Unit 8 Gender Biasin Language
第一次课任务（个人）
I. Lead-in
Video Script
Erin：I was pulling out real slow and out of nowhere hisJaguar comes racing around the corner like a bat out of hell … They took somebone from my hip and put it in my neck. I don’t have__1___, so I’m about$17,000 in debt right now … I couldn’t take painkillers ‘cause they made me toogroggy to care for my kids … Matthew’s eight, and Katie’s almost six … andBeth’s just nine months … I just wanna be a good mom, a nice person, a __2___ citizen… I just wanna take good care of my kids, you
know?
Education：Yeah. I know.
Defence Counsel:Seventeen thousand in debt? Is your ex-husband helping you?
Erin:Which one?
Defence Counsel: There’s more than one?
Erin: Yeah. There’re two. Why?
Defence Counsel: So, you must have been feelingpretty ___3__that afternoon.
Erin: What’s your point?
Defence Counsel: Broke, three kids, no job. A doctorin Jaguar? Must be a pretty good meal___4__.
Ed: Objection!
Erin: What? He hit me!
Defence Counsel: So you say.
Erin: He came tearing around the corner out of control.
Defence Counsel: An ER doctor who spend his days ___5__liveswas the one out of control?
Activity
Any language that excludes or stereotypes onegender is said to be gender-biased. Have you found any gender bias in Chinese?If you have, give some examples.
II. Global reading tasks：
1. What type of writing is thetext?
This text is an expositive essay with reference to gender bias inlanguage.
2. What’s the main strategy to develop this expositive essay?
The text is mainly developed by means of exemplification. Examples areabundantly used in Paragraphs 2-6.
3. Work out the structure of the text by completing the table.
| Paragraph(s) | Main idea |
| 1 | |
| 2-6 | |
| 7 |
4. Preview study questions
Questions:
Paragraph 1
Questions：
1. What does the writer think oflanguage?
2. Is the question raised in Paragraph 1closely related to the theme of the text? (补充)
Paragraphs 2-6
Questions:
1. What is the main idea of Paragraph 2? (Paragraph 2)
2. Which is the topic sentence of Paragraph 3? (Paragraph 3)
3. What do you think of the two examples given in Paragraph 4? (Paragraph 4)
4. Which sentence in Paragraph 5 shows that gender connotations inwords affect people’s behavior? (Paragraph 5)
5. Which sentences in Paragraph 6 denote the writer’s attitude? (Paragraph 6)
6.What are the words and expressions applied todescribe the men and the women respectively? Are they all active? (Paragraph 2)
Paragraph 7
Questions:
1. What kind of change has taken place in regard to gender bias inlanguage?
2. What is the author’s opinion in reference to gender bias in language?
第二次课任务（小组展示）
I. Words and Expressions
Ss are required to figure outmeanings, collocations, and synonyms of the following words before class.
1. bias
2. prejudice
3. denote
4. harbor
5. inherent
6. identify
7. exalted
8. supremacy
9. disparity
10. enforce
第三次课任务
Long and Difficult Sentences：
1. … thelanguage that we use in day-to-day conversation is biased in and of itself. (Paragraph1)
Paraphrase:
Translation:
2. ...denote the bias that they harbor within their own existence (Paragraph1)
Paraphrase:
3. Thereare words in the English language that are existing or have existed … that haveinherently been sexually biased against women. (Paragraph2)
Paraphrase:
Translation:
4. Thelanguage is arranged so that men are identified with exalted positions, andwomen are identified with more service-oriented positions in which they arebeing dominated and instructed by men.(Paragraph 2)
Paraphrase:
5. Thisdenotes her inability, apparently due to her gender, to hold on to somethingthat is a part of her, thus enforcing the man’s ability and right to claimsomething that is not his. (Paragraph 4)
Paraphrase:
6. To beendowed by genetics with the encoding of a male would be as having been showngrace, unmerited favor. (Paragraph 5)
Paraphrase:
Translation:
7. … wasdefined as “marked by clever discerning awareness” .(Paragraph5)
Paraphrase:
Translation:
8. .…making the necessary changes formally so that they will be implementedsocially. (Paragraph 7)
Paraphrase: … makingthe necessary changes officially so that they will take effect and be acceptedby the general public.
Translation:
第四次课任务
I．Exercisechecking
Ssare required to finish exercises in the textbook before class. T answersquestions and explains difficult points.
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II．Quiz
III. Reciting
Although there are biases that exist inthe English language, there has been considerable change toward recognizingthese biases and making the necessary changes formally so that they will beimplemented socially.16 It is necessary for people to make the properadjustments internally to use appropriate language to effectively include bothgenders.
