ABSTRACT
Tony was teaching a week-long unit of work on ‘lesbian/gay culture,’ a topic that had been selected by his ESL students. At the start of the unit, Tony was enthusiastic about the subject matter, but by the third day he was finding it quite challenging. In an attempt to illuminate the challenges, this chapter critically analyzes two class discussions: the first discussion initiated the unit on lesbian/gay culture, and the second followed the class viewing of a television program with a lesbian character. I take into account the perspectives of the teacher and five of his students-two women from Japan, two men from Korea, and a woman from Taiwan. The analysis suggests that gay and lesbian material offers abundant opportunities for learningbut that rather than focusing on what gay and lesbian people are like, it may be more effective pedagogically to focus how gay and lesbian people are represented.
