Reality TV Conversation Class

This is a conversation class for higher levels (high B2 +) the main reason for the level specification is that uses clips from the UK version of the reality show “Wife Swap” which lower levels might find difficult to follow. Then again, you never know, it might be a good challenge.

Brainstorm reality TV shows

Have your students brainstorm all the reality TV shows they have in their country. Encourage students to describe the formats of the shows. If you have a mixed nationality group encourage the students to compare reality shows from their different respective countries.

Discussion

Either put students in small groups (3-4) or discuss the following questions as a class:

1. How long do you spend in front of the TV on an average day?
2. What shows do you watch?
3. What your favourite / least favourite shows?
4. What are the most popular shows on TV at the moment? Are any of them reality shows?
5. Do you watch any reality shows? Which ones?
6. Why are they entertaining?
7. Would you ever go on a reality show? Why? Why not? If so which one?
8. What about talent shows like “The X Factor” or “American Idol”?

Have students report back to the rest of class.

Write “Wife Swap” on the board. Tell students that it is the name of a reality show in the UK and the US. Have them guess the format of the show from the name (two wives swap families for a week, each has to live the others life; do their job, look after their kids etc), then ask them the following:

• Do you have this show in your country?
• Do / Did you watch it? If you did would you watch it?
• What do you think would be some entertaining swaps? Brainstorm entertaining swaps with reasons.

Tell students that they are going to watch part of an episode of wife swap, first you need to pre-teach some expressions that will help them understand the clip. Put the following expressions and vocab on the board and have students try to guess the meanings.

1. a country pile – a big country house / mansion
2. to go to the dogs – to deteriorate / get into a bad state. Old people in England often say: “This country has gone to the dogs.”
3. I can’t hack it – I can’t bear it / I can’t cope with it / I can’t tolerate it
4. council house – a government owned house rented by low-income families
5. to do jackshit – to do nothing
6. to be on benefits – to be receiving financial help from the state; unemployment money for example
7. to be stuck in a rut – expression meaning to be in a boring lifestyle that never changes
8. to roam – to walk / move with no fixed objective
9. a hoover – a vacuum cleaner
10. a man / woman of leisure – a person who spends all their time doing things they enjoy, usually a rich person.
11. a hooker – a prostitute
12. to see eye to eye – to agree
13. slack / slovenly – lazy
14. give him an inch and he’ll take a mile – expression meaning that someone will exploit you / take advantage of you if you give them the opportunity

Show students video of part 1 of wife swap UK until 00:38 (this is just the introduction of the two participating families)

Put them in groups and have them make predictions about what sort of problems and conflicts the two families are going to have and also to make comparisons between the two families. Students report back to class.

Now show students the whole of part 1, it’s about 10 minutes. Before showing them tell them to listen out for the expressions you have pre-taught then go through them afterwards. Students report back the context of each one of the pieces of vocabulary.

Ask students what they thought of the show:

1. Was it entertaining?
2. Do you want to know what happens next?
3. Which family did you prefer?
4. Which family would you prefer to spend a week living with?

Homework

Students watch the rest of the episode for homework and make notes on what problems the two wives encountered. In the next class students can report and discuss this. If you are preparing your students for a Cambridge exam (FCE, CAE, CPE) you can have them write a review of the show as this format often comes up in part 2 of the writing paper of these exams. A review task type idea could be:

An English language television magazine has asked for readers to send in their reviews of the first episode of wife swap. Reviews should:

• Give a brief description of the show
• Comment on the shows entertainment value
• Say if the writer would recommend the show to other viewers.
• If they would recommend it, who would they recommend it to?

FCE word limit – 120-180

CAE – 220-260

CPE – 280-320

Let me know how it goes in the comment, especially if you try it with FCE levels.