This essay poses the question of how the use of cultural media in the ESOL classroom can promote motivation with students. Building on existing theories and research within the field, this study surveys  opinions from students and teachers through interviews and questionnaires, and also includes a case study in the form of a music project conducted with students attending Swedish upper secondary school. The results point to the beneficial aspects of implementing cultural media, but also to a reluctance among teachers to use tools to which they are not accustomed. The study concludes that teacher education needs to be reformed to include a wider variety of cultural material and ways of working with it pedagogically in order to meet student needs.