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

CYBERBULLYING

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1 Warm up
In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. What is bullying in general?

2. What is cyberbullying? How is it the same/different?

3. What are some examples of cyberbullying?

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2 Focus on vocabulary
Part A: Match the vocabulary with the correct definitions.

1. devastating (adj.) a. a young person at the age of around 10 to 19

2. resolved (v) b. fixed issue

3. tactic (n) c. a person who advises people when they have a problem

4. adolescent (n) d. very damaging and shocking

5. counsellor (n) e. able to recover after a negative experience

6. embarrass (v) f. make someone feel awkward or uncomfortable

7. endorse (v) g. method of achieving a goal

8. resilient (adj.) h. show public support for someone or something

Part B: Complete the gaps in the following sentences with the vocabulary above.

1. The salesman told her it was the last television available but it turned out to only be a
to try to get the sale.

2. Her dog proved to be and bounced back to his old happy self after
the operation.

3. The effects of the storm were .

4. Mum, please don’t wear that stupid hat to school. Don’t me!

5. I went to see a careers because I have no idea what I want to study.

6. The police chief is planning to your candidate for the election.

7. The dispute hasn’t been yet as the two neighbours aren’t even
willing to negotiate.

8. undergo a lot of changes as they grow up.

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3 Listening: predictions

You are going to listen to a short radio interview with a psychologist on the topic of cyberbullying.
Before you listen, write down, what are some questions you think the host might ask.

4 Listening for general understanding

Listen to the recording again and choose the correct answers.

1. How many adolescents and teens have been bullied online?

a. less than a quarter b. a half c. over half

2. How many adolescents and teens have engaged in online bullying?

a. less than a quarter b. a half c. over half

3. Most teens are:

a. resilient b. resolute c. revolting

5 Talking point

In pairs or small groups discuss the following questions.

1. Did anything in the interview surprise you?

2. What do you think of the advice?
3. Do you have any other advice on how to deal with this kind of situation?

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6 Listening comprehension

Part A: You are going to watch the video named "are you okay?" First, look at the screenshot from
the video and try to predict the answers to the given questions.

1) How are the boy and girl connected? 2) What do you think the purple goo is?

Part B: Watch the first half of the video from 00:00-04:36 and discuss the following questions.

1. What does the purple goo represent?

2. What do you think is going to happen next?
3. What would you do in this situation?

Part C: Watch the second half of the video 04:36-08:45 and in pairs or small groups discuss the
following questions.

1. What impact did Raquelle reaching out to Noah, have?

2. Do you think anything will change?
3. Could anyone in the video have taken different actions?
4. Does the video show a realistic portrayal of this type of situation?

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7 Language point: talking about statistics

Part A: In the radio interview in section four, some statistics are mentioned. Look at the box below.

• There are different ways you can express the same statistical information.

50% or half or 1 in 2.

• You can add modifiers to qualify the number further. For example, almost or nearly.

47% could be expressed as almost 50% or almost half or almost 1 in 2

• Other modifiers include:

around (approximately)

just over

just under

more than

• Technically you can use most to describe anything which is more than 50%, however, in
more common use, it would generally be considered to be somewhere around 60-90 per
cent.

Part B: Match the following with their synonyms.

1. 51% of the group a. half of all men

2. increased by 10% b. grew by 10%

3. decreased by c. 75 per cent of teenagers

4. less than d. by 20%

5. by a fifth e. 25% of

6. a quarter of f. 55%

7. 1 in 2 men g. more than half of the group

8. most teenagers h. fell by

9. more than half i. under

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8 Speaking

Look at the following scenarios and discuss each perspective.

Person A

You are upset. Your so-called friend took an embarrassing photo of you when you got sick
at her house. You were throwing up in the toilet and she took a photo of you and now she
has posted it on social media. Plus she has been spreading lies that you were sick because
you were drunk which is not even true. Other people have joined in making fun of you online
and now you don’t want to go back to school. It’s not the first time something like this has
happened with the same girl.

Person B

You took a funny photo of your friend when she was sick and throwing up at your place. You
thought it was funny so you posted it online and said she was drunk. She wants you to take
the photo down. But it was just a laugh and you think she’s making a big deal out of nothing
so you have refused. Plus you’ve posted other stuff about her before and it wasn’t so bad.
Plus you’ve got some extra likes because of it. Some people can’t take a joke. Now she wants
to talk to you about it.

Person C

Your daughter is upset and crying. She didn’t want to talk but finally, you got it out of her that
someone took an embarrassing photo of her and posted it on social media. Plus it’s the same
girl who has done something similar before. Your daughter doesn’t know what to do. Try to
comfort her and give her some advice on how to handle it.

Person D

Your friend is upset. You saw an embarrassing photo of her appear online. You felt really
bad for her but you weren’t sure what to do. You saw other friends join in and make some
not-nice comments underneath. You didn’t join in but you also haven’t said or done anything
yet. You’re worried the mean girl will turn on you because she has done similar things to this
same girl and others before. You’re not sure what to do. Your friend wants to talk.

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9 Extension task / homework

Task A: Write a short email (of around 150 words) to your school principal. You believe there is not
enough attention paid to cyberbullying. Suggest a few rules that you would like to see the school
implement.

Task B: Look for some anti-bullying resources online that would be useful in the country you live in.
Here are some example sites. What others can you find?

1) respectme.org 2) kids helpline 3) Alberta

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CYBERBULLYING

Transcripts

3. Listening: predictions

Host: Today we have psychologist, Anne Parker to tell us about cyberbullying. So first of all,
what is the definition of cyberbullying?

Anne: It’s the use of technology to harass, threaten, or embarrass another person.

Host: And can you give us some examples of this?

Anne: Sure. There’s sending mean or threatening texts or instant messages. Catfishing someone.
Spreading secrets or rumours online. Posting embarrassing photos.

Host: Is it really a problem though?

Anne: According to the i-SAFE foundation over half of adolescents and teens have been bullied
online, and about the same number have engaged in cyberbullying. So, it is a big problem.
After all, 95% of teens in the US are online, and most of them use their mobile for the
internet. Although most cyberbullying occurs via Instagram, around 42%.

Host: But isn’t it just a matter of switching off your phone or computer?

Anne: It’s an interesting question. It sounds obvious. The problem actually is that it is rarely just
‘cyber’ bullying. It is more often than not an extension of or an added tactic of ‘real-life’
bullying. In fact, a study of more than 100,000 teenagers in the UK showed that less than
one per cent of teens were bullied only online.

Host: What can someone do about this if they experience it?

Anne: There are a few things which might help. First of all, keep records and screenshots of
any messages. Print hard copies. You want to be able to show someone what is going
on. Try to ignore the bully, often they are looking for a reaction. Use technology against
them. Block their number. Block messages. Report them to the platform they are using.
Screen your calls. Talk to someone you trust, for example, your parent, a teacher, or
a counsellor. You can also talk to someone anonymously via a chat line or helpline.
For example, there’s https://bilitis.org/en/online-chat-to-support-victims-of-bullying-at-
school/ and https://www.childline.org.uk/get-support/contacting-childline/. Also, and
this goes for everyone, make sure you keep your passwords secure, don’t post your
personal details online, and don’t automatically trust that someone online is who they
say they are. Don’t post something that you would not feel comfortable being forwarded
around or posted elsewhere online.

Host: What about if it is happening to someone you know?

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Anne: As a bystander do not encourage or endorse bullying behaviour. Don’t like, follow,
forward, give thumbs up and so on to anything hurtful. Offer support to the person who
is being bullied. Let them know they are not alone. Encourage them to report the bullying
or report it yourself. Most bystanders want to do something. In fact, 4 out of 5 students
or 81% say they would be more likely to intervene in cases of cyberbullying if they could
do it anonymously. So, they do care but it can be a difficult situation.

Host: What about people who say, just get over it?

Anne: Bullying, on and offline, can have devastating consequences psychologically and in some
extreme cases can lead to self-harm. So, people should take it seriously. Thankfully,
however, as far as the extreme cases go, there was good news from one recent study
of teens which showed that extreme scenarios don’t appear to be the average teen
experience. Also, teens are resilient. The same study, which had Florida teens keep a
diary for eight weeks, showed that the teens experienced negative emotions in weeks
when cyberbullying was occurring, however by a week later these feelings had basically
gone away. So perhaps they got help from friends or the situation resolved itself and it
didn’t lead to serious problems.

Host: Okay, thank you, Anne.

6. Listening comprehension

Boy: He’s so pathetic

Counsellor: I appreciate you bringing this to my attention Raquel. Noah has a history of incidents.
Why do the quiet ones always get picked on? We take bullying very seriously. We can’t
police the internet of course, but I’ll make a report of it.

Raquel: Oh. Oh my gosh. I’m sorry.

Raquel: Hey, are you okay?

Girl: Hey Rat-quel. (echo) Rat-quel, Rat-quel.

Dad: Quel. You’re kind of quiet. Those kids still bothering you? Hey, just don’t let those
jerks on the internet get to you. You’re lucky. Nowadays you can just block them. Case
closed.

Noah: Hey, are you okay?

Raquel: Man, this sucks.

Noah: I’m really feeling that one.

Raquel: I know, right.

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Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
Use the questions to introduce the topic. Students’ own answers, however here are prompts if they are not sure.

1. Bullying is when someone repeatedly intentionally hurts another person physically and/or psychologically. It
is not used to describe one-off incidents.
2. Cyberbullying is using means of technology such as mobile phones, social media etc to bully someone.
3. Some examples of cyberbullying include: posting or sending embarrassing videos or photos of someone;
sending mean texts or messages to someone or posting messages about someone; spreading secrets or rumours
about someone online; excluding someone from an online group

2. Focus on vocabulary

Part A:
5 mins.
Students match the vocabulary with the correct definitions. Assist them with meanings and pronunciations as
needed.

1. → d. 2. → b. 3. → g. 4. → a. 5. → c. 6. → f. 7. → h. 8. → e.
Part B:
5 mins.
Students complete the gap fill to reinforce the vocabulary.

1. tactic 2. resilient 3. devastating 4. embarrass

5. counsellor 6. endorse 7. resolved 8. Adolescents

3. Listening: predictions

5 mins.
Students can guess the questions and discuss them with each other giving as many arguments as they can think
of. Play the audio for the students. Repeat or play in parts if needed. Let students correct their answers.

4. Listening for general understanding

5 mins.
Students can answer brief and simple questions to check they listened to the audio.

1. c. 2. c. 3. a.

5. Talking point

5 mins.
The talking points give the students a chance to respond to the content of the audio.

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6. Listening comprehension

Part A:
5 mins.
Give students time, in individuals or in pairs, to look at the pictures and answer the questions. These are screenshots
from the video. There are no right or wrong answers, it is only to get them thinking about the video content.
Source for screenshots: are you okay? | Award-Winning Short Film
link: https://youtu.be/tJsGGsPNakw
Part B:
5 mins.
Play the first half of the video for the students.
You can let them know that the video is from the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center Foundation and is featured on
the website https://fightchildabuse.org/
All student’s own answers. Specifically regarding the purple goo, it is a visual metaphor which may be interpreted
in different ways. However, if they are stuck you could suggest that the goo represents the negative psychological
impact on the teenagers. It is a kind of toxicity that stays with them. It is something that connects the two main
characters and allows them to understand each other. It may also show that this psychological pain and negativity
is not always visible to other people in the same way that the goo is not visible to the other characters. It grows
so much and becomes so overwhelming to Noah that he wants to harm himself. The goo also disappears after
Raquelle and Noah form a connection as friends at the end.
Part C:
5 mins.
Play the second half. Answers to the discussion points are the student’s own.

7. Language point: talking about statistics

Part A:
5 mins.
Students look at the table and read the given information. You can ask students to think of more examples of
expressing statistical information.
Part B:
5 mins.
Students match the expressions with their synonyms. Circulate and help as needed. Check as the whole class.

1. → g. 2. → b. 3. → h. 4. → i. 5. → d. 6. → e. 7. → a. 8. → c. 9. → f.

8. Speaking

5 mins.
There are two options depending on what you feel would best suit your students.
They can simply read the texts and use them as an opportunity for discussion by talking about how they would
respond in the place of the person and situation being described.
Alternatively, you could turn this into a roleplay. If you have pairs you could have one person in the pair be Person
A and then they can choose ‘who’ they want to talk to or you can assign the second role. Then they can roleplay
a discussion of the topic between the two.

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9. Extension task / homework

Task A:
25 mins.+
You can have the students do a short writing task as an extension and further practice of the topic.
Task B:
15 mins.+
This encourages students to explore other resources if they want to find out more or in case they may need help
themselves, they can find out what is out there and (if appropriate) can share with the others in the class.

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