INTRODUCE
Political correctness is the practice of avoiding statements and actions that can be hurtful to some. Although viewed as important by many in the US, there are an equal number of people who feel that focusing on political correctness makes it impossible to have important discussions.
PRESENT
STEP A EXPRESSIONS
Go over the first two expressions with your tutor and answer the questions. Then, guess the meaning of the third expression based on the clues provided.
1. Tolerance is a person’s ability to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from his/her own.
I don’t have much tolerance for people who think it’s okay to make fun of others for how they look.
Q: Which picture shows someone who lacks tolerance? Why?
A |
B |
2. If you’re under fire, you’re being strongly criticized for doing something.
The influencer has been under fire for the past few days after making a horrible comment on her social media.
Q: Which photo shows someone who’s under fire? Why?
A |
B |
3. .
Josh always jokes about how girls belong in the kitchen. I told him to stop because it’s offensive.
Q: What do you think offensive means?
STEP B SPEAK YOUR MIND
Sometimes you want to explain that you know something will definitely happen in the future, but you’re just not sure when.
Ross has been bugging Emily for a date since last week.
Yeah. Well, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before she says yes. I mean, she seems to like him too.
UNDERSTAND
READING
Read the latest post on an anti-racism activist’s blog.
Behind the Scenes
posted September 27
Award-winning actor Anna Parker is currently under fire for criticizing the filming location of her new movie. In an interview with popular TV host David Scott earlier this week, the actress described the location as a “horrible, dirty city.” She also insulted the city’s locals, saying they were “annoying” and wouldn’t leave her alone. Although some of Anna’s fans defended her by saying she was just being honest, her comments were not well received by most people.
Yesterday, a clip of the interview started to spread on social media, and in just 24 hours, the actress has already lost tens of thousands of followers on her social media accounts. Also, some former fans are threatening to boycott her new movie, and a petition was even started to ban the actress from visiting the city in the future.
Personally, I feel that Anna didn’t mean to be offensive and was clearly having a bad day. She didn’t smile much during the interview at all. However, she should’ve been more careful with her words, and she needs to apologize for what she said.
I agree with the concept of political correctness, but I’m not so sure about cancel culture. Is it really okay to try to cancel someone’s whole career because of one bad comment? If so, then it’s only a matter of time before everyone gets canceled. Do we need to have tolerance for people who say horrible things over and over? Absolutely not! But I think everyone has made an offensive comment before. If we apologize and promise to do better, that should be enough. Let’s all calm down a little and give Anna a chance to say she’s sorry.
TRIVIA
The term cancel culture refers to the idea of canceling, or boycotting, a person or company because of something offensive that they did or said. In the US, the debate over whether or not cancel culture is good has been ongoing for several years now.
PRACTICE
Rephrase the responses using the expressions in the box.
1.
Why doesn’t your sister like Ted?
She doesn’t have much patience or respect for men who think women shouldn’t work after marriage.
2.
Why are so many people writing about Matt Jenkins on social media right now?
He’s being strongly criticized for insulting a fan in public last week.
3.
Does Mike send you all these “jokes” too?
Yeah! He thinks his jokes are funny, but most of them are just really insulting!
CHALLENGE
Challenge 1
Your friend wrote an article defending the use of political correctness and is now receiving a lot of negative comments about it online. Read an article written by someone who is against political correctness. Then, talk to your friend about it.
Today's Expressions
- tolerance
- be under fire
- offensive
Speak Your Mind
- It’s only a matter of time before…
Why I Don’t Agree with Political Correctness
by Jonathan Pike
I am absolutely against political correctness (PC).
Many people think PC is just about stopping racists from spreading hate speech, but it’s so much more than that. Did you know that it’s possible to be both anti-racist and anti-PC at the same time?
My friend was just under fire for hanging a “Merry Christmas” sign in his store. A customer took a picture of it and posted it on social media, claiming that my friend was not showing tolerance for other religions because he was ignoring Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other holidays that are in December. A lot of people wrote really angry messages to my friend, saying that they wanted his store to be shut down! Seriously?!
And it’s not just limited to holidays. People are trying to change the English language itself. At one university, students were told to avoid using the phrase “see you later” because it could be offensive to blind people. Even more ridiculous is the council in the UK that actually banned the term “brainstorming” because someone said it could be offensive to people who have seizures! They say that we should use the term “thought showers” instead. What on earth are “thought showers”?!
I have no tolerance for stupidity like this. If we let this pro-PC trend continue, then it’s only a matter of time before we filter our speech to the point where we are more like robots than humans.
Challenge 2
What do you think? What does your tutor think? Discuss.
If TimeAllows
1 BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT |
2 OFFENSIVENESS |
|---|---|
|
1 BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT
|
2OFFENSIVENESS
|
FEEDBACK
I can read and understand a post about political correctness.
LESSON GOAL ACHIEVEMENT
-
4
Very GoodCould complete the task with ease
-
3
GoodCould complete the task with some clarifications
-
2
FairCould complete the task with additional instructions
-
1
PoorCould somehow complete the task with difficulty
PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK
- RANGE
the ability to use a wide variety of vocabulary - ACCURACY
the ability to speak correctly - FLUENCY
the ability to speak smoothly without pauses or fillers - INTERACTION
the ability to manage a conversation
