"The Network" - 9b setzt sich im Englischunterricht mit Cybermobbing auseinander

In unserem Englischunterricht bei Frau Nettersheim haben wir eine Lektüre mit dem Titel "The Network" von David Eberhard gelesen und uns intensiv mit dem Themen Internetsicherheit, Cybermobbing und Umgang mit sozialen Netzwerken beschäftigt. Wir selbst hatten die Möglichkeit, unsere Vorkenntnisse einzubringen, falsche Vorstellungen auszuräumen, Fakten zu erfahren und kritisch zu diskutieren...und das alles natürlich auf Englisch. Dabei haben wir auch Sicherheitsmaßnahmen gegen das Cybermobbying zusammengestellt.

Im Folgenden haben wir für euch unsere Meinung über den Inhalt der Lektüre  zusammengefasst. Eure Klasse 9b (Schuljahr 2013/2014)

Dear reader,
In our English lessons wo work with the reader "The Network". This novel is about a 15 year-old girl called Jenny Anderson who experiences difficulties with the internet, especially with the social network "The Network". In the course of the lessons we have talked about dangers and risks on the internet and about our internet security setting and we discussed advantages and disadvantages about these topics in class. Most teenagers have an account on a social network like "Facebook". It is important to know what you should do or should not do. The "Network", with its example as Jenny, showed us what can happen when you are not careful with your private information. She is not careful enough with her data so that someone hacks her profile and bullies others in her name. And because of the fact that she enters her cellphone number and her address online, a Mr Thorne stalks her after he writes her on "The Network", as a photographer called Mike Armstrong and meets her as his friend, Mr Brunt. After some stalking attacks from him, Jenny and her best friend Vicky, who supports her, go to the police. Cybermobbing is also a topic in this book. As l have written before, a friend of Vicky, Kevin, hacks her profile and bullies Jenny's classmates. And because of that they start to bully Jenny, too. When discussing Jenny's experiences, we set up a list about what people can do if they are victims of stalkers, hackers or cybermobbing and how they can their profiles and data safe. For example we said that you should just accept people you know as friends, you just open up your profile and data for your 'friends' and that you do not react to suspicious pop-ups or photos. In my opinion, every student in class nine should read this novel because it is informative and Jenny is a very good example for a victim of mis use on the internet. Moreover, she is at our age and the story is based on a reality that could be ours and so we could learn from Jenny's mistakes and feel for her. Additionally, this novel is easy to read and it is a different and interesting kind of work for us in class. Yours sincerely, Hannah Wangard

Dear reader,
I have been thinking about the question if I would recommend reading `The Network´ to make teenagers aware of the problems of cyberbullying on social networking sites. I think there are many reasons for reading this novel. Teenagers can see the problems of cyberbullying in situations which can happen in real life by looking at the example the example of the central figure Jenny.They can learn how to protect themselves from`cyber attacks´ or, when you are bullied, what to do. Also they can see that their real friends are the best friends and that you don´t need the internet or especially `The Network´ to have fun. Other than that,the story is interesting because of many little stories that make up the whole story. Moreover,you would not think that the author is able to address all of the problems or hazards which emanate from the internet in one story,therefore there is a good variety of topics. Anyway it can be difficult to understand all strands of the plot but mostly it is easy to read. The only thing I dont´t like is that the reader only names the negative sides about the internet and social networking sites.Actually it can be very helpful and you can do things you couldn´t do without the internet or internet sites like `The Network´.For example keeping in touch with friends in another country and all over the world. All in all I would recommend reading the Reader to make teenagers aware of the problems. Yours sincerely, Annika Dommershausen

Dear reader,
In our last teaching unit we have engaged in reading a book named ‘The Network’. It was written by Dominik Eberhard and deals with a very important topic: Cyberbullying on social networking sites. To get a closer look into the reader, I will first tell you something about the story line: Jenny, the leading character, is addicted to the internet and spends a lot of time in front of her computer. This changes when she and her best friend Vicky get a new classmate: Mark. He has not got an internet account on the network like the others, therefore he spends a lot of time outside with ‘real friends’. During the story Jenny experiences dangerous situations with the network, but with the help of her real life friends, the story has a happy ending. To get back to the topic and the question if I would recommend the reader: Yes, I would! In my opinion the author points out a very topical issue which is also a very important one. In today’s society, it has become a normality that everybody is available everywhere. But what is the reason for this? I think it began because of the fact that the electronic companies produce more and more high-tech smartphones and computers. Every teenager wants to have the latest and newest mobile phone to be ‘IN’. Most of the smartphones have an access to the internet which leads to the fact that especially teenagers use the network daily and do not have any ‘real friends’ to talk to. They just have ‘online’ conversations. The internet increasingly becomes a mobbing platform. Reasons for this could be on the one hand, that the young offenders cannot be recognised that easily because of a false identity. On the other hand, another reason for this could be that the victims of the cyberbullying cannot protect themselves from such an attack. Although the security settings are safe enough, like the internet tells us, the websites contain many security gabs. On ‘The Network’, all of the critical things about the social network are connected in a well understandable story, in which the positive and negative sides of the network usage are well explained. Additionally, the reader (or in this case the student) gets a clear impression of what to take care of when you have an internet account or profile. Anyway, I think it is very important for young people to pay attention to this topic. In contrast to the past there has been a big development of internet usage during the last 10 years, eventually this leads to the high cyber-mobbing-rate, too. Also very important for the young people to know about are effects of the bullying. A lot of them see it as a joke but for the victims it is not. They often are very depressive, have eating disorders or think about committing suicide. To sum up, I would say that I really recommend the reader because it shows the life behind the screen with all its negative sides which hide from the users. Sincerely Yours, Paula Wagler