discussing gender in the esol/tefl classroom

Here are some lesson ideas for discussing issues around gender in the English language classroom - with all ages.

Firstly, how should we 'frame the debate'?

This election cycle, right-wing extremists have made the LGBTQ+ community broadly and the American trans community in particular a flashpoint. Framing the debate in the name of protecting children from LGBTQ+ people is an old, bigoted (and effective) tactic that creates a reliable social wedge issue in the American political ecosphere.
The movement for acceptance and inclusion has undoubtedly made significant strides in the last 20 years, with 71 percent of Americans supporting marriage equality, according to a recent Gallup poll.

What Do Americans Think About Trans Rights?

This was one incident, at one school, at a particular moment in time. It blipped more loudly on my radar because it happened to take place at our local school. But what was instructive about the incident was the way it was immediately framed, especially in media coverage, as an example of “toxic masculinity.” If that is really the case, the term has acquired such a broad definition that it can be applied to almost any anti-social behavior on the part of boys or men.

Toxic masculinity is a harmful myth - Big Think

Before leaving Iran as a child in 1979, Naraghi Anderlini recalls seeing women in a range of attire, from miniskirts to full body coverings — the bottom line being that they had a choice. During her grandmother’s generation in the 1920s, the shah rendered hijabs illegal in an effort to modernize the country, which resulted in women having their head coverings ripped off against their will. Her mother’s generation, during the 1979 revolution, was up against a more authoritarian that shut down opposition and framed the earlier modernization efforts during her grandmother’s organization as a threat to traditional, Islamic family values.

Today, girls and women in Iran have picked up gender equality fight of the generations before them - The San Diego Union-Tribune

No matter the issue being discussed, media plays an important role in forming public opinion. How the media cover events and stories has the potential to shape and reinforce not only opinion among the general public but also how governments address events and issues.
In coverage of gender-based violence, the public is most frequently exposed to episodic framing, which is described as the tendency to report on events and issues as though they are unconnected, deviant and solely about individual actors and circumstances. Thematic framing, on the other hand, makes clear connections of how events and issues are impacted by and fit into societal trends and patterns.

How media frames stories on gender-based violence matters | StCatharinesStandard.ca

What d' y' feel about:

• 'typical' male/female roles/behaviours: Classroom Activities on gender stereotypes and equality.pdf and Meet the super-smart women checking the quality of our water - Devon Live

• sharing public toilets with someone of another gender: Toilet provision for men and women: call for evidence (now closed) - GOV.UK and Nicola Sturgeon is “destroyer of women’s rights”, says JK Rowling - Islam21c

• the current demonstrations in Iran: Iran: A really simple guide to the protests - BBC News and Iran's Defiant Protests Persist After One Month and Iran faces dilemma as children join protests in 'unprecedented' phenomenon | CNN

So, how do we discuss the issues?

Expanding the #MeToo Conversation: Discussion Prompts for Tweens and Teens About Gender, Boundaries, and Respect | Free Spirit Publishing Blog

It's very much in the news:

How an urban myth about litter boxes in schools became a GOP talking point

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