Unorthodox on Netflix - Study Guide (episode 1)

As promised, I’ve designed and worked with the first episode of the series Unorthodox, a really interesting and controversial series which deals with Hasidic communities (orthodox Jewish communities) and gender roles . This set of activities is intended for pre-intermediate students who are not ready to comprehend long stretches of oral discourse. Hope you find it useful as I did.

Part 1 “HASIDIC COMMUNITIES THE NEW YORK TIMES READING” to activate background knowledge of the topic. I included an authentic article from the New York Times which is about Hasidic communities and coronavirus. Students complete some reading activities and then focus on vocabulary related to the pandemic and a grammar exercise to summarize the article in which they work with present simple and present continuous.

Part 2 "HALF WAY THROUGH THE FIRST EPISODE’’. There are a number of pre, while and post comprehension activities to check understanding of the first half of episode 1.

Part 3 ''ROUNDING OFF THE FIRST EPISODE": Same as part 2, this time with more varied activities and a final writing task.

BONUS! The aim of this questionnaire is that students are able to describe a scene, to help them with retelling of the PLOT. The questions can guide them to go through and explain the storyline .

My students really liked the series and learned a lot about these communities, gender roles and coronavirus!