Pixar films, popular culture, and language teaching: The potential of animated films for Teaching English as a Foreign Language

This article aims at taking a look at a genre that is popular with both children and adults, yet mostly neglected in curricula: animated films. As a study conducted in a German secondary school demonstrated, the potential of this genre for Teaching English as a Foreign Language lies mostly in its strong visual language as well as its connection to the daily lives of the students. After briefly discussing why animated films by Pixar can be considered as a genre and how this genre (re-)presents popular culture, the theoretical basis for the integration of the films into Teaching English as a Foreign Language will be laid out. The topics addressed by Pixar animated films will then be described. Also, a task typology and some actual tasks that can be used when addressing the topic in the English as a Foreign Language classroom will be introduced. Finally, one task that was actually used during the empirical study, and how the students responded to it, will be brought into focus. The main example will be the film Up (2009) but other films from the Pixar ？uvre will occasionally be referenced to illustrate certain points