Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

Not literally of course, though half of you that clicked on this topic probably did so with a knowing grin while the other half are sputtering 'what, what, WHAT?'

Two questions...

Is anyone tasked with sex education in their classes? I've never seen this come up before. In my own Canadian high school, it was left to a bumbling gym teacher, and came about 8 years after everyone knew the the stork wasn't at all responsible.

Second...

I'm unimpressed with the way the topic is presented in off-the-shelf ESL or EFL programs. The usual routine is dating, marriage, and in a very heterocentric way (safely, I suppose). Not that I would expect hardcore raunch, but something a little more modern would be better. I'll admit that the topic comes up more often in my own one-on-one classes than it does in larger groups (though one group taught me the Spanish word for orgy, while we were talking about marketing, strangely enough). I rarely see even inert topics like pregnancy, or contraceptives.

[naturegirl321]

Gasp, sex ed in a private all-girls Catholic school, I don-t think that they do do that. Although there are many ideas about how not to get pregnant in Peru, the most popular being that if it-s the girl's first time, she can-t get pregnant.

Here the routine is date, get pregnant, get engaged, get married. You only have to wait 15 days from the time you bring the docs to town hall until the ceremony. Which is what we did and everyone thought that I was pregnant and now a year later they realised that I-m not and never was pregnant.

Contrceptives are available OTC, birth control pills, injections, condoms and arm implants, although some people think that they are too expensive, I think that having to raise a kid would be more expensive.

On another note, many people here that I know have had abortions, even married couples, it-s not legal, but with money anything happens. I think that I will stick to the pill.

[jessn]

I don't understand how a teacher can declare young adult students to be "proficient" in English, if they lack the language to: a) accept or refuse sexual activity and define their related wishes or b: purchase needed contraceptive supplies. For college age students and adults, a tack is to ask them to decide whether it's appropriate information for them. You can say something like, "Next week we can do a unit on either, 'making plane reservations' or 'sex and sexuality'". Then ask them to vote.
Teachers of younger students should be guided by their common sense, and, ideally, by having a chat with the director of their school, or, if applicable, the sex ed or health teacher. It's great if you can make this topic interdisciplinary with the biology or health curriculum. In schools where the topic is taboo, you can at least give the kids the language they need to refuse, or accept, anything. eg. "I would, but..." "I'd rather not.." etc.
Having the right vocabulary to negotiate the shoals of sexual possibilities is literally a matter of life and death.

[Justin Trullinger]

Biology is not my area, but...

...the topic comes up with some regularity, working as I frequently do with both Ecuadorians who are about to go abroad, or with foreigners who have just arrived in Ecuador.

Sexual mores vary widely from place to place. (As EFL teachers, most of us know this first hand.) At the very least, orientation for an overseas program should include information about different ideas towards gender roles, dating, relationships, and, the part they're usually all waiting for, sex. Anything less would be a disservice to students. Anything more, such as birth control information or biology knowledge that may not be available to students in their own countries is a little more of grey area with me- ideally, I think that all sexually mature persons should have this information at their disposal. But it isn't my job, and I can certainly see dispensing this info, though I may have sometimes done so, could cause problems.

If a parent is paying me to teach their 17 year old child English (Or 18, or 19, or however old, but in this scenario, the parents are still paying.), would they be right to complain if I also offered material that contradicts their moral values? I believe that teens should know about condoms, for example. But is it an English teacher's place to tell them? And what about a Catholic parent- do they have a right to know if such a topic is coming up on a course?

Adult students would be in a different category with me- anything they want to know, tell them.

Best,
justin

[Guy Courchesne]

[Justin Trullinger]

I'm from the bible belt- any sex-ed I received in school was purely extra-curricular.

Though in honestly, it was mostly at a post-secondary level.

I just meant that I wouldn't really feel comfortable teaching the biological facts of sex, which is not my area.

But I frequently feel a responsibility to teach about the cultural role of sex, and cultural beliefs and customs related to it.

One example is attitudes towards homosexuality. Students here frequently have very traditional attitudes about gayness- it's wrong, and in any case they've never met a gay person.

But then they ask me if I think Freddy Mercury from Queen "might have been gay." Obviously, I have to explain that he was, and openly. And that in other cultures, it doesn't have as strong a stigma attached to it as it does here.

Best,
Justin

[Jyulee]

Sex as a topic in ESL.

Hmm.

I've never seen it in resource or coursebooks, although perhaps ever-so-subtely alluded to sometimes.

While it would be fun to imagine coursebook writers all as elderly prudes who know nothing of the carnal world, I imagine the lack of sexual content in ESL materials is more a result of the interference of publishers. They want books to sell internationally, as much as possible.

Having chapters about "the do" would mean less books selling, I think it's as simple as that.

As for me, well my students are upper class 13-year old Colombians. They all have the internet, I imagine they know all too well what sex is. I am an English Support teacher - I work on grammar and paragraphing, teaching safe sex is no-where near my job description. Is it the job of ANY esl teacher to be going over such things in class?

[naturegirl321]