Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[dew]

I'm tossing this one out to all of you because I need to know what other people really think. This subject just came up with the ESL practicum. There seems to be a lot of controversy around to teach or not to teach ESL adults (and obviously I'm talking about high to intermediate ESL learners) about 9/11, the holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur, etc. etc. I said that 9/11, like other historical atrocities have a place in the classroom. That if we can and we do talk about it outside, why not discuss it inside the class? I'm not talking about making an intensive lesson on it, just an organized disucussion. I would not pass judgment on anyone. I got a lot of negative feedback on this and I found that really depressing. Depressing because what a sad thing it is to say we shouldn't talk about something that affects everyone in the world. I'm not saying make a history lesson out of it. This person in my class feels it should be left outside the class. What do you think?
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dew
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dew

[asterix]

I think you should teach them English. Let them decide what they want to study when their English is good enough.
Incidentally, it does not follow that because they are of foreign origin they don't know about such subjects already.