Unterrichtsmaterial Boy2Girl
Pre-viewing tasks Gender stereotypes
As the story Boy2Girl is humorous it uses a lot of stereotypes for male and female outward appearances and behaviors.
Male or female stereotypes Decide if this behavior is male or female by ticking the male-female column. Action Female Male Touching someone when speaking Speaking in a low, soft voice Shouting in order to get something Swaggering when walking Speaking in a loud voice Being self – confident and assertive Chatting Being caring Gossiping Being easily persuaded to do s.th. Pleasing the other sex Being loving and compassionate Being competitive Neglecting one’s family Being interested in small children Being brave Being the financial provider of the family Being emotional Crying Being moody cancelling things Hitching their crotches Add more
Info Gender stereotypes are simplistic generalizations about the gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals and/or groups. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, but they rarely communicate accurate information about others. When people automatically apply gender assumptions to … they are perpetuating gender stereotyping. Many people recognize the dangers of gender stereotyping, yet continue to make these types of generalizations. The weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that children learn gender stereotypes from adults. As with gender roles, socializing agents—parents, teachers, peers, religious leaders, and the media— pass along gender stereotypes from one generation to the next. (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/sociology/sex-and-gender/gender-stereotypes)
Read these scenes and then act them out 1 The Shed Gang At the shed in the park– Matt / Tyrone / Jake / Sam / Miss WC?
Matt, Tyrone and Jake are waiting for Sam. Miss WC passing with her dog
1 MATT He’s always late. JAKE Maybe he doesn't exist at all, maybe he's Matt's imaginary friend. MATT I wish. Time passes. Jake kicks a football against the wall of the shed JAKE Our shed, our gang. ALL The Shed Gang, yeah! They’re acting out some gang stuff, when Sam finally swaggers towards them. T-shirt and jeans and blond hair flowing behind him as if he were a very small ship under sail. MATT Here we go. TYRONE That’s him? Bit of a shrimp, isn't he? JAKE And get a load of that hair. MATT It's like I told you, he’s a hippie. JAKE Looks more like a girl to me. MATT laughing You wait. SAM hands in pockets How ya doin'? I'm Sam Lopez. Tyrone and Jake mumble a greeting. SAM So this is the famous shed. It's OK. MATT We like it. SAM So what goes on around here? TYRONE Not much. JAKE D'you play football? SAM glancing at the ball. You mean soccer? In the States, it's a girls' game. JAKE That's because in the States, you can't play it. kicks the ball hard SAM Sure we could if we wanted to. takes Tyrone's cell phone and casually works the game with his thumb. Thing is, we prefer real football. Hands the phone back. There you go; you're onto the next level. He gets up, spits on his hand and catches the ball as it comes back off the wall. Take a look. This is football. He bends his knees, holding an imaginary ball in both hands,. Two! Sixty-five! Hut! Hut!” Off, dancing and jinking across the pavement, shouldering imaginary players aside, Touchdown! We haaaaaaave a ball game. Dances along, head thrown back. The other boys laugh. JAKE Nutter. TYRONE What planet is that guy from? Sam returns, lumps down on the bench, exhausted SAM That's what you call football. It's better with a ball, of course. JAKE You are one crazy Yank. SAM You ain't seen nuttin' yet. wipes his nose with the back of his sleeve.
MATT COMMENT / Stepping out of the scene’s FRAME
Eight days ago, life was simple. Summer vacation had just started. Then the news came through from America....
2 The Bitches In the park- Charley / Elena / Zia / Miss WC? The three girls, all with the same handbags, dancing some weird Bitch Ritual. ALL We're close, we Bitches. If you upset one of us, you have all of us to answer to. Elena Griffiths, Zia Khan and Charley Johnson. We are like the different sides of one all-conquering personality. Each of us is nothing special. ELENA Except for me, ladies! ALL Together we are unbeatable. 2 ELENA I am pretty. ZIA I am charming. CHARLEY But who needs charm if you have brains. Smells like boys around here. ALL Boys are a waste of time. Elena tries to hide her feelings. We're close, we Bitches. Laughing and running of.
3 Boy’s Talk At the shed in the park – Matt / Tyrone / Jake / Sam / Miss WC?
All boys bored. SAM Back home I got celebrated as the most frightening and hardest player of the year… TYRONE Where was that? SAM At one of my schools. JAKE How many schools have you been to? SAM counts on his fingers for a moment, then shrugs Twelve? Thirteen? My mom and I moved around a lot. Something like that. TYRONE Whistles. Matt said she was a bit wild. Sam gasps MATT Tyrone means wild in a good way. SAM doing something wild That was Mom all right, Wiiiiild. JAKE COMMENT (Jake stepping out of the scene) The American shakes up our little group. - However strange and crazy our lives might seem, his is much more crazy. Back in scene JAKE My mum and dad split up last year. I see Dad once a week but that is no picnic, either. As if we were strangers. TYRONE I have never met my father. MATT Well, my dad, is doing all that housework and going around in an apron. SAM Loser City, man. The three boys laugh. So. What do you guys do for kicks around here?
Language of the play
The characters are speaking in colloquial English; Sam and his father more so than the English boys. Sam and his not so educated father often don’t care so much about grammar, for example:
“lemme” is “let me” in standard English,
”“less” is “let’s”
“dono” is “don’t know”
3 “´em” is “them”
“`tis” is “it is”
“He doesn’t” often is just “he don’t”!
“is not” often is “ain’t”
“if I had known” sometimes is “ if I’d a know/knew
“d’you” is do you”
“nuttin’” is nothing
“How ya doin'” is how are you?
Vocabulary you need to know to understand the play (You do not have to learn these words by heart! Translate.
Word Explanation or definition German ganzungas breasts cute pretty as a little girl socko (sl.) successful
English TV sucks snug cosy, comfortable you’re crap at you’re bad at to crack up to laugh hard kinda friendly kind of, a little bit
Vocabulary
Here are words you might need if you want to speak about the play. Listen to your teacher read all the words and try to pronounce the words yourselves.
Word field 1: gender
Headword Definition, explanation German translation? male, female,
wage earner,
4 house husband
role reversal
to reverse roles
to act in a stereotypical way to act, behave as/like
initiation into
gents bathroom
to have cramps
(enhanced) bra(ssiere) with clasps gay
to hitch up with sb
to get married
topless
to molest
crotch
silicone implants
awkward
to pluck one’s eyebrows
to date sb
Word field 3: family, friends and human behavior Headword Definition, explanation German translation? wage earner,
strained relationship
to burst into tears
domestic violence
dysfunctional
upset, to upset sb
embarrassed
jail
5 irresponsible
weird
romance
successful
jealous
honest
frank
fake
scheming, to scheme
to annoy sb
to take revenge on
wacky
miserable
secure
gloomy
moody
Word field school, students’ and teachers’ actions and behavior Headword Definition, explanation German translation? middle school
publicity
to get the blame
hostile
to spread the rumour
to gossip
to be biased against
inappropriate
tension
to apologize
6 to enforce a rule
assembly
reputation
principal
bully
to relate to
detention
trap
cooperative, to cooperate recess
to split up
to reprimand
nerd
locker
Post-viewing tasks:
1. Here are some names and vocabulary to talk about Boy2Girl. You may consider one of both tasks.
Shuffle the cards and draw one.
a. Use the word to talk about the play. Only once you may put down one card to take another one.
b. With mime and gesture show what the word means. The rest of the class has to guess the meaning.
role reversal self-confident to long for lonely danger(ous) (Rollentausch)
7 menstruation / to lure s.o. (to) love football sports watch period (locken)
boys’/girls’ fake (falsch) desperate jealous bra bathroom/toilets
frightened depressed to get rid of to scream closet scared sad (loswerden)
to blame s.o.
(jdm. die to mourn Schuld rumour prison/jail Crash (trauern) geben)
to leave inheritance Ottoleen family Sam to run away (Erbe)
to have a crush on breast money s.o. hostile chest (verknallt sein)
2. Statements - right of wrong? Tick the correct statements and correct the wrong ones. Add something to the right statements that you think are important.
Yes No Sam was born a girl. Sam is short for Samantha
Sam has to dress up as a girl to become a member of The Sheds. 8 Right from the start The Sheds like Sam.
Sam is a very polite American boy.
The girl gang is called “The Bitches”.
Sam has to wear boy’s clothes for a week.
Elena wants to be Sam’s best friend.
All pupils of Bradbury High like Mrs. Cartwright, the principal.
Elena lends Sam her pants.
Zia is in love with Sam.
In order to relax, Mrs Cartwright screams in her closet (Schrank).
Crash was once a famous musician.
Ottoleen is Sam’s step mother.
Ottoleen wants a baby.
Sam and Elena both like classical music.
The Bitches believe Sam when he says that boys’ watches are the latest craze (der letzte Schrei) in the USA.
Here you can create your own statements for your Yes No classmates.
3. Go into groups of three. Each student draws one card. He/she has to do the task on his/her card in more than one sentence. After doing it, write the correct answer on the back of the cards (in notes).
------
Describe Elena’s and Describe Matt’s and Sam’s Say how you Sam’s relationship. relationship. understand the ending. Was it appropriate? If not, invent a new ending.
Why does David Burton Why does Crash Lopez Describe the special do most of the come all the way from musical relationship. housework? California to London?
9 Why does Sam agree Characterize Zia. Why does Sam call go out with Mark Mr. Burton a “loser”? Kramer, and why does it end in disaster?
Is Elena really Sam’s Why does Sam always Characterize confidante? refer to differences in Ottoleen Lopez. England and America?
Does Mrs Cartwright Does Mrs Cartwright enjoy Why does Burger enjoy being a school being a school principal? Billie throw the kids principal? Explain. Explain. out of her restaurant and later he treats them to a free drink?
4. After watching the play write a (proper) ending for the story and send your stories in.
6. Personal evaluation of the play Your age: ______Your gender: ______female ______male
Story What I liked most about the play was ……………………………………………….. What I didn’t like about the play was………………….…………………………….... For me the most important scene /statement/sentence was when……………………………………………………………………………………………. It showed that ………………………..………………...…………………………………….. 10 Another good scene was ………………………………………………………………… because …………………………………………………………………………..………… I didn’t like the scene when ……………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………
Characters The characters I could sympathise most were ……………………………. because …………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………
Acting The persons I found most interesting on stage were: …………………………………………………………………………… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . ……………………………. because ………….. ……………………………………………………………………………… Send me your evaluations Material for older students If you consider coming to the play with older, more mature students, here is a task to use in class.
Compare what Sam says to The Bitches to what is said in the review of the new film “Supergirl” that is shown on US public television:
Boy2Girl (p. 96)
Basically her message was that girls are the new guys. They were learning that the best way of dealing with boys was to be like them — talk to them in the only language they understand. “Check this.” Sam was talking to a group of us in the playground that morning. “The way you girls stand is way too apologetic, too … .”She gave a sort of joke sneer — “female.” “What’s wrong with female?” Elena asked. Sam gave her the look. “Sorree,” she said. “See what I mean.” Sam smiled. “Give someone the old eyeball and suddenly you’re in charge. You should try it sometime.” “If we go around staring at boys, they’ll just think we fancy them,” said Elena.
JAMES PONIEWOZIKReview: ‘Supergirl’ Leaps Tall Buildings While Leaning In, OCT. 21, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/arts/television/supergirl- premiere-review-cbs.html?ref=todayspaper
11 Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist), Earthling named Kara Danvers, comes from the same planet as her cousin Superman. But her personal kryptonite is her tendency to apologize for herself. Early in “Supergirl,” which begins Monday on CBS, we find Kara not leaping tall buildings but saying “Sorry! Sorry!” to a guy she bumps into on the street. She has superpowers, but she’s chosen to hide them: “I decided the best thing I could do was fit in,” she says. Even her domineering boss, the media mogul Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart), criticizes her meek-mannered nature at the office. “If you can’t take credit when you do something well,” Cat says, “you’re going to be at the bottom of the pile forever.” Fortunately, in her second job, Kara can fly. The zippy-as-a-speeding-bullet pilot of “Supergirl” had the built-in challenge of making its heroine more than Superman’s female brand extension. But the co-writers Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg have smartly fit Supergirl’s origin story to a very current feminist theme: that women must overcome being socialized to say sorry, to put themselves second, to efface themselves. It’s a superhero story whose motto could be “Up, up and lean in!” Like her super cousin (whom we see in brief glimpses), Kara is express-mailed as a child from an about-to-explode Krypton. Unlike him, she takes a time-warp detour and arrives on Earth after he has grown and become famous. Put in care of a human family, she grows up and moves to National City (like Metropolis, but with palm trees) with her foster sister Alex (Chyler Leigh), who encourages her to keep a low profile. But when Kara finds herself the only one able to stop a passenger jet from crashing, she accepts her powers and discovers that she likes the family business…. Superheroes are all about helping others, of course; as James says of Supergirl and her ilk, “Saving people is what they’re born to do.” But we’ve seen that a million times. The biggest pleasure of “Supergirl” is watching Kara Zor-El free herself. Other recent interesting articles Marisa Meltzer: “Where are all the tomboys gone?” New York Times Oct. 13, 2015 DAVE ITZKOFF: “Supergirl’ Leads a Wave of Female Heroes.” OCT. 16, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/arts/television/supergirl-leads-a-wave-of- female-heroes.html
12 Longer texts - Fiction and non-fiction All of these book deal with gender issues, specifically gender stereotypes that protagonists are fighting. Especially good for older students is the novel Annabel by the Canadian writer Kathlyn Winter. The Boy in the Dress is another hilarious book for younger learners (from grade 7 on.) David Levithan: Every Day. Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Sprachen, 2015 Liz Prince: Tomboy. A Graphic Memoir. Zest Books, sold by New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2014 Amy Ellis Nutt: Becoming Nicole. The Transformation of a Family. New York: Random House, 2015 David Walliams: The Boy in the Dress. London: HarperCollins, 2008 Kathlyn Winter: Annabel. New York: Grove Press, Black Cat. 2011 .
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