Chinese roads will soon look a little racier. The world-famous sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has announced its entry into China. It will open a showroom in Shanghai’s commercial district next week. Company bosses say China is the world’s fastest growing car market. They want to encourage the growing number of rich Chinese to buy cars that are a little sportier than those usually seen on the streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be shipped to Shanghai, from the lowest-priced US$180,000 Gallardo, to the top of the range cars, priced at US$330,000.

A company spokesman said entry into the booming Chinese market would increase profits. He said recent sales are slow due to the softer European and North American markets. He also said China was “the next best area for high-end vehicle growth”. The number of Chinese billionaires has more than tripled in the past year. China’s rich middle and upper classes seem to love expensive luxury goods, especially from Europe, and they have a growing amount of spare cash to spend. Lamborghini follows other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s largest marketplace.

WARM-UPS

1. LUXURY: You are super rich. You love expensive, luxury products. Walk around the class and chat with other “super rich” people about your expensive tastes. What luxury goods do you buy? What are your favorite brands and makers? How many cars do you have?

2. MARKETPLACES: In pairs / groups, talk about the economy of your country or for the country in which you are studying. Look at the regions below. What kind of future do they have? What kinds of companies might be successful in each region?

China South America North America Western Europe Eastern Europe

Africa Russia India South-East Asia The Middle East

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Chinese roads / racing / sports cars / Lamborghini / Shanghai / fast growing markets / models / profit / sales / billionaires / luxury goods / spare cash

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. LUXURY GOODS: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the phrase “luxury goods”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. LUXURY CARS: How difficult do you think it is to sell luxury cars? Ask your partner(s) what they like most / least about these cars. After you have finished, discuss what points sales people might need to focus on with their customers.

Lamborghini Rolls Royce BMW Ferrari

Mercedes Jaguar Aston Martin Volvo

6. THE CHINESE MARKET: Do you agree or disagree with these opinions? Talk about them with your partner(s).

1. The Chinese market will soon be the most important in the world.
2. The World Trade Organization needs to control China’s economy more.
3. China’s economic activity will destroy the planet.
4. Demand in China will help all other economies in the world.
5. There will be a mass migration to China of people looking for jobs.
6. Chinese will become the international language of business.
7. China will replace the USA as the land of opportunity.
8. Chinese luxury sports car brands will start and be better than Italian ones.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):  

a.	Sports car maker Lamborghini will be listed on China’s stock market.	T / F
b.	China is the world’s fastest growing car market.	T / F
c.	Chinese streets are full of sports cars.	T / F
d.	The price of the cheapest Lamborghini has been cut to US$180,000.	T / F
e.	Entry into the Chinese market might increase Lamborghini’s profits.	T / F
f.	The number of Chinese billionaires has quadrupled in the past year.	T / F
g.	China’s rich middle and upper classes have lots of spare cash.	T / F
h.	Ferrari and Bentley will soon follow Lamborghini into China.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	manufacturer	business
b.	entry	appear
c.	commercial	transported
d.	line-up	car
e.	shipped	arrival
f.	booming	maker
g.	softer	money
h.	vehicle	weaker
i.	seem	range
j.	cash	expanding

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	Lamborghini has announced its entry	and upper classes
b.	open a showroom	of rich Chinese to buy cars
c.	China is the world’s fastest	has more than tripled
d.	encourage the growing number	in Shanghai’s commercial district
e.	top of the range	are slow
f.	entry into the booming Chinese	into China
g.	recent sales	of spare cash to spend
h.	The number of Chinese billionaires	cars, priced at US$330,000
i.	China’s rich middle	market would increase profits
j.	they have a growing amount	growing car market

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Lamborghini to enter Chinese market

Chinese roads will soon ________ a little racier. The world-famous sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has ________ its entry into China. It will open a showroom in Shanghai’s commercial ________ next week. Company bosses say China is the world’s ________ growing car market. They want to ________ the growing number of rich Chinese to buy cars that are a little sportier than those usually ________ on the streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be ________ to Shanghai, from the lowest-priced US$180,000 Gallardo, to the top of the ________ cars, priced at US$330,000.		announced shipped fastest look encourage district range seen
A company spokesman said ________ into the booming Chinese market would increase profits. He said recent sales are slow ________ to the softer European and North American markets. He also said China was “the next best ________ for high-end vehicle growth”. The ________ of Chinese billionaires has more than tripled in the past ________. China’s rich middle and upper classes seem to ________ expensive luxury goods, especially from Europe, and they have a growing amount of ________ cash to spend. Lamborghini follows other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s ________ marketplace.		love area year due largest spare entry number

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Lamborghini to enter Chinese market

Chinese roads will soon _____ __ _______ racier. The world-famous sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has announced its entry into China. It will open a showroom in Shanghai’s commercial ___________ next week. Company bosses say China is the world’s fastest growing car market. They want ___ __________ the growing number of rich Chinese to buy cars _____ ____ __ little sportier than those usually seen on the streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be ________ ___ Shanghai, from the lowest-priced US$180,000 Gallardo, to the ____ ___ ____ range cars, priced at US$330,000.

A company spokesman said entry into the _________ Chinese market would increase profits. He said recent sales are slow due to the _______ European and North American markets. He also said China was “the next best area for high-end vehicle _______”. The number of Chinese billionaires has more than tripled in the past year. China’s rich middle and upper _______ seem to love expensive luxury goods, especially from Europe, and they have a growing amount of _______ cash to _______. Lamborghini _______ other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s largest marketplace.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘car’ and ‘market’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “CHINA MARKETPLACE” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about China becoming a major global marketplace.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

racier entry district whole $180,000 range

booming slow growth love spare Ferrari

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you know about Lamborghini?
3. What do you think about China becoming a major economic power?
4. What do you think the world economy will look like 20 years from now?
5. What was the Chinese economy like 20 years ago and what has changed to change the economy so dramatically?
6. How will China change the world economy?
7. Do you think luxury carmakers will be able to keep up with demand in China?
8. What else could Lamborghini do to increase sales?
9. Do you think Lamborghini’s Gallardo car is good value?
10. What car would you really like to buy if you had lots of money?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Do you think China will become as rich as America?
4. Do you benefit from the booming Chinese economy?
5. What other world economies are booming?
6. Do you think slow or soft sales in Europe and America will pick up?
7. What is the market like for high-end vehicles in your country?
8. Do people have lots of spare cash in your country?
9. What kinds of things would you like to buy if you became a billionaire?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

ECONOMISTS: You work for a consultancy company that makes about China’s booming economy. What impact will it have on the world economy? In pairs / groups, make predictions for the different areas in the table. Agree on the following areas:

AREAS	PREDICTIONS
The price and supply of oil
World migration
The strength and importance of China’s currency
The American economy
Pollution
The Chinese language
Chinese made goods
Bicycles

• Change partners and show each other your predictions.
• Tell each other what you think the chance is of these predictions coming true.
• Present your predictions to the rest of the class.
• In pairs / groups, discuss the predictions most likely to come true. Are they good or bad for you, your country and the world economy?

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: Search the Internet and find more information on Lamborghini. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

3. THEN AND NOW: Make a poster profiling the Chinese economy 30 years ago and the Chinese economy today. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all find out similar things?

4. THE FUTURE: Write an article based on your predictions for the growth of the Chinese economy. How will China’s development impact the world economy? Show what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. F

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	manufacturer	maker
b.	entry	arrival
c.	commercial	business
d.	line-up	range
e.	shipped	transported
f.	booming	expanding
g.	softer	weaker
h.	vehicle	car
i.	seem	appear
j.	cash	money

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	Lamborghini has announced its entry	into China
b.	open a showroom	in Shanghai’s commercial district
c.	China is the world’s fastest	growing car market
d.	encourage the growing number	of rich Chinese to buy cars
e.	top of the range	cars, priced at US$330,000
f.	entry into the booming Chinese	market would increase profits
g.	recent sales	are slow
h.	The number of Chinese billionaires	has more than tripled
i.	China’s rich middle	and upper classes
j.	they have a growing amount	of spare cash to spend

GAP FILL:

Lamborghini to enter Chinese market

Chinese roads will soon look a little racier. The world-famous sports car manufacturer Lamborghini has announced its entry into China. It will open a showroom in Shanghai’s commercial district next week. Company bosses say China is the world’s fastest growing car market. They want to encourage the growing number of rich Chinese to buy cars that are a little sportier than those usually seen on the streets. The whole line-up of Lamborghini’s models will be shipped to Shanghai, from the lowest-priced US$180,000 Gallardo, to the top of the range cars, priced at US$330,000.

A company spokesman said entry into the booming Chinese market would increase profits. He said recent sales are slow due to the softer European and North American markets. He also said China was “the next best area for high-end vehicle growth”. The number of Chinese billionaires has more than tripled in the past year. China’s rich middle and upper classes seem to love expensive luxury goods, especially from Europe, and they have a growing amount of spare cash to spend. Lamborghini follows other luxury carmakers Ferrari and Bentley into the world’s largest marketplace.

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