Teaching Netflix Series in the Foreign English Classroom. 'House of Cards' as a Mirror of the U.S. Political System

Examination Thesis from the year 2021 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, University of Passau, language: English, abstract: The intention of this paper is to show possible applications of the Netflix original series House of Cards as a mirror of the U.S. political system, which foster film literacy within teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) and how learners profit from authentic texts as media literacy rather than on literary texts on intercultural topics. It starts off with the didactic value of films as TEFL devices, define film literacy as an aim in learning and a presentation of approaches and methods of teaching film as media literacy. The special focus will be on the first season of House of Cards, providing a summary of its plot as well as a complete lesson concept on teaching the political system of the United States of America in a 12th grade A-level standard (gymnasiale Oberstufe) class. This concludes example exercises to bridge the gap between the didactical value and the theoretical methods and their implementation for the use of the Netflix series in the TEFL classroom, and covers a case study with analysis to the first season as well as film language and intertextual and intercultural challenges.