Abortion & Extremisim – A Lesson Plan

Continuing with my religious theme this week, I’ve got a lesson for you

Preface:  There are a number of reasons I like to use lessons including religious subjects.

1)  I personally find religion to be a fascinating topic, so I often try to bring it into the classroom.  We talk a lot about keeping the students interested, but we also have to keep ourselves interested.

2)  Religion is often controversial and always thought-provoking.  It’s great for debates, critical thinking skills, cross-cultural thinking skills, empathy and much more.

3)  You can easily do lesson connected to the students’ culture as their is a wealth of material both in ancient texts and modern newspapers.

4)  Religion often has a huge impact on culture and helping students to understand religion in the locations they expect to use English in can help a lot.

So on to the lesson.

I like this lesson a lot, but only use it with classes rarely as it has some very strong themes and class where trust has been built up over a long time.   There are a lot of skills practiced, but the main thing for me is that it provokes a need to understand the Other.  Both in the context of the material in the lesson and in the context of the subject matter, in this case abortion.  Abortion is not a contentious issue in Turkey, especially not to the degree it is in the US, so a debate lesson on abortion simply falls flat.  Throwing in some really controversial material spices things up and gets students interested in a topic they might not otherwise care about.

Lesson Part 1:

Level: Upper-Intermediate

Objective:
Inferring meaning
Looking at the world through another’s eyes
Drawing conclusions from spoken and written texts
Analytical skills
Examining rhetoric through vocabulary

Materials: Internet Access or downloaded copy of The Execution of Paul Hill (also found here http://www.mercyseat.net/sermons.html, then search for the title).

Procedure:

Note:  You should familiarize yourself with Paul Hill & the Army of God before the lesson.

Show the picture of Paul Hill to the class.  Ask the class to take a minute and guess information about the man.  They should probably be able to identify that he is associated with a church, went to jail, and is a hero to some people.  Now ask the class in small groups to brainstorm how all this information is connected.

After you get some ideas, tell them Paul Hill was a former minister who was given the death penalty for killing an abortion doctor (you’ll probably have to pre-teach “minister” “death penalty” and “abortion.”)

Now tell them that he believed his actions were justified.  In the same groups, have the class try to come up with ideas as to how he could feel murder was justified.  Write their ideas up on the board.

Pre-teach vocabulary for the sermon:  a deed, a verse, the Bible, evil, oppression, Scripture, a pew, and offering plate, Sunday school, lethal, righteousness, legitimate, sane, to execute, to condemn, to intervene, to slaughter, to obliterate, to repudiate, “To Kill a Mockingbird” & Boo Radley.
The verse – “See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all.”

Hand out the question sheet for the sermon.

Now play the designated parts of the sermon (Minutes 4:19 – 8:08, 10:07 – 11:18, 13:09 – 15:30, 41:20 – 42:30).   [Note:  This sermon is given by Pastor Matt Trewhella of Mercy Seat Church in Milwaukee, WI.  He is the founder of Missionaries to the Preborn.  He is a very intense and opinionated man both in his sermons and in everyday life.]

The listening always gets strong and interested reactions from the students.  You should just be able to open the class up to debate and see where it goes.  There are a number of themes that can be discussed following the listening such as:

The use of violence (in law, in religion, by small groups, when it’s justified, etc.)

Abortion

The death penalty

The right to free speech

Alternative:  Ask the class to come up with some questions they have about the people involved, the movement, etc.  For homework or in the computer lab (if you have access to one) students can then do further research.  Here are some useful sites:

Mercy Seat Christian Church

The Army of God Manual

One Soldier’s Story – Shelly Shannon

The Brutal Truth: Part 1 & 2 (Movement’s documentary on police brutality against protests)

Walk for Life March & Counter-Protest

Lesson Part 2:

Level: Upper-Intermediate

Objective: Inferring meaning
Looking at the world through another’s eyes
Drawing conclusions from spoken and written texts
Analytical skills
Examining rhetoric through vocabulary

Materials: The Fetus Focus Fallacy

http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/articles/fetus-focus-fallacy.shtml

Procedure:

By now the class has taken a look at part of the pro-life debate.  Tell them they’ll now be looking at the other side of the equation.

Split the class into two groups.  Group 1 will state any reasons against abortion they can remember and add any more they can think of.  Group 2 will try to come up with reasons for supporting Pro-Choice.

From the article mentioned in materials, I cut out this portion and hand it out.

Write 2 questions on the board:

1)  How is the language used in this article different from that used in the sermon from the first lesson?

2)  What are some key reasons used to defend the pro-choice argument?

Follow-Up:

Students choose sides and debate abortion.

Christianity in the Classroom?

Alex-sensei recently posted about the value of teaching culture to advanced students (or any students really) and it got me thinking about the issue of culture in our classrooms again.

Teaching culture in our classrooms is inevitable.  We embody the cultures we came from in our thoughts and actions, so this is unavoidable.  In my last post I asked if religion in the classroom was appropriate and what form it should/could take.  Here’s another point to ponder.

Let’s take a look at some English phrases.

You wouldn’t know him from Adam. (Title from Guardian article)

And you know that peace can only be won
when we’ve blow ‘em all to kingdom come. (Country Joe – I’m Fixin to Die Rag)

It’s Not My Cross to Bear. – (Allman Brother’s song title)

The meek shall inherit the Earth. (Title of article on politics from The American Prospect)

Jesus Christ! (typical expletive)

David vs. Goliath to die with expansion (Title of article on basketball for Rivals.com)

God (refers to the name of the Christian god) vs. god (used when referring to a god other than Christianities)

Have you been saved? (typical question asked by missionaries near public transport or at your door )

The placement of California’s Good Samaritan statute has all but rendered it useless for the very population it should protect… (From an article at About.com)

He without sin shall cast the first stone so y’all look in the mirror, double check your appearance. (Jay-Z lyrics)

According to Mark 14:12, Jesus ate his last supper with all 12 disciples.

There are of course thousands of more examples.

If you aren’t familiar with Christian stories and beliefs, this type of language is very hard to understand.  Who is Adam? Where is kingdom come and why would you blow something to it?  What does bearing a cross have to do with guilt or sin?  Saved from what, scary people handing out pamphlets?

Regardless of the fact that English has become a global language spoken by individuals coming from both Christian and non-Christian cultures, the English language carries with it a lot of cultural baggage.  Without some basic cultural understanding – in this case about the religion and its accordant beliefs and attitudes – English becomes much harder to understand.

What about more complex issues like trying to understand why abortion is such a big deal in the US or what the big hullabaloo is all about over teaching evolution in schools?  Or how about our literature, TV, and films, many of which are riddled with Biblical themes and references.

There are also a lot of cultural attitudes wrapped up in the phrases we use.  It’s the same in Turkish.  How could I interpret Insallah without understanding the Islamic attitude to leaving things up to God?

Maybe our classrooms need some religion after all   What do you think?

Preachin’ & Teachin’

Raise your hand if you preach the word of the Lord in the classroom.  It’s ok, nobody can see you .

I am not an advocate of preaching in the classroom although it certainly does happen as this particular school’s website reminded me the other day.  I’ve also met a few teachers from church groups here in Turkey who come over and use English teaching more as a cover for proselytizing the Gospel than anything else (This issue was raised once before over at Six Things).

As for my take on this issue, I prefer the Gulen Movement‘s philosophy originating in Turkey.  Religion is not something that should be taught by the teacher but – if this is your thing – the teacher should behave in such a way that they model the beliefs of the religion and act as a role model for others to emulate.  According to the man himself, “For real believers, their conduct must suffice for telling about their faith to other people and convincing them..”

I don’t think there should be preaching about religion or any overt teaching of it.  Like the cultures we embody, it should be something that simply can be seen about us and for others to make their own judgments and opinions about.

Of course, there are numerous conspiracy theories related to the Gulen movement as well, so who knows   Check this article from Campus Watch in the US and some fun conspiracy theories from Gercekler Vadisi (in Turkish).

Haha, this post started off as something completely different, but I decided the topic was interesting enough to post on.  Being the  non-believer that  I am, it’s not much of an issue for me, but it’s something I’m really interested in.

What do you think about religion in the classroom?  Should it be taught at all or simply avoided?  How far is too far?  Is there much of a difference between teaching morals and values and teaching religious beliefs?