1. Study break
  2. Magazine zone
  3. Bullying

Bullying

Have you experienced bullying? You're not alone. Read the article to understand more about bullying and find out what you can do to stop it.

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises to check your understanding. 

Preparation

Why do we need to take action against bullying?

Sadly, bullying is really common. In a study of young people in the UK aged 12-20, half of them said they had been bullied. About 1.5 million young people in the UK were bullied last year, and many of these were bullied every day. People who are bullied are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety. They might lose interest in the activities they enjoy, avoid spending time with other people and not go to classes or school, which has a negative effect on their learning.

What is bullying?

Bullying is not just physical, like hitting or kicking someone, or taking their things without permission. Bullying can also be with words – saying or writing things that are not nice. Another type of bullying is social – choosing not to include someone, embarrassing someone or telling other people not to be friends with them. Bullying can happen at school, on public transport, when you're walking home, online ... in fact, it can happen anywhere. Bullying involves an imbalance of power – one person (or a group of people) that is more powerful than another. Maybe this person has private information or is more popular, or maybe they are physically bigger and stronger. 

The roles kids play

Bullying usually involves more people than you think. There are the people who bully and those who are bullied. (It is better not to say ‘the bully’ and ‘the victim’ because that makes it sound like things can’t change.) Sometimes other people help the bully or they join in. Then there are the kids that support – they don’t bully anyone directly, but they support the bullying by being an audience. They laugh or encourage the children who are bullying in other ways. This is why it’s important for everyone to work together against bullying. Some children see what is happening and want to help, although they don’t know how. Others may comfort and defend the person being bullied. To stop bullying we need everyone to be brave and take a stand.

How to help

Does your school do anything to prevent bullying? Why don’t you create a student anti-bullying group? This group can do many things. Let the head teacher know how well the school is doing with fighting bullying and give them advice. Choose an anti-bullying slogan for your school, make posters and displays or take over the school’s social media for a week to send out anti-bullying messages.

Bullying is a social problem and it needs a solution from society – in other words, everyone. The next time you see someone being cruel to someone else, take a stand! Don’t laugh or ignore what’s happening – tell an adult as soon as possible and help everyone to realise that bullying is not OK.

Worksheets and downloads

Bullying – exercises129.35 KB
Bullying – answers110.68 KB
Bullying – text119.9 KB
Discussion

Did you learn anything new from reading this? What's the most important thing to remember about bullying?

Language level
B1 English level (intermediate)
Topics
bullying
mental health
happiness
cyberbullying
Personal online tutoring
EnglishScore Tutors is the British Council’s one-to-one tutoring platform for 13- to 17-year-olds.
Find out more

Comments

Submitted by Gymnastics100 on Tue, 06/22/2021 - 17:19

Yeah, I agree with you, because many times people don´t stand over! But, we need to be brave for stping bulling.

Submitted by Arivelde on Fri, 05/07/2021 - 16:09

What I read in this text is what most of us already heard or maybe even experienced it. Bulling is something very commun, unfortunately, and it is a problem in most of places of the world, especially in schools. There are schools without bulling around the world, yes, but it's almost an utopia. The most inportant thing to remember about it, besides everything that we try to do to avoid the situation help (every little action is not in vain), is not to give up, always try to stop this horrible thing, that is almost a disease in our society.

Submitted by hermione123 on Tue, 05/11/2021 - 09:48

i agree with you that asking for help doesn't mean giving up. but, some people don't know how to ask for help. they just shut up, they don't tell anyone how they really feel. it's sad though. i think that happens because they aren't used to tell people their feeling. or they just get emberrased if they tell someone their condition.
Profile picture for user Kimchi

Submitted by Kimchi on Sat, 04/24/2021 - 12:49

I think that some schools don't do enough and say that it was just a joke or that it's there fault. Also parents of people that bully are irresponsible and don't understand there accusations.
Profile picture for user Javiperohacegracia4B

Submitted by Javiperohacegracia4B on Thu, 10/15/2020 - 18:13

The bullying is something that makes me upset but in a good way I dont see it in my highscool (at least no in a big way), all talked here is a thing that I already knew but is nice having places like this who can give mentality to people.

Submitted by DanteTamaqki124 on Tue, 10/13/2020 - 07:15

I think bullying is horrible and it makes me sad people suffer from it everyday

Submitted by cookiepg on Tue, 09/01/2020 - 02:51

I think don't bullying some one and them will worry and sad..................................

Submitted by Zaudi3 on Wed, 08/12/2020 - 06:56

It’s true here what i read . This bullying happens in every country and schools , we should stop bullying each we should respect each other . Especially in my school. Students are so bad they are bullies everyday they like to bully children especially me they don’t eave to go out sometimes they tell bad words to me and others but especially me they like attack me i hate them but i have nothing to do in just go to school and learn and come back home and do my other work but ost studying . So bully its very bad and everyone should take a stand
Profile picture for user JoModerator

Submitted by JoModerator on Wed, 08/12/2020 - 07:45

Dear Zaudi,

We're really sorry to hear you're having this experience. Remember, it's very important to tell an adult that you trust, like a parent or teacher, when someone is bullying you. We hope the situation gets better for you soon!
 
Best wishes,
Jo (LearnEnglish Teens team)

Submitted by hermione123 on Tue, 01/05/2021 - 04:06

hello, Admins could you please tell me, if someone upvotes or replies my comment, will there any notification for me? thank you :)
Profile picture for user JoEditor

Submitted by JoEditor on Fri, 01/08/2021 - 10:00

Hi hermione123,
We don't send notifications if someone replies or votes for your comment. The only way to see it is to come back and check. 
Best wishes, Jo (LearnEnglish Teens Team) 

Submitted by hermione123 on Tue, 01/12/2021 - 08:29

Dear, JoEditor thanks a lot for answering my question. And, I'm really sorry if I've asked the same question several times, because I always forget on which post i've asked. Best wishes, Hermione123

Submitted by anna_v3r on Thu, 06/04/2020 - 09:09

I didn't learn nothing new from this article because I already heard this things multiple times when we were talkinng in class. By the way it's a delicate topic but the advices for me are useful.

Submitted by Nandini on Wed, 07/01/2020 - 21:29

I also didn't learn anything new since we talk about bullying at school, but what you should do is stand up to bullies, tell them to back off. I think the person who's being bullied is threatened not to snitch, so maybe that's why they're not telling anyone about what's happening to them.

Submitted by mmatildepontoni04 on Sat, 05/16/2020 - 13:51

I learned a lot of things reading this text. Bullying is a common behavior nowdays , mostly social bulling. To stop it we should be more brave and take a stand. We shouldn't ignore this proble.
Profile picture for user Sherry4869

Submitted by Sherry4869 on Wed, 05/13/2020 - 15:55

We shouldn't bullying. it makes people sad. Mean words make a man very sad.

Submitted by gio_cra2004 on Fri, 04/24/2020 - 16:06

Yes, I did. From this reading I learned many new things. I think it's important to prevent bullying but also to help the victim overcome the difficult situation. The most important thing is to create listening and support groups so that people don't feel alone and understand that it's right to talk someone.

Submitted by vittoriadigianno on Fri, 04/24/2020 - 12:22

i didn't learn new things because i already knew them. i think the most important thing is not to be silent and ask for help.

Submitted by Gabriele1926 on Wed, 04/22/2020 - 14:23

Yes I learned a lot of things with this text. I think that the people have to help the victims of bullying

Submitted by Matteo on Wed, 04/22/2020 - 14:14

I think i learned that even if i'm not the boy that is bullied i should denounce the bully, and not just worry about my business but help the other people

Submitted by giogiomas on Wed, 04/22/2020 - 14:14

Bullies can ruin people's lives, mentally and physically. It is important to create support groups and talk about problems with reliable friends and adults.

Submitted by alaricofranca02 on Wed, 04/22/2020 - 08:28

yes I have learned something, it must be remembered that to make bullying happen you have to be strong and speak with family, teachers or friends. because it can be difficult to overcome this situation alone.
Profile picture for user KemoF

Submitted by KemoF on Fri, 04/17/2020 - 14:27

I guess the bully are helplessly unhappy or in frustration. As is often the case, they are double-faced: one as a good lad in front of their parents/teachers who place more expectations on their kid; the other as a bully finding an outlet to relieve stress of their false self. That is to say, it's easy to prey on the weakness of a bully!
Profile picture for user Andrii

Submitted by Andrii on Tue, 12/24/2019 - 15:48

I learned a lot while reading this text. I think the most important thing to remember about bullying is that you shouldn't ignore bullying.

Submitted by hermione123 on Tue, 01/05/2021 - 04:10

i agree with you, Andrii. i think, if we know someone whom bullied, we really need to speak up.

Submitted by Lozovatka on Sat, 12/21/2019 - 20:24

The most important thing is not to be silent! Parents should talk to their children and explain the consequences of such behavior. A person which is bullied needs family support and understanding for being more confident.

Submitted by HappyCat on Tue, 08/06/2019 - 16:01

Bullying can destroy a life and destroy someones future, so do not ever bully someone even if that person is not as good as you .You have to know what are you doing and will you like if some kid will bully you.

Submitted by HappyCat on Tue, 08/06/2019 - 15:56

i can agree because i was bulled and if i won't stand over then they will continue bully me:

Submitted by Studentlama on Sun, 06/30/2019 - 07:59

Bullying is a common behavior nowadays in schools,shops,transportation and etc. There is also stages in bullying, some bully others on their appearance, their intelligence and other unique things about the person. Bullying is an unpleasant thing done in this world between people. To prevent bullying you have to do the following steps. The first step: if you see anyone bullied tell a supervisor or an adult. The second step if anyone sent you a bad message block the sender ,don’t respond and tell someone you trust. Thirdly if you are bullied don’t keep it a secret because it may harm you in the future. For those of you who are bullied out there I am really devastated to hear you’re bullied, just be strong and try the following steps to make the bullies feel guilty that they bullied you and if you’re recovering from bullying just know that you’re a fighter and that you’ll always be amazing.

Submitted by MohamedS2007 on Sun, 06/30/2019 - 07:49

Bullying is a common behavior nowadays. Bullying should be stopped and the bullied children should stand out for themselves and there should be an anti-bullying group supporting the bullied group and if this behavior continues including its voice violence and physical violence they should be kicked out of school.

Submitted by Studentlama on Sat, 06/29/2019 - 08:18

I am really devastated about hearing students bullied each day .I hope this will stop one day.When you see someone bullied tell a teacher or any adult. don’t bully others instead help them.

Submitted by Demonking73 on Wed, 05/15/2019 - 13:48

No i didnt learn new things but those what you said that also i do for preventing and i someone try to bullying me i just act that i didnt listen them.If they being more to bullying me then i just say that some dogs are barking at class.

Submitted by HCmimo on Tue, 03/12/2019 - 21:41

The most important thing to remember is Bullying is not a game . It's so dangerous and i think that each people must take a stand about it. We want a world free of bullying!

Submitted by Patrycja on Tue, 09/17/2019 - 12:29

I think you are right. We have to react and don't avoid the problem. Greetings from Łęknica
Profile picture for user Youjiro

Submitted by Youjiro on Sun, 02/10/2019 - 13:18

I think school bullying is on the discussion all of time.bullying include voice violence ,physical action etc.If there are no anti-bullying group we could not go to school .
Profile picture for user SLMT

Submitted by SLMT on Thu, 09/13/2018 - 08:04

I learned a lot from this reading.I got a chance to know that we should not laugh when someone else is bullying someone.Even though we are not helping directly to the bulling ,we become their audience and undirectly support them.And if u I see someone is bullied in front of me,I should stand for them and help them. We should make a anti-bullying group or club at school.And make sure everyone know that bullying is a bad thing and we all should look down the one who bully other weak people.

Submitted by HCmimo on Tue, 03/12/2019 - 21:52

i think that your opinion is so awesome but i think that we should not look down the one who bully other weak people 'cause that become all this in a fight and anti-bullying is not a fight is about give love. Just love.

Submitted by PresentStudent on Thu, 07/12/2018 - 01:52

The idea of ​​creating a support group is great, we've all been denigrated by bullying.

Submitted by pearla on Wed, 06/06/2018 - 21:05

This is a delicate topic though
English courses near you