Uni lesson plan on gender and discrimination

[Wallywobbles]

So, hi, I'm not a regular on this board but I could really do with some help please.

I'm going to be teaching a single 2 hour lesson/lecture on gender and discrimination (both positive and negative) to some 2nd years. French uni so second language.

I have a very participative style and like to get them thinking and talking. But I also don't want to get myself sacked by stepping too far out of the lines. Any thoughts as to how to go about it?

All the teachers in the course (17 groups) will have shared access to content probably.

So could anyone give me a starting point or things that they think I should be bringing up for discussion.

Thank you. I'll be back in a short while.

I always begin with the dictionary definitions of sex and gender and work from there.

Well I've discovered what "cis" actually means ....

Well you could start by using the correct term, sex, instead of gender. It’s important to be able to use the word sex to describe how a person can be discriminated against.

Well if it was in England I would teach what the equality act counts as discrimination - what is the french equivalent?

I thought I'd try and find the results of the Danish positive discrimination in management experience.

Cis is a nonsensical sexist term.

Not sure if it's the same in the UK but I'm France it's a general law against discrimination with a list of things that shouldn't be discriminated against (protected characteristics, I suppose). Then 2 extra notes on sexual harassment and inciting others to discriminate.

I'm not from a legal background and not are the students. This is a general English course with some fairly interesting and varied content.

Are you delivering in English? ( if so what CEF level are the students)
I'd lead -in with the story about the surgeon driving the son to school and they are in an accident.

It's a bit of a faux-ami.

In French you have le sexe and you have genre, as in maculine and feminine nouns.

You'll need to be clear about the difference, and indeed la difference.

2 extra notes on sexual harassment and inciting others to discriminate.

Exactly. Not gender, but sex. Are you teaching gender, which will include those born male who identify as trans, or sex, which you can define.

Yup delivering in English but to different levels. Mine will be at the bottom but content will be shared by all levels. My bottom group is B1 top group of all is C2.

So I figure start by discussing definitions of gender and/vs sex.

Subjects this semester are feminist issues, affirmative action, LGBT, suffragette movement, post truth, GAFA, anti government movements (we always have one happening so it's always pertinent).

So my other question is what do you think I should look at as feminist issues.

Sorry to be asking for help but I've no voice or coherence here I feel.

I guess my question is what sort of direction is the program being delivered from? Sociology? History? Business?

Well they are business students with a lot of English. But we have a lot of freedom within this course. We know what's in the exam from the beginning of the semester so as long as that's covered we can pick and choose whatever else we want from the course content.

I think the idea with this course is to broaden their outlooks somewhat. They come from affluent backgrounds in the majority, where nepotism is part of life. They are at the school in part for networking.

I'm coming from a sociology background albeit very out of date.

In a case like that where you have a lot of fredom,, I think I'd consider a few things and see if any of them seem right:

what do you have or know about the topic that is more worthwhile? Maybe something from your sociology background. It's almost always best for students when teachers talk about what they are really knowledgable about or interested in.

What would be most useful for the students in their careers?

If improving language skills is a goal, what might be helpful in that direction?

Are you sure you have enough understanding and knowledge to teach this stuff?

I assume you're quite new to this if you've only just learned the word 'cis' in this context.

Feminist issues that would be good to cover in an intro could include:
Male violence
Reproductive rights
Pornography
Prostitution
Surrogacy

Does France have an equivalent to our femicide census?

@Goosefoot very helpful. It's such a long time ago but my degree had a huge impact on my thinking. So I suspect I bring that aspect to a lot of my teaching.

@ClitoriaTernatea - I'm not "teaching" feminist issues as such but I do need to be able to talk about them correctly without getting myself into trouble. I want the context to be thought provoking and provocative enough to make people want to talk and contribute but not to offend. Therein lies the line I would like to walk.

@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily Are you teaching gender, which will include those born male who identify as trans, or sex, which you can define.
I was planning to look at both with the definitions and difference as my starting point.

I think I'd do it the opposite way - the difference between sex and gender would be my end point .

I think I'd start with looking at stereotypes and involving the students to question their own unconcious/concious bias and stereotyping - and ask them why that might be...and by the end of two hours you will have taken them on a path via tasks and activities which enable them to formulate the definitions for themselves. Of course you'll need to fill in any language knowledge gaps on the way by providing them with the vocabulary they'll need.

I'd also include the business angle because that makes it more relevant to their own knowledge and experience - so your original idea of linking to the Danish study is a good idea.

@youllhavehadyourtea thank you. Lots to work on and think about. And probably trip over. I really enjoyed teaching this semester last year. I'd been out of teaching for 5 years and the content was mostly new to me so while it was a massive amount of work I learnt loads.

It's a huge topic - keep it simple and focus on giving them the language they need to express their own conclusions.

I'm still a bit confused what you're actually teaching. Is it an English Lesson with a topic of feminist issues - or is it a business course delivered in English to multi-national students with a feminist module incorporated....

5 years combined undergraduate and masters in Business.

Not sure where this module comes from historically as I'm relatively new to the team. My guess is they ran out of business subjects to cover as the hours in English are pretty huge. Also not sure why it has such a large feminist bias as quite a few male teachers.

Basically I'd says it's a couple of lessons on feminist issues taught in English. I don't think they get much, possibly any, awareness training. Not doubling up on content taught in other years is another issue.

This group of students are just back from 6 months abroad at other schools linked to this one worldwide. So as fluent as they're ever likely to get. Which in one groups case is not very.

My advice is avoid anything current and controversial. Teach from a historical perspective about the oppression of women and what rights they didn’t have - don’t know the details in France but in England it’s all easy to find - and when they were won and how and why. Perhaps do a multi national approach and compare when women got the vote in different countries. Some are surprisingly recent!

If it's participative, in your shoes I'd be doing the standard TEFL lesson on discussing stereotypes, getting them to discuss what they think are stereotypes of male and female jobs, appearance, behaviour. Eg give them pictures of jobs, clothing etc and say if they think they are male, female or both or get them to brainstorm lists of male and female categories. Do they think these stereotypes are true? This will prompt lots of discussion (among annoyed women) and be suitable for all levels and both male and female students will be keen to participate.

This would then lead naturally to discussions of gender versus sex, without seeming preachy - the discussion will make the point for you.

You can then ask them about what laws there are in France and what was they think there are in other countries esp English speaking ones around sexual discrimination, sexual harassment etc and why the laws are as they are and if they think they are correct/effective, which will allow you to correct their knowledge of existing laws but also to discuss the issues and whys.

You could take the discussion into further areas eg rights and wrongs of pornography, prostitution etc, if you think that they and you are ready for this.

It all sounds like an extension of standard TEFL stuff.

Thinking about it, as it's business, stuff on the gender pay gap and women in STEM occupations, number of women leading France's top companies etc would be obviously relevant. Give them reading comprehension or podcast etc with comprehension questions on the topics and use them as lead ins for discussion on why women paid less, not equally represented at the top and what can be done about it or should be. Debates, writing, research. Lots of scope for discursive essays. Eg Men should be paid more than women. Discuss.