simplest ideas make the most money. vs Microsoft isn't a simple idea.
- It's wrong to use your body in this way. vs. If it doesn't harm anybody, what's wrong?.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘advert’ and ‘face’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  Coca Cola wants people to walk around with their logo on their faces.  T / F
(b)  A 20-year-old American man is selling advertising space on his forehead to pay his college bills. T / F
(c)  The man has started a company called ForeheadSpace.com.  T / F
(d)  He will wear a small TV screen on his forehead with a commercial running non stop.  T / F
(e)  A company logo or websitedomain will be on his forehead in the form of a temporary tattoo for 30 days.  T / F
(f)  He has been interviewed by ABC, BBC, CBS, FOX and NBC. T / F
(g)  This ad will become part of advertising history.  T / F
(h)  TV companies and documentary crews are likely to follow Mr. Fisher for one month.  T / F 

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	prime	advertisement
(b)	banner	short-lived
(c)	the next big thing	communications industry
(d)	domain	sale
(e)	temporary	revolutionary
(f)	fortune	assess
(g)	auction	best
(h)	radical	address
(i)	media	all the rage
(j)	gauge	riches

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	web	bills
(b)	advertising	form of
(c)	college	campaign
(d)	the next	networks
(e)	in the	idea
(f)	set to make	banner
(g)	revolutionary	big thing
(h)	news	of interest
(i)	advertising	space
(j)	gauge the level	a fortune

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Advertise on my face

“Prime Ad Space, Advertise on my face”. This is the web __________ of a 20-year-old American man selling advertising __________ on his forehead to pay his college bills. Andrew Fisher of Omaha, Nebraska, has started a company called www.HumanAdSpace.com in the hope that human advertising will be the next __________ thing. Companies have been invited to advertise their company logo or website domain on his forehead in the __________ of a temporary tattoo for 30 days. He is set to make a fortune from this revolutionary idea. At the time of writing the highest bid is $21,150. All bids end on January 13th –at 9.45PM American Pacific Standard Time. On his website he __________, “This auction has just been covered by all four of the major __________ networks where I live (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC), and I have just been interviewed by BBC.” He says, "Take __________ of this radical advertising campaign and become a part of history." Such is the media interest, the winning ad is likely to be seen around the world for the next month as TV companies and documentary crews __________ the level of interest in the human ad. Your forehead next?

news banner big posts gauge space form advantage

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonym exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. ‘ADVERT’/ ‘FACE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

2. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

3. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

4. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

5. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class. Back in pairs students discuss their findings.

6. ARTICLE DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on the article:

(a)  What do you think of Mr Ficher's idea?
(b)  How much would you sell your forehead space for?
(c)  What would you never advertise on your forehead?
(d)  Would you shave all your hair off to make the ad bigger / more visible?
(e)  Would you advertise on any other parts of your body?
(f)  Would you advertise your local eatery?
(g)  Have you ever auctioned anything / bought something from an auction?
(h)  How much money do you think Mr. Fisher will get?
(i)  Will this idea catch on? Will it become the next big thing?
(j)  Do you have any get-rich-quick ideas or money making plans?
(k) If you asked Mr. Fisher one question, what would it be?
(l) How much would you accept for a permanent ad from a huge multi-national company?
(m) Should there be guidelines on forehead advertising as to what words or symbols could be advertised?
(n) Teacher’s additional questions

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on EBay. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MY FOREHEAD: Create an advertisement for your forehead.

4. LETTER TO ANDREW FISHER: Write a letter to advertising pioneer Andrew Fisher advising him what to do next in his business.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  Coca Cola wants people to walk around with their logo on their faces.  T
(b)  A 20-year-old American man is selling advertising space on his forehead to pay his college bills. T
(c)  The man has started a company called ForeheadSpace.com.  T
(d)  He will wear a small TV screen on his forehead with a commercial running non stop.  F
(e)  A company logo or websitedomain will be on his forehead in the form of a temporary tattoo for 30 days.  T
(f)  He has been interviewed by ABC, BBC, CBS, FOX and NBC. T
(g)  This ad will become part of advertising history.  T
(h)  TV companies and documentary crews are likely to follow Mr. Fisher for one month.  T 

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	prime	best
(b)	banner	advertisement
(c)	the next big thing	all the rage
(d)	domain	address
(e)	temporary	short-lived
(f)	fortune	riches
(g)	auction	sale
(h)	radical	revolutionary
(i)	media	communications industry
(j)	gauge	assess

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	web	banner
(b)	advertising	space
(c)	college	bills
(d)	the next	big thing
(e)	in the	form of
(f)	set to make	a fortune
(g)	revolutionary	idea
(h)	news	networks
(i)	advertising	campaign
(j)	gauge the level	of interest

GAP FILL:

Advertise on my face

“Prime Ad Space, Advertise on my face”. This is the web banner of a 20-year-old American man selling advertising space on his forehead to pay his college bills. Andrew Fisher of Omaha, Nebraska, has started a company called www.HumanAdSpace.com in the hope that human advertising will be the next big thing. Companies have been invited to advertise their company logo or website domain on his forehead in the form of a temporary tattoo for 30 days. He is set to make a fortune from this revolutionary idea. At the time of writing the highest bid is $21,150. All bids end on January 13th –at 9.45PM American Pacific Standard Time. On his website he posts, “This auction has just been covered by all four of the major news networks where I live (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC), and I have just been interviewed by BBC.” He says, "Take advantage of this radical advertising campaign and become a part of history." Such is the media interest, the winning ad is likely to be seen around the world for the next month as TV companies and documentary crews gauge the level of interest in the human ad. Your forehead next?