Men and Women

Last week the media and the web were buzzing with talk about Emma Watson's UN speechat the launch of the new #heforshe campaign. Although she didn't say anything new or groundbreaking, that is perhaps the key point- everything she said is already well documented, and has been for years, yet nothing changes. Hopefully, the #heforshe campaign will have a positive impact and Emma Watson's participation will make a new generation more aware of the importance of addressing gender issues. 

The speech prompted me to add a bit of polish to and publish a lesson on gender issues that I've been using with advanced level students for sometime. Obviously, the issue is a serious, and sometimes controversial one, however I've tried to strike a balance between giving the issue the attention it deserves, with some tongue in cheek approaches too. From a language point of view, students practice summarising a text and giving opinions. As part of the lesson, I show an episode of Outnumbered [Season 4, episode 2 The Girls' Day Out], which is a British TV series about a normal family living in the suburbs of London. A semi-improvised comedy, the production is a lot less polished than the American sitcoms that students are most used to watching, which means it's great as a listening exercise. If you can't get your hands on a copy of the DVD, the episode is available for download on Amazon instant video.
Although this lesson doesn't use Emma Watson's UN speech, you could ask students to watch it or research the media reaction to it as homework either after the class to close the topic or prior to the class as preparation for it. 

COMPLETE lesson plan download here