For this activity my partner and I decided to use Youtube videos because they can be interesting for students and they are easily accessible. We decided that our students would be intermediate level high school students and the videos that we would show in class shouldn't be more than a few minutes long so that we didn't inundate our students with too much language at once. Once we had the video we wanted (there are many to choose from on Youtube, we chose one called "christmas in the U.S.") that talked about one aspect of American culture, we picked a segment of it to show to the class. Then during class time we would play the video with instructions for students to take notes on the video. The notes would focus on what the differences and similarities there are between the American culture and the students own culture, as well as just whatever the student found interesting or unusual or something that they weren't expecting. In small groups (2-3) the students then discuss the content, how it is similar to their own culture, how it is different, what is interesting, etc.This allows them to think critically about what they have just seen and practice their speaking skills at the same time.
Finally, as a whole class have them discuss their thoughts and views. Every group shares their ideas. Teacher can ask some questions/have questions prepared if they want to to help students think critically about what they viewed and realize that not everybody in that culture will follow exactly what the video showed for a non-essentialist view of American culture.
This activity can be adapted to fit teaching any culture as well as can be added to to make a longer lesson (like a pre-listening activity where students share the stereotypes they are aware of from/about the culture they are going to learn about). For homework the students can write up what they have learned from the video and how it differs and is similar to their own culture.
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