In the Spotlight this week, we’re featuring a lesson on bullying from our Grammar School section. The subject of bullying is extremely important these days, especially now that kids have to deal with a new form of bullying: cyberbullying. After you try our featured lesson Being Brave: Gerunds and Infinitives and review these important rules about gerunds and infinitives, try the following activity.
What Is a Bully?
First, make sure your students understand what bullying really is. Many kids don’t realize that their mean behavior toward others can be classified as bullying. For example, my son and his friend were chanting “Do it! Do it! Do it!” to a neighborhood boy recently when he didn’t want to jump out of a tree in our park. When I told them that ganging up on the boy and chanting was a form of bullying, they felt terrible, and promised to never use that chant again. They’ve learned all about bullying at school, and never imagined themselves as bullies.
While a bully is someone who hurts someone intentionally and repeatedly, bullying can happen quite innocently on the playground or when kids get together for a party or event. Kids may need to be reminded that bullying can be verbal as well as physical.
Ask your students to help you define the word bully. Here is a definition in easy English:
A bully is a person who acts in a mean way towards another person. The bully scares, threatens, or hurts the other person. Bullies aren’t always bigger or stronger than their victims. A bully may use his or her age, strength, social status, or intelligence to make another person feel weaker. A bully isn’t always a kid. Adults are sometimes bullies to each other or to kids. Bullies don’t always work alone.
Is He/She a Bully?
Remind your kids that they should report bullies to teachers or parents. Here is a little checklist they can review.
Is he trying to hurt another person physically?
Is she trying to hurt another person emotionally?
Are they trying to scare another person into doing something?
Is he repeating the mean behavior over and over?
Is she being hurtful on purpose?
Is This Bullying?
Explain to your students that people who don’t seem like typical bullies may do or say things that can be classified as bullying, and should be told to stop. Read these examples out to your students (or have your students take turns reading out the examples). After each example, ask your students if this is a form of bullying or not (Is this bullying?). If you want your students to do more than answer yes or no, have them respond in sentence format: Yes, teasing a person over and over is a form of bullying.
- teasing a person over and over
- calling someone mean names
- making up lies about someone
- spreading rumors about someone
- bothering someone who is trying to work
- ignoring the new student
- singing a mean song about someone
- pushing, hitting, and kicking the smallest boy in the class
- joking around with a friend *
- leaving someone out of a game
- complaining to a teacher about someone *
- making fun of someone’s clothing or appearance
- stealing or breaking something that belongs to someone
- offering suggestions for improvement on a project *
- posting bad photos of someone online
- ganging up on someone
- having a close group of friends *
- pulling someone’s hair over and over
- spitting on someone
- honestly reporting bad behavior to a teacher *
- spreading private information about someone
- having a disagreement with a classmate *
- phoning someone over and over and hanging up
*not bullying (Discuss some of these examples in more detail with your students. How can joking turn into bullying?)
For grammar practice, challenge your students to make complete sentences with the examples above. Encourage them to add “like,” “love,” “enjoy,” or “suggest” before the gerunds or infinitives.
She enjoys teasing him over and over.
He likes to call her mean names.
He suggested spitting on Jack.
She likes spreading rumors about Nicola.
A Video and Anti-Bullying Promise
This video may be a good way to get your young learners talking about bullying. They can recite the anti-bullying promise with the student bears.
Note: You may find it useful to share the origin of the word bully with your students. Long ago, the word bully meant lover or brother. Over time, the word took on a negative meaning. Tell your students that sometimes when a person teases a person over and over, it’s because they like that person a lot and want to get their attention. Sharing this fact might be a simple way to get a pest or troublemaker to stop crossing the line.
