Gender Roles in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

Welcome to the learning path on gender roles in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Throughout this learning path you will read the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and reflect on the role of women in the novel and in our society today. At the same time, you will also practise your language skills!

On this very first page, you will find out how the learning path is structured, how working with the learning path works, and which icons you might encounter on the following pages.

Contents

Gender Roles in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

1. Welcome - Hints & Tips
   
2. Pre-reading
   
3. Reading: Chapter 1
   
4. Reading: Chapters 2-13
   
5. Reading: Chapters 14-24
6. Reading: Chapters 25-30
7. Reading: Chapters 31-39, 40-46 and Historical Notes
8. Post-reading

Information for the teacher

This learning path on gender roles in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is part of Verena Eisenköck's master's thesis in the field of English didactics at the University of Salzburg.

This learning path can be used by the students independently and autonomously and in a blended learning setting. It is intended for a language level in the range B2/ B2+ according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Further didactic information and the methodological framework can be found in the master's thesis "Teaching Literature via Blended Learning: The Potential of the Platform ZUM-Unterrichten and Learning Paths for a Sequence on Gender Roles in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale".

How to work with the learning path - hints and tips

This page provides some useful information to help you find your way around the learning path.

At the top of the screen, you can see a list of the modules you will be working through. You can jump back and forth between the chapters by simply clicking on them.

In addition to the work in the learning path, you will often need a Word document and - of course - the novel. You will complete most of these tasks in a Word document and hand it in to your teacher as a portfolio at the end of the learning path.

In the learning path you will meet the following icons and boxes:

Task

These tasks are part of your portfolio, which you hand in to your teacher at the end. Complete these tasks in a Word document.

Important: Always write down exactly which task it is and - if necessary - copy the instructions or questions into the document.

Task

These exercises are done right here on the website. (Kahoots, learningapps, quizzes, etc.). Take a screenshot of your screen at the end of the task and paste it into your Word document for the portfolio.

Task

These tasks are also part of your portfolio. However, they are not written assignments but oral tasks in which you practise your oral language skills.

Task

These tasks are not part of your portfolio but can be addressed in class by your teacher. They also take you to an external website.

Important

Such boxes do not contain tasks for you, but they do have important information that you should read.

Sometimes there may also be tips and help available if you get stuck or need a hint. In these cases, you can click on the following button to display help:

Here you will see hints and tips.

What you should know and be able to do already:

Now you are ready to start: Click on the next topic at the top of the chapter overview or directly here at the bottom right on the link that always takes you to the next chapter in the learning path.

Pre-reading