TESL 160 - Unit 1
In nearly all instances, people act and behave based on biases and assumptions they have gained throughout their lives. Teaching is no different despite the best efforts of teachers to not allow biases and assumptions from guiding their behaviours. In the contexts discussed in this lesson, there are a few different biases and assumptions that teachers may have about their learners. When working with immigrants, teachers may believe that the learners came to North America because they wanted to live in the Euro-Western culture that is present in much of North America. However, this fails to realize some immigrants came because of repression or economic turmoil in their home countries. Teachers may also have assumptions about the mental states of learners who have experienced torture or extreme trauma in their home countries and may treat these learners differently than other learners in an attempt to “tiptoe” around them. Finally, as Singh and Doherty (2004) mention, culture is not tightly bound and enclosed and some teachers may be confused when someone from another culture does not follow the perceived “rules” of that culture.
How can teachers prepare for teaching in these contexts? Any taboo topics or activities you shouldn't teach in any of those contexts?
It is important for teachers to prepare for classes that include these cultural or experiential difference so as to not offend or retraumatize students and prevent them from continuing their education. For victims of torture, it is important for teachers to minimize outside noise and have safe spaces set up for these learners to go in case they need to leave. It is also important for teachers to depersonalize different topics as a way of preventing retraumatizing learners. For example, when discussing English words for family it is important not to have learners discuss their own family as this may traumatize learners who survived war zones but lost family in the war. This is a good practice for most classrooms until the teacher knows quite a bit about their learners and can feel confident they will not cause any offense or trauma by bringing in personal experiences into the classroom.
What personal life experiences can help you in adjusting to teaching in some of these contexts?
Although I do not have much life experience in teaching English to learners who come from these contexts, I do have some general experiences that I can draw from. Although there was not extreme culture shock, I was technically an immigrant to the United States when I attended university. This gives me some minor understanding about what immigrants who are learning English as a second language for academic purposes are going through. Also, I work in a French school and some of my colleagues are relatively recent immigrants to Canada who came here from predominantly French speaking countries. They not only experienced culture shock from moving here but also moved to and work in a province that has significantly less French than some other provinces. Through working with these colleagues as well as speaking with them outside of work contexts has shown me some of the struggles that they must endure as immigrants.
Other reactions to the readings.
All of these readings were immensely helpful in pushing me to think about the different contexts that ESL/EFL learners come from. Personally, I found the text on teaching victims of torture and refugees both the most helpful and also the most difficult to read. The information provided is extremely useful and is helping me to think about how I teach different things to learners. It made me more conscious of different things I do that could trigger learners from these contexts and it also gave great real life ideas as to how to overcome these challenges. However, it was difficult to read this text because the topic is one that is really upsetting. Although I know these things happen around the world, thinking about the triggers that could traumatize a victim of torture or refugee has forced me to think very critically about every minute detail of lessons. In particular, the section discussing teaching about the human body was both upsetting and helpful. I would never have thought that teaching about a particular body part on its own could traumatize someone because of the severed nature of the body part. However, the suggestions of always showing the entire body of the person when discussing particular parts was extremely helpful.
References:
Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture. (n.d.). CCVT strategies for promoting a positive atmosphere in the language and skills training classroom. Retrieved from http://www.teslwindsor.com/uploads/7/8/1/7/7817983/ccvt_strategies_for_promoting_a_positive_atmosphere.docx_pdf_2_windsor_apr_15_2016.pdf
Jenkins, S. (2008). Adopting an intercultural approach to teaching English as an international language. Essential Teacher 5(4), 19-21. Retrieved fromhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/258242671_Adopting_an_intercultural_approach_to_teaching_English_as_an_international_language
Singh, P. & Doherty, C. (2004). Global cultural flaws and pedagogical dilemmas: Teaching in the global university contact zone. TESOL Quarterly, 38(1), 9-42.
Statistics Canada. (2008). Immigrants' perspectives on their first four years in Canada: Highlights from three waves of the longitudinal survey of immigrants to Canada. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2007000/9627-eng.htm#tphp
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