IB English Language and Literature Language and Gender Monday 16th – Thursday 19th September

Watch then share your thoughts Students to discuss how the short clip conveys gender stereotypes about men, women and love!

“When a man gives his opinion, he's a man “When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch.” Bette Davis “A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.” Oscar Wilde Students to try and decipher what the quotes mean and what they say about gender issues. Does this still resonate today??

Watch this clip and make notes on your thoughts Watch the first 5 minutes only;

Challenge In pairs, first discuss then individually produce a paragraph response to the following question: To what extent is our cultural value of men and women defined by the language we use? For example: Why is it ok to call a single woman a ‘spinster’ and a single man a ‘bachelor’? The connotations of these words have different cultural values. Inform students that this could lead to a Written Task (such as a magazine article, opinion column etc) or even a Further Oral Activity

Context: Part of a Nike Women ad campaign which empowers women to appreciate their bodies rather than pander to stereotypes. More at nikewomen.com May also be worth considering Purple Unicorn - http://purpleunicornplanet.com/our-goal/ and their hashtag - #pleasejustdoit – a twitter page which demands that Nike produce similar trainers for women like their male counterparts, not just soft pastel colours and pumps. Equality in sports fashion

Nike Women Posters For each of the posters on the sheet, comment on the following aspects for analysis: How does it challenge gender stereotypes? Are there aspects of the ad that paradoxically reinforce or play into these same stereotypes? Is this ad ultimately liberating? How does the text of the advertisement either complement or work against the image? Once completed, students share their ideas.

IB English Language and Literature Language and Gender Thursday 19th September

Is this trailer giving a home truth? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IeXqvFR6HI – He’s Just Not That Into You Trailer? Use the following questions for discussion:

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus In boy – girl pairs, where possible, discuss the following questions: Do men and women speak differently? Do men and women use language differently? Or is there a combination of the above?

Challenge For Tuesday 24th September, produce a page long magazine opinion column which explores the gender differences between men and women Think about your audience, purpose and use of language. Think of this as a practice for your Written Task

Give students a paper copy of the image in the center of the page. They have 15 minutes to annotate individually

Challenge Analyse the ‘Zits’ image carefully. Treat it like an unseen in your Paper 1 exam. You have 15 minutes to annotate the text Think about: Audience, stylistic features, language and consider the cultural values being commented on. Be prepared to share your ideas with the group

A little light-hearted fun…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezVib_giTFo - Manslator

Liz Lochhead’s work frequently focuses on girlhood, motherhood, the female side of a relationship. She is very much a Scottish writer and Scotland is not an infrequent presence in her work, in one way or another. One of her most prominent works is her punchy play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (1989), which brings both previous points together. In the play, the main protagonist, Mary Stuart, is, after all, a Catholic queen in a Protestant land, and a woman in a man’s world.

Reading ‘Men Talk’ by Liz Lochead Reading the poem in class first then, option of watching Lochead read it herself – next slide

Challenge Working through Lochead’s poem Complete the tasks on the other side of the sheet