This lesson is based around a short film called Losers by Everynone and the theme of bullying. The message of the film is that regardless of what we look like or how popular we are, we're all united by a susceptibility to verbal abuse. At the end of the film, the word "Loser" is reclaimed, proving itself to be an appropriate descriptor for the person who used it in the first place.

WARNING: Strong language is found both on the video and the lesson plan.

LESSON PLAN

Step 1

Write Loser on the board. Ask your students if they know what this word means.

One dictionary definition is:

a person who is incompetent or unable to succeed

 Step 2

Tell your students that the word loser is often used as an insult to describe a person who may be considered different from other people in some way. Ask them what different types of people may be classified by others as losers. Give students the following examples:

People who aren't intelligent enough.

People who are too thin.

Encourage students to use the constructions:

not + adjective + enough

too + adjective

Step 3

Tell your students that they are going to watch a short film called Losers. The first time they watch the film ask them to classify the types of people called losers.

Step 4

Get feedback from your students and talk about why the different people who appear in the film might be classified as losers.

Step 5

Tell your students they are going to watch the film again. This time you would like them to try to identify any of the insults which they hear.

Get feedback.

Step 6

Write up on the board the following insults which are heard in the film.

faggot, slut, bitch, gay, little girl, idiot, cocksucker, weirdo, fat ass, retard,  freak

Ask students to put the insults into the following categories:

1. Homophobic insults

2.Sexist insults

3. Intelligence insults

4. Sizist insults (sizism can be defined as the discrimination or prejudice against people of an "abnormal" body size, whether it's height or weight.)

5. General insults

Answers:

1. Faggot, gay, little girl, cocksucker

2. Slut, bitch

3. Idiot, retard

4. Fat ass

5. Weirdo, freak

Step 7

Ask students if the insults they heard in the film are similar to those used in their own language.

Tell your students that the insults they heard in the film is a type of bullying. Ask them what other types of bullying they saw in the film.

Step 8

Give your students this infographic on student bullying and ask them to find the following information and then to discuss it with a partner.

The most common types of bullying

The effects of bullying on the victim

The effects of bullying on the bully