Viral Mistakes: Talking About Online Fails

In this intermediate ESL lesson, students will practice reading, speaking, and listening through the engaging topic of online fails and internet culture.

Warm-up:

The lesson starts with students talking about their personal experiences with online fails. They also read a short text about online fails and answer a question about it.

Video:

Students watch a video titled “Lawyer uses Zoom filter by mistake – ‘I’m not a cat.’” After watching the video, they answer questions about it.

Exercises:

In the first two exercises, the learners match words to their definitions. In the next two exercises, they fill in the gaps in sentences with words from a box. In the fifth exercise, the learners answer questions and give examples to support their answers. In the sixth one, they sort fails into two categories: least embarrassing and most embarrassing. Lastly, the students play two “pick-a-card” games, in which they put themselves in the shoes of someone who has stumbled into an online fail and share their opinions on what is and is not acceptable online behavior.

Discussion:

Learners discuss several fail-related questions. They also share their opinions about people’s online behavior. Lastly, the students discuss what they would like to go viral for, if they had to.