Email this article Didactic proposal for teaching English as a Foreign Language through the critical analysis of representations of gender and sexuality in Disney films
Abstract
The Walt Disney Company is the world’s largest youth entertainment corporation. Its market share has made it one of the most significant ideological apparatuses in teen media today. This paper presents a didactic proposal for teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) that invites students to reconsider feminist and LGBTIQ+ concepts through two Disney films: The Little Mermaid(1989) and Frozen (2013). Youth should consider that many gender biases need to be reconstructed. Addressing this reality in the classroom would create an inclusive environment for all students, as advocated by Ley Orgánica de Modificación de la Ley Orgánica de Educación (LOMLOE) (32/2022, 33/2022) from Spain. This didactic proposal focuses on memorable songs of each film: “Poor Unfortunate Souls” (Carroll 1989), and “Let It Go” (Menzel 2013), respectively. In addition to working on linguistic (Chomsky 1965) and communicative skills (Hymes 1972; Canale, Swain 1980), this didactic proposal aims to reinforce critical reflection and social and ethical skills through a critical analysis of cisheteronormativity in which a queer re-reading (Butler 1999, 2011) of these two films will be proposed. Students will also practice and reinforce their critical and reflective spirit through productive activities, as the didactic proposal is designed based on Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). Thus, and following the LOMLOE (33/2022), this work would promote gender equality, and the inclusion of all pupils and their rights. Moreover, it would offer an attractive and comprehensive educational process to pupils, due to the practice of digital competence and the treatment of civic, moral, and ethical values that would allow the consolidation of oral and written skills in EFL, always taking into account the current social context.
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