Poles apart

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.

The following advert entitled “English for Beginners” is well on the way to becoming the viral video phenomenon of Christmas 2016. Released on November 28th by Polish online retailer Allegro it is currently a strong contender for top of Youtube’s Christmas ad chart, from where it could possibly dislodge John Lewis‘s frontrunner #BusterTheBoxer.

The video’s linear narrative structure lends itself nicely to “predicting” activities: when showing the video you may like to stop at 02:13, and ask your students what they think happens next.

Thanks to Katarzyna Łasocha for suggesting this post.

1. How do you react to the video you’ve just seen? What do you think it’s trying to say?
2. What do you normally do at Christmas? Who do you normally spend the holiday period with? Do you think it’s important for people to spend Christmas with their family?
3. Give a brief description of your family. Where do they live? How often do different members of your family see each other?
4. Christmas means different things to different people. How important to you are the following things at Christmas time?
   > Being with family
   > Having a break from work/university
   > Religion
   > Having the opportunity to travel
   > Food and drink
   > Giving and receiving presents
   .
5. What’s the best way to learn a language? Do you think it’s possible to teach yourself a language, like the grandfather in the video, or is it better to have classes with a teacher?
6. Why are you learning English? Are your reasons mainly positive (e.g. you want to be able to communicate with more people), or mainly negative (e.g. you feel pressured)?
7. Why do people decide to emigrate to other countries? Do you know anyone in your family or circle of friends who lives, or has lived, in another country?
8. Would you ever consider emigrating to a different country? Which country would you choose? If you did emigrate, what do you think you would miss the most about life back home?
9. “People should stay and live where they were born.” What do you think of this opinion?
10. What are the biggest challenges that immigrants face when they begin a new life in a different country?

Which two of the above questions are being discussed?

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

John Lewis’s “Buster the Boxer”

“Mudd the Bulldog”, the inspiration for “Buster the Boxer”

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