Our February 2011 meeting

February 20th (11:00-1.30 meeting):

 
Folake Abass, formerly of Toyohashi but now teaching at Kyoto Sangyo University, presented on exploring gender in the classroom.

Advertising permeates our everyday lives and demands our attention. Ultimately, though, advertisements (ads) are about a great deal more than just the products they represent. They promote certain values, images and concepts of success and worth. Ads tell us who we are (or are not) and who we should be (but are not). By associating a product with certain socially desirable qualities, the images in these advertisements are not just selling a product - they are also selling a worldview and lifestyle.  Our students are also affected by the messages contained in mass media. For the most part, they are inculcated with embedded stereotypes and learn how or how not to behave, dress and even think.

In this workshop, the presenter shared an approach she has adopted to teach her students about gender stereotypes. She also shared some of the ways she encourages students to develop the critical intelligence necessary to move beyond culturally inherited stereotypes.

Find out about last month's meeting.