Emma Watson "HeforShe" Speech

Level: Strong Intermediate +

An interesting short video with her speech. This can lead to a lot of discussion on feminism, the roles of men and women, equality, cultural differences and change are to name but a few.

Video on YouTube;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Dg226G2Z8&feature=youtu.be

Transcript on UN Women website;
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too

Wordle based on the transcript




Lesson Plan suggestion;
1. Ask your students;

• Do you know who Emma Watson is?
• Have they seen her on the news lately?

2. Show the wordle,

• Discuss thoughts and ideas.
• Vocabulary questions?
• SS Guess the theme of the speech - nothing is right or wrong at this point.

3. Put the question on the board.

• What is the aim of the project "HeforShe"? (Gender equality).

4. Watch the video.

• Discuss initial reactions, in pairs, then open class, to answer the question.
• What did you think of how she gave the speech? (Clearly spoken, clearly written, her personal experiences)

5. Ask the SS;

• What are your personal experiences of growing up? For men and for women?
• What is it like in your workplace or at home?
• What is your view of feminism/gender equality?
• Based on the information in the speech, explain how it differs our roles differ in other cultures.

6. Provide the tapescript for the students to read, watch the video again if necessary.

7. If you want to generate other conversations, ask some of the following questions;

• What is the role of women?
• What is the role of men?
• How have these roles changed in the last 100 years?

The beginning

I've started this blog to record some of my ideas and thoughts of ESL techniques or lesson ideas. I plan to post a blog once a month to start with. The internet has a wealth of ideas, sometimes too many. There are already many blogs on the internet, many of which I read and refer to for various ideas. I don't claim to be original and are following my basic training ideas.

 

I have always been open to many ideas and have had varying success on the first attempt. I've learnt, I've tried new things and I'm continuing my development. I love my job, it's creativity, it's variety and contact with my students. Every day, every lesson and every student are different.

 

I've been teaching since Dec 2010 after doing my CELTA course at IH Palma de Mallorca. I've mainly been working with one company Elite Languages (http://elitelanguages.com/) and previously a few hours a week at Idiomes Llucmajor (http://www.idiomesllucmajor.com).