The 7 Steps November
1. CONTEXT
Mindmap
anything you
know about thetopic, including
vocabulary. Do
some research
online to help.

Holiday Commercialism
Listening Questions 1
1. When does Black Friday occur?

2. QUESTIONS.
2. What do retailers do during Black Friday?
.

Read the listening
questions tocheck yourunderstanding.
Look up any new
vocabulary.

3. When and where did the term Black Friday originate from?
.
4. What happened in the 1980s?
.
5. Why has the impact of Black Friday diminished recently?
.
Listening Questions 2

3. LISTEN

1. What is Christmas Creep?
.
2. How have businesses and individuals reacted to Christmas Creep?

Listen and answer
the questions
using fullsentences. Circle
the number oftimes and % youunderstood.

.
3. What is the primary song used to track Christmas creep? Why?
.
4. When do Christmas events start to occur in Japan?
.
5. Which country starts listening to Christmas music the earliest?
.

1

Listening 1
2 3 4

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1

Listening 2
2 3 45%%%%%%%

Discussion Questions
1. How do you feel about other countries’ holidays entering Japan?
Does Japan have any holidays or events it could export?
2. How do you feel about the increasing impact of commercialization
on holiday traditions?

4. CHECK ANSWERS

Read through thetranscript andunderline theanswers. Checkthem against yourown answers.

TRANSCRIPT 1
Black Friday is an Americanism that traditionally refers to the days immediately following theThanksgiving holiday in the US, which marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season.
During this period, retailers generally offer steep discounts and promotions to boost consumer
traffic and get a strong start to the season.
The term seems to have originated from the 1950s Philadelphia Police Department to refer tothe Friday after Thanksgiving. On this day, many people entered the city to shop in
anticipation of the annual Army/Navy football game. This led to increased traffic issues andshoplifting in the city. By the early 1960s, the term had caught on in Philadelphia. Retailers
tried to put a positive spin on the event by calling it “Big Friday,” but this failed to catch on.

5. CHECK VOCABULARY
Read thetranscript andcircle any newvocabulary youfind. Look themup and add themto your list.

Eventually in the 1980s, the term gained national attention and this time rebranding the term
positively was successful. The name was kept but the origin story of the term was changed. Inthe new story, the “black” in Black Friday referred to retailers finally starting to make a profit,
moving out of the “red,” operating at a loss, to the “black,” operating at a profit.
In recent years, the importance of Black Friday has diminished somewhat due to a few
reasons such as the rise of e-commerce and other phenomena such as Cyber Monday, SmallBusiness Saturday and Christmas Creep.
MATCH THE ANTONYMS BY DRAWING LINES BELOW:

6. READ ALOUD

Read thetranscript aloudat least 5 times,
focusing onintonation andpronunciation.

SteepDoubt

BoostEnlarge

Anticipation

Shrinkage

Catch onRegularity

Diminish

GentlePhenomena

Be forgotten

TRANSCRIPT 2

112
2

3
3

4455

7. SHADOWINGOne very noticeable sign of Christmas Creep can be found in the timing of Christmas music
being played, listened to, and searched for. A number of news outlets and companies such as
the Washington Post, Google, and Spotify have tracked when Christmas songs begin to beplayed. The song “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey is used as an indicator totrack Christmas Creep. The song is one of the most popular Christmas songs globally andbased on Google search data it has been searched earlier every year since 2006. It now begins
to trend upwards quickly in early November.

Say the transcript
aloud at the sametime as the audio
without reading
it. Circle how
many times
below.

1
12
2

3
3

4
4

Christmas Creep is a phrase used to refer to the lengthening of the winter holiday season to agradually earlier start. While Black Friday used to signal the beginning of the holiday shopping
season in the US, due to Christmas Creep it has been getting earlier each year. As a result,some stores and individuals have begun putting out Christmas decorations and advertisingholiday sales earlier in the year than what was traditional.

55Christmas creep is not just a phenomenon in the U.S. In Japan, Christmas decorations andsales events often begin immediately after Halloween, with many special events and products
being featured. Perhaps the most extreme example can be found in The Philippines, wherebased on data from music streaming service Spotify, listening of Christmas music begins inearly October.