Spooky (or Spoopy) Season – C1 Advanced

1. Describe and discuss (5 min):

a. What are the similarities and differences between these two images?

b. Which of these images do you find the spookiest?

2. Listening (Part 2) (15 min) VIDEO – The Messed Up Origins™ of Jack-o’-Lanterns

Watch the video (x2) until 5:17 and fill the gaps (1 to 3 words):

1) Once you think about the name “Jack-o’-lantern”, it becomes evident that this tradition comes
from ____________ (Ireland)
2) Stingy Jack’s personal qualities made the devil ____________ (jealous)
3) On his way home Jack saw _______________ (a weird shape) on the ground.
4) The mutilated corpse’s voice was _____________ (claiming to be) Satan himself.
5) The devil was surprised by Jack’s ______________ (request)
6) Jack prevented the devil from climbing down the tree by surrounding it with ___________
(crosses)
7) The devil gave Jack a glowing ember as a _____________ (parting gift)
8) According to the legend, Jack walks around _____________________ (forests and marshes) on
October 31st.

3. Reading and Use of English (Part 7) (20 min)

Read the text and choose the correct paragraph from [A]-[G] to fill in the gaps [1]-[6]. There is one
extra paragraph, which you do not need to use.

Teacher: you will find the linking clues underlined in each paragraph.
ADAPTED FROM CULTURE DESK – SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

What is spoopy? Your guide to the Internet's favorite

Halloween aesthetic
For the past few years, October has not only heralded the return of Halloween and pumpkin spice
lattes, it has also marked the dawning of spoopy season. For a small group of people who belong in
the center of a Venn diagram of mellowed-out goths and the “extremely online,” the spoopy
aesthetic has become a source of joy and comfort in turbulent times.
[1] [B]
“Spookiness is campy, but spoopiness is campy in a very specific way,” says John Paul Brammer, a
New York City writer and advice columnist whose popular memes about the demonic goat from the
movie “The Witch” are more of the former. “Spoopy’s whole thing is that it is not frightening. It's
not threatening, not arcane, but uses the trappings of the threatening and the arcane to make the
joke: OoOoOooOo!!! SpoooOOoooOOooky!!”
[2] [G]
Its origin is much more straightforward than its meaning. In 2009, the word was spotted on a
skeleton-theme sign displayed at a Ross Dress For Less store. Though its ascent took some time, the
term gained popularity on niche social media communities like Tumblr until it finally reached
escape velocity to spread even further.
[3] [A]
Though it might seem random, the delight of this sort of banal creepiness stems from the desire to
look an object of fear in the eye — and laugh.
[4] [D]
In political discourse, Prevas points to anti-transgender activists using the image of Frankenstein’s
monster to demonize transgender people. Historically, monsters have often stood in for types of
people who were undesirable: racial minorities, immigrants, queer people, anyone outside the
“normal.” “I love the unsettling part of (spoopiness),” Prevas says, “that disconnect between seeing
the creatures which we expect to see in a horror scenario in a perfectly quotidian scene.”
[5] [C]
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it resonates so well right now, at a time when marginalized
people’s status feels extremely fraught and political rhetoric insists on estranging us from polite
society. This aesthetic defies the imperative to be afraid: Instead, we embrace the monsters as part
of ourselves, as neighbours. To let the monster out is, in a sense, letting oneself out. 
[6] [F]
When we look at the skeleton riding a bike, it almost feels aspirational: This is what life could look
like if our cloistered selves were set free. As it turns out, spoopiness might be just what we need
right now.

[A] Because I’m a restaurant critic, my gauge of whether or not something has hit the mainstream is
“The Great British Bake-Off.” In the 10th season, currently airing on the British Channel 4 and
Netflix, Spanish contestant Helena Garcia has emerged as a fan favourite thanks to her memorably
macabre but cute creations like a chocolate orange tarantula flanked by macadamia nut spider eggs,
eldritch horror pies and bloody green “witch finger” biscuits.

[B] What is “spoopy”? It’s the coupling of wildly absurdist humour with terror — an aesthetic unto
itself that, like camp, can be hard to articulate.
[C] Spoopy is a reclamation and reframing of these monsters, a mind-set that boasts, “You say I
should be scared of this? Hilarious!”

[D] In fables and literary fiction, monsters are the embodiments of everything that society
represses: a “warning system” of sorts, says Christine Prevas, a Columbia University Ph.D.
candidate whose research focuses on applying queer theory to contemporary horror. The monster is
a taboo made flesh: A prepubescent girl turned foul-mouthed, vomiting demon in “The Exorcist”; a
bad sexual encounter run amok in “It Follows.”

[E] When I look at this stuff, it reminds me of how I like to “watch” horror movies by reading their
plot summaries on Wikipedia: a digital version of peeking at Medusa’s face by holding up a mirror.

[F] This disruption of the narrative of otherness mirrors the way people actually want to be seen.
For instance, queer people can be queer outside of designated contexts like gay bars and the privacy
of one’s bedroom, Prevas says. “We're also queer in the grocery store. We’re also queer on a
bicycle.”

[G] Much easier than defining it is sorting through what is and isn’t spoopy. As a start, think of it as
friendly and somewhat sarcastic horror: A skeleton isn’t, but a skeleton riding a bike? Definitely
spoopy. The Babadook isn’t, but the memes that claim that the monster is a proud gay man? Super
spoopy.

4. Language focus (15 min)

a. Vocabulary
Look at the words in bold in the text and discuss the meaning with a partner:

Former  Denoting the first or first mentioned of two people or things.

Somewhat  To a moderate extent or by a moderate amount; rather.
Spotted  Seen, noticed.
Gauge  Estimate, appraise or judge the amount or level of something.
Embodiments  A tangible or visible form of an idea, quality or feeling.
Unsettling  Causing anxiety or uneasiness.
Mirrors  To have similar features to something/somebody else.

Next, fill in the gaps with the vocabulary words in the correct form to fit the context:

 Jack saw a mutilated corpse with a(n) _____________ (unsettling) look on its face.
 His mood ___________ (mirrored) the gloomy weather on that Halloween night.
 Between risking being tricked and facing Jack’s grumbling stomach for the rest of the trip, the devil
chose the _________ (former).
 Some consider him the very _____________ (embodiment) of evil.
 The devil was ____________ (somewhat) confused by Jack’s request to pay the bill at the bar.
 Jack ___________ (spotted) a mutilated corpse on the ground on his way home from the bar.
 After Jack __________ (gauged) the level of danger he was in, he decided to trap the devil by using
crosses.

USEFUL CHUNKS Use the trappings of (sth) (all the features connected to a particular)
Stem from (Originates from)
Run amok (getting out of control)
In a sense (In a way)
Follow up activity:

Encourage students to react to the text and the video:

1. Had you heard the word “spoopy” before?

2. Did you know the story about Jack-o’-Lanterns before?
3. Do you have similar folk tales in your culture?
4. Would you say that the Legend of the Jack-o’-Lantern is spooky or spoopy?
5. Can you think of any examples of spoopy things that you’ve seen online or irl?