Collecting Europe - Robot relationships

Topic
Artificial intelligence, love, science fiction, what it means to be human

Aims
To consider whether a human could have a romantic relationship with a robot
To use this idea to reflect on boundaries and identities
To understand the trailer for Her and a text on the subject in order to inform the debate.
To learn new language related to the topic and useful phrases presented in the reading text.

Age / level
Teenagers and adults with CEF level B2 and above

Time
1 hour + extension debate (optional)

Materials
1. https://collectingeurope.net/questions
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJTU48_yghs Her official trailer

Introduction
This lesson takes the Collecting Europe project as a starting point for an exploration of whether a romantic
relationship between a human and a robot is possible. Students will discuss this and related questions as
they work with the trailer for Her and a reading text on the subject. After a focus on useful language from
the reading text, students are invited to debate the topic in more depth.

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 Procedure

Part 1 (20 30 minutes)

The first part of the lesson is designed to generate ideas about the future and how your students feel about
it. They will also be introduced to the Collecting Europe website (if you have an internet connection at your
school) and the questions asked on the website. They will focus on a specific question Would you have a
romantic relationship with a robot?
Part 1 could be completed in a separate lesson and part 2 done as a homework activity.

1. Lead-in Ask students if they feel positive about the future and to give reasons for their
(5 10 minutes) answers.
How do they think future generations will view us? In 2000 years time, how
will our time be seen?

2. Collecting Show students the website at https://collectingeurope.net/questions or if

Europe quiz you dont have internet access in your classroom, give them the questions on
(10 minutes) the student worksheet.
Ask students to discuss the questions and reflect on their answers.

3. Discussion - a Ask students if they could imagine having a romantic relationship with a robot.
romantic This is the main theme of the lesson. Students write down the reasons for
relationship with their answer and then discuss.
a robot
(5 10 minutes)

Part 2 (10 15 minutes)

The second part of the lesson invites students to watch a trailer for the film Her, in which a man has a
relationship with his operating system. Students could be asked to watch the trailer for homework if there is
no internet access in the classroom.

4. Trailer for the Ask students if they have seen the film Her. If they have, ask them to tell each
film Her other what it is about?
If necessary, clarify and explain that the film tells the story of a man who falls
in love with his operating system. Tell students they are going to the watch
trailer. As they watch, they should note down the ingredients (e.g. personality
traits, the situation, feature of the operating system, the relationship, etc.) that
they think make it possible for him to fall in love with his operating system.
Link to trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJTU48_yghs
(The transcript for the trailer is included on p.4 of the Student Worksheet.)
Ask your students to compare notes and then conduct feedback as a brief
class discussion.
Ask students if they have seen any other films with similar themes and
discuss.

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 Part 3 (20 25 minutes)
The third part of the lesson invites students to read a short text for comprehension and language
extension. It also explores the themes of the lesson through a series of discussion questions, allowing
students to develop their thoughts and ideas more fully.

5. Reading: Robot Reading for gist: Ask students to skim the text to find out if the author
romance thinks it is possible for a human and a robot to have a romantic
(10 minutes) relationship.
(Answer: yes, although it would be difficult to know if the robot
reciprocated the feelings.)
Students should complete exercise 5, True or false, before comparing
and checking answers.
Answers: 1.T, 2.F, 3.F, 4.F, 5.T, 6.T, 7.F, 8.F
Students should complete exercise 6. Ask students to remember or find
the useful language from the text.
Answers:
1. ludicrous
2. it doesnt do it for you
3. in our daily lives
4. merging
5. cheating the system
6. at a dizzying rate
7. blurred lines
8. get to know someone
9. gets your sense of humour
10. the only catch

6. Discussion Students can discuss in pairs or small groups.

(10 15 minutes)
The teacher should listen, participate in the discussion where appropriate
and take notes for feedback and correction.
The teacher then leads a feedback session.

Part 4
In the fourth (optional) part of the lesson, students are asked to debate societal issues about humans
having a relationship with a non-human.

7. Debate (optional) Introduce the situation: It is the year 4020. Human and robot romantic
relationships are now common, but still taboo. Flora (a synthetic human) and
Derek (a biological human) are together. Flora doesnt want Derek to tell

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 anyone that she is not a biological human. Derek thinks it is important to tell
people and challenge their prejudices.
Divide the class in half: one half is Flora and one half is Derek. They should
prepare their argument to convince the other that theyre right.
Pair a Flora with a Derek and give them a limited amount of time to convince
the other one they are right.
You can extend the debate by repeating the conversation with different
partners.

8. Reflection Ask students if, now they have thought about it, they think it is possible for a
human and a robot to have a romantic relationship. Have they changed their
opinions at all during the lesson?

Contributed by
Joanna Gore, British Council Spain

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The British Council, 2017 The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.