Pop Culture in the Classroom – The Handout!
Pop Culture related activities – further explanation:
Golly Gee. I love
handouts!
Mario Kart
MATERIALS: Mario Kart characters to post on blackboard, power up cards (optional, but
makes it fun!), dice, game questions
THE GAME: Of course, after making teams and distributing characters, and drawing a race
track on the blackboard
I love Mario
Kart!
Hello Kitty, otherwise
known as Kitty-chan
in Japan.
1. Ask the target question aloud (listening practice) or item to be translated, etc.
2. Give the kids X minutes to work out the answer to the problem. (writing, reading practice)
3. After X minutes, call time, and have a group member from each group come to the teacher(s) with their
answer written down.
4. Check the answers. I have the kids read me the answer (speaking practice) then I read their written
sentence, correcting in red the mistakes while explaining the mistakes quickly. If necessary I have them go to
the JTE for a more thorough explanation.
5.Students with incorrect sentences sit down. They and their teams are done for this round.
6. Students with the correct answer wait in a designated area.
7. Once all sentences are checked, the kids with correct answers janken (Rock/Paper/Scissor) to find a
single person who will eventually draw a power-up card.
8. Make the Janken winner roll the dice last. Other than that the order of the winners rolling the dice does not
matter.
9. Everyone who answered the question correctly rolls a dice once, including the Janken winner. This is how
far their character advances on the board. After that team's character has been moved that student sits down,
until only the Janken winner remains.
10. After the Janken winner rolls the dice once and their character moves, just like everyone else with a
correct answer, he/she draws a power-up card from the item box.
11. The Janken winner uses the power-up card After the card has been used, the Janken winner sits down.
12. The game moves into the next round, which simply means it's the next team member's turn.
13. Keep playing until the end of class or right before to allow prize time.
NOTE: Depending on your students' level, the power-up cards could make things complicated so if you decide
to leave it out, just have the winners roll and advance on the racetrack normally.
This is just the general idea of the Mario Kart game. For a more thorough explanation and materials for
characters and power-up cards, please go to the Englipedia website and look for the Almost Mario Kart
explanation.
* Taken from Englipedia (see resource links), submitted by Scott Foss/Anne Recinos.
http://jhsenglipediaproject.com/JHS_Textbook_Game_AlmostMarioKart.aspx
World Music Game
Japanese Idol group,
AKB48
MATERIALS: Some way to play 20 to 30 second clips of music from various countries around
THE GAME:
the world.
After playing a short 20 to 30 second clip of music, the students will guess what
country the music is from. Students can be given a work sheet with countries
to choose from. This is great for a short warm up, or to aid in any class focusing
on foreign culture.
Music Order Game
MATERIALS: The lyrics of a song cut into pieces and put into an envelope out
of order. Also a way to play the students the song the lyrics are
from.
Beyoncé
THE GAME: Students will be put into groups and given the envelope of lyrics.
As the song is being played, they will try and put the lyrics back
in the correct order.
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Using Pop Culture in a Reward System
Using popular culture in some sort of reward system is a good way to get your students interested in the
participating in the classroom. Examples of this are purikura you take yourself , collectable stamp cards with
English descriptions of various celebrities, and so on.
Pop culture can be used to help students both become more motivated and to enjoy English class. Show your students that
you are interested in what they are interested in. Never be afraid to share your own popular culture as well. We are more
than just English teachers while in Japan, so always encourage your students to learn about other cultures and experience
them themselves!
Thank you very much for listening to our presentation.
The most important thing is to enjoy teaching!
Resource links:
Lovable and
tasty,
Anpanman
Englipedia – a great source for lessons for all schools and grades.
www.jhsenglipediaproject.com/
DramaWiki – a resource dedicated to the Asian dramas that students may be watching.
www.wiki.d-addicts.com/
AsianMediaWiki – a resource for various popular medias (movies, TV, and so on) in Asia.
http://asianmediawiki.com/Main_Page
SEN Teacher, Photo Cards – a great resource that finds pictures for karuta cards automatically.
http://www.senteacher.org/Worksheet/6/PECS.xhtml
National AJET – the official site for all AJET alumni and support information.
http://ajet.net/
The Japan Times - keep up with the current news in Japan with this great source.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
Music played during this presentation:
“Aitakatta“ by AKB48
“Seikai ni hitotsu dake no hana” by SMAP
“Sangatsu Kokonoka” by Remioromen
“Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day
“Arigatou” by Ikimono gakari
Japanese boy-band, HeySayJump!
Korean pop group, Girl’s Generation, or 少女時代
(Shoujo Jidai) in Japanese
K-pop group, Kara
Insanely popular boy-band, Arashi
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