Business English Materials: A Lesson on Avon

Click here for the PDF handout or try the online quiz, reading, listening, and activities on grammar, spelling and vocabulary for this lesson on Avon. Click on the links below or see the activities below this article:

READ

Avon is the world’s largest cosmetics and perfume company. It’s also one of the oldest. It was founded in New York in 1886 by a door-to-door book salesman David H. McConnell who gave away perfume to encourage sales. The perfume became more popular than the books so he established the California Perfume Company. Since then it has become a multinational corporation, employing over 40,000 people in 140-plus countries across the globe, and has annual sales in excess of $10 billion. The company uses a mix of sales strategies, relying on door-to-door selling, catalogues and retail stores. Traditionally, the trademark ‘Avon lady’ would come to customers’ doors. The company is expanding quickly into China and Russia and has also targeted the market for male cosmetics.

ONLINE QUIZZES

WORKSHEET ACTIVITIES

WARM-UPS

1. BRAINSTORM: Write all the words you can think of about Avon on the board or on a piece of paper. Talk about these words with your partner(s).

2. AVON MORNING: Each student pretends to be an employee of Avon. They walk around the class and talk about the company and their job.

3. RUMOURS: Each student writes down a pretend rumour about Avon. They then walk around the class and talk to other students about their rumour.

4. GOOD AND BAD: Brainstorm good and bad things about Avon and write them on the board. Students talk about these in pairs.

5. TRUE OR FALSE: Students find out several facts about Avon. They write these down and add the same number of things about the company that are false. Students test each other on which of their points are true or false.

6. FACTS: In groups, students write down as many facts as they can about Avon. The winner is the group with the most facts. Teacher may wish to have groups share their facts to make sure they are real.

LISTENING / READING GAP FILL

Avon is the world’s largest cosmetics and perfume company. It’s ___________________. It was founded in New York in 1886 ___________________ book salesman David H. McConnell who gave away perfume to encourage sales. The perfume ___________________ the books so he established the California Perfume Company. Since ___________________ a multinational corporation, employing over 40,000 people in 140-plus countries across the globe, ___________________ in excess of $10 billion. The company ___________________ strategies, relying on door-to-door selling, catalogues and retail stores. Traditionally, the trademark ‘Avon lady’ ___________________ customers’ doors. The company is expanding quickly into China and Russia and ___________________ the market for male cosmetics.

CORRECT THE SPELLING

Avon is the world’s largest cosmetics and pfrumee company. It’s also one of the oldest. It was ofdeund in New York in 1886 by a door-to-door book salesman David H. McConnell who gave away perfume to eeaugronc sales. The perfume became more popular than the books so he stieablhdes the California Perfume Company. Since then it has become a multinational corporation, epyigmnlo over 40,000 people in 140-plus countries across the globe, and has annalu sales in csseex of $10 billion. The company uses a mix of sales strategies, yelingr on door-to-door selling, catalogues and retail stores. Traditionally, the trademark ‘Avon lady’ would come to customers’ doors. The company is nxepigdna quickly into China and Russia and has also tedtrgae the market for male cosmetics.

UNJUMBLE THE WORDS

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INSERT THE VOWELS

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PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

avon is the world’s largest cosmetics and perfume company it’s also one of the oldest it was founded in new york in 1886 by a door-to-door book salesman david h mcconnell who gave away perfume to encourage sales the perfume became more popular than the books so he established the california perfume company since then it has become a multinational corporation employing over 40000 people in 140-plus countries across the globe and has annual sales in excess of $10 billion the company uses a mix of sales strategies relying on door-to-door selling catalogues and retail stores traditionally the trademark ‘avon lady’ would come to customers’ doors the company is expanding quickly into china and russia and has also targeted the market for male cosmetics

CHOOSE THE CORRECT TENSE

Avon .......... (be) the world’s largest cosmetics and perfume company. It’s also one of the oldest. It was .......... (found) in New York in 1886 by a door-to-door book salesman David H. McConnell who .......... (give) away perfume to .......... (encourage) sales. The perfume .......... (become) more popular than the books so he .......... (establish) the California Perfume Company. Since then it has .......... (become) a multinational corporation, employing over 40,000 people in 140-plus countries across the globe, and .......... (have) annual sales in excess of $10 billion. The company .......... (use) a mix of sales strategies, relying on door-to-door selling, catalogues and retail stores. Traditionally, the trademark ‘Avon lady’ .......... (will) come to customers’ doors. The company is .......... (expand) quickly into China and Russia and has also .......... (target) the market for male cosmetics.

REWRITE WITH SPACES

Avonistheworld’slargestcosmeticsandperfumecompany.It’salsooneoftheoldest.ItwasfoundedinNewYork
in1886byadoor-todoorbooksalesmanDavidH.McConnellwhogaveawayperfumetoencouragesales.Theperfumebecame
morepopularthanthebookssoheestablishedtheCaliforniaPerfumeCompany.Sincethenithasbecome
amultinationalcorporation,employingover40,000peoplein140-pluscountriesacrosstheglobe,andhasannualsalesinexcessof$10billion.Thecompanyusesamixof
salesstrategies,relyingondoor-to-doorselling,cataloguesandretailstores.Traditionally,thetrademark‘Avonlady’wouldcome
tocustomers’doors.ThecompanyisexpandingquicklyintoChinaandRussiaandhasalsotargetedthe
marketformalecosmetics.

CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORD

PROJECT AVON

Part 1. Your mission is to increase the profits and sales of Avon. Complete this table with your project partner(s):

Part 2. Change partners and look at their project. Suggest improvements. Ask for advice on your project:

Part 3. Make a presentation on your project. Give it to the class. Vote the best projects.

AVON – ROLE PLAY 1

AVON – ROLE PLAY 2

JOB INTERVIEW ROLE PLAY

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

AVON SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about Avon in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

WRITING 1 – SPEED WRITING

Write anything about Avon for 10 minutes. Show your partner your paper. Correct each other’s work.

WRITING 2 – LETTER OF COMPLAINT

Write a letter to Avon. Complain about one of its products. Ask for a refund. Show your partner your paper. Correct each other’s work.

WRITING 3 – LETTER OF APOLOGY

Write a letter of apology to the customer. Explain why you cannot give a refund. Show your partner your letter. Correct each other’s work.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET INFO: Search the Internet and find more information about Avon. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Write a magazine article about Avon. What have they done recently? What are their plans? Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

4. AVON POSTER Make a poster about Avon. Make sure you sell the company to the public. Show it to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your posters.

5. MY AVON LESSON: Make your own English lesson on Avon. Make sure there is a good mix of things to do. Find some good online activities. Teach the class / another group when you have finished.

6. ONLINE SHARING: Use your blog, wiki, Facebook page, MySpace page, Twitter stream, Del-icio-us / StumbleUpon account, or any other social media tool to get opinions on Avon. Share your findings with the class.

Main products
How to improve them
A brand new ‘killer’ product
How Avon is better than the competition
How to beat the competition

INTERVIEWER (Write the questions you want to ask the candidate.)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

INTERVIEWEE (Write questions you want to ask the interviewer.)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

A Lesson on Avon

Business English Materials.com

THE LESSON ON AVON

READ

ONLINE QUIZZES

MY e-BOOK

WORKSHEET ACTIVITIES

WARM-UPS

LISTENING / READING GAP FILL

CORRECT THE SPELLING

UNJUMBLE THE WORDS

INSERT THE VOWELS

PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

CHOOSE THE CORRECT TENSE

MY e-BOOK

REWRITE WITH SPACES

CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORD

PROJECT AVON

AVON – ROLE PLAY 1

AVON – ROLE PLAY 2

MY e-BOOK

JOB INTERVIEW ROLE PLAY

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

AVON SURVEY

WRITING 1 – SPEED WRITING

WRITING 2 – LETTER OF COMPLAINT

MY e-BOOK

WRITING 3 – LETTER OF APOLOGY

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.