The Best Men Can Be Language level Learner type Time Activity Topic Language Materials

Transcription

1 The Best Men Can Be Language level: Intermediate (B1) Advanced (C1) Learner type: Teens and adults Time: 90 minutes Activity: Watching a short film, speaking about masculinity, reading a transcript and Twitter comments and writing their own Twitter comment. Topic: Masculinity Language: Vocabulary related to masculinity and social media Materials: Short film, transcript and Twitter comments

2 Overview This ELT lesson plan is designed around a viral short film commissioned by the brand Gillette. In the lesson students watch a short film, speak about masculinity, read a transcript and Twitter comments and write their own Twitter comment. Step 1 Write the hashtag (#) symbol on the board. Elicit or explain that it is a type of tag used on social media networks such as Twitter and Instagram to allow users to easily find messages with a specific theme or content. Step 2 Put your students into pairs and ask them to discuss these questions. 1. What hashtags are popular in your country at the moment? 2. If you use social media, what hashtags do you use or search for? Step 3 Write the hashtag #metoo on the board. Elicit or explain that #metoo is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault which first came to prominence on social media in October Victims of harassment were encouraged to tweet about it and make people aware of the magnitude of the problem. by Kieran Donaghy 2

3 Step 4 Write toxic masculinity on the board. Elicit or explain that toxic masculinity is a term which refers to attitudes that describe the masculine gender role as violent, unemotional, uncaring, arrogant and sexually aggressive. Step 5 Put your students into small groups and ask them to come up with examples of toxic masculinity they know of or have seen represented in media. Give them examples such as these: a boss at work sexually harassing a female worker. a father telling his son don t be a girl because he s crying. an ex-husband threatening his former wife with violence. a male teacher not allowing girls to play football because it s a man s sport. Set a time limit of 10 minutes. Step 6 Hold a plenary discussion based on examples of toxic masculinity. by Kieran Donaghy 3

4 Step 7 Tell your students they are going to watch the start of a short film. As they watch they should note any examples of toxic masculinity shown. Show the film from 0:00 to 0:45. Play twice. Link: Step 8 Show the film again and pause at each example of toxic masculinity and discuss what is happening: boys chasing and bullying another boy. a mother comforting her bullied son who has been called a freak, a sissy, and told you re such a loser and everybody hates you. men wolf-whistling a woman a man touching a woman s bottom in a TV series. a rapper dancing with young women dressed in bikinis. a boss touching and patronising a female worker. two boys fighting. a line of men repeating the mantra boys will be boys. Step 9 Pair your students and ask them to discuss these questions: 1. Which of the examples of toxic masculinity shown in the film are the most serious? Why? by Kieran Donaghy 4

5 2. Are these examples of toxic masculinity typical in your country? 3. What can be done to prevent these examples of toxic masculinity? Step 10 Hold a plenary discussion based on the questions from the previous stage? Step 11 Tell your students they are going to watch the second part of the film. As they watch they should note examples of what might be termed non-toxic masculinity or positive masculinity. Show from 0:46 to 1:34. Show twice. Step 12 Get students to compare their answers in pairs. Step 13 Show the second part of the film again and pause at each example of non-toxic masculinity and discuss what is happening: a celebrity telling men they should be held accountable for their behaviour. a man telling other men to stop harassing women. a man stopping a friend from following a woman in the street. by Kieran Donaghy 5

6 a man telling two teenagers who were going to fight to shake hands. a father telling his daughter to repeat I m strong. a father breaking up a fight between two boys. a father stopping boys bullying another boy and asking if he s OK. Step 14 In small groups ask your students to discuss these questions: 1. Do you think the examples shown in the film are good ways to fight toxic masculinity? Why / why not? 2. What does the caption The best a man can get mean? Step 15 Hold a plenary discussion based on the questions from the previous stage? Step 16 Give your students the transcript. Ask them to read through it and help them with any difficult words and expressions. Step 17 Ask them what they think the message of the film is and if they agree with it. by Kieran Donaghy 6

7 Step 18 Now show the caption at 1:40: It s only by challenging ourselves to do more that we can get closer to our best. Put your students into small groups and ask them to discuss what they think the caption means. Step 19 Hold a plenary discussion on the meaning of the caption. Step 20 Now show the caption at 1:43: We are taking action at thebestmencanbe.org. Step 21 If you have Internet connection, go to the website and show some of the pages. Explain that Gillette, a brand of men's and women's safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, commissioned the short film. In their small groups, ask your students to discuss this question: Why would a company which makes men's and women's safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, be interested in promoting positive masculinity? by Kieran Donaghy 7

8 Step 22 Tell your students that the short film has received a lot of both positive and negative feedback. Give them the Twitter tweets and ask them to classify them into positive and negative comments. Step 23 Ask them to read the comments again and say which ones they agree and disagree with most strongly and why. Step 24 Hold a plenary discussion based on the students reactions to the Twitter comments. Homework For homework students should write their own Twitter comment on the short film. Their tweets should be no longer than 280 characters. I hope you enjoy the lesson. Film English is a labour of love, it takes hundreds of hours and thousands of euros a year to sustain and provide free English language lesson plans. Keeping it a free, clean, experience means it s subsidised by the generous support of readers like you through donations. So if you find any inspiration, joy and stimulation in these lessons or if they help you teaching English, please by Kieran Donaghy 8

9 consider a modest donation however much you can afford. by Kieran Donaghy 9