Being a teacher

Hello again

I am reporting below a passage from F. McCourt's Teacher Man, a book that deeply moved me, particularly in the experiences reported by the writer in his being a teacher:

“A few years earlier I could have been one of them, part of the huddled masses. This is my immigrant comfort level. I know English, but I am not so far removed from their confusions. Rock bottom in the social hierarchy. I could drop the teacher mask, walk down the aisle, sit with them and ask them about their families, what it is like in the old country, tell them about myself, my meandering days, how I hid for years behind the mask, still hiding as a matter of fact, how I wish we could lock that door and shut all the world outside until they spoke enough English to make them feel so cool they can tell that foxy white chick they’re ready for a little action.
Wouldn’t that be pretty?
I look at this collection of kids from all continents, faces of all colors and shapes, God’s plenty, this garden: Asians with hair blacker and shinier than anything ever seen in Europe; the great brown eyes of Hispanic boys and girls; shyness of some, rowdiness of others, posturing of boys, coyness of girls. […]
In class she [Nancy] says, You were lucky you knew English when you came to America. How did you feel when you came to America?
Confused. Do you know what confused means?
The word goes around the room. They explain it to one another in their own languages and heads nod, yeah, yeah. They are surprised the man up there, the teacher, was once confused like them and he knew English and everything. So, we have something ion common: confusion.
I tell them that when I came to New York I had trouble with language and the names of things. I had to learn the food words: sauerkraut, cole slaw, hot dog, bagel mit a schmeer.”

Frank McCourt, Teacher Man, Green Peril Corporation, 2005: 131-132, trad. italiana Ehi Prof!, Milano, Adelphi Ed, 2006.

Apart from the setting (an Irish teacher in the USA) -which could however in many ways apply to our multilingual and multicultural classes today -what struck me is the feeling of empathy McCourt innerly expresses towards his students, which he barely dared to express. When he does, the students seem so surprised to find out he is a "human being", who can also feel confused.

How often do we dare expressing our human side to our students, who often long for a smile or a look of complicity to feel they are appreciated as persons, too? And to feel that the class is not only a cognitive but an affective place, too? Where it may be worth belonging?

I have often asked myself these questions, and still do even in university wide classrooms, where establishing rapport seems more a challenge than an opportunity. And I find that the effort is always worth it, as responses generally come - often just a matter of time and patience.

What do you feel and think?

Paola :-)

EIL - ELF

So, English as an International Language and as a Lingua Franca…

Research and debate have intensified in the last decade about the role that English is increasingly playing as an International, or global, language. It is a fact, a reality that cannot be ignored, whether we like it or not. We, and even more so our students, are surrounded by English, which has become the main lingua franca in international communications also in Europe.

But what and which English? Non-native speakers outnumber by far native speakers, and numbers are bound to increase in this sense – so should Inner circle countries (Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) be referred to as determining standards and models? Or should English as a Lingua Franca (see amongst others Barbara Seidlhofer and Jennifer Jenkins’ works) be considered a variety in its own rights and a possible reference model, also in TEFL?

A few references:

An easy-to-read and interesting article where to start from: NOT THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH - NON-NATIVE ENGLISH-SPEAKERS NOW OUTNUMBER NATIVE ONES 3 TO 1. AND IT'S CHANGING THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE. http://www.newsweek.com/id/49079

David Graddol’s English Next (2006) can be downloaded at http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-englishnext.htm

And the University of Verona GlobEng conference site: http://profs.lingue.univr.it/globeng/index.html

It’d be great to hear what you think…

Paola

Ideas to share

Hello again

I have thought about what to use this “learning” blog for, as at the moment the only experience teaching the language I am doing is to primary school teachers. They could certainly be interested as students in joining some language learning activities in this space, and this is a possibility…

However, during my afternoon walk in the fields the idea has come to my mind that I could be using it as a sort of place where to "collect" the methodology areas I have been and am interested in, an open diary, a reflection and an interactive place where to put together and exchange ideas, practices and opinions.

So here I am…

During the years of teaching experience (many… more than twenty…) issues and problems (or opportunities?) that I have found particularly interesting and worked on are the following:

- Learning styles and differences in the (language) classroom
- (Language) learning strategies
- Autonomy and language learning
- The neurobiology of learning
- Whole-brain learning
- The role of affect and of a positive environment in the classroom
- Cross-curricular projects and CLIL
- Practices of inclusion in the classroom (particularly as concerning Italian as L2)

and more recently

English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): what perspectives for the language classroom in terms of:

- Possible models (only British and American English, or “Inner circle” countries?)
- Materials (particularly textbooks)
- Culture: which, whose and who for?
- Multilingualism, communication strategies and language awareness
-

I have thought I can create a post for each of these topics in the following weeks (or months…), as a space to share practices, questions, debate for all those who would like to join in

Paola

my new blog

Hello!

this is my blog!! I have created it having in mind my way of seeing learning and teaching: experimenting all the time, learning all the time while teaching.

Hope this new adventure is going to be fun

paola