The Cool Man

Today I am sharing my discussion group resource from this week. The video comes from The School of Life channel on Youtube. I have used some of their videos before because the writing is typically clear and understandable with a few nice expressions and topic-specific vocabulary peppered in.

So without further ado, here is the video and the PDF you’ll be using for this discussion.

Okay okay, don’t panic… Yes, the title is “How to be a man” but this is not a Jordan Peterson-esque video, I promise! It’s a brief outline of 2 male archetypes – the cool man and the warm man. I won’t explain it all right now, just watch it real quick before continuing.

How to use this PDF?

Use this PDF online or offline. If you are using it online, you need only share your screen. If you are using this offline, your students will be working in groups, so print off one copy of the PDF for each group.

Before watching the video, direct your students to page 1. Here, there are a few examples of the typical “cool man” which will be discussed in the video. Have your groups (or individuals) describe this stereotype in 5 sentences and share with the class.

The cool man always wears a suit. He makes a lot of money or has an incredibly interesting job. His life is full of excitement and adventure… etc.

Next, I had my students watch the video and simply asked them for their first impressions. If you have a small enough group, have them present their impressions to the class. If your group is huge, they can speak amongst themselves. Personally, I like having some portion of the class reserved for “presentation” as it builds confidence.

Now, students will do the vocabulary portion on page 2. Even for my advanced students, most of these were new or they were unsure about, so I think it’s a good idea to add a second viewing of the video after the vocab activity.

Once their vocabulary activity is finished, watch the video again and move on to page 3. Here, students associate each word with both archetypes of cool man and warm man. They can accomplish this in a small group discussion or they can take turns, one person describing the warm man, then another the cool man, etc.

A cool man is reassuring because he doesn’t panic under pressure and always knows what to do. A warm man is reassuring because he is able to empathize with others and be generous with his time and energy.

Finally, once these archetypes have been well established and described, you can move on to the final page where students will describe how the two archetypes would respond to different situations. Maybe you can add the question, “Which of these reactions would be closest to your own?”

At the end of class, if you have time, you can open a discussion to the whole group as to the pros and cons of both archetypes.