LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this speaking lesson on pop culture are to:

• talk about pop culture and creative expression;
• discuss and watch a video about a cosplay convention;
• read and discuss short texts about pop culture events.

Students discuss pop culture, share personal opinions and read about pop culture events. They share experiences, watch a video about a fan convention in Australia and explore cosplay and identity. Students also talk about recreating characters’ looks and work in pairs, describing and guessing pop culture items.

This is a Speaking Class worksheet. It includes a variety of tasks that let your students practise their speaking skills. This lesson format does not focus on grammar or vocabulary. Learn more about it here.

WARM-UP AND VIDEO

This speaking lesson on pop culture starts with a warm-up. Students look at pictures and think of the term connected to entertainment which they point to (pop culture). Afterwards, they fill in the gaps in sentences using the term they created in the previous task. Students then complete the sentences (e.g. A pop culture trend I find overrated is…) with their own ideas. Moving on, they read descriptions of some popular pop culture events and share their experiences and opinions about them. After that, students watch a video about a fan convention held annually in Australia. First, they read a quote from the video and guess what kind of event it is about. Next, students watch the video, verify their guess and say if there are any similar events in their town or city. Following that, they discuss questions about fandom and pop culture. 

MORE DISCUSSION

In this part of this speaking lesson on pop culture, students look at different categories (e.g. TV series, video game, comic or graphic novel) and do tasks. They choose categories, name characters or people and explain how they would recreate their looks. Finally, students work in pairs. They get a card with names of universes, films, pop-culture icons and entertainment products. Student A describes each item without saying its name and suggests three possible ways to celebrate it. Student B guesses the item and picks their favourite idea. They continue until all items are guessed.