Aims
- To reflect on how other people don’t always see us as we see ourselves
- To look at some stereotypes and where they might come from
What you need
Work Sheet: As Ithers See Us and Background Information Sheet
What to do
- Explain to students the origin of the quote “as ithers see us”. It is from the poem, To a Louse, by Robert Burns (full version and supplementary notes on Background Information Sheet)
Optional introductory activity
- Read the poem or give copies to the class to read themselves and ask pupils to give their opinions of what is being said in the poem. Do they like it? Is it funny? It was written in 1786, is it still relevant / funny today?
- Organise the class in groups of 3 or 4. Give each group the work sheet: As Ithers See Us.
- Ask pupils to feed back their responses and record them on a large sheet of paper or the board
- Ask pupils to indicate whether they think the articles, or parts of them, are true/fair, based on their responses and record these
- Tell pupils that the first quote is from an article in the Guardian in April, 2004. The quoted comment was made by an angry Spaniard (to a Times reporter) about the 300,000 Britons living in the Costa del Sol.
- The next three are from an article published in the Sydney Star (Australia, 28th December, 1982) and is about the British – “Poms” is the missing word in the headline.
Reflection and evaluation
- Do you think that any parts of the articles are true/fair now?
- If people have changed their minds, now that they know who the articles are referring to, why might this be?
- This would be a good opportunity to explore how insidious stereotypes of this kind can be and how we almost don’t notice until it applies to us!
This activity is from the resource A’ Adams Bairns the resource can be viewed online at www.scotdec.org.uk/aadamsbairns
