Forced to wear a skirt

Introduction: 

This lesson focuses on school uniform and teenage dress codes. Students will practise vocabulary related to clothes and uniforms, discuss their opinions about school uniforms, read about attitudes to school uniforms in the UK and do a role play involving a disagreement about dress codes.

Learning outcomes: 

• Develop and practice vocabulary related to clothes and school uniform
• Practise reading skills to deduce opinions
• Practise giving opinions in a role play

Age and level: 

13- 17 (CEFR B1)

Time: 

100 minutes. This can be done over 2 lessons.

Materials: 

The worksheet, lesson plan, presentation and role play cards can be downloaded below. 

Copyright – Please read:

All the materials on these pages are free and available for you to download and copy for educational use only. You may not redistribute, sell or place these materials on any other web site without written permission from the BBC and British Council. If you have any questions about the use of these materials, please e-mail teachingenglish@britishcouncil.org
 

Before the lesson

• Ensure the classroom is set up to accommodate group and pair work easily. Ensure that learners can move around if needed.

Task 1: Lead-in (10 mins)

• Put the word ‘uniform’ on the board. 
• Ask: Who wears a uniform? Why? Do you wear a uniform to school? 
• Briefly review clothes vocabulary referring to the students’ clothes. Learners can refer to task 1 on their worksheet or display slide 2. 
• Elicit the meaning and pronunciation of the vocabulary. 
• Ask learners to answer the two questions as a whole group.

Task 2: Warmer (15 minutes)

• Put learners into small groups. Ask them to write a description of one other classmate (you could assign names on slips of paper to make this activity more controlled) 
• Ask one group to read out their description. The other students must guess whose clothes are being described. Repeat this with a few other groups reading out their descriptions.

Task 3: Think, Pair, Share activity (15 minutes)

• Ask learners to consider the following questions individually (Task 2 on worksheet or slide 3): 
• What are your school rules? Is there a dress code? 
• What are you allowed/ expected to wear? 
• What are you are not allowed to come to school wearing?
• Put learners into pairs to discuss the questions together. 
• As a whole class nominate a few learners to tell you their partner’s answers

Task 4: Reading – Introduction (10 minutes)

• Ask learners to read the introduction to the report (Task 3 on the worksheet or slide 4) 
• Elicit the meaning of the words in bold: 
• Crime: In this case an action that breaks the school rules 
• Nose rings: A piece of jewellery for the nose
• Heels: Raised part at back of a shoe. Shortened version of ‘high heels’ 
• Customise: To change something to fit your needs 
• Ties: A piece of clothing worn around the neck. Commonly worn by businessmen.
• Check with learners if the situation is similar in their schools. Note: This could be the end of lesson 1.

Task 5: Reading – Report (10 minutes)

• Write the 4 questions on the board: 

1. Which speaker is proud of their school uniform? 
2. Which item of clothing causes the most problems? 
3. Are the rules stricter than in your school? 
4. Are the rules the same for boys and for girls? 

• Learners read the opinions of 3 students and answer the questions in pairs (Task 4 on the worksheet or slide 5) 
• Elicit the answers as a whole group.

Task 6: Classifying opinions (10 minutes)

• Learners look at Task 5 on their worksheet or slide 6. Clarify any vocabulary. Eg. Democratic; individual personalities; serious tone. 
• Check learners understand the meanings of For and Against. Gloss the meanings if needed. 
• Ask learners to individually decide if each opinion (1-7) is for school uniforms or against school uniforms. They should write their answers in their notebooks. 
• Put learners into small groups to discuss their answers. 
• Elicit the answers. You can display slide 7.

Task 7: Role play (20 minutes)

• Tell learners they are going to practice giving arguments for and against using school uniforms in a role play. 
• Divide the class into two even groups. Give all learners in one group role.
• Note: With large classes divide the students into 4 or 8 groups each with the same number of students. Half the groups discussing Role A and half Role B. If there is not an even number of learners, the additional student should join a Role A group. 
• The learners read their roles and discuss together how they will argue for (Role B) or against (Role A) school uniforms. 
• Monitor the groups and give them additional useful language as needed. Eg:
• Role A - What’s wrong with my clothes? / I’m sorry but…/My parents will be angry. 
• Role B - You know the school rules/ Why aren’t you wearing your uniform? 
• After 5 minutes partner a learner who has discussed Role A with a learner who has discussed Role B. 
• Once everyone has a partner, they begin the role play. If there are an odd number of learners one ‘teacher’ can role play with two learners. 
• Monitor and check their language, but do not correct at this point. Note down any good language or common mistakes 
• If learners need additional practice, they can swop partners. For example, ‘All teachers move one seat to the right to find a new partner.’

Task 8: Error correction (10 minutes)

• Write 5-6 sentences on the board that you heard during monitoring. Select the four most common mistakes and one or two good sentences. This is most useful if the mistakes are connected to language they’ve recently studied. 
• Ask learners to vote for which sentences are good and confirm if they are correct or not. 
• In their pairs learners correct the sentences with mistakes for 5 minutes. 
• Ask learners as a whole group to share their corrections

Contributed by Clare Lavery

Edited by Suzanne Mordue