Lesson Topics: the Streisand Effect, free speech, defamation
Skill Focus: Speaking, Vocabulary, Listening, Writing
Approximate Class Time: 1.75 hours
Lesson Plan Download: afroman-police-upper-intermediate-042026.docx
Lesson Overview:
- Students first warm up with questions about authority and police.
- After a short foreword on the Streisand Effect, students watch a 2:21-minute video about an American musician named Afroman's court case against Ohio police officers. Summary: Police raid Afroman's house to search for drugs, but find none. In their search, they damage Afroman's home. Afroman later creates a music video entitled "Lemon Pound Cake", using footage from his surveillance cameras. The officers then sue Afroman for defamation, arguing that the video's popularity negatively impacts them. Afroman wins the case, which is seen as a victory for free speech.
- The video is followed by comprehension questions.
- Next, students review phrases from the video and match key vocabulary to definitions. Once complete, students use some of the new vocabulary to complete discussion questions.
- The debate prompt features a topic about trying to hide negative information from the public.
- As a discussion activity, students review five scenarios and decide if they constitute defamation or not.
- After two famous quotations, students then review vocabulary and the lesson's collocations.
- Finally, the lesson ends with a few final discussion questions.
UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Lesson on Afroman & The Streisand Effect
Warm-up
- Have you ever been treated unfairly by the police or someone in power? What happened?
- Can you think of an example of an artist or musician who used their work to protest something?
- In general, do you trust the police?
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This lesson plan was created by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. Claude was used to generate answer keys and some famous quotations. For questions, contact the author.
Comprehension questions:
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- It was named after singer Barbra Streisand, who sued the government to have a photo of her home removed from a survey. Before the lawsuit, almost no one had seen the photo; after the news of the lawsuit spread, thousands of people viewed it.
- They entered on the suspicion that they would find drugs or evidence of criminal activity.
- They felt offended by his music videos and claimed that the footage had damaged their reputations and caused them distress.
- It suggests the author may find the officers' reaction or the lawsuit itself to be somewhat absurd or exaggerated. By highlighting a highly emotional reaction to a video about "Lemon Pound Cake," the author subtly mocks the officers' claims of "distress" and aligns more with the idea that the case was a victory for free speech.
- By taking Afroman to court to stop the videos and protect their reputations, the officers actually ensured that more people would watch the videos. The lawsuit became a news story, leading to the "Lemon Pound Cake" video being viewed millions of times—far more attention than it likely would have received if they had ignored it.
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Vocabulary answer key: 1-i, 2-k, 3-d, 4-j, 5-f, 6-c, 7-h, 8-b, 9-g, 10-e, 11-a
Collocations: 1-b, 2-e, 3-a, 4-c, 5-d
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNNdP9LTqB0