The Black Cat, Animal Cruelty & Research.

Hi everyone! We will be working with animal rights and animal cruelty. As an introduction to the topic, we worked with Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat in class since the horror story depicts animal cruelty. Now we go further than that and get to explore the ethical issues relating to the use of animals in science, for instance for medical purposes, in the make-up industry or the fashion industry. We are going to be involved with this theme for 4 weeks starting on week 15. The most important with this unit is to support your own position on this issue through well-reasoned, fact-driven arguments for or against in a classroom of respectful dialogue. NB! Everything is going to be explained in class.

1. Syfte med undervisningen - Varför gör du det här? Vilken nytta har du av det?

The objective with this section is to make you students aware of the importance of integrity, morals, ethical issues and honesty.

Learning Objectives:

To be able to identify cruelty-free household and personal -care products and to understand the ethical issues and arguments that surrounds animal experiments.

The final goal with this unit is to make you an informed consumer. so, that you, any time you buy something, should be aware of that you could actually be supporting something very ugly: animal testing.    

  

2. Centralt innehåll - Vad ska du arbeta med?

In this unit you are going to read and listen to a lot of facts, write a couple of essays on the theme " Animal testing and ethics" and speak in pairs about your newly acquired knowledge.  

Du ska sträva efter att: 

• Förstå tydligt beskrivningar och instruktioner som rör de områden du ska läsa om.
• kunna delta aktivt i muntliga framträdanden och kunna argumentera för din sak samt använda olika strategier så att kommunikationen flyter.
• kunna ge information skriftligt samt berätta och beskriva något.
• kunna läsa och tillgodogöra dig innehållet i texter från boken samt andra informativa texter om området.
• kunna reflektera över och dra slutsatser som du sedan använder i din skrift

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3. Arbetssätt - Hur ska du arbeta?

We are going to go through some KEY questions such as:

1. What are integrity, morals, ethics and honesty?

2. Why is important to do the right thing even when no one is watching?

3. Why is important to say what you mean and mean what you say?

 

You are going to speak English in groups and debate about "Animal testing and doing experiments with animals" 

You are going to discuss and write about your own attitude towards animal testing for medical purposes, in fashion or for other purposes.

You  are also going to write a script and make a Powerpoint  where you present a informatiol speech about a chosen topic.

While working with this subject you are going to get some homework so that you learn all the vocabulary you come acroos.

 

4. Hjälp - Hur får du stöd för att klara arbetet?

För att klara av den här delen av kursen kommer du att få hjälp av olika artiklar som ni får av mig om animal testing.

Ni kommer också att få väldigt mycket info. från videos and TED talks och all hjälp ni ber om av mig. 

Vi arbetar enskilt, i par/grupp och i helklass för att själv kunna reflektera men även få höra andras idéer, tankar och synpunkter. (här kan jag även lyssna på era underbara tankar, tolkningar och analyser).

Vi diskuterar alltid det vi läst tillsammans så att var och en får ta del av hur klasskompisarna har tänkt och så vi kan se om vi har förstått texten på samma sätt eller om texten går att tolka från olika perspektiv.

Vi kan alltid dubbelchecka med en kompis och med läraren ifall vi vill vara extra säkra på något vi uppfattat.

Vi plockar ut nya, långa och okända ord och övar på att förklara dem så att vi verkligen förstår både orden och texten bättre. 

 

5. Redovisningsform - Hur och när ska du visa vad du kan?

Ni kommer inte att ha något skriftligt prov på den här delen av kursen, men däremot kommer vikten att ligga på era gruppdiskussioner på engelska, ge feeback på gruppmedlemmarnas arbeten samt på presentationen ni kommer att skriva.

Jag kommer att lägga på teams om datum som gäller för inlämning av uppgifter allt medans arbetet löper.

when		what	Hand in at the end of the lesson
v.7	Lesson 1	-       Introducing the topic and what is expected in the coming weeks -       Start reading/working with the text
	Lesson 2	-       finish reading/working with the text -       Looking through the guidelines and papers provided by the teacher	hand in the answers (text: animals- friends or fur?)
v.8	Lesson 3	-       Explaining how to form a script and what to think about while holding a speech -    Going through an example -    Choose a topic	Hand in your topic and the 3 sources
	Lesson  4	-       - Research and find 3 possible source      -  find a credible Academic Source       -       start reading the materia	hand in your academic source
v.10	Lesson 5	-       read and summarize your academic source	The summary of the academic source
	Lesson 6	-       read and summarize your 3 sources	The summary of the sources (at least 1)
v.11	Lesson 7	-       continue reading and summarizing your 3 sources	The summary of the sources (should be done with all 3)
	Lesson 8	-       start writing the script for your speech	The introduction
v.12	Lesson 9	-       continue writing the script	The body
	Lesson 10	finish writing your speech	The whole script
v.13	Lesson 11	-       Start on your PowerPoint	how far you've gotten with your PowerPoint.
	Lesson 12	-       Finish your PowerPoint	Hand in the finished PowerPoint
v.14	Lesson 13	-       Half the class will present while the other will write feedback	Hand in the feedback
	Lesson 14	-       The other half will present while the other will write feedback	Hand in the feedback

Uppgifter

The Assignment

We will be working with animal rights and animal cruelty. As an introduction to the topic, read Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat in class. The horror story depicts animal cruelty.

Your assignment is to produce a short informational speech on a topic related to animal cruelty. You will hold your speech in front of a smaller group, about half the class. You should aim for your speech to be about 5 minutes long and you should present it while using a PowerPoint.

You have to research your topic in relation to English speaking countries. You can’t just talk about Sweden. So for example, if you choose to speak about the fur industry, you might choose to look into laws and legislation concerning fur or the use of fur in Canada and New Zealand.

For this project, you are only allowed to use sources in English. Be critical of your source material and try to find official sources when possible. At least one source must be some sort of academic literature. The sources should be referenced in your PowerPoint presentation on the slides where you use them. There should also be a reference list at the end of your PowerPoint. Here you go through and discuss why you chose your sources.

Researching and Sources

Choose the topic for your informational speech and to find good sources for the information you want to present.

sourcecriticism.docx

You may choose one of the following topics:

• Animal Testing (for make-up or for Medical purposes)

• Vegetarianism and/or Veganism

• Keeping Circus Animals

• Trophy Hunting

• Animal Cruelty

• The Fur Industry (fasion)

• The Meat Industry

If you want to choose a different topic, give your suggestion to your teacher who will decide if your topic is allowed or not.

When you have chosen your topic, you need to begin researching information on it. By the end of class today, you will turn in at least 3 credible sources that you will use for your speech.

You also need to find a credible Academic Source for your informational Speech. Every speech needs at least one academic article as one of the main source materials for the assignment. You will turn in at least 1 credible academic source that you will use for your speech.

Remember to be critical of your source material, suggestions for how to do that are in the attached file below.