Hotung Secondary School

Popular Culture Independent Learning Portfolio

Name: ______Class ______No______

Introduction

This term you will do some independent reading, listening and viewing on some topics in Popular Culture.

You read, watch or listen to 6-8 texts on the topics below.

You will complete a task sheet for each text.

At the end of the project, you will do a speaking activity, either a short presentation or a group discussion, making use of one or more of the texts you have chosen

We hope that, as well as learning something about your chosen topic, you will also improve your skills and knowledge in English. You will complete an Action Plan at the beginning of the project and review your progress and achievements at the end. Your teachers will also give comments and suggestions.

You can choose texts on topics in the three areas below. You should cover all three areas. There are some suggestions for each area, but you can choose other related topics you find interesting.

  1. Technology, e.g.

Mobile technology

Social media

Internet addiction

Computer / video games

  1. Health, e.g.

Eating disorders

Plastic surgery

Mental health issues

Body image

  1. Entertainment, e.g.

Music

Movies

TV programmes

Celebrities

Cartoons and graphic novels

As well as choosing the topics you want to read about, listen to or view, you can choose the type of text. Here are some examples:

Reading / Magazine articles, internet articles, blogs, reviews, newspaper articles, biographies, graphic novels
Listening / viewing / Songs, movies, TV programmes, documentaries, YouTube videos

Action Plan

  1. What are you good at in English? Why do you say so?

I think I am quite good at ___reading story books, because I enjoy reading fiction and I can finish a story book in a short time.______

______

______

  1. How can you improve your reading and listening? What do you want to be able to do better? You should mention two or three things.

I would like to get better at __1) listening to get information from news and current affairs videos______

2) making notes when I listen ______

3) learning new vocabulary related to the “hot” topics in the news______

  1. How can you get better at reading and listening? Write down what you will do and how often. You should write two or three actions.
  1. ___I will read 2 English articles every week and make a note of at least 2 new vocabulary items from each article______
  2. ___I will listen to one YouTube documentary in English every week and make a note of at least 2 vocab items in an app on my phone.
  3. ___I will review the new vocabulary and test myself at the end of every week______

Teacher’s comments

Date: ______

Task SheetNumber _____1______

Skills practised:

Reading

Listening and/or viewing

Topic chosen: Technology / Health / Entertainment

Type of text used: ___Longman Reading Anthology article 5 p 34______

Title: ______In a Flash______

What was the text about?

____Flash mobs – it means a group of people meet suddenly in a public location and perform an activity together, for example singing or dancing.

What were the main ideas, feelings or opinions given in the text?

1. Flash mobs are a good thing because they give people a sense of belonging to a group, which can be difficult to get in modern city life.

2. Flash mobs are done for the sake of gathering, not for politicalreasons, so they are different from a protest or a political rally.

What are your opinions or feelings about the text and the ideas in it? Give reasons

_I think flash mobbing is a great idea. It must be very exciting and funny to take part in a flash mob. I would feel like I had a special secret to surprise other people______What new vocabulary items did you learn from this text?

Word / Meaning / Example sentence
disperse (v) / to move away in different directions / The crowd dispersed quickly after the flash mob
spontaneity (n) / coming from a natural tendency, not planned / Flash mobs can celebrate the spontaneity of life
prevalence (n) / widespread, common / The prevalence of smart phones makes flash mobs easy to organise
promptly (adv) / quickly, on time / Please hand in your homework promptly

Task Sheet Number ______2_____

Skills practised:

Reading

Listening and/or viewing

Topic chosen: Technology / Health / Entertainment

Type of text used: ___YouTube short documentary video______

Title: ______The K-Pop Effect______

What was the text about?

____Plastic surgery has become popular even among teenagers in South Korea, because people want to look like K-Pop stars ______

What were the main ideas, feelings or opinions given in the text?

  1. Korean people are obsessed with how they look, and there is a lot of pressure to be “beautiful” (ie slim, big eyes etc).
  2. People claim it makes them more confident, but they may be in danger of losing their identity, because everyone becomes the same.

What are your opinions or feelings about the text and the ideas in it? Give reasons

_I feel sad that som many young people cannot accept themselves as they are because of pressure from society. I think there is also pressure like this in Hong Kong but it is not so bad. ______

What new vocabulary items did you learn from this text?

Word / Meaning / Example sentence
frenzy (n) / wild excitement / Teenagers are in a frenzy when they see their idols.
identity (n) / sense of self / People may lose their identity if they change their face.
obsessed (adj) / thinking about something all the time / Koreans are obsessed with beauty
parody (v) / make fun of / The song parodies Korean pop stars

Self-evaluation

  1. What did you plan to do at the beginning of the project? Have you achieved those goals? Why or why not? What helped you or what made it difficult?

___I planned to read 2 English news articles and watch 1 video in English every week. I also planned to keep vocabulary notes on an app on my phone. I have installed the app and it is useful. I can use it to test myself. However, it is sometimes difficult to find good definitions of the words in the articles I read.

I don’t think I have read as many articles as I wanted to, so I haven’t really achieved that goal. However, I think I have learned more vocabulary from the articles I did read, and the smartphone app is useful. I hope I can read more next term.______

Teacher’s comments and suggestions

Date: ______