Subject: Moral, Social & Cultural Studies
Unit 2
Lesson: 2-How Tolerant Are You?
Lesson: 3-Can I See Beyond Appearances?
Answer key
Grade 8
Learning Objectives:
➢ Analyze the importance of personal tolerance and explore the underlying causes of issues related
to intolerance.
➢ Examine the cycle of bias and discrimination and how it can be overcome.
A. Find the meaning of the words in the table. Think and write an example of each that you
have heard or read about.
Term
Meaning
Example
Diversity
Refers to the ways that we all are different from one
another. Some differences can be our gender, culture,
religion or spirituality, family, how much money we
have (our social standing), age, body size, and ability.
The quality of accepting people and their behaviour and
opinions even if you are not in agreement with them.
The UAE is a very diverse country –
people from many different cultures
live here.
Tolerance
Prejudice
An unreasonable dislike and distrust of people who are
different from you in some way, especially because of
their race, gender etc.
Discrimination The practice of treating one person or a group
differently or in an unfair way.
The UAE has a Minister of Tolerance
to encourage people to be tolerant.
Some companies think young people
can’t be given responsibility because
they are young.
In the USA in the 1960s, black
people were not allowed to eat in the
same restaurants as white people
B. Fill in the blanks:
1. Prejudice means to prejudge people unjustly because of race, gender or religion.
2. Persecution means to make people suffer because of race, gender or religion.
3. H.E. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan is the UAE Minister of Tolerance and
Coexistence.
4. Stereotype is a preconceived idea or image that many people have of a person or thing,
but which is often not true in reality.
5. Ethnicity means belonging to a social group that has common ancestry, language, culture,
and tradition.
6. Bias is an unfair preference for one person or group, often based on preconceived opinions
that may not be based on fact.
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C. Read the bias scenarios and answer the following.
a) Identify the type of bias b) Criticize each scenario showing the impact it has on each person.
a. Gender discrimination
b. The girl is excluded from an activity she would enjoy
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
a. Discrimination based on weight
b. The boy is shamed in front of other kids
___________________________________________
__________________________________________
a. Bias based on ability
b. The boy feels excluded and doesn’t get to play.
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
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D. Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
The pressure to leave my comfortable life and try to establish a career elsewhere was growing
and feeling that there were no longer any options open to me. I took the plunge and packed my
bags. I have qualifications, I thought I will have no trouble in getting employment.
However, on arrival in the country I had chosen to make my home, I discovered what it feels like
not to be one of ‘us’. I had become one of ‘them’. Someone who does not belong. My
qualifications did not guarantee a career in my new country. Eventually, I did get a job but I
never had a career. Simple things like going to the supermarket or bank were not simple. The
language barrier was one thing but the body language was just as bad.
Gestures I had considered polite were suddenly perceived as rude and the opposite was also true.
I tried hard to fit in. I did. I organized a celebration for my child’s first birthday. She invited all
her classmates and to their credit, they came with their parents.
However, the food I prepared went uneaten. I had cooked a selection of national dishes from my
own country. Even after several years I never became one of us. I earnt a living. My children
grew up. They are happy. But I was always one of them.
1. What emotions do you think the writer experienced before she had to leave her own country?
Ans: She could have felt loneliness, fear, apprehension, anxiety, etc.
2. Analyze the words ‘us’ and ‘them’ in the paragraph.
Ans: The writer talks about ‘us’ meaning the culture she belonged to. That was her culture
when she was in her home country. When she moved to a new and different country, she no
more belonged to the ‘us’. Now she is part of a different culture and she belongs to ‘them’.
This shows how she could not integrate into the new culture.
2. If you are to immigrate to a different country, how would you plan your integration into the
new culture?
➢ Tolerate the new culture,
➢ Learn the language.
➢ Know the new customs, respect them and adapt to them.
➢ Share their own culture in order to integrate into their new society. C
E. Consider the 2 quotes from H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and that of
the late President Nelson Mandela, then, answer the following question.
(To be done in the notebook)
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1. Conclude the message in each of the quotes above, then, compare them.
➢ Sheikh Mohammed points out that whatever a society’s physical accomplishments, creating
tolerance and living together peacefully is more important than wealth. There is much ignorance
and hatred in the world, but Sheikh Mohammed wants the UAE to show the rest of the world that
living together and appreciating each other is possible.
➢ President Mandela asks everyone to be tolerant and to respect others. He says that this is a
challenge throughout one’s life but it is an important value to be practised in daily life; at school
and in the community.
➢ Comparing the quotes of the two leaders tells us that they both consider tolerance as an
important value that should be practised.
F. Answer the following questions: (To be done in thenotebook)
1. How can we help people who feel like outsiders?
➢ We can try to include them in our activities.
➢ We can avoid saying hurtful things to them.
➢ We can put ourselves in their shoes, and imagine how we’d want to be treated.
2. How does the UAE promote Peace and Tolerance in the country?
➢ Ministry of Tolerance
➢ Year of Tolerance
➢ International Partnerships
➢ Community Engagement
➢ Humanitarian Aid
3. Suggest any two steps to create a more tolerant environment in the classroom.
Student's own answer.
4. Design a poster on the topic- ‘Embracing Diversity: Celebrating Tolerance’(To be done in
thenotebook)
Reflective Log: (To be done in the done in the notebook)
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