Lesson 1: AITA Discussions, Part 1
A number of students mentioned Social Media when discussing their use of Screen English media, so I thought we’d dive into social media a little bit.
However, I wanted to introduce you to a different social media site, one that can be useful for learning slang, hot button words, and more. The site we’ll be looking at is Reddit. It’s a webpage where there are “subreddits” for specific topic interests. This includes everything from “saxophones” to “what’s that book?” to 18+ topics. I do not recommend or endorse everything on reddit, but subreddits with a topic you’re interested in can be useful and interesting, and a few subreddits also contain reliably interesting conversationn starters.
For today’s class, I shared the following three conversation starters from the famous “AITA” subreddit, where people discuss proper and acceptable (or improper and unacceptable) behavior and etiquette choices:
A warning: the comments I’ve selected to round out the discussion may occasionally include coarse language, grammar mistakes, or other questionable content. I have made an effort to avoid anything too offensive, but the content is written by, and for, adults.
I asked the class to work in small groups to read the AITA post, discuss it, and then to read the comments. I worked with you small groups to make any difficult vocabulary clear, and you shared the vocabulary you learned with the class.
Homework for Lesson 1: A Discussion Paper
For next time, have a look around the AITA subreddit and choose one AITA that you think would make an interesting and appropriate classroom discussion topic for your group. You will be with the same group next time.
You can access the main AITA subreddit here.
Take a screenshot of the original post (only the original post, not the follow-up comments and responses) and print one copy for each student in the class, plus one for the professor. Bring these copies to class on Friday. You should be ready to explain any vocabulary that your group asks about. (If you can’t, I’ll be around to help with the discussion.) Each group will discuss how they judge the dilemma outlined in the original post.
Each student should prepare one document. Bring enough copies for everyone in the class, plus one extra copy for me. (Make sure your name is on the document.) Please also upload the file to the Discussion Papers forum below, so other students can check them out.
Try to look around at older questions in AITA: that is, it would be better if you avoided bringing the same question as another student, as that will limit your discussion. I suggested in class some ways to avoid this problem.
Lesson 2
We discussed the AITA posts brought in by you, the students, for the majority of classtime.
At the end of class, I asked you to think about why people might be turning to Reddit for advice, as well as whether we think it’s a good idea to ask an online community for advice. I also asked you to think about who reads this kind of stuff, and why they do—and why some people even comment on these kinds of posts.
Homework for Lesson 2: Journaling
For this week, in your Screen English Journal, you can choose a prompt from the Course Journal Prompts PDF that I shared with you in Week 2, and write about that.
Alternately, if you want to write something about this week’s class instead, please reflect on the same kinds of questions we’ve asked about media in the past, but apply them to the AITA subreddit:
- What kind of people are posting these things? What motivation do they have for writing such things online?
- Who is the audience for this kind of content? Who is reading this stuff and commenting on it, and why do they connect with this kind of content?
You can also comment on what you think about whether it’s a good idea to go to Reddit for advice, or whether you trust the posts people put on the AITA forum.
Looking Forward
There’s nothing to prepare for next week’s class.