Teaching Profanity to ESL Students

To swear or not to swear… that’s a difficult question. I’ve sworn in front of my students, but only quietly to myself after dropping something. I also taught them how to *not* say “shit” when instead they intend to say “sheet.”

Should you teach your students bad words? Well, that depends entirely on you, your students, and your employer. It’s also a big no-no in many cultures. However, I have put together a lesson on profanity that doesn’t actually teach any swear words – it just tells students when they should and shouldn’t use them.

I use this PPT and then follow up with various parts of this lesson from Breaking News English, with my own discussion questions thrown in. When using material from that website, I like to do the T/F and comprehension questions, as well as sometimes the vocab material.