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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FAIR
PLAY
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1 Warm up

Look at the pictures and answer the questions.

cars dolls

lego blocks soft toys

1. Did you have any of these types of toys when you were little?
2. Which was your favourite type of toy?
3. Can you remember how you played with it?
4. How are toys important for children’s development?

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FAIR PLAY

2 Read for main idea

You are going to read an article (on the next page) called, "Equality is child’s play". What do you think
the article will be about?
Skim the article and check your ideas. Then work in pairs to remember why these numbers were
important in the article.

1. 21
2. 800
3. 10
4. 38
5. 2020
6. 2019

Scan the article to check your ideas.

3 Vocabulary
Find words in the article in bold which have these meanings.

1. public support and action to help a specific person or group of people:

2. illnesses, injuries or other conditions that make it difficult for people to move around or fully join
in with everyday life:
3. the right of different types of people to receive the same treatment:
4. being fully included in society; the idea that all people should have the same opportunities and
enjoy the same experiences:
5. places where children, old people or sick people are sent to be cared for away from home:

6. the act of joining in with a group of people:

7. referring to the way most people think:
8. change the way people see difference, so that it does not seem unusual or strange to them:

9. seen and noticed by society:

10. good enough to receive love, support and respect:

Now, answer the questions about these words.

1. What do we call a person who provides advocacy to someone? An advoc_ _ _

2. What is the adjective for disability?
3. What are the opposites of inclusion and visible?
4. Inclusion and integration are similar ideas. How are they different?
5. What noun follows mainstream in the text, to make a common collocation?
6. What preposition follows worthy?

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UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
FAIR PLAY
Equality is child’s play
Toys point the way to inclusion
1.
On 21 March every year, the United Nations in New
York and Geneva hosts a meeting to ensure the
human rights of people with Down syndrome. This
year the theme of World Down Syndrome Day is "We
decide", and activities and discussions will focus on
supporting people with Down syndrome in making
their own life decisions.
2.
Down syndrome (also known as Trisomy 21) is a
genetic difference which affects around 1 in 800
births. It is caused by extra copies of genes
on chromosome 21 and results in growth delays,
problems with memory, planning and decision-
making, and sometimes heart and digestive problems.
3.
In the past, children with Down syndrome usually
grew up away from their families in institutions
and were not offered an education. Average life
expectancy was low, just 10 years in 1960 (it is now
around 50). Inclusion in mainstream society was
practically zero - people with Down syndrome were
largely absent from everyday life.
4.
Today, children with Down syndrome enjoy a much
higher quality of life, living with their families,
attending local schools and, when they grow up,
living and working independently. However, there is
still a need for advocacy for them to achieve greater
social inclusion. Now toymakers are getting involved,
by introducing dolls with Down syndrome.
5.
The Miniland company has created boy and girl dolls
with Down syndrome facial features in a range of hair
and skin colours. Miniland is based in the "toy town"
of Onil, in Spain. There are 38 toymakers in Onil, and
Glossary
genetic: related to the information in your body’s cells
life expectancy: how long you are likely to live
prosthetic limbs: artificial arms or legs, made to be used by people who do not have these body
parts
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the town’s doll museum has a history of using dolls to
promote social progress, with programmes that stock
toy libraries in health centres and promote English
education in schools.
6.
The Miniland dolls won the "Toy of the Year" award
in Spain in 2020. Kmart has also introduced a similar
range of dolls with Down syndrome in Australia and
New Zealand.
7.
Dolls are a powerful tool to shape attitudes about
Down syndrome. When children play with dolls,
they are using their imagination and telling stories.
Children play with dolls in different ways at different
times: they may be practising caring for others or
expressing how they see themselves. Either way,
these dolls allow all children to see people with Down
syndrome as beautiful, valued and worthy of love.
8.
The trend for inclusion in toys also includes dolls with
disabilities who use wheelchairs or have prosthetic
limbs, both introduced by Mattel in 2019. Companies
are responding to demand from parents and children
who want to support the values of integration and
equality in children’s play from an early age. The
feeling is that it’s time to normalise all kinds of
differences because people are not all the same.
9.
One mother reported that her daughter, who has
Down syndrome, was absolutely delighted with her
Miniland doll, saying "She’s just like me!". The more
people with Down syndrome become visible, the
more they will be able to enjoy the same freedoms
and opportunities as everyone else.
Sources: The Guardian, CNN, downs-syndrome.org.uk
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FAIR PLAY

4 Read for detail

Work in A/B pairs and find the answers to your questions in the article. Get ready to explain the
answer to your partner in your own words.

Student A

1. What’s the focus of this year’s Down Syndrome Day?

2. How has life for people with Down syndrome changed over the last 60 years?
3. What’s special about the town of Onil?
4. In what way has the company Mattel supported inclusion?

Student B Student B

1. Is Down syndrome a serious condition?

2. How many companies have created dolls with Down syndrome?
3. What are the different ways that children play with dolls?
4. Who is driving the demand for inclusive toys?

5 Language point

Read the sentence below and answer the questions.

The more people with Down syndrome become visible, the more they will be able
to enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities as everyone else.

1. What is the relationship between the underlined parts of the sentence?

2. How many full clauses (subject + verb) does this sentence contain?

Finish some/all of the sentences below in a logical way.

The more a child plays with dolls, the more ...

The more parents ask companies to provide different types of dolls, the more ...

The more inclusive society becomes, the more/less ...

The less we see differences, ...

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FAIR PLAY

6 Final activity

Choose one of these options: a product development task or a discussion about issues related to toys
and play.

Product development task

Work in pairs or small groups to develop a new toy that is socially inclusive.

• What type of toy is it?

• How is the toy socially inclusive?
• What is the name of the product?
• How will you market it? Think about the different messages that parents and children will want to
hear. Use at least three words from the vocabulary.

Present your ideas to your classmates.

Talking point

Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.

1. What’s your reaction to the Down syndrome doll?

2. How does your school, college, town or country promote inclusion for people with Down syndrome
and other disabilities?
3. What could mainstream society do to improve inclusion?
4. How has children’s play changed over the last 50 years?
5. What do you think about advertising for toys that is aimed at children?
6. Do you think children have too many toys these days?

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TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FAIR PLAY

Key
1. Warm up

10 mins.
Call attention to the photos and captions. You could pose the first question to the whole group, perhaps getting
a show of hands for who had each type of toy, and then students can work in pairs to share answers to the other
questions. Ask students to report back the class. Elicit a range of answers to the final question and encourage
students to expand on ideas relating to dolls and soft toys, as a link to the reading.

2. Read for main idea

10 mins.
Students will practise the reading strategies of skimming and scanning in this stage. Introduce the title of the
article and elicit some predictions about the content. Give students a few minutes to skim the article (point out
the glossary) and check their predictions with the class. Then ask students to work in pairs to recall the significance
of the numbers, before scanning the text to check their answers. Go over the answers with the class.
Note: Down syndrome is also known as Down’s syndrome.
1. World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated every year on this day in March and this is also part of the name of
the condition because it is the chromosome that is affected
2. Down syndrome is a genetic difference which affects around 1 in 800 births.
3. This was the average life expectancy of children with Down syndrome in 1960.
4. There are 38 toymakers in Onil, Spain where Miniland is based.
5. The Miniland dolls with Down syndrome won the "Toy of the Year" award in Spain in 2020.
6. Mattel introduced disabled dolls with wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs in 2019.

3. Vocabulary

10 mins.
Students work with the article to match words in bold with their meanings. All of these items will be a useful
addition to the active vocabulary of students at this level. Students can work alone and then check answers in
pairs before they check with the rest of the class. Pose the follow-up questions to activate and extend students’
mastery of these items.
1. advocacy 2. disabilities 3. equality 4. inclusion 5. institutions
6. integration 7. mainstream 8. normalise 9. visible 10. worthy

Questions about these words:

1. an advocate
2. disabled
3. exclusion and invisible
4. inclusion is an idea, while integration is an action
5. mainstream society, note: we can also say the mainstream
6. of: worthy of love

4. Read for detail

10 mins.

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FAIR PLAY

Set up A/B pairs and explain the task. Students read the article intensively to locate and prepare answers to their
four questions. To answer the questions, they should use their own words as much as possible, rather than reading
from the article. When they have prepared their answers, they work in A+B pairs to explain the information to
each other. Finally, go over the answers with the whole class.
Student A:
1. We decide: supporting people with Down syndrome to make decisions about their own lives.
2. They live longer, they are more visible, they live with their families and receive education and training.
3. There are 38 toymakers and the museum has organised social programmes using toys.
4. Mattel has introduced dolls with physical disabilities, who use wheelchairs or have prosthetic limbs.

1. Yes, there are both physical and developmental effects and problems which affect learning.
2. Two: Miniland in Spain, and Kmart in Australia and New Zealand.
3. They take care of the doll and they see themselves in the doll.
4. Parents and children.

5. Language point

5 mins+.
Focus on the example sentence, which uses a repeated comparative structure. Pose the questions to the whole
class. Then students complete the sentence stems they are given. If you are short of time, you could ask different
students or pairs to complete one sentence stem each and share their ideas with the class. You could also extend
this stage by asking all students to complete all four of these sentences. Feedback should focus on students
providing logical ideas as well as on the grammar.
1. Cause and effect, an improvement in visibility results in the ability to enjoy freedoms and opportunities.
2. Two full clauses.

6. Final activity

15 mins.
There are two different activities to choose from to round off the lesson. You could do either or both, depending
on time and what your class prefers.
Activity 1 (product development) is a marketing task. Students can work in pairs or small groups to brainstorm
ideas for an inclusive toy and how it would be used. Students may want to base their product on one of the
pictures from the Warm up. They can present their ideas to the class or even make a poster to display, which the
teacher could check later. This could also be done for homework.
Activity 2 (discussion) is a straightforward question and answer activity for pairs or small groups. Encourage
students to use language from the lesson and give reasons and examples. Monitor and support as necessary,
rounding off the activity with some error correction. This option is a good choice for students who are preparing
for exams, which can include social issues and childhood as topics.

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