Cultural Capsule: Teens, Social Media and Rolezinhos in Brazil

Rolezinhos, a recent phenomenon in Brazil which looks like a flash mob with teens all over and is organized via social media, has caused a lot of discussions about social segregation, teen culture and the power of the digital to mobilize masses.

With the DMLCentral post by Raquel Recuero “Rolezinhos: Flash Mobs, Social Media and Teens”, a whole lesson plan could be considered, focusing on socio-cultural aspects of Rolezinhos. Some ideas:

>> The teacher might ask students to brainstorm ways that they organize their hangouts with friends; where they generally go, what they do, how social media helps them to mobilize the group. Then, they can read the text and compare their “rolés” to the ones pointed out in the post.

>> If students are from other countries, the teacher could even play with the meaning of the word rolezinho. They could create a definition for it and could check if they got it right.

>>The post is a great opportunity for in-depth, rich discussions about social/racial segregation and comparison to their own cultures.

>>If the teacher is in Brazil, students will certainly have strong opinions about rolezinhos. There could be a debate, having students be in the shoes of different parts involved, the teens who organize the rolezinhos, the police, the shop owners, the rich clients in fancy malls, the parents.

>>The teacher can use Lucas excerpt to elicit from students to picture the situation before the read the text and understand what he is talking about.

And if you are curious to know the pronunciation of “rolezinho”, here it is:

Here’s a short audio I recorded that you can use in your classroom:

Any other classroom ideas that we can use for such rich post for discussions?