Movember

Introduction

The Movember Foundation is a charity for men’s health. Every November, millions of men around the world grow moustaches to raise money for charities related to men’s health. Women also take part in money and awareness-raising events. 

In this lesson, students will learn about Movember. They will do some vocabulary and comprehension tasks related to an article about Movember, and will take part in a discussion about this and other charities. They will end the lesson with a writing activity in which they make suggestions for a charity event.  

You can deliver this lesson using a printable worksheet and reading text, or you can use a presentation for a no-printing option.    

Learning outcomes

• Explain what Movember is and what happens
• Read an article about Movember and identify key information
• Take part in a discussion about Movember and other charities
• Use expressions to make suggestions, agree and disagree

Age and level

13-17, Adults (B1+)

Time

Approximately 75 minutes

Materials

The following materials can be downloaded below. 

• Lesson plan
• Presentation
• Student worksheet
• Reading text

In addition, the following are optional:

• Images of recognisable charity logos e.g. World Wildlife Fund’s panda
• Image of Movember logo: https://uk.movember.com/uploads/images/2022/Movember_Iconic%20Mo_Black(1).png

Introduce the topic (10 mins)

• If possible, show some logos of global or local charity organisations that your students will recognise e.g. the panda of the World Wildlife Fund; the ‘OX’ symbol for Oxfam. Ask them to say (or guess) what charities the logos are for. 
• If you don’t have any logos to show, ask students if they know of any charity logos and to describe them briefly, or even draw them on the board. 
• Now show slide 2 of the presentation, or show the logo for Movember (available at: https://uk.movember.com/uploads/images/2022/Movember_Iconic%20Mo_Black(1).png) or draw a picture of a moustache on the board. Ask students to guess what sort of charity a moustache might relate to. 
• Explain that students are going to learn how moustaches are related to charity in this lesson. Make sure that everyone understands the meaning of the word ‘charity’. 

Task 1: Vocabulary (10 mins)

• Show slide 3 or refer students to Task 1 in the student worksheet. Students match the words and definitions individually or in pairs. 
• Check the answers with the whole class and check pronunciation of any unfamiliar words. 
  Answers: 1g, 2d, 3a, 4b, 5c, 6h, 7f, 8e
• Explain that the words are from an article about a charity event called ‘Movember’. Explain that ‘Movember’ is made from the words ‘moustache’ and ‘November’. The charity event involves moustaches and takes place in November in some parts of the world.
• Depending on the level of your students, ask them to say how they think the words in the vocabulary task might relate to the charity event (e.g. people dress up and wear false moustaches!). Try to generate as many ideas as you can. 

Reading (10 mins)

• Tell the class that they are going to read an article to find out more about Movember.
• Show the text on slide 4 or give students the Reading text. 
• Tell students to read the first paragraph (which is on slide 4) and ask questions to check that everyone understands the concept. When does it take place? (November), What happens? (Men grow moustaches), Why? (To raise money for men’s health charities)
• Ask students to quickly read the rest of the article (available on slide 5 and slide 6). Tell them to find ways in which money is raised during the month. Give a time limit. 
• Give students time to share ideas in pairs if you like, then elicit the answers: men grow moustaches and family / friends gave money; running / walking 60kms during the month; hosting an event; organising a challenge; attending organised events (e.g. sponsored run / bike ride); buying merchandise online. 

Task 2: True / false sentences (10 mins)

• Show slide 7 of the presentation or refer students to Task 2 in the student worksheet.
• Students read the sentences and decide if they are true or false. They look at the article to check their ideas. 
• Check answers with the class. 
  Answers: 1 True, 1 False (a Mo Bro shaves on November 1st, then grows a moustache until November 30th), 3 False (they raise money for mental health charities too), 4 False (It’s for anyone), 5 True, 6 True, 7 False (It started in Melbourne), 8 True

Task 3: Discussion (15 mins)

• Show slide 8 of the presentation or refer students to Task 3 in the student worksheet. 
• Depending on the time available, and the level of your students, select some (or all) of the questions. Alternatively, ask students which questions they’d like to discuss.
• Give students a few minutes to think about their answers to these questions and to make notes if they want. Then put students into small groups to talk about the questions. 
• Make sure you monitor the groups and make notes of any common errors for class correction after the activity. 
• Each group should choose a secretary to make notes of ideas discussed. After the discussion ask the group members to look at their secretary’s notes and then to summarise their discussion. Each group should briefly tell the class (or other groups) about the main points of their discussion.
• Write on the board any errors you heard during the discussion for a quick class correction session.
• Alternative discussion: write each question on a separate piece of paper. Before the class, stick the questions on the walls around the classroom. Ask students to move around the classroom in groups and discuss each question for a few minutes before moving to the next question.

Task 4: Writing (20 mins)

• Tell the class that they are going to organise an event to raise money for charity. They are going to discuss this in an ‘imaginary’ online chat group. (They need to use their imaginations as the online chat will actually be written on paper!) 
• Ask students to suggest which charity they want to collect money for as well as different events they could organise to raise the money. Make a list of these on the board. 
• Elicit language that the students will need to organise an event, e.g., Shall we…? How about…? We could…? Good idea! I’m not sure I agree… I don’t really like that idea...
• Students sit in groups of 3 or 4. Make sure each group has a clean piece of paper.
• Give each student in the group a letter: A, B, C, D. Tell student A to write the first comment in the ‘chat’, e.g., Shall we raise money for Movember? The paper is then passed to student B who must respond to the previous comment, e.g., Good idea! Why don’t we...? Next, student C / D has to write, and then back to student A. You could demonstrate this to the class with one group first.
• Set a time limit of 10 minutes for this writing activity. 
• Now collect the chats from each group and give out to a different group. Ask the students to read and say whether their chat is similar or different to this one. You could also display all the ‘chats’ on the wall for students to read.

Extension activity

• Students could create flyers in the form of moustaches to promote the concept of the Movember movement. They could write simple sentences on them, such as: 'Keep that mo growing', 'Save a life – wear a moustache', etc. Other flyers could briefly explain different aspects of Movember.