Who runs the world? Girls! Nowadays, more and more women are fearlessly taking on leadership roles and establishing their own companies. As a result, the term girlboss has become a global sensation. Explore the realm of female leaders and discover the remarkable story of the ultimate powerful woman – Malala Yousafzai.
The majority of individuals in my classes are women (60%). Many of them either have their own businesses, hold high positions where they manage teams, or work hard on their personal projects. Working with these women is truly inspiring, and it motivated me to create a lesson plan on becoming a girlboss, a term popularized by businesswoman Sophia Amoruso in her book of # the same name.
Feel free to grab the presentation, worksheet, and teacher’s notes from the links provided at the end of the post, especially if you have the opportunity to inspire and teach future girlbosses!
The lesson begins by displaying three phrases, each with a common word missing. The students read the sentences and guess the missing word (it is boss, duh!🙈). Then, they are asked to match the phrases with the corresponding definitions.
- She doesn’t like when her colleagues _________ her around.
- After years of working for others, she decided to start he own business and be her own _________.
- He always gets the best assignments because he’s the _________’s pet.
Then show a sentence that is missing the word girl in front of the word boss. This forms the class’s subject – being a girlboss. After this activity, have a brief discussion about who a girlboss is. Ask the students to name a few famous girlbosses and discuss the qualities that a woman should have in order to be successful.
Write the name Malala Yousafzai on the board, and if necessary, show her picture. Elicit a few answers to check if students are familiar with her and her achievements. After that, show a short excerpt of Malala’s life and discuss who she is and what she is well-known for.
I believe that having students listen to Malala speak could provide an interesting change for those who are familiar with both British and American accents. Before watching a Forbes interview with Malala, have the students review a list of the most challenging words and match them with their opposites. These words were selected using ChatGPT and were chosen based on their difficulty for students at a B1 level. Some of the words include to advocate, inspiring, to discourage, and intimidated. Finish off this part of the lesson by watching an interview with Malala titled Activist Malala Yousafzai Reflects on Standing Up Against The Taliban for Women’s Education by Forbes, and tick the words that were mentioned in the interview.
To conclude the video segment, students should watch it once more and select the best answers to four multiple-choice questions (A, B, or C). You can wrap up this part of the class by discussing their impressions of Malala and prompting them to consider other influential female figures from their own countries.
Discuss the experiences of female (and male!) students in leadership positions. Encourage them to reflect on professional scenarios such as leading a team or mentoring other colleagues. In pairs, have the students discuss the challenges they faced in those situations and the leadership traits they had to demonstrate.
Finish the class by discussing how to apply leadership qualities beyond the workplace, embracing the girlboss mindset in daily life.
Are you or anyone around you a total girlboss? Tell me all about her and what she does!
