Date: April 17, 2005
Level: Easier (Try the harder lesson.)
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

Listening (1:32 - 180 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

The American rap star Eminem has won a court case brought against him by an old school bully. The bully, DeAngelo Bailey, sued Eminem for $1 million because of the lyrics in a song called “Brain Damage”. He said the words in the song damaged his name and hurt his dream of becoming a rock star. The lyrics said Eminem “was harassed daily by this fat kid named D’Angelo Bailey”. In the song, Eminem raps about Mr Bailey bullying him: “so everyday he’d shove me in the lockers/One day he came in the bathroom…/And had me in the position to beat me into submission/He banged my head against the urinal ‘til he broke my nose,/Soaked my clothes in blood, grabbed me and choked my throat”. Bailey said he did bully Eminem, but only with a “bump” or “little shove”. He said the actions in the song were not true. The court judges decided the lyrics did not show Mr Bailey in a false light. They said the important thing in this case was that Mr Bailey bullied Eminem, not how truthful the lyrics were.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: rap music / Eminem / bullying / $1 million / song lyrics / dreams / being a rock star… For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

2. RAP MUSIC BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with rap music. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. BULLYING: In pairs / groups, talk about bullying. Were you bullied at school? What kind of bullying did you see? Who was the biggest bully? Did you bully a younger brother or sister? Is there bullying in your office? What should happen to bullies?

Eminem describes being bullied in his song “Brain Damage”. What would you do if a bully did these things (some from Eminem’s song)?

1. Harass you
2. Shove you
3. Beat you
4. Break your nose
5. Bang your head against the wall
6. Grab you
7. Choke you
8. Tease you and call you names
9. Take or break your things
10. Steal your money

4. COMMENTS ON BULLIES: (1) Read the comments below made about bullies and agree or disagree with them with your partner / group. (2) Rewrite the sentences so that they agree with your own opinions. Add an extra sentence to each point that explains more of your opinion. (3) Change partners / groups and read and talk about the opinions you have written.

1. Bullies are sad people.
2. If you fight back against a bully, he/she will stop bullying you.
3. Bullying is a part of school life. It does no real harm.
4. Bullies have mental problems.
5. Teachers should do more to stop bullying in classrooms.
6. Boys are worse bullies than girls.
7. Bullying stops after people are eighteen years old.
8. Bullies should be arrested by the police.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Use your dictionary / computer to find word partners (collocates), other meanings, synonyms or more information on the words ‘school’ and ‘bully’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. Someone said in court that Eminem bullied him/her .  T / F
2. Eminem wrote a song about someone that bullied him at school.  T / F
3. Eminem was harassed by a kid named DeAngelo Bailey.  T / F
4. Mr Bailey broke Eminem’s toes.  T / F
5. Bailey said he never bullied Eminem.  T / F
6. Judges decided the lyrics showed Mr Bailey in a false light.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	old	hurt
(b)	lyrics	toilet
(c)	damaged	punch
(d)	harassed	covered
(e)	shove	former
(f)	beat	wrong
(g)	soaked	push
(h)	urinal	words
(i)	false	attacked

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	won a court	my nose
(b)	school	submission
(c)	sue Eminem for	judges
(d)	beat me into	case
(e)	he broke	in this case
(f)	soaked my clothes	$1 million
(g)	court	in blood
(h)	the important thing	bully

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. TEXT RECONSTRUCTION: The article has been put in the wrong order. Put the sentences back into the correct order.

Eminem wins bully lyrics case

They said the important thing in this case was that Mr Bailey bullied Eminem, not how truthful the lyrics were.

The bully, DeAngelo Bailey, sued Eminem for $1 million because of the lyrics in a song called “Brain Damage”.

Soaked my clothes in blood, grabbed me and choked my throat”. Bailey said he did bully Eminem, but only with a “bump” or “little shove”. The lyrics said Eminem “was harassed daily by this fat kid named D’Angelo Bailey”.

The American rap star Eminem has won a court case brought against him by an old school bully.

“so everyday he’d shove me in the lockers/One day he came in the bathroom…/And had me in the position to beat me into submission/He banged my head against the urinal ‘til he broke my nose,/

In the song, Eminem raps about Mr Bailey bullying him:

He said the actions in the song were not true. The court judges decided the lyrics did not show Mr Bailey in a false light.

He said the words in the song damaged his name and hurt his dream of becoming a rock star.

2. TRUE/FALSE: Check your answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS: Check your answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Check your answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Make notes for questions you would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. TEXT RECONSTRUCTION: Check your answers to this exercise.

2. QUESTIONS: Ask the discussion questions you thought of above to your partner / group / class. Pool the questions for everyone to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: In pairs/groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Each student surveys class members independently and reports back to their original partner/  group to compare their findings.

5. ‘SCHOOL’ / ‘BULLY’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1. Ask your partner / group your questions.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. Did you like this article?
2. How did you feel after reading this article?
3. What are your feelings about bullies?
4. What do you think of Eminem?
5. Do you rap music?
6. What’s your favorite kind of music?
7. What do you think really happened between Eminem and DeAngelo Bailey?
8. Do you think Eminem is happy he can write a rap song about his old bully?
9. Was it wrong of Eminem to name Mr Bailey in his song “Brain Damage”?
10. Was the judges’ decision correct?
11. Were you a bully / Were you bullied … at school?
12. What kind of bullying did you experience / see?
13. Who was the biggest bully at your school?
14. Are boys bigger bullies than girls?
15. Does bullying stop after you become an adult?
16. Is bullying a crime?
17. Did you like this discussion?
18. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find information on the Eminem. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MY RAP: Write your own rap song about school life. Share it with your classmates in your next lesson

4. STOP BULLYING: Create a poster explaining the new “Stop Bullying” scheme that will start in your school / office / company.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Someone said in court that Eminem bullied him/her .  F
2. Eminem wrote a song about someone that bullied him at school.  T
3. Eminem was harassed by a kid named DeAngelo Bailey.  T
4. Mr Bailey broke Eminem’s toes.  F
5. Bailey said he never bullied Eminem.  F
6. Judges decided the lyrics showed Mr Bailey in a false light.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	old	former
(b)	lyrics	words
(c)	damaged	hurt
(d)	harassed	attacked
(e)	shove	push
(f)	beat	punch
(g)	soaked	covered
(h)	urinal	toilet
(i)	false	wrong

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	won a court	case
(b)	school	bully
(c)	sue Eminem for	$1 million
(d)	beat me into	submission
(e)	he broke	my nose
(f)	soaked my clothes	in blood
(g)	court	judges
(h)	the important thing	in this case

 

TEXT RECONSTRUCTION ANSWER:

Eminem wins bully lyrics case

1. The American rap star Eminem has won a court case brought against him by an old school bully.

2. The bully, DeAngelo Bailey, sued Eminem for $1 million because of the lyrics in a song called “Brain Damage”.

3. He says the words in the song damaged his name and hurt his dream of becoming a rock star.

4. The lyrics said Eminem “was harassed daily by this fat kid named D’Angelo Bailey”. In the song, Eminem raps about Mr Bailey bullying him:

5. “so everyday he’d shove me in the lockers/One day he came in the bathroom…/And had me in the position to beat me into submission/He banged my head against the urinal ‘til he broke my nose,/

6. Soaked my clothes in blood, grabbed me and choked my throat”. Bailey said he did bully Eminem, but only with a “bump” or “little shove”.

7. He said the actions in the song were not true. The court judges decided the lyrics did not show Mr Bailey in a false light.

8. They said the important thing in this case was that Mr Bailey bullied Eminem, not how truthful the lyrics were.