Nightmairbnb

Note : All Viralelt posts share the same structure. Teacher’s notes appear only on How to use Viralelt. This is done to keep “teacher text” to a minimum and avoid repetition.

Before showing your students the video below, write “Nightmairbnb” on the board and elicit their ideas as to what they think the video might be about. If you think the majority of your students will not be familiar with Airbnb, “flip your classroom” by asking them to research the term as homework before coming to class.  

1. Do you know anyone who has used Airbnb to find accommodation in a private home? Was the experience positive? Would you consider this type of accommodation?
2. What are the advantages of staying in a tourist flat like the ones offered on Airbnb as opposed to staying in a hotel?
3. What type of people use Airbnb to find accommodation?
4. If you were a homeowner, would you ever consider renting out an extra room or your whole flat to tourists visiting your city?
5. If you were renting out your home to tourists visiting your city, would you have a preference as regards the type of lodger staying in your flat?
6. If your flat was listed on Airbnb, what positive features would you mention in order to attract potential lodgers? Is there anything about your flat that you might play down, or even not mention?
7. What do you think it’s like to live nextdoor to a tourist flat? How might this type of accommodation cause problems for people whose permanent residence is in the same building or street?
8. Airbnb offers three types of rented accommodation:
   a) Entire home – the whole living space to yourself.
   b) Private room – a bedroom to yourself, but sharing some spaces with others.
   c) Shared room – sharing your bedroom and the entire living space with another person or persons.
   What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Which of the three options would you choose?
9. If you were staying in an Entire home and had the run of the place to yourself, would you be tempted to snoop around?
   
10. Airbnb is one of the most successful internet companies of recent years? What do you know about the online businesses your teacher is projecting on the screen? Have you ever used them?

Which three of the above questions are being discussed?

Download “Question time” and the “Sitting comfortably?” script in an editable Word document here.

A : Writing task

Tell your students to imagine they want to list their homes on Airbnb. Ask them to write a description of their flats/houses including the following information.

• Details on the location, surrounding area, transport connections etc
• A description of the living space.
• An outline of the property’s amenities and positive features.
• The type of lodger it would suit.
• Any rules that should be observed by the lodger.

B : More videos 

a) “CBC News” –  A report from the Canadian Broadcasting Company explaining the story behind the viral video above.

b) “Airbnb Express” – A video parody of Airbnb suggesting that many lodgers have a secret desire to snoop around their host’s home (see Question 9 of Question Time).

c) “Is man kind?” – Airbnb‘s rather creepy ad campaign celebrating the supposed kindness shown by Airbnb hosts in opening up their homes to complete strangers.   

d) “Is man kind?” – A rather revolting parody of the rather creepy video in c).

Thanks for dropping by! | Viralelt by Tefltecher

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