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GENERAL ENGLISH · ENGLISH IN VIDEO · INTERMEDIATE (B1-B2)

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1 Warm up

Discuss the following questions in pairs.

1. What videos have you seen that have gone viral?

2. What do you think makes some videos go viral and others not?
3. Do you share videos with friends and family? Why/Why not?

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2 Focus on vocabulary

Use the vocabulary in the box to complete the following sentences. You may need to change the form
of the word to fit the sentence.

characteristics geeky green-lighting looped

parody remix sprouting techie

1. A lot of Hip Hop makes use of a sample from a previously existing song which is then
and has a beat added to it.

2. I was a pretty kid and spent most of my time trying to write my own computer
games and taking an excessive interest in horror films from the 1980s.

3. I quite like Kylie Minogue’s song Slow, but I absolutely love the which was done
by the Chemical Brothers.

4. It used to be quite a poor area, but since businesses have moved in, it’s become much more
expensive with coffee shops and bakeries up all over the place.

5. The proposal is currently being looked at by senior management, but I’m hopeful that they will be
the project before the end of the week.

6. I finally watched Tropic Thunder at the weekend, which is a of Vietnam war films,
but also has a lot to say about Hollywood and its actors.

7. I’m not sure what’s wrong with your laptop, but I can ask my brother. He’s a for
a bank in London and he’ll definitely know what to do.

8. I think one of the key that a manager must have is being able to understand the
motivations of different people.

3 Understanding the video

Part 1: Watch the video about how videos go viral and answer the following questions.

1. What is the name of the first video?

2. What is the name of the second video?

3. What is the name of the third video?

4. What happened to the person who made the fourth video?

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Part 2: Choose the best answer a - c for each of the following questions. Then watch a video again
to check your answers.

1. What does the presenter say is the difference between celebrities now and when he was growing
up?
a. There were fewer of them previously.

b. They only really worked in TV and film.

c. Becoming a celebrity is now more accessible.

2. According to the presenter, what three elements does a viral video require?

a. surprise, audience involvement, and influencers

b. shared humour, cultural understanding, and luck

c. media support, simplicity, and well-known actors

3. How was Jimmy Kimmel involved in the first video?

a. He made it.

b. He founded it.

c. He promoted it.

4. What significant event led to the popularity of the second video?

a. a national holiday in the US

b. influencers creating a shared joke

c. a cover of the song by a celebrity

5. What was viewed 4 million times connected to the third video?

a. an extended version

b. an old-fashioned version

c. a Japanese version

6. Why wasn’t the presenter interested in watching the fourth video at first?

a. It was too violent.

b. It sounded boring.

c. It was illegal.

7. Why does the presenter mention Justin Bieber?

a. His video is the most watched on YouTube.

b. There are lots of parodies of his videos.

c. YouTube was where his career began.

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4 Skimming for gist

Match sentences a - f to gaps 1 - 5 in the article below. You do not need to use all of the sentences.

a. We’ve all seen the trouble that can be caused when having money is mixed with access to drugs.

b. The need to keep putting out content to entertain followers can become a demand that
becomes increasingly hard to meet, with little to no reward at the end.

c. Around 30% of people watching YouTube use software which blocks the adverts, resulting in no
payment from that source for creators.

d. By comparison, YouTubers seem less polished, less scripted and talk to us like friends.

e. This can be especially hard for young creators as they see their income fall in direct proportion
to the number of people who are no longer interested in them.

f. A 2018 report showed that just 3% of YouTubers make enough money to live on.

Living the YouTube Dream

The reality

A. With their window into our laptops and smartphones, YouTubers are a relatively new kind of personality that, at
least superficially, seem more real than the traditional celebrity. As time has gone on, the public has become much
more savvy about the reality of film stars and singers, with their teams of people making sure that they look and
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sound good every time they appear in public. This is where their appeal lies, particularly with younger
people who have frequently grown up watching them more than cinema.

B. When it comes to the appeal of the lifestyle of these two groups of people, they still share something in common:
we’re only looking at the people at the top. Just as many spend their lives trying to become famous in cinema
and never achieving it, so it is true that thousands of would-be YouTubers never make a living from their efforts.
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However, with the potential rewards being so high and the common advice that you have to work hard
to find stardom, many keep desperately chasing the dream to no avail. A recent documentary showed YouTuber
Ellie Marie who reported making just £4000 over the previous year in the UK where the average salary is £33,000
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and sleeping at friend’s houses to make ends meet.

C. For those who are new to being a YouTuber, you’d imagine that it would be as simple as making entertaining videos
and then letting the money made from advertising revenue fill your bank account. Yet the most successful content
creators have multiple streams of income from their videos, including selling merchandise, endorsing products and
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setting up links to companies they have a relationship with. So it’s important to have a variety of ways
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to earn income. Just as with media celebrities, even the most successful YouTubers lose popularity. In
addition to not being able to maintain the number of viewers, they are also not able to keep up with the lifestyle
they have become used to as their funds diminish.

sources: medium.com, wpbeginner.com, forbes.com

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5 Finding vocabulary

Find vocabulary in the article on page four which has the same meaning as the following definitions.

1. (adv. para. A): in a manner that appears to be real or have importance until
you look more closely
2. (adj. para. A): having useful or practical knowledge about a particular subject
or situation
3. (adj. para. B): being something that could develop into something in the
future
4. (n, para. B): the state of having fame for being an actor, singer, etc.

5. (n, para. C): money which a business receives from a particular aspect of its
work or from its entire operation
6. (n, para. C): goods for sale, often bearing the logo of a particular company or
enterprise
7. (v, para. C): officially and publicly approve of a particular thing

8. (v, para. C): get weaker, smaller or less effective over time

6 Reading comprehension

Part A: Decide which paragraph (A, B or C) the following ideas are found in.

1. Making money from YouTube not being as simple as you’d expect. →

2. YouTubers having to deal with a similar problem as traditional stars. →

3. Youths being more likely to be familiar with YouTubers than stars of the screen. →

4. A YouTuber’s income. →

5. People understanding that the image of film stars involves the work of several people. →

6. Some YouTubers continuing to produce content despite not receiving much money for doing so.
→

Part B: Answer the following questions in your own words.

1. What is the meaning of ‘to no avail’ in paragraph B?

2. What is the meaning of ‘to make ends meet’ in paragraph B?

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7 Talking point
In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Would you like to be famous? Why/Why not?

2. Are you comfortable with being filmed? Why/Why not?
3. How much of your free time do you typically spend watching videos on any of the platforms? (e.g.
YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) What kind of videos do you usually enjoy the most? Why?
4. What advice would you give to a friend who was planning to be a YouTuber as their main source
of income?
5. Do you think the content offered by YouTubers is of any real value to society? Why/Why not?

8 Optional extension / homework

Choose one question and do the task.

Question 1

’If anything signals how much worse our culture is becoming, it’s the rise of the YouTuber.
Entertainment used to be made by people with talent and ideas, now it’s made by almost any
idiot who has a camera.’

To what extent do you agree with the above statement?

You should:

• write at least 250 words,

• check your grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Question 2

Describe a viral video that you recently saw and found funny or entertaining. Consider the following
questions:

• What was the video about?

• What was your reaction when you first saw it?
• What made it entertaining?
• What made you watch it in the first place?
• What about the video do you think made it go viral?

You should:

• write at least 150 words,

• check your grammar, spelling and punctuation.

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