Learning Objectives:            

Students will:

• Consider how truthful or untruthful language can enflame situations locally and globally.
• Examine Christian teaching on ‘taming the tongue’ and the exercise of self-control as an area of spiritual growth.
• Reflect on the wider topic of social media and truth in contemporary settings.

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify how truth and deceit can be used to provoke actions for good or ill.
• Analyse a number of Bible verses, including verses from the New Testament book of James, written to early believers.
• Consolidate learning by incorporating the Bible verses into a piece of drama.

Supporting Values Education:

The value of Individual Liberty assumes that we are free and responsible for our responses to the actions of others, and that we have the power to speak truth or falsehood. The values of Democracy and Rule of Law recognise that we are part of a society where everyone has rights and responsibilities towards one another. This lesson encourages students to consider how their words impact the behaviour of others, and how self-control affects wider society.

STARTER:

Give each student a copy of the Words Words Words worksheet, or use the worksheet as a discussion starter with the class as a whole. The exercise can be done in two or three parts.

Part One: What’s Acceptable?

Task: Rank the following from one (least acceptable) to ten (most acceptable). Be ready to explain your choices.

1. Telling a sexist joke to get a laugh from friends.
2. Deliberately starting a false rumour to hurt someone’s reputation.
3. Sharing a private photo of someone without their permission.
4. Saying “no offence” before making a rude comment about someone’s appearance.
5. Lying to protect someone from getting hurt emotionally.
6. Teasing a friend in a group chat, even though they say it doesn’t bother them.
7. Calling out someone online for posting offensive content.
8. Telling a teacher when you see someone being bullied.
9. Congratulating someone who beat you in a competition.
10. Giving someone a genuine compliment to boost their confidence.

Acceptability Categories (for your reference, not the students)

Clearly Unacceptable

1. Sexist joke.
2. Starting a false rumour.
3. Sharing private photo.

Debatable / In the Middle

1. “No offence” + rude comment.
2. Lying to protect someone.
3. Teasing a friend in a group chat.
4. Calling someone out online.

Clearly Acceptable

1. Reporting bullying.
2. Congratulating an opponent.
3. Giving a genuine compliment.

When students have had time to rank the list, work out if there is consensus in the room about what is and is not acceptable.

Talk about why students ranked the statements as they did. If there is not a clear consensus, invite one or two students to defend their choice of top words and phrases.

Discuss together how students reached their decisions.

Why are some ways of speaking or writing worse than others?

Is it ever possible to be 100% truthful and 100% kind?

Is it more important to be kind than to tell the truth, or vice versa?

Point out that the list is about statements and phrases that individuals and small groups (e.g. the school community) might say. Can students think of examples of situations in wider society, or globally, where a statement or phrase has caused problems? Examples might include taking sides in a conflict; newspaper headlines or social media posts inciting protests or riots; sectarian beliefs or other divisive behaviour that is reinforced by use of particular words or phrases; cyber-bullying that leads to real life harm.

Invite students to complete part two of the worksheet – Part two: Choose your words carefully. This section can be completed alone, or if the class knows one another well, it can be completed individually then discussed in pairs or groups. Students are required to choose the three phrases that best describe them:

I always tell the truth, even when it might hurt or anger someone.

I try to be kind at all times.

I think positive words have an impact on everyone else around me.

I think criticism is an important way to learn.

I find it hard to keep a secret.

I never spread gossip.

If someone told a lie about me I would confront them.

If someone told a lie about me I would stay quiet but seek revenge.

I’ve been upset by something someone has said or posted about me.

I’ve been fooled by a lie before.

I sometimes find it difficult to tell the difference between a truth and a lie.

Finally, for Part three, ask students to write two-three sentences about a time when they said something to or about someone that caused a problem.

Was it easier to do Part one or Part two? Often we have clear ideas of what we think is acceptable behaviour, but we don’t find it easy to live it out. When people consistently hold a standard but behave in a different way, we call it hypocrisy. To some extent we are all guilty of being hypocrites in what we say!

Explain that in today’s lesson you are going to be learning about what the Bible teaches about how Christians are encouraged to use words.

MAIN ACTIVITIES:

Introduce the film clip by explaining the following:

Hiccup (Mason Thomas), a Viking, lives in a society where dragons are feared and to be destroyed at all costs. Hiccup has encountered a dragon he calls Toothless, and has struck up a friendship with him, believing that he can teach Toothless to fly and thus tame him, but taming a dragon isn’t as straightforward as Hiccup would like to believe.

Show the clip from How To Train Your Dragon (Dreamworks 2025, PG). Click here to buy the DVD online.

• Start time: 00.55.31 (beginning of chapter 11)
• End time: 00.59.53
• Clip length: 4 minutes 22 seconds.

The clip begins with one Viking ship returning to harbour with a dispirited crew. We learn that the other ships have been destroyed by dragons. Stoick (Gerard Butler) tells Gobber (Nick Frost) that they did not find the dragons’ nest they were looking for. He is surprised to learn that his son, Hiccup (Mason Thomas) has become a celebrity because he has a ‘way with the beasts’. We then see Hiccup riding Toothless (the dragon). Hiccup has a chart that he consults in order to adjust his saddle. At first all seems to go well, and the dragon and rider fly high above the clouds, Hiccup telling Toothless that they will take this ‘nice and slow’. The ride is bumpy, but the chart seems to be helping Hiccup control the dragon. However, as they soar over the cliffs, Hiccup loses his grip on the paper and then falls from the saddle. The pair tumble to the ground but Hiccup manages to catch a hold of the saddle and his ‘cheat sheet’. He quickly realises, though, that this is no use to him and drops it in order to concentrate on flying. Hiccup and Toothless catch the wind and steady themselves and both cheer.

Explain that eventually Hiccup and Toothless were able to fly elegantly and gracefully together, but only after they had built a friendship and weathered some storms. Hiccup had good ideas about how to ride a dragon, but he ended up throwing away his cheat sheet in order to concentrate on flying. Taming a dragon was hard work and took determination.

Distribute the Taming Your Tongue worksheet and ask students to complete it on their own. The worksheet requires them to read James 3:1-12 and to match the various images. Once they have matched the pictures and phrases they are asked to choose their favourite description and to explain why they think the writer chose so many dramatic images to describe what tongues are capable of.

If you have time, ask them to check their answers with their neighbour, and explain why they’ve chosen the image they have.

Once they are finished, display the phrase:

People have tamed all kinds of wild animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures. And they still tame them. But no one can tame the tongue. It is an evil thing that never rests. It is full of deadly poison.

Remind students of the clip they watched from How To Train Your Dragon. Discuss why the writer chose the image of taming a wild animal to explain the damage words and phrases can do.

What sort of power is described by these images? Can anyone think of any other examples of something small that has a big impact?

If appropriate for the group, look at some news headlines together and note how words and phrases have inflamed or cooled situations.

Distribute the Advice for Christian Speakers worksheet. Students must match Bible verses that offer the best advice for each of the statements given (same statements as in Words Words Words worksheet) then decide which piece of advice is the best overall.

Answers are as follows:

1. Telling a sexist joke to get a laugh from friends.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. (James 3:9-10).

2. Deliberately starting a false rumour to hurt someone’s reputation.

There are six things the Lord hates… a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. (Proverbs 6:16-19).

3. Sharing a private photo of someone without their permission.

A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret. (Proverbs 11:13).

4. Saying “no offence” before making a rude comment about someone’s appearance.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.” (Ephesians 4:29).

5. Lying to protect someone from getting hurt emotionally.

The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. (Proverbs 12:22).

6. Teasing a friend in a group chat, even though they say it doesn’t bother them.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32).

7. Calling out someone online for posting offensive content.

If someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. (Galatians 6:1).

8. Telling a teacher when you see someone being bullied.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves… defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:8-9).

9. Congratulating someone who beat you in a competition.

So let us do all we can to live in peace. And let us work hard to build up one another. (Romans 14:19).

10. Giving someone a genuine compliment to boost their confidence.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Discuss with the class whether social media and digital technology has made us more truthful or less, kinder or less. What does the class think about the idea that some of the Bible verses might help people of all faiths and none?

SUMMARY AND ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING:

Divide the group into pairs or small groups and ask them to create a piece of drama illustrating an example of how a word, phrase or statement could cause trouble at school or in the world. To make it more challenging, you could give each group a different style to work with (e.g. soap opera, news report, cartoon, action movie, YouTuber etc.)

Once they have created their scenarios, ask them to choose one of the Bible verses they have looked at today, and extend their drama by applying it and creating a different ending.

Show the dramas to one another if time permits.

YOU WILL NEED:

• A copy of How To Train Your Dragon. Click here to buy the DVD online.
• Copies of the Words Words Words worksheet.
• Copies of the Taming Your Tongue worksheet.
• Copies of the Advice For Christian Speakers worksheet.