Expanding your business

 
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4.9 Unit 4 – WHAT HAVE I LEARNT? 
In a paragraph, describe what you and Mia have been doing this month, when she applied for the 
job of a makeup artist. 
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UNIT 5: Hands and nails 
5.1 Reading – A NEW SERVICE! 
Mia has decided to expand the services the beauty salon
 
is offering, but she has very little experience 
in this field, which is why she needs your help. 
PRE-READING ACTIVITY 
Discuss the following questions: 
  What other services besides facial treatments do beauty salons usually offer? 
  Which services would you suggest Mia to include? 
 
Expanding the business 
 
After the shooting, Mia's salon was really busy. In the last month she has had a lot of customers – 30 in 
fact. She has never had so many customers before. She wishes she had taken part in the shooting earlier 
so that her salon would have become so well-known sooner. Working a lot was, although trying, also 
rewarding this gave her both – new motivation as well as the financial support to start working on new 
projects. 
 
At the moment one of her projects is to get manicure and pedicure equipment. During this month the 
clients have told her a lot about their previous experience with beauty salons, and Mia realised that 
almost all of them had also had a manicure or pedicure done at least twice or three-times a year before 
they became her clients. One client even wished this salon offered manicure, as she needed to look her 
best for a party she attended that day.  
 
This really made Mia think. She realised she was only offering face treatments. She offered facials, acne 
treatments and even make-up for special occasions. But besides beautiful makeup and carefully selected 
clothes, special events also require beautiful nails and toes. For this reason, Mia now wishes she could 
offer her clients these treatments as well. 
Mia could not believe how she had forgotten about this idea before the salon was opened. She wished 
she had thought of this sooner, as manicure and pedicure turned out to be such an important service. 
Realising that, she decided to start offering these as well. 
 
WHILE-READING ACTIVITY 1 
  While reading the text, underline all unknown vocabulary and try to guess what specific 
words mean by looking at the context. 
 

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WHILE-READING ACTIVITY 2 
In order to make sure you understand her new project, read again the text carefully. Focus on the 
following points and find out if the statements are true (T), false (F) or not given (NG). 
Statements 
T/F/NG 
After the shooting Mia was very busy. 
 
She believes that if the shooting had been done earlier she would have become well-known 
sooner. 
 
Because she was working hard she didn't have a lot of motivation. 
 
She did not buy the equipment for manicure, because it was too expensive. 
 
Only few of her clients had a manicure before. 
 
The new service will bring more customers. 
 
She had planned to offer pedicure and manicure before she opened the salon. 
 
POST-READING ACTIVITY 
  Do you think offering manicure and pedicure to the clients is a good idea? 
  Read the text again, pay attention to the use of tenses,  especially any particular grammar 
structures, and think of possible reasons for their use. Consult the grammar section. 
5.2 Grammar – WISHES. 
In the text Mia talked about her wishes all the time. In order to make sure you understand what she 
wants, it would be a good idea to paraphrase the sentences, so that you transform all of them from 
wishes into facts. Use the guidelines in the grammar reference for additional help. 
"She did not take part in the shooting earlier." … but she wished she had taken part in the shooting 
earlier… 
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…but she wishes she had a manicure and pedicure equipment. 
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…but one client even wished this salon had offered manicure. 
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…but Mia now wishes she could offer her clients also these treatments. 
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…but she wished she had thought of this sooner. 

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5.3 Vocabulary – WHAT IS A NAIL FOLD? 
If Mia really wants to include the manicure into 
her  services,  then  skilfully  applying  nail 
polish is not enough. It is also essential to get 
some  additional  information  about  the 
expressions connected to nails and hands, as 
well  as  to  be  completely  familiarised  with 
the equipment needed for such treatment. 
ACTIVITY  1.  Help  her  with  your  knowledge  of 
manicure and name the parts of the nail in the picture with the following expressions: 
distal “free” edge of nail, 
distal nail fold, 
lateral nail fold, 
proximal nail fold, 
cuticle, 
lunula, 
nail plate. 
 
 
ACTIVITY 2. Draw the shape of a hand and mark the following parts: 
index finger, 
joint, 
middle finger, 
nail, 
palm, 
little finger, 
ring finger, 
thumb, 
wrist. 
 
ACTIVITY 3. For manicure and pedicure specific tools and equipment are needed. Which parts of 
the nail or hand are the following expressions associated with? 
 
Nail clippers/cutters
 
 
Nail brush
 
 
Pumice stone
 
 
Cuticle remover
 
 
Towel
 
 
Pusher/orange stick
 
 
Emery board
 
 
Buffer
 
 
Hand and/or feet moisturizer
 
 
Soaking basin
 
 
Clear nail polish
 

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