Pride Month? Pride History and Debate

May I ask why LGB instead of LGBT is almost exclusively used?

"This comes after the Nagoya court ruling earlier this week that ruled same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional"

Worth noting, this is actually backwards. They ruled that not allowing it was unconstitutional.

Cause the staff at the school agreed explaining the T was too difficult and a topic not to touch.

My bad J that was a typo.

One, this is clearly not a lesson aimed for English learners. There are paragraphs of information with vocabulary much too complicated for average Junior High School or even High School level English learning students. This just reads as an average presentation on LGBT history. And while I commend you on your (relatively) unbiased approach this time regarding LGBT history, this lesson simply wouldn't be assessable to the average ESL student.

Also, the proper term, the term used world-wide and in Japan, is LBGT. In this lesson, as well as in your previous lesson, you actively drop the Trans label from LGBT. This is inaccurate and at this point we can't help but realize that it is deliberate. Again, Trans people make up a major part of the LBGT community (the Stonewall Riots were led by a Trans Woman, Marsha P. Johnson) and Trans people most certainly exist here in Japan (please look up X-Gender for a Japanese example).

A quick search shows that the boy was arrested for trespassing after being suspended but he went to school anyway. He wasn't arrested for saying "there are only two genders".

I commend you on your research, and your attempt at being unbiased this time. However, your presentation isn't an English lesson. It's a history lesson and still riddled with some inaccuracies. The banning of Same-Sex marriage was recently ruled unconstitutional in Nagoya, not the other way around.

Some of the examples you provided in your Powerpoint do not lift up or celebrate LGBT people, like Pride Month is meant to do; the wording and examples provided almost sound like it's demonizing the Pride movement for being too "woke". (also, I looked up the Canadian boy being arrested for only saying there's two genders and couldn't find any reliable sources for it.) It truly sounds like you're just giving your opinion without any regard for the community you're potentially impacting.

Please, before presenting about a community you're clearly not a part of, do your research, use the proper terms, speak to LGBTQ+ people and learn from them.

As you said in your Powerpoint, "Everyone is entitled to their opinion," but everyone is also entitled to the consequences of said opinion when it's clearly stated in bad faith.

Robert the title of it literally says pride history so I don't know what you're on about. The point of this is not a feel good uplifting presentation. It's factual information for the students to learn about something they are not aware of. I am not demonizing anyone. Just because you don't agree with how I worded things doesn't give you the right to say I acted in bad faith. Of course you put me in a box and think you know what my stances are but you're wrong because you are incapable of accepting someone else disagreeing with you and still having morals. I even wrote a disclaimer that you clearly glossed over.

I have 2 things, 1 is grammar and 1 is a question.

In slide 6, I'm pretty sure this should be 1 sentence, not three: "Which some people (including those from the LGB community and allies) say has evolved. From a pride movement which was established so people could be proud of themselves and not hide in “the closet”. To a radical movement where corporations, public figuires and normal people are attacked for opposing viewpoints."

Usually "from ~ to" sentences are all one sentence, are they not? So you should get rid of the period after evolved and closet, and make from and to lowercase.

Second, where is the source for Canada having some of the strictest laws on speech? (slide 8) I am from Canada, and the only laws I know of are ones that prohibit hate speech. We have freedom of speech in Canada, so I would like to know what source you got the idea that it is super strict from.

Never have I seen it written as LGB... Again... people trying to erase trans people. Sad.

I do agree with the other comments that the English level used in this is way too difficult to be aimed at JH ESL students, or even HS ESL students.
I would suggest making the sentences simpler for the students to get useful English practice out of this.
Most of the sentences use advanced vocabulary, and it can definitely be said in an easier way using grammar from the textbooks as a guide for what level to use and what will be understood.
Having a little keyword vocab cheat sheet for the students might also help for some of the more advanced words that can't be simplified.

@gordy1 I did read your disclaimer, and I am giving you constructive criticism regarding your lesson. However, when I pointed out that the information you're presenting is inaccurate or unreliable, you choose to get defensive.

1) this lesson isn't aimed at or accessible towards English learners. Students will not be able to understand a majority of this presentation without a Japanese speaker translating the presentation word-for-word, which defeats the purpose of our role in the classroom.

2) some of the terms and information you provided are inaccurate or come from unreliable sources and I pointed out those inaccuracies in my other comments.

3) Again, the beginning part of the presentation is (factually) good. However, near the end it starts leaning into personal ideology and using inaccurate or unreliable sources to back up such claims. Again, if you must present on this topic, I suggest learning from LGBT voices and simplify the content so students can engage with the lesson

Robert, The school asked me to make it. Either I can dumb it down to the point where they barley understand anything about the history or I can paraphrase and the teacher can explain in more detail.

What's a reliable source to you? Cause the events I stated in Canada factually happened.

I mention nothing about the LGB experience in the second half of the presentation, I provided an opposing viewpoint to set up debate. What you're saying would translate to no one who isn't a black American should talk about civil rights.

It might be good to include the answers for the name this person section at the end. I only recognise one of them.

ch_armander:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/justin-trudeau-attacks-free-speech-again-11626215006
Look what happened during the freedom convoy and to Jordan Peterson within the academic community.

I respect the research done however the the way it is presented is far too wordy and uses a lot of advanced grammar that someone in uni let alone a JHS 3rd grader is going to really struggle to understand.

There’s a lot of grammatical and spelling errors littered throughout the presentation as well however those will quickly go away if you just cut the paragraphs down so it doesn’t read like a Wikipedia article. Like they said above try using the textbooks and their word lists to get a better idea on what the kids should understand at that stage and use that to simplify the presentation.

Also while maybe beyond the scope of a lesson some sources would be nice for everything you’re talking about, a lot of it is rather sensationalist.

Jordan Peterson! I thought I recognised him... why is he in a presentation about Pride Month?

You always label LGBT as LGB, even in your descriptions. We can't help but assume that you are of the belief that trans people should not exist. Everyone viewing ALTopedia knows there is a T there, so your argument that the kids woudn't understand it is void. Teachers also get training regarding LGBT and the fact that they asked you to make this presentation suggests to me that your school is actually more progressive than others.

Also, this is far too wordy for an ESL presentation. You need to cut your sentences down. You should consider using a dyslexia/ESL friendly font too. The language you have used is far too high of a level for your kids. They probably grasp trans rights more than the English used here.

I don't understand why you continuously use 'LGB' throughout. Japanese people know the term LGBT so you are specifically trying to teach them a term that is attempting to erase trans.
In one of your replies here, you say explaining the T would be too difficult but the presentation doesn't explain L, G or B so why would you feel the need to explain T separately?

There is no way JHS 3 students will understand the language used in this presentation. Furthermore, there are numerous grammatical errors throughout the presentation, starting from the first slide where capitalization is used sporadically and incorrectly. The content itself isn’t too informative of Pride History either as it focuses heavily on America. Perhaps making the content more relatable to the students, such as adding a slide about Pride in Japan, would improve this presentation.

Why do you feel the need to constantly, even in the comments exclude the "T" out of LGBT? There are Trans people in Japan and people are aware of their existence. But I feel like you just are constantly denying it by always excluding it. For you research, have you ever communicated with people from the LGBTQ+ community about anything? To get first hand experiences and all?

As everyone has already mentioned, the acronym "LGBT" in its entirety is well-known in Japan. My school even has a poster in the hallway explaining it all (also including QIA+), so it isn't like the ideas are "too complicated" for Japanese JHS and HS students to understand. So, legitimate question, ignoring the implications of trans-erasure, wouldn't this just cause a situation where you need to explain, instead of preventing explanation?

KobeALT - This was cleared by the principal and JTE head who both agreed to leave the T out. I already did the presentation twice and the kids not only understood it but were able to have a nice debate. I think it is a reflection of my hard work in the classroom.

You guys keep talking about leaving out the T like it's some huge deal. I highly recommend you actually talk to Japanese people who aren't worried to offend you. The principal asked the PTA at this school and this was the recommendation.

Furthermore you keep wanting to attack it for being too wordy and the kids not understanding. If you need to simplify it for your students it's fine, but mine were more than ok with it.

It's also very interesting that you guys all attack me for making an unbiased presentation during pride month. I would think that this would be met with love and acceptance which are core values of the pride movement.

i think i'm moreso curious as to why this school seems to be an outlier for encouraging debate. i'm sure we all were trained relatively the same way by our respective companies that specific topics were off the table, i.e. "No discussing religion, politics, etc" because it's not our place to start or encourage debate. mainly because this is english class, but also because the kids aren't going to understand it without near complete translation by the JTE. if a school was encouraging me to create debate in this manner, i frankly would have declined, or i would have reached out to my company to ask for assistance in declining their request. it's far outside the role of an ALT to discuss and debate "ideology," as you call it.

Never a boring comment section on these LGBT "activites". I do think that this is a topic that parents can teach their kids if they want to. I don't believe it is the place of any teacher, not just ALTs, to put their beliefs onto children. I am a big supporter of the LGBT community but I don't think we are in any position to push our ideals onto other people's children. This is still a highly controversial topic and there are firm believers on both sides of this debate. Not sure why these are allowed to be shared on this site when the comment section of these kinds of "activities" are constantly filled with banter rather than the gratitude and corrections I see on all the other amazing activities.

Here's a simple way to explain the T in LGBT: "You are born a girl. You want to be a boy. So, you wear boy's clothes, choose a boy's name, and become a boy." It's not perfect, I was gunning for JHS1 grammar, but it gives students an easy way to understand. If anyone has a better one please post it!

It's worth explaining trans people. You say, "There are also some schools which allow teachers and students to change their pronouns." So, I think it's important that students know why people change their pronouns! Especially in a debate, they should have the full information.

I'd like to propose another question for your powerpoint.
"Must everyone live in a nuclear family, or can anyone choose the life they want?" Freedom of speech is an interesting topic. I'm not sure how to put it, but freedom to live as you please, freedom of self-expression, or a similar idea might be interesting to explore. Another one might be "Can people impose religious values on the non-religious?"

@gordy1 You claim to want to encourage debate and discussion with your activities. However, when multiple people point out that the information you provide is incorrect, that the dropping of the "T" in LGBT is incorrect (and extremely problematic), and when people provide valid criticism about the lengthiness and difficulty of your activities, instead of engaging with these issues with openness and understanding, you get defensive and accuse everyone for attacking you for your beliefs.

It's clear that your goal here isn't to teach English or to engage in any sort of discussion about the activities you submit. To anyone who many be reading this thread, I highly suggest not commenting or engaging with this thread anymore. It simply isn't worth it.