Gender Issues Month – Week 3 summary by Gergő Fekete

Week 3 of our Gender Issues Month proved to be just as productive and fruitful as Weeks 1 and 2.

On our GISIG website, Julietta shared a ready lesson on Shakespeare’s The taming of the shrew, which inspired a nice collection of gender-themed poems and films. In response to Julietta’s lesson plan, Bill shared his own experience with teaching Shakespeare and provided us with several links to dig deeper. Bill also mentioned Carol Ann Duffy, the first openly LGBT person to hold the position of Poet Laureate of GB, and her book The World’s Wife – a collection of poems from Duffy’s feminist perspective. Do check out the links in Bill’s comments on our website if you wish to bring any of these examples to your classroom. By the end of the week, Bill also brought up the question of transgender with the story of Chelsea Manning.

Our previous and new FB events also featured some great resources.

• Still within the scope of literature, Linda shared Kieran Donaghy’s lesson on the themes of “women and triumph over adversity”. Two other ready lessons from Easier English wiki were also added: one on surrogacy with some thought-provoking questions for your students and another on discussing the causes and effects of gender imbalance.
• The question of gender stereotypes was addressed in another ready lesson that allows students to discuss what it means to be a man and a woman and reflect on how they have been influenced by gender stereotypes. How these stereotypes can lead to violence is also touched upon.
• In case you are looking for a film that links gender issues with the topic of education, make sure you watch Girl Rising, the story of 9 girls facing enormous challenges and barriers to education. Don’t miss the Teacher’s Guide either for lesson ideas.
• Also, here’s some food for thought about women juggling family life and career in an article by The Guardian.
• Finally, Tyson Seburn and his #tleap community of EAP professionals shared his FB group with us – they are also discussing gender issues this month.

So, our collection of ideas and resources is getting bigger and bigger. Thanks to everybody for the contribution, the inspiration, and the active participation. Stay tuned for the last week of our Issues Month!