Lesson 8.

The Selfie Revolution

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 Selfie Revolution
Warm up

What is a “selfie”?

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Introduction

What is a selfie?
1. a photograph taken with a smartphone or other digital
camera by aperson who is also in the photograph, especially
for posting on a social-media website
2. is named Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013
3. The word "selfie" first popped up in an Australian chat
room on September 13, 2002, to describe an undignified
scene, the dictionaries' publishers believe.

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 Selfie Revolution
Warm up

1. Do people talk about selfies in your country?

2. What do you think of this trend?
3. Do you think people are too vain nowadays?
4. Can you think of other modern trends? What
do you think of them?

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Vocabulary Exercise
Matching Type

airbrush draw attention make a fuss out of fashion

share terminally vain viral
1. If something goes _____________ , it is not popular anymore.
2. If somebody is _____________ , they are too proud of their appearance
or abilities.
3. If you _____________a photo, you improve it with special equipment or
computer software.
4. If something goes ____________ , it becomes extremely popular on the
internet.
5. If a person is ____________ ill, they have an illness that cannot be
cured.
6. If you ____________ about something, you show unnecessary
excitement or interest about it.
7. If you something ____________ on Facebook or Twitter, you let other
people see, read or use it.
8. If you ____________to something, you focus on it.

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Reading
They are not just a vain trend. They are also a form of communication.
1. What to say about the selfie? Good or bad? 4. "We didn’t have a word for it until recently,"
Are they going out of fashion or are they a says Jason Feifer, creator of the infamous ‘Selfies
symbol of our vain times? And which to do? A at a Funeral’ on the social networking site Tumblr.
no-make-up selfie? Gym selfie? Is it OK to "And it is the word ‘selfie’, I think, which helped
airbrush? And what if, after all of that, nobody draw so much attention to them. Will we get
bothers to "like" it? bored of taking selfies? I doubt it. Selfies are a
2. It seems that almost every week, a selfie is on convenient way to document yourself. But I’m
the news. There’s the thumbs-up selfie by a 19- sure we’ll get bored of talking about selfies, or
year old terminally ill patient, which went viral treating them like they’re new."
and raised $3 million. There were selfies taken by
5.The fact is, we live in a world in which we all
Pope Francis with fans at the Vatican. There was
have cameraphones. The new generation has
the first selfie from Space, and that Obama
grown up with them. Young people have created a
funeral selfie.
new visual language which is understood by both
3. We have been making a fuss about the selfie
sender and recipient. Communicating with this
recently, especially since the word entered our
new visual language takes less time than writing
dictionaries. It is like we have discovered
long text messages.
something new and brilliant. In fact, we were
taking selfies for most of the past century. For
example, there’s a photo that has been shared
on Twitter. It shows five men on the roof of the
Marceau Studio in New York, looking into the
lens of an old analogue camera. It’s possibly the
world’s first selfie. The date is December 1920.

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Comprehension
Comprehension : provide the information

1. Who took a selfie that raised 3 million?

2. Which religious leader took selfies with fans?
3. When was the first selfie taken?
4. Where was the selfie taken?
5. What does it show?
6. Where was it shared?

Comprehension: True or False

1. The writer thinks that selfies are something new.

2. The word ‘selfie’ has made people draw attention to selfies.
3. According to Jason Feifer, people will get bored of taking selfies.
4. According to Jason Feifer, people will get bored of talking about selfies.
5. It takes more time to communicate with selfies than with long text
messages.

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Useful Expressions
Find the words that

1. takes the time or trouble to do something (verb, P1)

2. a ceremony or service held shortly after a person’s death (noun, P2)
3. famous for a bad reason (adjective, P4)
4. easy to do/use (adjective, P4)
5. someone who receives a message (noun, P5)

Now complete the sentences:

1. Tim didn’t _________ to do his homework. He was too lazy.

2. My smartphone is very _________ I can do so many things with it.
3. Jesse James was an _________ bank robber who lived in the United
States in the 19th century.
4. The _________ of my email didn’t get the message. There must be a
problem with the email
service.
5. Everybody came to Joanne’s _________ to pay their respects.

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Discussion
10 Crazy Selfies

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2
3
1

6
7
8

11
9 12

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Discussion
RULES: What "rules" should there be about
uploading photos on social networking sites?

Photos of: Do’s / why Don’ts / why

yourself
babies
animals
sceneries
holidays
food
strangers
others

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Express Yourself
DEBATE: Is Selfie Culture Out of Control?
YES: Stop seeking attention and approval by posting selfies.
Selfies also highlight the growing narcissism of our generation. We all seem to think —Alex Hager,
we’re important, and our selfies are a way to beg for attention. Remember, the 17, a high school
emotional boost we get from earning “likes” is temporary. senior from
Darien, CT
NO: Selfies are a powerful tool for self-expression.
I’m sick of hearing that selfies are a dangerous trend! They’re a beautiful form of —Isabel Song,
self-expression, allowing us to share emotions like joy or despair. Most important, 17, a high school
though, selfies improve self-esteem—and not because of “likes.” senior from
Colorado
THREE FAST FACTS Springs, CO
1. Use of the word “selfie” in the English language went up 17,000
percent between 2012 and 2013.
2. As this issue went to press, there were 189 million posts on
Instagram with the tag #selfie.
3.Pictures with human faces are 38 percent more likely to receive likes
than photos with no faces. They’re also 32 percent more likely to
attract comments.

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Dialogue
Practice and discuss the dialogue with your partner
Gary: Hey, Marni.
Marni: Yes?
Gary: My cousins love taking selfies.
Marni: Oh.Yeah…
Gary: I’m with you.
Marni: I just never do it. I just think they’re a little ridiculous.
Gary: What’s funny for me is I know people describe it as a very egotistical thing. “Oh, me. Look
at me! Look at me!” But there are some fun types of selfies that are really goofy.
Marni: Sure, yeah.
Gary: And it’s a really fun way to just waste your time. So, if you’re waiting in line somewhere and
you’re just with friends, and you just hold the camera out, and you get six of you in the photo, and
you’re like “Hey!”
Marni: Right.
Gary: It’s not flattering at all. Everyone looks ridiculous.
Marni: No, no, no.
Gary: But it’s kind of fun.
Marni: Sure. OK. I give you that. But people that are obsessed with constantly taking selfies
everywhere they go… it seems like… God. Really? You could be…
Gary: It’s so narcissistic.Yeah.
Marni: Yeah, it is a little narcissistic. I guess I never thought about it that way, but I think you’re
right.Yeah, I don’t do it. I don’t know. I like to experience the moment.
Gary: Same here!
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Pronunciation
Common Mispronounced Words in English
1. Epitome: It is generally pronounced as ep-i-tome (as in foam) But the correct
pronunciation is ep-i-tummy.
2. Develop: The correct pronunciation is D+vay+lupp, and not as Day+vay+lupp.
3. Pizza: The correct pronunciation is peet-zuh, (peet pronounced as in wheat).
And not Pi-za.
4. Monk: It should be pronounced as muhngk as in drunk. It is often
mispronounced as mawnk (mon as in Montreal).
5. Genre: The correct pronunciation is Zhon-ruh, (Zh is a sound as in vision, and
ruh as in umbrella). It is often mispronounced as Jen-ner.
6. Quote: The correct pronunciation is kwo-te. It is often pronounced as coat
which is wrong.
7. Sour: The correct pronunciation is sower (as in power). It is often pronounced
as saar which is wrong.
8. Quinoa: The correct pronunciation is keen-wah. It is often pronounced as
keenoah which is incorrect.
9. Ethyl, methyl: The correct pronunciation is A-thil, mey-thil. (thil as in hill) But
these words are often pronounced as eethail, meethail (aail as in ice).
10. Porsche: The correct pronunciation is Por-shuh. It is often mispronounced as
porsh.
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The End

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