You can reach out how my process went on by clicking the link below. I hope you will enjoy it, have a great time!
https://youtu.be/03IK1QAesCI
Since we had an expanded understanding towards the community and their points of views, we tried to look for our own teaching side in this meeting. We talked about bullying that is an unwanted and aggressive behavior happening in schools. We tried to figure out our own anti-slur policy during the classes, we determined the behaviors that should be prevented and came up with common ideas in order to prevent those behaviors. In this meeting, the students were more open-minded since they knew what to do as future teachers. After the meeting, they just signed a petition to ask a lesson for anti-bullying in their departments. It was our last meeting and it was really good to work with them.
You can access my PowerPoint slide I used during the meeting by clicking the link:
Creativity-Material
You can see our brainstorming part in the photo.
It was a great experience for me to identify the missing parts in classrooms and by doing these, I really felt the sense of relief since I saw how the students improved themselves in more open-minded and fair point of views.
In the first two meeting, we had the chance to know the community and tried to understand the members. In this meeting, for further understanding, we tried to have more opportunities to have empathy towards those individuals. In this respect, we watched a video that those individuals told their background stories and had discussion. After that, we had some situational scenarios and asked each other “What would you do if you were them?” It was really difficult to think since we were all human beings but the discrimination was so intense. Finally, we got a main thought that “Why are people so obsessed with others? If we do not judge others, they should not have any courage to judge ourselves!” Then, I assigned the students to watch a movie based on a teenager who had difficulties in his own life. They asked the same question to themselves and answered it in a video.
You can access my PowerPoint slide I used during the meeting by clicking the link:
Critical Thinking-Material
Here is a quotation from one of those assignments:
I could not control my tears here because it was too emotional. I wish all families showed understanding in this way. If my child says he is gay, I always say I will support him.
In this meeting, I used one of the materials that we used during our Webinars, the story of and Tango makes three. We discussed what family meant to my students and saw the story of two father penguins. The students were surprised when they found out the biological features based on animals. We tried to find a basic answer to the differences and similarities with our own families and came up with the idea that “They have the same family, love and sharing and nothing is different!” Genders are not the things that determine our families, we have more powerful thing than that, LOVE. It was really good to have that common idea with my students and I think discovering the thought made the learning phase more permanent. After that story, students got familiar with the concepts and I believe they are going to use such kinds of stories during their own teaching sides. I hope they are going to be wonderful ally teachers!
You can access my PowerPoint slide I used during the meeting by clicking the link:
Communication-Material
Here you can see one of the found poetries that they wrote by relating the story. Their emotions and rhymes were lovely.
Tango Makes Three
Boy and girl penguins
Start noticing each other
But two boy penguin
Start loving each other
They want a family
But they didn’t have any egg
Their keeper give them an egg
They cared for it
And then they had a baby
And named it Tango
They grew their baby up together
They teach Tango to swim together
After a while Tango grew stronger
With their daddies
Tango have been loved
In this meeting, I let my future teachers learn the terms that they needed to be familiar with. I told them the terms and we discussed the misconceptions in people’s minds. At the end, we categorized each term under the main titles. It was a good warm-up lesson for us to get used to each other and I was really happy to have such young people that were aware of this community and trying to be a part of as allies.
Here you can see one of the picture collages that my students just did after the meeting. What a pleasant to have their works like this.
You can access my PowerPoint slide I used during the meeting by clicking the link:
Collaboration-Material
SJELT Volume II
Name: Gökçe Çiçek Cevher
Theme: LGBTQ and Creativity
Lesson Plan
School/Institution: Sinop University
Level: B2-C1 (1st year of students in ELT department)
Age of the Students: 18-19
Lesson Topic: Creativity & LGBTQ+
Duration of Class Period: 30 Minutes
Language Skills: Listening and Speaking
Lesson Language: English
Rationale
The purpose of this lesson is to inform the students an understanding of LGBTQ and to reduce levels of prejudice and discrimination against people who are members of this community. At the same time, this lesson intends to practice 21st century learning skills, which are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. In this regard, a number of teaching strategies and techniques are utilized. The successful integration of authentic materials paves the way for more qualified instruction. This lesson allows young people to reflect on their and their peers' thoughts about LGBTQ and to learn respectful ways of communication.
Objectives
Content Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- develop a policy that reflects observed needs of people bullied.
- recognize the importance of their views in the society they live.
21st Century Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives.
- incorporate group input and feedback into the work.
Language Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- give suggestions by using “should”.
Social Justice Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- have a better understanding of the challenges faced by young LGBTQ people.
Procedure
Presentation (5 Minutes): The teacher suggests the students that we are all accustomed to participating in a school community where we are able, for the most part, to speak freely and we can talk about our political views in class discussions, criticize school policies through student government, and express our interests during clubs all without being penalized. The teacher asks the students “Are there times when words can go too far and when students deserve protection from those words?” and takes notes of the answers.
Objective(s) Targeted: This activity is designed to help the students understand the importance of their views.
Practice (20 Minutes):
Activity I:
The teacher tells the students that implementing an “anti-slur” policy is one way to create an environment in which expectations about language are clear and there are some protections against name-calling and verbal bullying. The teacher asks the students to list the types of name-calling that are most common in their experience— not the slurs themselves, just the category they fit into, for example names based on people’s religion, appearance or race.
Activity II:
The teacher asks the students to think about the different types of behaviors associated with name calling and the specific ways in which negative speech is carried out, for example through teasing or rumors. The teacher asks the students to identify strategies for preventing disrespectful speech before it becomes a problem. The teacher asks the students to brainstorm fair and realistic consequences for those who intentionally disrespect others. The teacher asks the students to identify safe and confidential ways to report incidents and get help. When the students have completed their discussions, the teacher has them share and create a master list that captures all of their ideas.
Objective(s) Targeted: With this activity, the students develop a policy that reflects observed needs.
Conclusion (5 Minutes): The teacher makes them understand that those behaviors can be prevented and that prevention they should have can be created in the society itself.
Objective(s) Targeted: In this term, the students understands the importance of one individual’s thought in the society.
Assessment:
Journal: The teacher asks the students to keep journals that detail their thoughts about the meeting. The teacher asks them to be specific, recording only attitudes, values, or self-awareness.
Mini Project:
The teacher asks the students to write a letter of application to their department chair about asking for a lesson against to bullying.
SJELT Volume II
Name: Gökçe Çiçek Cevher
Theme: LGBTQ and Critical Thinking
Lesson Plan
School/Institution: Sinop University
Level: B2-C1 (1st year of students in ELT department)
Age of the Students: 18-19
Lesson Topic: Critical Thinking & LGBTQ+
Duration of Class Period: 30 Minutes
Language Skills: Listening and Speaking
Lesson Language: English
Rationale
The purpose of this lesson is to inform the students an understanding of LGBTQ and to reduce levels of prejudice and discrimination against people who are members of this community. At the same time, this lesson intends to practice 21st century learning skills, which are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. In this regard, a number of teaching strategies and techniques are utilized. The successful integration of authentic materials paves the way for more qualified instruction. This lesson allows young people to reflect on their and their peers' thoughts about LGBTQ and to learn respectful ways of communication.
Objectives
Content Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- state at least one change that could be made to avoid the problems occurring in the future in relation to LGBTQ.
- identify at least one problem that has occurred for different characters in texts.
21st Century Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- demonstrate persistence in working with difficult problems.
Language Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- use if conditional sentences in contextualized dialogues accurately and correctly.
Social Justice Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- have a better understanding of the challenges faced by young LGBTQ people.
Procedure
Presentation (10 Minutes): The teacher asks the students whether they have witnessed an event that an LGBTQ member has been in a situation because of people’s points of view and plays a video about how people see LGBTQ people. After watching, the teacher asks the students’ thoughts about those people and whether they have witnessed such an event.
The link of video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxHHstcyP4I .
Objective(s) Targeted: This activity is designed to help the students understand how LGBTQ people feel.
Practice (15 Minutes): The teacher sends different scenario cards to the students and asks to note down what they would do in those cases. In order to have different perspectives, the teacher gives the same scenario to different three students. In those groups, the students discuss the questions: What are the problems that have occurred in these scenarios? and How could these problems have been avoided? When they come to the meeting, they explain their results to the others.
The scenarios are:
Scenario 1. Jo identifies as a cisgender female who feels happier with masculine haircuts and clothing. Jo and her parents have gone on a day out to London and together they are visiting a major art museum. After a long journey, they all need to start their gallery visit by going to the toilet. Jo follows her mum into the women’s toilet, and immediately someone washing their hands shouts out ‘hey, you’re in the wrong toilet!’ and everyone turns and stares at Jo.
Scenario 2. Aniisa has recently come out as a transwoman and for the first time she wants to go shopping for clothes that are more suited to her gender identity. She is quite shy and not confident about what will suit her and she is anxious about her deep voice. She picks out several tops that she wants to try on and joins the queue for the designated ladies changing rooms. When she reaches the front of the queue, the staff member asks her how many items she is trying on and she feels too scared to speak in case they tell her to use the men’s changing rooms.
Scenario 3. Rajit identifies as a female to male transperson, and while he has changed his name legally, he hasn’t started taking hormonal medication yet, which means his voice still sounds the same as before transition. Rajit tries to go to a barbershop which he knows offer good haircuts for £9.00, but they tell him ‘sorry, we don’t do women’s hair here’. Instead he goes to a unisex salon a few doors down. He gets a haircut that’s not as short as he would like it, and they charge him £25 for a women’s cut rather than £18 which is the men’s price. He feels upset and is trying to decide whether he can compose himself enough to challenge the price he has been charged without bursting into tears.
Objective(s) Targeted: With this activity, the students identify at least one problem that has occurred for each character in the activity scenarios. The students state at least one change that could be made to avoid the problems occurring in the future in relation to LGBTQ.
Conclusion (5 Minutes): The teacher makes them understand that a person can be any gender, any sex, any sexuality or any gender expression and we don’t know how they identify just by looking at them.
Objective(s) Targeted: In this term, the teacher makes the students understand every individual has their own identity and no one can discriminate them.
Assessment:
Journal: The teacher asks students to keep journals that detail their thoughts about the meeting. The teacher asks them to be specific, recording only attitudes, values, or self-awareness.
Mini Project:
The teacher asks the students to watch the movie “Love, Simon” by having a critical eye and write a paragraph about their thoughts and emotions
SJELT Volume II
Name: Gökçe Çiçek Cevher
Theme: LGBTQ and Communication
Lesson Plan
School/Institution: Sinop University
Level: B2-C1 (1st year of students in ELT department)
Age of the Students: 18-19
Lesson Topic: Communication & LGBTQ+
Duration of Class Period: 30 Minutes
Language Skills: Listening and Speaking
Lesson Language: English
Rationale
The purpose of this lesson is to inform the students an understanding of LGBTQ and to reduce levels of prejudice and discrimination against people who are members of this community. At the same time, this lesson intends to practice 21st century learning skills, which are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. In this regard, a number of teaching strategies and techniques are utilized. The successful integration of authentic materials paves the way for more qualified instruction. This lesson allows young people to reflect on their and their peers' thoughts about LGBTQ and to learn respectful ways of communication.
Objectives
Content Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- identify that the bond that unites many families and communities is love and caring.
21st Century Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will learn to;
- communicate and work with others to achieve a common goal or solution.
Language Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- express themselves with cause and effect sentences in daily language.
Social Justice Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- have a greater awareness of the members of LGBTQ.
- have a better understanding towards LGBTQ children/families.
Procedure
Presentation (10 Minutes): The teacher asks the students the following questions:
- What is a family? What makes a family?
- What kind of families do you see in your community?
- What does family mean to you?
- What do family members give or share with each other?
- What responsibilities do family members have?
Objective(s) Targeted: This activity is designed to help the students understand how they see families.
Practice (15 Minutes): The teacher plays a video about the story called And Tango Makes Three (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uOXUCiDE-s). After watching, the teacher asks the following questions to the students.
- What problem did Roy and Silo have?
- How did it get solved?
- How did Roy and Silo get an egg?
- How do Roy and Silo take care of Tango before she hatched?
- How do Roy and Silo take care of Tango after she hatched?
- What things do Roy, Silo and Tango enjoy doing together as a family?
The teacher groups the students into two and asks them to discuss those questions with each other and then, share their results with the other group.
- How is the family in the story similar to your family?
- How is the family in the story different from your family?
The teacher asks the students to discuss those questions with their groups and suggest new theories to each other. Then, the students share their results with the other group again.
- Do we have such stories in our textbooks? Do we have heteronormativity in our textbooks?
- When you become teachers, will you ignore those kinds of stories?
Objective(s) Targeted: With this activity, the students identify that families have both similarities and differences and their roles as teachers to conduct such materials into their lessons.
Conclusion (5 Minutes): The teacher makes them understand that families can be defined in many ways, each one is unique and some people may have families with two moms or two dads; stepparents; a transgender parent; adoptive parents; or foster parents.
Objective(s) Targeted: In this term, the teacher makes the students understand the acceptable terms that they can encounter during their lives.
Assessment:
Journal: The teacher asks students to keep journals that detail their thoughts about the meeting. The teacher asks them to be specific, recording only attitudes, values, or self-awareness.
Mini Project:
Found Poetry: The teacher asks the students to prepare a found poetry depending on the story “and tango makes three”, in other words, they versify the story.
SJELT Volume II
Name: Gökçe Çiçek Cevher
Theme: LGBTQ and Collaboration
Lesson Plan
School/Institution: Sinop University
Difficulty Level: B2-C1 (1st year of students in ELT department)
Age of the Students: 18-19
Lesson Topic: Collaboration & LGBTQ+
Duration of Class Period: 30 Minutes
Language Skills: Listening and Speaking
Lesson Language: English
Rationale
The purpose of this lesson is to inform the students an understanding of LGBTQ and to reduce levels of prejudice and discrimination against people who are members of this community. At the same time, this lesson intends to practice 21st century learning skills, which are critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication. In this regard, a number of teaching strategies and techniques are utilized. The successful integration of authentic materials paves the way for more qualified instruction. This lesson allows young people to reflect on their and their peers' thoughts about LGBTQ and to learn respectful ways of communication.
Objectives
21st Century Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- communicate and work with others to achieve a common goal or solution.
Language Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- recognize important vocabulary related to LGBTQ such as sex, gender, gender expression.
Social Justice Objectives: By the end of the meeting, the students will;
- have a greater awareness of the terminology of LGBTQ.
- have a better understanding of the challenges faced by young LGBTQ people.
Procedure
Presentation (15 Minutes): The teacher shows four words in different columns to the students. The words are; gender, sex, sexuality and gender expression. After a brief discussion about what those words stand for, the teacher shows a list of words to the students. The list includes the words; trans woman, masculine, feminine, gay, transsexual, butch, woman, female, lesbian, male, bi-sexual, gender queer, man, transgender, transvestite, gender neutral, queer, cisgender, female to male trans person, intersex. After they see all words, the teacher has brief expression for each term with the help of students.
Objective(s) Targeted: This activity is designed to help the students understand exactly what these words stand for.
Practice (10 Minutes): The teacher gives some time to the students to categorize those words into the given four titles. After the students are completed, they categorize together.
Objective(s) Targeted: With this activity, the students understand that gender, sex, sexuality and gender expression are not the same thing, and that everyone’s identity is multiple and complex.
Conclusion (5 Minutes): The teacher shows links to read about gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns to the students and makes them understand that only they can define their own identities. The links are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_and_gender-neutral_pronouns and https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Pronouns .
Objective(s) Targeted: In this term, the students understand the reason why English has different pronouns.
Assessment:
Journal: The teacher asks students to keep journals that detail their thoughts about the meeting. The teacher asks them to be specific, recording only attitudes, values, or self-awareness.
Mini Project:
Picture Collage: The teacher asks the students to prepare a picture collage that presents what they have learned during the meeting.
ABSTRACT
The 21st century skills are more important than ever before to students today. Not only do they provide a foundation for effective classroom learning, but they also ensure that learners can succeed in an environment where change is constant and learning never stops. This project has both the educative and social justice goals. Since there is a prejudiced view towards LGBTQ community, students should be involved in lessons that takes this community into consideration. They should learn those concepts during their ELT courses, not in a direct way, but in an indirect way. Therefore, they should become teachers that are aware of the community. As future teachers, they are going to be able to conduct such lessons involving 21st century skill activities and LGBTQ related materials. To handle both the educative part and social issue, future English teachers are involved in this project.