Be Aware

Lead-in

  • What do you think about these sayings?
    • Be careful who you trust. Salt and sugar look the same.
    • My back is not a voicemail. Say it to my face.
    • An open enemy is better than a false friend.
    • Life’s too short to do things you hate just to win the approval of others.
    • Fake friends believe in rumors. Real friends believe in you. Scientists analyze facts.

Presentation

Pre

  • What stereotypes are you familiar with?

Top Down

  • What does stereotype mean to you? Give examples.
  • Read the text and see if it’s aligned with how you think.

Prejudice often begins in the form of a stereotype—that is, a negative belief about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics. Stereotypes become overgeneralized and applied to all members of a group. For example, someone holding prejudiced attitudes toward older adults may believe that older adults are slow and incompetent. We cannot possibly know each individual person of advanced age to know that all older adults are slow and incompetent. Therefore, this negative belief is overgeneralized to all members of the group, even though many of the individual group members may in fact be spry and intelligent.

An example of a well-known stereotype involves beliefs about racial differences among athletes. Black male athletes are often believed to be more athletic, yet less intelligent, than their White male counterparts. These beliefs persist despite a number of high-profile examples to the contrary. Sadly, such beliefs often influence how these athletes are treated by others and how they view themselves and their own capabilities. Whether or not you agree with a stereotype, stereotypes are generally well-known within a given culture.

Sometimes people will act on their prejudiced attitudes toward a group of people, and this behavior is known as discrimination. Discrimination is negative action toward an individual as a result of one’s membership in a particular group. As a result of holding negative beliefs (stereotypes) and negative attitudes (prejudice) about a particular group, people often treat the target of prejudice poorly, such as excluding older adults from their circle of friends.

Bottom Up

  • Answer the questions according to the text.
  1. How is ‘stereotype’ defined?
  2. How is ‘discrimination’ defined?
  3. What is the stereotype associated with black athletes?
  1. A stereotype is, a negative belief about individuals based solely on their membership in a group,
  2. When people act on their prejudiced attitudes toward a group of other people.
  3. Black male athletes are often believed to be more athletic, yet less intelligent, than their White male counterparts.

Post

  • Have you ever been the target of discrimination?
    • If so, how did this negative treatment make you feel?
    • If not, how would you react?
  • What can we do to make sure we are not discriminatory towards others?

Target Language

Prejudice and Discrimination

Types of prejudice

  • Ageism
  • Homophobia
  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Misogyny
  • Xenophobia

Against

  • Age
  • Sexual Orientation
  • Race / Ethnicity
  • Sex / Gender
  • Women
  • Nationality

Person

  • Ageist
  • Homophobe
  • Racist
  • Sexist
  • Misogynist
  • Xenophobe

Adjective

  • Ageist
  • Homophobic
  • Racist
  • Sexist
  • Misogynistic
  • Xenophobic

Prejudice and Discrimination Collocations

  • To face / fight: to confront
  • To be prejudiced/to have prejudice (against): to have an unreasonable opinion or dislike of people who are different from you
  • To discriminate (against): to treat a person or group in an unfair way because of their religion, race or other personal features

Controlled Practice

  • Complete the sentences.

Example: Someone who is an ageist is prejudice against elderly people.

  1. Human rights groups have blamed a 2013 Russian law against “gay propaganda” for increasing ____.
  2. Only with dialogue and debate will it be possible to change the current law, which is retrograde and ____, causing death and suffering to women and their families”.
  3. Scullion said a recent Facebook page he saw which contained ____ abuse aimed at Indigenous people was proof that “we still haven’t got it right in this country”.
  4. Everyone from Tony Abbott to Beyonce must publicly declare their allegiance to women out of fear of being labelled a ____, or heaven forbid, causing offence.
  5. As tensions increased in the Middle East, and in Iraq in particular, in the 1990s and the 21st century, people subjected to ____ sentiments, like me, noticed a shift in the derogatory names.
  1. Human rights groups have blamed a 2013 Russian law against “gay propaganda” for increasing homophobia.
  2. Only with dialogue and debate will it be possible to change the current law, which is retrograde and sexist, causing death and suffering to women and their families”.
  3. Scullion said a recent Facebook page he saw which contained racist abuse aimed at Indigenous people was proof that “we still haven’t got it right in this country”.
  4. Everyone from Tony Abbott to Beyonce must publicly declare their allegiance to women out of fear of being labelled a misogynist, or heaven forbid, causing offence.
  5. As tensions increased in the Middle East, and in Iraq in particular, in the 1990s and the 21st century, people subjected to xenophobic sentiments, like me, noticed a shift in the derogatory names.

Freer Practice

  • Give examples of these types of prejudice:
    • Ageism
    • Homophobia
    • Racism
    • Sexism
    • Misogyny
    • Xenophobia

Production

  • Fill in the blanks to make questions as you answer them.
    • Why are people ____?
    • What would you say to a ____?
    • What damage does ____ do to a country?
    • What images are in your mind when you hear the word ‘____’?

Homework

Fill in the gaps.

Types of prejudice

  • Ageism

  • –

  • –

  • –

  • Misogyny

  • –

Against

  • –

  • Sexual Orientation

  • –

  • –

  • –

  • –

Person

  • –

  • –

  • Racist

  • –

  • –

  • –

Adjective

  • –

  • –

  • –

  • Sexist

  • –

  • Xenophobic

Types of prejudice

  • Ageism

  • Homophobia

  • Racism

  • Sexism

  • Misogyny

  • Xenophobia

Against

  • Age

  • Sexual Orientation

  • Race / Ethnicity

  • Sex / Gender

  • Women

  • Nationality

Person

  • Ageist

  • Homophobe

  • Racist

  • Sexist

  • Misogynist

  • Xenophobe

Adjective

  • Ageist

  • Homophobic

  • Racist

  • Sexist

  • Misogynistic

  • Xenophobic

Connect the prejudices of the first column with the sentences from the second.

Example: Homophobia > Do they really think I’m gay because of this pink shirt?

  1. Ageism
  2. Xenophobia
  3. Sexism
  4. Racism
  • Look at that reckless driver. It must be a woman!
  • You’re too young, don’t know what you’re talking about.
  • They only asked me to empty out my pockets. I was the only black man there.
  • Haitians only come here to steal our jobs.
  1. Ageism
  2. Xenophobia
  3. Sexism
  4. Racism
  • You’re too young, don’t know what you’re talking about.
  • Haitians only come here to steal our jobs. 
  • Look at that reckless driver. It must be a woman!
  • They only asked me to empty out my pockets. I was the only black man there.

Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the word provided.

Example: ____ is wrong regardless of your color. (race) > Racism is wrong regardless of your color.

  1. Not hiring a woman because of her ____ is contreversial. (sex)
  2. But it’s not just the outrageous threats, ____ abuse and so on that emphasise the importance of the movement. (misogyny)
  3. Jean-Marie Le Pen, a right-wing ____ , had earlier disparaged France’s multiracial team. (xenophobia)
  4. Human rights groups have blamed a 2013 Russian law against “gay propaganda” for increasing ____ . (homophobia)
  5. ____  attitudes held by half of the world’s population cause serious social and economic ills (Ageism )
  1. Not hiring a woman because of her sex is contreversial.
  2. But it’s not just the outrageous threats, misogynistic abuse and so on that emphasise the importance of the movement.
  3. Jean-Marie Le Pen, a right-wing xenophobe, had earlier disparaged France’s multiracial team.
  4. Human rights groups have blamed a 2013 Russian law against “gay propaganda” for increasing homophobia.
  5. Ageist attitudes held by half of the world’s population cause serious social and economic ills

Put the words in the correct order.

Example: discriminations / to / need / fight / prejudice / we / and > We need to fight prejudice and discriminations.

  1. organization / to / ageism / company / our / combats / in / the

  2. people / country / to / face / move / other / to / discrimination / when / prepared / have / they / be / to

  3. still / women / less / working / them / function / in / man / as / same / most / the / gain / when / than / at

  4. everyday / people / racism / thousands / suffer / of

  5. country / do / does / what / to / racism / damage / a / ?

  1. Our organization combats ageism in the company.

  2. When people move to other country, they have to be prepared to face discrimination.

  3. Some women still gain less than men when working at the same function as them.

  4. Everyday thousands of people suffer racism.

  5. What damage does racism do to a country?

Identify the wrong sentences and correct them.

Example: Some Brazilians are xenophobia . > Some Brazilian are xenophobic.

  1. They are a group that fights against age.

  2. I wasn’t aware of gender discrimination until I faced it.

  3. He didn’t realize he was being racism at the time.

  4. She says we all had or have prejudice against something.

  5. I feel awful for foisting another article about sexist on this poor beleaguered reader.

  1. They are a group that fights against ageism.

  2. I wasn’t aware of gender discrimination until I faced it.

  3. He didn’t realize he was being racist at the time.

  4. She says we all had or have prejudice against something.

  5. I feel awful for foisting another article about sexism on this poor beleaguered reader.

Writing

Read the snippet from Source and write an essay about your thoughts and positions.

When we meet strangers we automatically process three pieces of information about them: their race, gender, and age. Why are these aspects of an unfamiliar person so important? Why don’t we instead notice whether their eyes are friendly, whether they are smiling, their height, the type of clothes they are wearing?