Sandy Millin’s post describing how much her students enjoyed a “Design Your Own Soap Opera” lesson reminded me that I hadn’t shared any of my activities related to Soap Operas.

I really dislike Soap Operas. But, perhaps because I was determined not to let this show, I ended up creating a whole unit on the topic for my weak learners, high school students. A huge percentage of them adore the genre. In Israel the influence of Spanish speaking soaps has been very strong, so the programs are known as “Tele-Novelas”.

Here are trivia questions that serve as the lead-in activity. Students first guess the answers and then learn the correct answers by matching the questions to the answers on the next page.  Most teens are shocked to learn that some “soaps” have been on air for years and years! It seems to me that every year fewer boys are embarassed to say that they watch these programs too (the material was written 10 years ago).

In the first attached document you will find the trivia questions. The questions are in English but the multiple choice options are in Hebrew. For the students for whom this was written, it worked  as a better lead in activity this way. I could use ridiculous answers to interest them (such as ” these shows teach you how to sing with soap in your mouth”). The questions can  be used without multpile choice options or you can make your own options, suitable for your group.

In the second attached document you will find the matching answers. All in English!

(A click on the images will enlarge them)

Enjoy!