Teacher Discussion Forums

[atg_aau]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first time on the ESL Cafe, so I hope I am posting to the right page.

I am a Faculty Developer with the Academy of Art University in SF--twice a year we hold a teaching conference for our instructors. Since our school is 30% (and growing!) ESL students, we are planning a session about ESL Cultural Issues. I was wondering if anyone out there knew of some good resources to look at or if there are any particular issues/hot topics to hit. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks!

A.T. Garcia

[Eric18]

For worse or for better, there has been growing attention on the cultural status of knowing English. For instance, the ability to speak English allows individuals to communicate with millions of other people from around the world. Some globalization critics and nationalists, especially in smaller countries, have attacked English as subverting national and group identities. English speakers tend to be the more educated, more affluent, and more successful individuals in several developing countries.

You will also find a rich literature on the use of English in advertisements in non-English speaking countries for the same reasons. Modern technological products and companies, such as LG, advertise in Europe in English their message that "Life is Good". The clear implication is that buying their LG product makes "Life Good" and as does speaking English since only English speakers can understand their ads.

Good luck.

Eric
eric@compellingconversations.com
www.compellingconversations.com

[alexcase]

I've recently written a couple of articles on the subject:

http://edition.tefl.net/articles/cultural-differences-in-classroom/

http://edition.tefl.net/articles/more-cultural-differences-in-classroom/

And some ideas on how to use that directly on a lesson about cultural issues:

http://edition.tefl.net/articles/cultural-training/

http://edition.tefl.net/articles/cross-culture-lesson/

http://edition.tefl.net/ideas/culture-ideas/fun-cultural-training-topics/

Hope some of that helps

TEFLtastic blog- www.tefl.net/alexcase

[Sally Olsen]

The University of British Columbia in Canada has long done research on this topic. Here is one article:
http://www.csse.ca/CCGSE/docs/JPaulGraysonSusanStowe.pdf

Ling Shi has done really good work if you look up her papers.

Bernie Mohan has gotten to the heart of the issue with his work on Social Practice.

The office of our instructor's organization called TAG has printed many brochures that would be useful for your teachers.
http://www.tag.ubc.ca/

TAG regularly gives workshops for our instructors and perhaps one of the workshop leaders could be persuaded to come to your conference.