Date: April 12, 2005
Level: Harder (Try the easier lesson.)
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

Listening (1:33 - 183.3 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

The Malaysian Government has drafted revolutionary plans that may introduce the birds and the bees in its schools. A sex education syllabus may become part of the school curriculum within the next two years. This is seen by many to be a very progressive measure for largely Muslim Malaysia. It is the norm in Muslim countries to abstain from all things sexual in schools. Sex is somewhat of a taboo subject outside of the classroom too. With the onslaught of sexual images, information and misinformation on TV and the Internet, it seems a timely move by the Malaysian Education Ministry to prepare its youngsters to cope with their sexuality.

The proposed syllabus intends to cover the biological nitty-gritty of reproduction and more sociological aspects of sexuality and sexual dangers. Four-year-olds will learn how to recognize and protect themselves from “sexual predators”, while children from thirteen will learn about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. Other topics, according to Malaysia’s New Straits Times, include relationships, marriage, sexual health, puberty, sexual harassment or abuse, the challenges of marriage and the rights of children. With Malaysia addressing this issue, it may not be too long before other Muslim countries follow its example.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: birds / bees / the birds and the bees / sex education / taboo subjects / dangers on the Internet / STDs / sexual harassment.

For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

2. SEX BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “sex”. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. SEXIEST: In pairs / groups / as a class, talk about who is the sexiest actor, singer, sports player, TV personality, person on the planet, person you know.

4. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A take the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:

1. Sex education is unnecessary. vs. It’s one of the most important school subjects.
2. Parents are responsible. vs. It’s too sensitive for parents.
3. Sex education means kids will try it out and get pregnant. vs. Don’t be ridiculous.
4. Kids learn from TV nowadays. vs. Sex is glamorized on TV. That’s dangerous.
5. Fidelity in marriage should be stressed vs. That’s not sex education.
6. Abortion and contraception are too sensitive for kids. vs. Kids need to know.
7. Chastity should be top priority in sex education lessons. vs. Get real.
8. The Karma Sutra should be an introduced text. vs. That’s too graphic.
9. Boys and girls should have different classes. vs. It’s important for both sexes to know everything about each other.
10. The Bible / Koran / Torah etc is the best teacher. vs. Too out of date.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

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

1. Malaysia has discovered a whole new way of teaching sex education.  T / F
2. Malaysian schools will look at how birds and bees reproduce.  T / F
3. Sex education is not usually offered in Malaysian schools.  T / F
4. Malaysia wants to prepare its youngsters to cope with their sexuality.  T / F
5. The syllabus will only include reproduction.  T / F
6. Four-year-olds will receive sex education.  T / F
7. Children will not learn about sexually transmitted diseases.  T / F
8. Other Muslim countries are already following Malaysia’s example.  T / F

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

(a)	drafted	avoid
(b)	the birds and the bees	deal
(c)	abstain	spread
(d)	onslaught	perverts
(e)	cope	outlined
(f)	nitty-gritty	taking the bull by the horns
(g)	predators	bodily changes
(h)	transmitted	sex
(i)	puberty	bombardment
(j)	addressing this issue	facts

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

(a)	drafted	and the bees
(b)	the birds	move
(c)	a very progressive	syllabus
(d)	abstain from all	this issue
(e)	a timely	health
(f)	proposed	revolutionary plans
(g)	the biological nitty-gritty	things sexual
(h)	sexually transmitted	of reproduction
(i)	sexual	diseases
(j)	addressing	measure

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. WORD ORDER: Put the underlined words back in the correct order.

Sex education Malaysian style

The Malaysian Government plans has revolutionary drafted that may introduce
the bees and the birds in its schools. A sex education syllabus may become part of the school curriculum within the next two years. This is seen by many to be a very progressive measure for largely Muslim Malaysia. It is the norm in Muslim countries to abstain from all things sexual in schools. Sex is subject of a taboo somewhat outside of the classroom too. With the onslaught of sexual images, information and misinformation on TV and the Internet, it seems a timely move by the Malaysian Education Ministry to
cope with its youngsters to prepare their sexuality.

The proposed syllabus intends to cover the nitty-gritty of biological reproduction
and more sociological aspects of sexuality and sexual dangers. Four-year-olds will
recognize to learn how and protect themselves from “sexual predators”, while children from thirteen will learn about the diseases of sexually transmitted dangers. Other topics, according to Malaysia’s New Straits Times, include relationships, marriage, sexual health, puberty, sexual harassment or abuse, the challenges of marriage and the rights of children. With Malaysia addressing this issue, it too be long may not before other Muslim countries follow its example.

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. WORD ORDER: 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. ‘SEX’ / ‘EDUCATION’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. What was the most interesting thing in this article?
2. Was there anything eye-opening in this article?
3. Do you want to know more about the contents of this article?
4. How and where did you receive your sex education?
5. Would you say your sex education was good quality?
6. Was it fun, interesting, embarrassing, shocking…?
7. Would you (did / do you) give sex education to your children?
8. Should it be the responsibility of any particular person or organization to provide sex education to children?
9. From what age should children receive sex education?
10. What topics should be included?
11. Are there any topics that should not be brought up?
12. How do you answer young children’s questions about sex?
13. How important is religious teaching in sex education?
14. How important is talking about love when talking about sex?
15. Should sex education be approached from a biological or sociological perspective?
16. How much detail should we teach our children?
17. Should children be taught about how to enjoy sex?
18. Is there a danger that teaching about sex will encourage kids to try it?
19. Is television a good medium for sex education?
20. Should boys and girls have different sex education classes?
21. Are western societies too liberal when it comes to sex education?
22. Did you like this discussion?
23. Teacher / Student additional questions.

7. SEX EDUCATION SYLLABUS:

In pairs / groups, create your own sex education syllabus from the topics included below or others you want to include. Determine the key points of each topic and decide from which age children should be introduced to them.

TOPIC	AGE	KEY POINTS
Reproduction
Contraception
Virginity
Fidelity
Internet
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Puberty
Abortion
Prostitution
Rape
Perverts and sexual harassment
Age of consent
AIDs testing and counseling
Saying “No”
Other

Change partners. Explain your syllabus and evaluate your new partner’s one.

8. SEX EDUCATORS: Who should be doing the educating? Rank the following list of people in order of the “best person for the job”. After you have finished, talk about how comfortable you would have felt about receiving sex education from these people.

• Parent
• School biology teacher
• Religious leader (imam / minister / priest / rabbi …)
• School friends
• Grandparent
• Aunt or uncle
• Police officer
• Doctor or nurse
• Expert counselors on home visits
• Government television programs

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 birds and bees. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. ONE TOPIC: Choose one topic from the “Sex Education Syllabus” above and make an information poster on it. Present it to your class in your next lesson.

4. SEX EDUCATION: Write a short article about the pros or cons of sex education for elementary school students. Talk about your article in your next class

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Malaysia has discovered a whole new way of teaching sex education.  F
2. Malaysian schools will look at how birds and bees reproduce.  F
3. Sex education is not usually offered in Malaysian schools.  T
4. Malaysia wants to prepare its youngsters to cope with their sexuality.  T
5. The syllabus will only include reproduction.  F
6. Four-year-olds will receive sex education.  T
7. Children will not learn about sexually transmitted diseases.  F
8. Other Muslim countries are already following Malaysia’s example.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	drafted	outlined
(b)	the birds and the bees	sex
(c)	abstain	avoid
(d)	onslaught	bombardment
(e)	cope	deal
(f)	nitty-gritty	facts
(g)	predators	perverts
(h)	transmitted	spread
(i)	puberty	bodily changes
(j)	addressing this issue	taking the bull by the horns

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	drafted	revolutionary plans
(b)	the birds	and the bees
(c)	a very progressive	measure
(d)	abstain from all	things sexual
(e)	a timely	move
(f)	proposed	syllabus
(g)	the biological nitty-gritty	of reproduction
(h)	sexually transmitted	diseases
(i)	sexual	health
(j)	addressing	this issue

WORD ORDER:

Sex education Malaysian style

The Malaysian Government has drafted revolutionary plans that may introduce
the birds and the bees in its schools. A sex education syllabus may become part of the school curriculum within the next two years. This is seen by many to be a very progressive measure for largely Muslim Malaysia. It is the norm in Muslim countries to abstain from all things sexual in schools. Sex is somewhat of a taboo subject outside of the classroom too. With the onslaught of sexual images, information and misinformation on TV and the Internet, it seems a timely move by the Malaysian Education Ministry to
 prepare its youngsters to cope with their sexuality.

The proposed syllabus intends to nitty-gritty the biological cover of reproduction and more sociological aspects of sexuality and sexual dangers. Four-year-olds will
learn how to recognize and protect themselves from “sexual predators”, while children from thirteen will learn about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. Other topics, according to Malaysia’s New Straits Times, include relationships, marriage, sexual health, puberty, sexual harassment or abuse, the challenges of marriage and the rights of children. With Malaysia addressing this issue, it may not be too long before other Muslim countries follow its example.