Overview of Mar a chéile muid for Third and Fourth Class

In this lesson, the children explore how older people are portrayed in the media.

Aims

The overall aim of the theme Mar a chéile muid is to enable the child to:

• Explore how the media influence our attitudes
• Explore how the media represent older people

The objectives of this lesson are to enable the child to:

• Identify the media that influence children
• Realise that portrayal of older people in different media may be inaccurate
• Realise that omission of older people from the media also carries a message

Resources

Several days in advance of the lesson, ask the children to watch out for older characters in TV programmes and ads and to think about older people in books and films they have read or seen, in preparation for this lesson. Ideally, spread this lesson over a few days or weeks, allowing one discussion per session.

For Activity 8 in this lesson, you may need the stories of Oisín i dTír na nÓg and Clann Lir.

Lesson content

Activity 1: Discussion - My favourite TV programme

Write the phrase "My favourite TV programme" on the blackboard. Ask children to name their favourite TV programme and list some of the most popular on the blackboard.

Ask the children about their parents'/grandparents' favourite TV programmes. List some of the most popular on the blackboard. If some children have no idea what older people watch on TV, encourage them to ask their grandparents or an older person they know after school.

Discuss some of the best-known programmes, with questions such as:

• Are there any/many older characters in the programmes?
• If there aren't many older characters in children's programmes, why might this be?

Because the programmes are aimed at children and the programme makers might think that children aren't interested in older characters. Make the point that, in reality, older people are an integral part of life.

• What are the older people like: main character, minor character, friendly, helpful, dependent, unpleasant, annoying?
• Are they like older people in real life: how are they the same/different?

Some soaps have older characters who are portrayed as bad-humoured, awkward, dependent, interfering and so on. Older characters on TV, especially in soaps, tend to be one-dimensional or based on popular stereotypes of older people. When discussing the children's answers, make the point that in real life, older people, like everyone else, are complex individuals.

If possible, focus the discussion on a programme or an episode of a programme that most of the children in the class watch, in preparation for the role-play in Activity 2 in this lesson.

Ask the children to talk to an older person about the protrayal of older people in TV programmes - see the Online activities, in Things to do, Activity 1 which describes this activity.

Activity 2: Role-play - A TV programme

Choose a recent episode of a children's programme or a soap that portrayed older people negatively. You may wish to record an episode yourself and play some of it for the class. Ensure that several of the children in the class saw the episode and that many are familiar with the series. From those who saw the episode, select one to tell the story as it happened. Then, allow another child to retell the story to portray the older person or people in a more positive way. Allow a group of children to role-play the positive version of the episode.

Some points worth making:

• In TV programmes, different groups of people can be protrayed in a variety of ways - but if a group of people, such as older people, is consistently portrayed negatively, this can affect the way that the audience for those programmes views that group of people.

• Where TV programmes consistently do not feature older characters, this gives the message that older people are not an integral part of life.

Activity 3: Discussion - TV ads

Ask children to name the TV ads that come to mind immediately, or their favourite TV ads. List some of the best-known on the blackboard.

Ask about the ads:

• What kind of people are shown in the ads?
• Are they the only people who use the product in real life?

Ads for soft drinks usually show young people having fun - but older people drink soft drinks also. Ads for shampoo, shaving accessories and so on, usually show younger people, even though older people use these products also. Ads for cars don't usually show older people, even though older people buy and drive cars. Make the point that ads rarely show older people unless the product is targeted at older people, because product manufacturers consider older people financially limited, less adventurous and unwilling to try new products.

• Ask the children whether the ads show life as it really is? Why/Why not?

There are lots of older people around us in the real world, but very few are shown on TV ads. Make the point that many older people are active, independent, adventurous and decision-makers, but TV ads that do portray older people don't often show them this way. TV ads often show older people as dependent, passive, inactive, or reminiscing.

Activity 4: Role-play - Create a TV ad

Help the children to form groups of 4. Appoint a leader for each group. Allow five minutes for the groups to plan a TV ad for a popular product. Pick a product that can be used by people of all ages. The ad should include older people in a realistic way. Allow 1-2 minutes for each group to role-play their ad for the class.

Note that in the Online activities, Things to do, Activity 3 is based around designing an advertising poster.

Activity 5: Discussion - My favourite book

Ask children to name favourite books and list some of the most popular.

Ask about the books:

• What kind of people feature in the children's favourite books?
• Are they all young people, or are there any older people?
• If there are older people, what are they like? Are they like older people in real life?
• Are there any unsympathetic older characters in the books or stories? Does this mean that older people in real life are like this?
• Are there any older heroes? Are they like older people in real life?
• Do the younger characters in the book get on well with the older characters? Why/why not? Is real life anything like this?

Children's books may not feature older characters at all. However, there are some interesting books for children with older people as main characters that portray a very balanced view of older people and contribute to developing a positive attitude among children to ageing (see the Online activities, Things to do, Activity 4 for some examples).

If some of the children have read books that feature older characters, suggest that they bring them to school to show or lend to other children, or to read in class. Note that in the Online activities, Things to do, Activity 4 lists books for the children to read and review. After children have completed the book reviews, follow with discussions on the books.

Activity 6: Discussion - Newspapers and magazines

Ask the children about the newspapers and magazines that their parents read. Do the newspapers have articles about older people? What magazines do they read? Do the magazines have pictures of older people? (Picture magazines such as Hello are good.)

Sometimes newspapers and magazines don't use appropriate language when describing older people, for example, references to "old girls" or "old fellows", use of phrases such as "mutton dressed as lamb", "past it", "over the hill". Make the point that older people can dress as they please, just like everyone else, and age does not automatically mean lack of physical or mental ability.

Read the following extract from a newspaper article to the class:

Mary Burke was one hundred years young last week. Yesterday, the Lord Mayor of Ballyhill presented her with a gift in honour of her big day. Mrs. Burke lives in a nursing home and the Lord Mayor visited her there to present the gift. The nursing home matron served tea while the Lord Mayor chatted with the birthday girl. A photographer from the local newspaper took a photo of Mrs. Burke with the other golden oldies.

Discuss the way that Mrs. Burke is described:

• Is Mrs. Burke a girl?
• Why does the article say that she is 100 years young?
• What is meant by "golden oldies"?

Make the point that referring to older people as though they were children implies that they need to be looked after or are incapable of adult behaviour. Using these phrases is a subtle way of diminishing the status of older people, because it implies rather than states that older people are helpless.

In the Online activities, Have a go, Activity 7 is a worksheet based on this newspaper article and Things to do, Activity 5 encourages the children to find out how older people are portrayed in magazines.

Activity 7: Discussion - Birthdays

Ask the children about birthdays:

• Ask how their parents feel on their birthdays -- are they as excited as children are on their birthdays?
• Ask if children know how old their parents/grandparents are? If not, why not - do parents and grandparents not want everyone to know how old they are? Why is this?

Ask the children about birthday cards:

• Do birthday cards for older people show what age the person is? Why/why not?
• What kind of jokes are often seen on birthday cards for older people?
• What kind of birthday messages should appear on cards for older people?

Make the point that jokes about getting older, losing strength, losing physical or mental ability imply that these losses are automatically associated with getting older and that therefore getting older is not a good thing. Birthday messages that celebrate the wisdom and experience increasing with age would be more encouraging.

In the Online activities, Have a go, Activity 8 is a worksheet on birthday cards.

Activity 8: Stories from long ago - Oisín and the Children of Lir

Tell or read the stories of Oisín i dTír na nÓg and Clann Lir. The class may already be familiar with these stories.

Discuss the stories, both legends from long ago. In both stories, we see mixed feelings about old age:

• Oisín wanted to stay young for ever and never get old, because old people were thought to be weak. But although he postponed his old age, eventually he did become old, but by delaying his old age, he was without his friends.
• The Children of Lir lived for 900 years, but although long life seems desirable, they were unhappy, because their beloved father died and they missed him dreadfully. When they became people again after 900 years, they were very old, but because their old age had been delayed, all their friends were long gone.

There are 6 multiple choice questions in the Online activities, in Have a Go about the stories of Oisín in Tír na nÓg and the Children of Lir.

Curriculum Links

This lesson provides opportunities for many cross-curricular activities and links directly to the curriculum for primary schools as follows:

Key Questions

The key questions for this lesson include:

1. Why is it important to realise that we can be influenced by the media?
2. How are older people portrayed in TV, books, films and magazines that you like?