Beyoncé and the Art of the Long Game
Grammar: Modals of deduction and speculation (must have, can't have, might have, could have, should have
A Level 6 English lesson exploring media.
What's in this lesson
A Level 6 (proficiency) ESL lesson on media, practising modals of deduction and speculation (must have, can't have, might have, could have, should have. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary and discussion questions.
From the reading: Beyoncé and the Art of the Long Game
In February 2024, Beyoncé did something that should, by any conventional logic, have failed spectacularly. She released Cowboy Carter, a country album, as the follow-up to Renaissance, her critically revered dance record — pivoting, without warning, between two genres that share almost no audience overlap. Yet within seventy-two hours, the album had broken the record for the most streams ever generated by a country record in a single week on Spotify. Whatever her detractors must have been expecting, it was not that.
Vocabulary
- built on
- came up against
- coasted
- dropped
- argument
- audience overlap
- calculated refusal
- pressure valve
- prior announcement
Discussion questions
- Which artists from the last decade do you think will still matter in thirty years?
- Should celebrities use their platforms to make political statements?
- What makes a live performance genuinely unforgettable?