Final Project

Unit 8: Essentials — Exploring Food, Environmental Issues, Feedback, and Cultural Skills

• Introduction

In Unit 8, we explored essential life skills, environmental problems caused by fast fashion and waste, the challenges astronauts face in space, food preferences, and the importance of giving and receiving feedback. We practiced grammar structures like ellipsis, relative clauses, and comparatives. This unit also helped us improve listening, speaking, and writing skills through various real-life contexts.

• Key words

Word	Definition	Example	Image
Ellipsis	Omission of words in a sentence.	Clothing is limited and can’t be washed.
Overconsumption	Excessive use of resources, often leading to waste and environmental damage.	Overconsumption in fashion leads to mountains of discarded clothes.
Sustainability	Using resources responsibly to protect the environment.	We must adopt sustainability to reduce clothing waste.
Isolation	The state of being separated from others, often causing emotional challenges.	Astronauts experience isolation while living in space.
Greenhouse gases	Gases that trap heat and contribute to climate change.	Factories emit greenhouse gases during clothing production.
Resilience	The capacity to recover from difficulties and adapt to challenges.	Living on the ISS requires high levels of resilience.
Space station	A structure in space where astronauts live and work.	Life on the International Space Station is challenging.
Care package	A box of items sent to someone far away.	Astronauts receive care packages from Earth.
Mindfulness	The practice of being fully present and aware of one’s thoughts and surroundings.	Mindfulness helps astronauts cope with stress in space.
Wastefulness	The careless or unnecessary use of resources, resulting in waste.	Wastefulness in production contributes to environmental problems.
Comparatives	Grammar to compare two things.	Arepas are much better than other snacks.
Personalizing	Relating information to your own experience.	Personalizing helps you understand articles deeply.
Photography	The art or practice of taking and editing pictures.	Photography skills are important for capturing cultural moments.
Overproduction	The manufacturing of goods in quantities exceeding demand, often causing surplus waste.	Overproduction in the fashion industry leads to unsold clothing piling up.

• Grammar Patterns 

Ellipsis

Ellipsis is when we leave out words that are not necessary because the meaning is              already clear from the context. It helps make speech and writing more  natural,                      avoiding unnecessary repetition. 

Example 1 (from the unit):

"Clothing is limited and [it] can’t be washed."

(The word “it” is omitted because it is obvious we are still talking about "clothing.")

Why it’s useful:

Ellipsis allows speakers and writers to sound more fluent, especially in informal conversations, headlines, or instructions.

 

Relative Clauses

                    Relative clauses give extra information about a person, place, or thing. They usually                          begin with relative pronouns like who, which, that, whose, where, when. 

 

Example 1 (from the unit):

"Fast fashion companies pay celebrities, whose styles are copied by millions."

(“whose styles” gives more information about the celebrities.)

Example 2:

"This is the space station where astronauts live."

Why it’s useful:

Relative clauses help you connect ideas and add more detailed information without making sentences too short or choppy. They make writing richer and more advanced.

 

Comparatives

                    Comparatives are used to show differences between two or more things. The form                           depends on the adjective:

  

For short adjectives (one syllable):

add -er + than

"Smaller than," "cheaper than"

For long adjectives (two or more syllables):

use more/less + adjective + than

"More comfortable than," "less interesting than"

Example 1 (from the unit):

"Making arepas with arepa flour is much better."

Example 2:

"The larb in Thailand is more or less the same as in Laos."

Why it’s useful:

Comparatives allow us to express preferences, make evaluations, and compare options, which is very useful in both speaking and writing.

• Other Relevant unit aspects:

1.  The unit focuses on essential items we need in different situations, such as traveling or living in space.
2. It talks about how rapid fashion affects the environment and demonstrates how much garbage we create from clothing and how to cut it down.
3. There is an emphasis on giving and receiving feedback, including how to use the “feedback sandwich” to give positive and constructive comments.
4. We learn about cultural sensitivity in this course, such as how photographers might interact with non-native speakers.
5. We also practiced using ellipses in writing to avoid repeating words and make texts clearer.

 Personal Opinion About Unit 8

In Unit 8, we learned about many interesting and useful topics. We talked about important life skills, the problems caused by fast fashion, what it’s like to live in space, food from different countries, and how to give and receive feedback. We also practiced grammar like ellipsis, relative clauses, and comparatives. This helped us speak, write, and understand English better.

One grammar point we liked was ellipsis. This means we can leave out words when they are not needed. It makes our speaking and writing sound more natural. For example, we can say “Clothing is limited and can’t be washed,” without repeating “it.” We use ellipsis all the time without noticing, especially when we talk fast or write short texts.

We also learned how to use relative clauses. These help us give more information about people, places, or things in one sentence. For example, we can say “The astronaut who fixed the machine” or “The country where they eat larb.” These phrases make our ideas clearer and our sentences more complete.

Comparatives were another useful topic. We use them to compare things. For short adjectives, we say “bigger than” or “cheaper than.” For longer ones, we say “more comfortable than” or “less expensive than.” Comparatives help us explain what we like more, or which option is better.

This unit was not only about grammar. We also talked about important real-life topics. We learned how fast fashion affects our planet and how astronauts live in space with few things. We practiced giving feedback in a good way, using the “feedback sandwich” – first something good, then something to improve, and then something positive again. We also talked about being respectful with people from other cultures.

In conclusion, this unit helped us a lot. We practiced useful grammar, learned new words, and talked about real problems and ideas. We think Unit 8 made us better English speakers and helped us understand the world a little more.