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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.
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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
Downloadable materials: the best men can be lesson instructions the best men can get transcript the best men can get twitter
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.
- What hashtags are popular in your country at the moment?
- 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 2017. Victims of harassment were encouraged to tweet about it and make people aware of the magnitude of the problem.
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.
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.
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:
- Which of the examples of toxic masculinity shown in the film are the most serious? Why?
- Are these examples of toxic masculinity typical in your country?
- 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.
- 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:
- Do you think the examples shown in the film are good ways to fight toxic masculinity? Why / why not?
- 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.
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?
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 this ESL lesson.
Support Film English
Film English remains free and takes many hours a month to research and write, and hundreds of dollars to sustain. If you find any joy or value in it, please consider supporting Film English with a monthly subscription, or by contributing a one-off payment.
Monthly subscription |
| €7,00 EUR – monthly €3,00 EUR – monthly €10,00 EUR – monthly €25,00 EUR – monthly |
One-off payment |
| €10,00 EUR €20,00 EUR €30,00 EUR €40,00 EUR €50,00 EUR €100,00 EUR |
from Film Lessons – Film English http://film-english.com/2019/01/22/the-best-men-can-be/
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