Author Topic: Lesson on Terrorism (Read 3040 times)

Rachel the traveller · « **on:** November 24, 2015, 10:54:47 AM »

Hi Guys.

One of my co-teachers asked me to make a lesson on terrorism in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, so here's the lesson I made. Although it's a serious subject, students found this lesson very interesting.

First teach the new words in the powerpoint, then have a team game to review the new words. This will make it fun and should help some of the new words stick. Then distribute the handout and tell your students to do the matching exercises on page one only. When they finish elicit and go through the answers using the powerpoint, then show the rest of the powerpoint. After the last slide about world peace, ask the students to get into groups to discuss the questions on page 2. Most classes should come up with some interesting answers, but you may need to help low level students express their opinions in English. If you have time at the end, get groups to present their opinions to the class, or if you have less time, elicit their answers, write them on the board, and ask them which answers they think are best.

I would welcome any comments, feedback or suggestions about this lesson.

Sarsfield · « **Reply #1 on:** November 24, 2015, 12:11:24 PM »

What would be the goal of this lesson? Do you want the students to be more informed and open-minded by the end of the lesson, or is it just an interesting topic to have them learn some vocabulary through?

Your work looks fantastic but I'd either refuse to do such a sensitive topic, or put in as much effort to undo some of the stereotypes around Muslims. For example, why not make it a broad terrorism topic and include a lot more white faces (right-wing American terrorists, Europeans communist groups, even Japanese communist terror groups from the 70s)? Islamic terrorism is an important topic but you might just reinforce stereotypes if you focus exclusively on that (even though you talk about how peaceful most Muslims are).

I shudder to think of what my students would be like with a Muslim teacher since all they shout is 'terrorist' when the word Islam or Muslim is mentioned!

ryncarr · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2015, 02:22:35 PM »

Try giving the kids a balanced 'well-rounded' insight on this topic. You're a teacher so you will be obliged to speak about the whole picture even though some of it is against your personal biases.

Here's some vocab on the topic:

CIA trained, Contras, Mujahadeen, Iraqi National Guard,

Geography: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq

People: Noreaga, General Pinochet, General Suharto, Marcos, Batista, Saddam Hussein (when he was a US ally during his worst acts of terror), the Sha of Iran.

Off course you can leave out the obvious ones like the invasion of Afghanistan 2001 and Iraq 2003. The kids may know about this already. Ask your co-teacher if they can teach you about it. Hope this helps.

luckytourist · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2015, 03:57:43 PM »

Your powerpoint looks very good but I feel it not very balanced. If you are going to talk about terrorism in a class you should include USA's use of drones, ISIS and why it has grown into such big force, the arms industry, Russia's involvement, etc. In my opinion focusing only on killings in western countries is not a very balanced approach on terrorism.

tsarotu · « **Reply #4 on:** November 24, 2015, 04:26:15 PM »

The teacher wants a lesson relevant to current events? Why didnt you explain the history of warfare since the time Cain killed Able? And while youre at it why dont you talk about things that are happening only in the lala land that liberals dwell in?

Aristocrat · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2015, 05:02:38 PM »

Quote from: luckytourist on November 24, 2015, 03:57:43 PM

Your powerpoint looks very good but I feel it not very balanced. If you are going to talk about terrorism in a class you should include USA's use of drones, ISIS and why it has grown into such big force, the arms industry, Russia's involvement, etc. In my opinion focusing only on killings in western countries is not a very balanced approach on terrorism.

I agree, not only is it sensitive, but it's also a very difficult task to teach a balanced and well-informed lesson to 2nd language speakers in 50 mins. I have a few suggestions:

- Many of the students learn visually. Your picture of 'Terrorist' simply shows ISIS. I'd add pictures of multiple terrorists with different ideologies e.g. Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult leader, was responsible for planting poison gas on the Tokyo subway. You could even have pictures of IDF soldiers (many consider them terrorists); The KKK, Aryan Brotherhood, the Oklahoma bombing? If you can't put it in words, put it in pictures and let your students figure out subjectivity and that it's not synonymous with a single ideology.

- It's the 21st century, it's no longer possible to distinguish Muslims from non-Muslims simply by appearance. Not all Muslims wear their prayer clothes everyday (unless you live in the Middle-East, only a very small minority round the world do), have beards, wear hijabs or are beige. Again I'd show multiple pictures of different, races and nationalities people e.g. everyday people in jeans and t-shirts, Muhammad Ali, or even some awesome pics of the badass Muslim Iranian female nin-jitsu practitioners, it's pretty big over there.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/why-thousands-of-iranian-women-are-training-to-be-ninjas/252531/

- Again, your extremist illustration is basically saying that extremists come from the Middle-East or Africa. What about Charles Manson? The Westbury Baptist Church or even the Shincheonji cult. Any person who takes an ideology and pushes it to an extreme so that it's perverse and distorted is an extremist.

Furthermore, be prepared for a very simple question you'll probably get, that many don't know the answer to "Where did ISIS come from?" Read up, it's not hard to understand and shouldn't be too difficult to simplify.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/syria-iraq-incubators-isis-jihad

You might argue that I'm being pedantic, but that's what you have to do if you're going to teach a lesson like this. Your CT obviously wants the students to be more informed and you're not going to do that by perpetuating a stereotype.

withmatt · « **Reply #6 on:** November 24, 2015, 06:23:27 PM »

Well, if you really want to explain this thoroughly with a balanced viewpoint, you should probably first read the book A Peace to End All Peace, which explains why there has been no peace in the Middle East since WW1. Then, you should start by explaining how the region has been destabilized for the last 100 years because European nations were more concerned with controlling the region to protect their faith missions, oil, and other Asian/African holdings than they were with creating a stable government in the region. Then you should understand that bombing hospitals and using drone attacks is also a form of terrorism.

Rachel the traveller · « **Reply #7 on:** November 24, 2015, 11:39:55 PM »

I'm very grateful for the comments and suggestions for improvements, and especially the links to articles and suggestions for further reading. I was concerned that my powerpoint didn't present many viewpoints but I couldn't think how to explain all the complexities in a 50 minute high school lesson. Aristocrat, I find your picture suggestions particularly helpful, and the ninjitsu video will be a fun thing to show in class! The Guardian article explains a lot.

This is a very sensitive and complex subject and I didn't have enough time to research it properly. I might also add references to the Catholic and Protestant terrorist violence that used to be a big problem in Northern Ireland to the powerpoint. Religions can be and are intended to be very good, but unfortunately people and politics can be very bad.

weigookin74 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 25, 2015, 12:12:57 PM »

Quote from: Rachel the traveller on November 24, 2015, 10:54:47 AM

Hi Guys.

One of my co-teachers asked me to make a lesson on terrorism in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, so here's the lesson I made. Although it's a serious subject, students found this lesson very interesting.

First teach the new words in the powerpoint, then have a team game to review the new words. This will make it fun and should help some of the new words stick. Then distribute the handout and tell your students to do the matching exercises on page one only. When they finish elicit and go through the answers using the powerpoint, then show the rest of the powerpoint. After the last slide about world peace, ask the students to get into groups to discuss the questions on page 2. Most classes should come up with some interesting answers, but you may need to help low level students express their opinions in English. If you have time at the end, get groups to present their opinions to the class, or if you have less time, elicit their answers, write them on the board, and ask them which answers they think are best.

I would welcome any comments, feedback or suggestions about this lesson.

Good lesson, but why are you teaching this? Shouldn't the society teacher do a lesson on this and you stick to teaching English?

weigookin74 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 25, 2015, 12:17:30 PM »

Quote from: ryncarr on November 24, 2015, 02:22:35 PM

Try giving the kids a balanced 'well-rounded' insight on this topic. You're a teacher so you will be obliged to speak about the whole picture even though some of it is against your personal biases.

Here's some vocab on the topic:

CIA trained, Contras, Mujahadeen, Iraqi National Guard,

Geography: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq

People: Noreaga, General Pinochet, General Suharto, Marcos, Batista, Saddam Hussein (when he was a US ally during his worst acts of terror), the Sha of Iran.

Off course you can leave out the obvious ones like the invasion of Afghanistan 2001 and Iraq 2003. The kids may know about this already. Ask your co-teacher if they can teach you about it. Hope this helps.

t's not our job to brainwash kids. No one gives a rats @$$ about your politics. In fact it's a sure fire way to clear out a room. That's just basic courtesy not to go spouting off.

Seriously, just stick to English and non controversy in the classroom. If you have to mention anything, mention it very briefly in the most general of terms giving no opinion and then moving on quickly.

I tell you some teachers and professors that see it as their job to brainwash or turn young folks into crazy extremists ought to have their funding cut off. I'm all for free speech, but when it's mostly one sided hate, it's too much.

Action Jackson · « **Reply #10 on:** November 25, 2015, 12:50:04 PM »

Quote from: weigookin74 on November 25, 2015, 12:12:57 PM

Quote from: Rachel the traveller on November 24, 2015, 10:54:47 AM
Hi Guys.

One of my co-teachers asked me to make a lesson on terrorism in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, so here's the lesson I made. Although it's a serious subject, students found this lesson very interesting.

First teach the new words in the powerpoint, then have a team game to review the new words. This will make it fun and should help some of the new words stick. Then distribute the handout and tell your students to do the matching exercises on page one only. When they finish elicit and go through the answers using the powerpoint, then show the rest of the powerpoint. After the last slide about world peace, ask the students to get into groups to discuss the questions on page 2. Most classes should come up with some interesting answers, but you may need to help low level students express their opinions in English. If you have time at the end, get groups to present their opinions to the class, or if you have less time, elicit their answers, write them on the board, and ask them which answers they think are best.

I would welcome any comments, feedback or suggestions about this lesson.

Good lesson, but why are you teaching this? Shouldn't the society teacher do a lesson on this and you stick to teaching English?

The answers you seek are in the first sentence.

Author Topic: Lesson on Terrorism (Read 3040 times)

Rachel the traveller

Lesson on Terrorism

Sarsfield

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

ryncarr

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

luckytourist

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

tsarotu

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

Aristocrat

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

withmatt

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

Rachel the traveller

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

weigookin74

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

weigookin74

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

Action Jackson

Re: Lesson on Terrorism

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