I hope my British friends will forgive me for this article. Of course, every American knows of Paul Revere’s midnight ride and the cries of, “The British are coming! The British are coming!” Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for the title of this one. It came from the article that inspired this ESL discussion activity.
Unfortunately, I can’t seem to locate that one on the web now but You can always reference this article, which has the most Googled questions about Britain by country. The winners are Germany asking, “Why are the British so ugly?” And the French asking why they drink so much. I wonder what the British ask about those countries? Hmm, that sounds like a good idea for another discussion class. Anyway, rather than waste time let me jump into this article.
I figure going over the article together is a great idea and then have students break into groups to go over the discussion questions. This was one of the many interesting articles that I found for my ‘Hot Topics’ class. I needed a break from all the serious topics and political ones and used this as a great diversion.
The British Are Ugly! The British Are Ugly!
The British Are Ugly! The British Are Ugly!
Blimey, it’s not a great day to be a member of the United Kingdom.
Billing itself as an “elite dating site for beautiful people only,” beautifulpeople.com
has harvested some ugly data.
According to the dating website, fewer than one in eight British men and just three in 20 women who have applied to become part of the beautifulpeople.com community have been accepted.
The “eye candy” apparently reside in Sweden, Brazil, and Norway. Swedish men have proved the most successful applicants, with two-thirds (65 percent) of those putting themselves forward being accepted. Norwegian women are considered the most beautiful with more than three-quarters (76 percent) making the grade.
Brits shouldn’t feel so bad — in just the past couple weeks alone, the judgmental website has rejected over 1.8 million people from 190 countries.
How do you get selected to be part of the beautiful people? Members of the website rate photos uploaded by eager applicants by how “hot” they are. Voting goes like this:
- Yes definitely
- Hmm yes, OK
- Hmm no, not really
- NO, definitely NOT
Or, when it comes to the British, it’s a resounding, “No thanks, mate.”
We think all of this is a load of rubbish anyway. We know MANY of our “cousins across the pond” that are very easy on the eyes. Who are they????
Discussion Questions
- What country do you think has the most beautiful people?
- What makes one beautiful?
- Would you be able to fall in love with an ‘ugly’ person who had a beautiful personality?
- Who is the most beautiful man/woman you know?
- Would you rather be incredibly beautiful but really stupid or a genius and really ugly?
- _________________________________________________________________?
Please Don’t Be Offended
All-in-all I had articles about all the different countries that I knew and worked with. This might be a good chance to introduce stereotypes as well. I actually have another page on that topic. Notice the blank at the end of the discussion questions. I always give this out the day beforehand with the homework assignment of writing at least 2 of your own questions.
This Can Actually Be a Lead-in to a Deeper Discussion
One class actually got into a big discussion about fairy tales and the concept of good and bad and beauty. For example, Cinderella was beautiful and kind while her step-sisters were ugly and mean. Is it wrong to give young children the impression that ugly equals evil?
Don’t Take This One Too Seriously
As usual, have fun and enjoy the class and its outcome. And let me know how this went for your class in the comments below. Until next time always remember, Teaching English is Fun!
Jim
