Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers uses the Stanley Cup craze to explore viral marketing. This ESL class material is perfect for discussing modern trends, business, and consumer psychology using a real-world case study. Based on a short video about how the Stanley Cup tumbler went viral, this lesson helps students understand modern marketing strategies. Activities include a vocabulary matching exercise with key business terms, video comprehension questions, and a fill-in-the-gap task with useful phrases for discussing trends. The lesson culminates in a group speaking activity where students create their own marketing pitch for an everyday product, applying the concepts and language learned throughout the class.
Activities
- Students start by discussing viral products and trendy items, activating their prior knowledge on the topic before diving into the specific case of the Stanley Cup tumbler.
- A vocabulary matching exercise introduces essential marketing terms like 'brand affinity,' 'leverage,' and 'scarcity,' preparing students for the language they will hear in the video.
- After watching a video about the brand's success, students answer comprehension questions to check their understanding of the marketing strategies that led to its popularity.
- The lesson includes a grammar focus on the passive voice in a business context, with clear examples and a practice exercise where students rewrite sentences to sound more professional.
- The final speaking task challenges students to work in groups and create a marketing pitch for a 'boring' product, using the vocabulary and grammar from the lesson to make it go viral.
Vocabulary focus
This lesson focuses on key business and marketing vocabulary. Students will learn and practice terms such as 'sought-after,' 'leverage,' 'brand affinity,' 'utilitarian,' 'steward,' 'scarcity,' 'cultural momentum,' and 'cultural contagion' to discuss modern marketing strategies and trends.
Grammar focus
The grammar section concentrates on the use of the passive voice in a business and marketing context. Students learn why it is used to sound more formal and objective by focusing on the action rather than the agent. The lesson provides clear examples and a practical transformation exercise.
