GLOBAL ISSUES

Integrating global education into language teaching

SIG
Spring 2010 Newsletter Issue 25

David Valente

Englishes for all: What? Who? How?

Global Issues in the ELT Classroom

James Thomas and

Martina Pavlickova

Global Challenges for Education.

Approaches to Lesson Planning in China

and the U.K.
Overview of Developments in the Wii
Whiteboard Concep
IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group ISSN:1026:4310

Maureen Ellis

Qiuzi Pan

Matt Ledding

Page 2

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IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group issue 25

Letter from
the coordinator.

Page 3

Dear Members,
I am very pleased to be writing this introduction as coordinator and to be handing
over the task of Newsletter Editor to Xiaobing Wang, who I know will do a great
job. The SIG owes a huge thanks to Mike Solly, our former coordinator for putting
it back on the IATEFL map in the last two years and has shown the committee real
expertise. I am also very pleased that Mike is remaining on the committee to keep
a watchful eye on things !
Thank you to those who have contributed some excellent articles for this
issue. All the time and hard work that goes into putting the newsletter together is
always rewarded with the satisfaction that there is a growing convergence
between Global Issues and ELT. This issue offers articles on; a team of consultants who train in mainstreaming Diversity, an award winning materials publication
project with Fairtrade , DIY interactive whiteboard , low cost/high tech and more.
We are very pleased to have some new members on the committee;David Valente
who will be our organizer for up coming events this year. Our pre conference
event is entitled,GLOBAL ENGLISHES: Walking the Walk.
Finally, as new coordinator I would like to send out a whole hearted invitation to
all our members to discussions http://global-issues.ning.com/
contributions by way of articles for the newsletter and participation in events.
I hope we can offer each other rewarding exchange and plenty of brain food!
All the best,
Claudia Connolly

Global Issues committee

Coordinator: Claudia Connolly:

[email protected]

Deputy Coordinator: Maureen Ellis:

[email protected]

Newsletter Editor: Xiaobing Wang:

[email protected]

Events Organizer: David Valente:

[email protected]

Deputy Newsletter editor: Dana Radler:

Website manager: Mike Solly:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Discussion list moderator: Muhammad Iqbal:

[email protected]

General Committee member: Paul Woods: [email protected]

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group issue 25

Page 4

CONTENT

Articles

Englishes for all: What?

Who? How?

David Valente

Global Issues in the ELT

Classroom

James Thomas and

Martina Pavlickova

P.6 -10

Global Challenges for Education.

Approaches to Lesson
Planning in China and the
U.K.

Overview of Develo
ments in the Wii
Whiteboard Concept.

P.11-15

Maureen Ellis
P.17-21

Qiuzi Pan
P.22-25

Matt Ledding

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group issue 25

P.27-29

Page 5

IATEFL
Global
Issues
SIG
Aims

ning.com/ join us there and

help us redefine them. These are our
current aims:
To assist in the exchange of information and ideas surrounding
Issues within ELT such as peace,
justice and equality; human rights
and social responsibility; globalization and world development; social
identity; sustainable development
and the role of the English language
and English Language Teaching in
the world.
To help members fulfil the two roles
a language teacher has in society:
the conveyer of linguistic knowledge and the educator.
Help teachers to equip learners
with the knowledge, skills and values which can help them confront
both local and global problems. To
empower learners to become more
critical citizens.
We seek a more global and socially
inclusive perspective within ELT,
sensitive to local diversity.

To this end, we strive to exchange

ideas and information on a broad
array of social issues, including
education for peace, justice, and
equality; human rights, social resThe Global Issues SIG, created in
ponsibility and social change;
1995, aims to provide a forum among globalization and a sustainable
ELT practitioners
environment. We explore ways to
to stimulate awareness and understan- improve EFL teaching and learning
ding of global issues, and to encourage among the world's social majorities,
the development of global education
where often only minimal resources are
within language teaching.
available, and to integrate inventive hightech approaches wherever possible.
Our aims are constantly revisited in
discussions online

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group issue 25

PAGE

Equality &
Diversity

What? Who? How?

and Curriculum Innovations

..the gaps
grow even wider
between
the
haves and the
have
nots
across
a
shrinking globe.
Money
talks.
Money
talks
English.
Bill

Templer

(2008:7)

equality and diver- ELT market

sity in TESOL by
We subscribe to
a critical view of
language
and
language
teachenglishes for all:
ing.
Critical
pedagogy has a
long and rich tradition in mainstream education
and is often associated
with
mainstreaming or educationalists
building aspects of such as Rudolf
Maria
equal
opportunity Steiner,
Montessori,
and respect for difference (both visible Howard Gardner
and Paulo Freire.
and non visible) into
However,
this
everything we do in approach is still
the class and train- relatively new in
ing room.
language teaching and is gainefas goal is founded ing currency in
on the belief that we the critical literhave an ethical re- acy work being
sponsibility as educ- pioneered by coltors to ensure that leagues such as
English language is Chris Lima. This
accessible to all. We translates
into
can provide the classroom pracequality of opportu- tice by enabling
nity that proficiency learners of Engin English can bring lish to question
and ensure it is no the context and
l o n g e r
a assumptions pregatekeeper to edu- sented in oral
cational and profes- and written texts
sional advancement. while simultaneWe work to counter ously developing
what Bill Templer their
language
(2008:7)
identifies skills. Our vision
as the effects of is
powerfully
globalisation on the captured in the

What?
englises for all (efa)
provides
customised teacher training solutions which
are both specialised
and varied to cater
to
emerging
(Equality & Diversity
and Curriculum Innovations)
and
more
established
(Young
Learners
and Adults) needs
in global TESOL.
The
creation
of
efa
formalises the
growing
commitment to

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group issue 25

PAGE

following
(1985:198):

words

Whether it be a
raindrop (a raindrop
that was about to fall
but froze giving birth
to a beautiful icicle),
be it a bird that sings,
a bus that runs, a violent person on the
street, be it a sentence in the newspaper,
a
political
speech, a lover's rejection, be it anything, we must adopt
a critical view, that of
the person who questions, who doubts,
who investigates, and
who wants to illuminate the very life we
live
Source: The Politics of Education by Paulo Freire

efa

is commit-

ted to innovation and

best TESOL practice
by setting ourselves
apart from traditional
TEFL which has been
dominated by structural
syllabuses, artificial lesson / coursebook contexts and the restricted

practice of grammar
points. We are firm advocates of outcomesbased
teaching
grounded in learners
purposes and real-world
motivations for using
language. To achieve
this, we make extensive
use of authentic materials which are relevant to
particular cultural contexts rather than international
coursebooks
which have had the tendency to santise the
world and present a
censored view with regard to diversity.

Who?
We are a team of four
consultants who came
together through professional networking, including collaboration on
projects and conference
workshops for the British Council. We discovered that in our own
unique ways, we had
been demonstrating a
commitment to equality
and diversity in TESOL
for quite some time in
the very different teaching and training contexts
we were operating in.
Our collective cultural
funds of knowledge
weave a rich tapestry of
expertise to provide our
clients the most relevant
and tailored teacher

training possible. When

preparing for a consultancy, we share ideas
across the team to ensure
they maintain each colleagues creativity while
aligning fully with our
shared vision.
This
means our diverse training

grounded in
learners purposes
and real-world
motivations

and
materials
design
styles are complimentary
which has direct benefits
for workshop participants
in terms of quality.
Our consultants have collectively worked in 5 continents which equips us
with a wealth of experience. We can therefore
offer highly tailored training solutions based on our
shared contextual
knowledge in addition to
the thorough needs assessment we conduct before each consultancy.
Our teaching experience
(which collectively spans
five decades!) has con-

Page 8
vinced us that language
learning does not need
to be contrived, bland
and safe - quite the opposite, learners of all
ages to respond particularly well to global issues
by exploring the assumptions and views
embedded in the texts
they are being exposed
to. This allows us to use
ELT techniques such as
contextualisation
and
personalisation in truly
meaningful ways.
Global issues have resonance in all countries unlike
much of
TEFL has the conin
been domi- tent
many tranated by
ditional
structural
EFL
syllabuses courseand artifi- books.

cial lessons

How?

efa

actively

raises language teachers awareness of global

Englishes during our
teacher training programmes.
We train
teachers to focus primarily on the Englishes their

Liz Fishwick facilitating a diversity session with

Mexican teachers, Mexico City, November 2009

learners are likely to encounter when using English as a lingua franca to

communicate. We explicitly
highlight
the
shortcomings of teaching
artificial
grammatical
structures,
culturallyspecific idiomatic expressions and nativespeaker models of pronunciation. Our aim is to
address the recurrent
problems caused by the
mismatch between the
types of English which
are taught and what
learners really need for
daily communication.
We enable teachers to
raise their learner awareness of English as a lingua franca by exploiting
authentic listening texts
(using podcasts, DVDs,
etc) which feature a wide
range of speakers and
global varieties of English.

We demonstrate how to
design activities which
highlight how meaning is
successfully communicated and then focus on
consistent language features.
We emphasize
how these are not substandard versions of the
English used in countries
where English is a first
language.
During
speaking and writing
practice activities, we
foreground
successful
communication over language accuracy.
We
praise students efforts
at expressing themselves and avoid correcting consistent forms
which dont adhere to
native speaker norms
but are comprehensible.

Written by David Valente

Reference
Freire, P. The Politics of Education (Greenwood, 1985)

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 9

David Valente is the founder of englishes for all and works as an independent educational consultant, teacher trainer and materials developer
based in Thailand. He has been working in TESOL since 1995 and has
held various teaching, training and academic management posts in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East.

Emily Bell supporting trainees while they 'learn by doing'

on a pre service course, Cambodia,

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 10

englishes for all is a team of globally mobile educational consultants specialising in customised TESOL training.
We promote global Englishes as legitimate communication tools and empower diverse audiences
to develop contextually-appropriate good practice
in TESOL.
Our consultants have many years experience in
TESOL, teacher training and academic management with organisations such as the British Council and International House.
We provide customised training in the following areas:
Equality and Diversity
Curriculum Innovations
YL TESOL
Adult TESOL

For more information please visit: www.englishesforall.com

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 11

ELTons
innovation awards
2010

Global
Issues
in the ELT
classroom,
is not a glossy,
multi-coloured,
perfect, bound,
highly
professional
looking
publication.

The cover

is plain and it has spiral

binding. There are no photos or texts
about celebrities, learners do not have to
ponder how they might spend their lottery
winnings or compose a sonnet describing
their dorm room, nor should they come up
with the perfect alibi when charged with
the crime of the century. The book has no
grammar input or strings of unrelated
gapped sentences, and there is not one
test. There is no accompanying
homework book, CD, video or bi-lingual
vocabulary list.

Yet despite flouting all the maxims of

contemporary ELT publication, on the
evening of March 3rd 2010, the authoreditors were called onto a London stage
to accept the British Council's award for
innovation. The ELTons are awarded
annually in three categories; the UK
Award for Innovation, the Cambridge
ESOL International Award for Innovation
and as of this year, the Macmillan
Education Award for Innovative writing.
The Global Issues book was one of six
short-listed entries in the International
c
a
t
e
g
o
r
y
.

The

ceremony

itself was
wonderfully organised with all the pomp
and circumstance of a night at the
Oscars. The room was resplendent with
the glitterati of ELT - authors of course
books, teacher training materials,
foundation
books,
publishers,
representatives of various related
organisations, etc. The British Council
certainly knows how to throw a party.

The authors believe that

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Fair trade

Page 12

the judges recognised innovation in the

Poverty, Slums, Child Soldiers,
following aspects of the book.
Water Stress, Early Marriages, AIDS,
Firstly, given that the book is an Gender Illiteracy, Fair Trade, Climate
outcome of the Czech NGO, Spolenost Change and Malaria are decidedly tough
pro Fair Trade's year-long
topics and are typical of
development education project, the lessons those that GI in the ELT
the lessons reflect a deep
Classroom deals with. They
were
insight into global issues and
follow the UN Millennium
the information is up-to-date. As constructed Development Goals initiative
one of the judges wrote: This
the most ambitious
seems very innovative to me. I to heighten initiative tackling inequities
have not seen other materials the learners' across the world. The eight
based around these particular
goals are :
UN goals or so consistently and awareness of
authentically around these types
the most Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme
of issues.
and Poverty
pressing Hunger
Goal 2: Achieve Universal
Secondly,
the activities global issues Primary Education
themselves are, in terms of
Goal 3: Promote Gender
current ELT books, innovative in of the day. Equality and Empower
that they are task-based and
Women
require critical thinking and creativity. At Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality
the same time, the four skills and Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
systems are constantly developed Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and
through use and input.
other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental
Thirdly, the book is a collection of 32 Sustainability
independent lesson plans, not a Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership
textbook and not a course book. The for Development
lessons are very easy to prepare. It is
enough to read the teachers notes and In the ELT classroom, "dealing with"
make copies of the resources such topics is a complex phenomenon. It
provided. Teachers are not expected to covers:
be experts in any of the global issues motivating teachers and their
as infoboxes appear in the teachers students to appreciate the value of
notes in many of the lessons. Since the delving into such topics
students do most of the work, the providing teachers with the requisite
teacher's role is more as a facilitator and resources
consultant.
providing learners with the requisite
Finally, and perhaps the most language
controversial aspect, is that this book ensuring that the topics are dealt with
was created without any publisher sensitively
constraints. We were our own authors devising activities that demand
and editors and publishers, and political critical thinking and learner creativity
correctness played as much role in our leading students to understand their
decision making as profit making, was role in the world
z
e
r
o
. empowering students to act.

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 13

Bearing all of this in

mind, the lessons
The lessons were constructed to
heighten
the
aim at
learners' awareness
maximum o f t h e m o s t
pressing
global
student
issues of the day.
participation. After all, the clock is
ticking: 2015 was
the distant future
when almost 200
countries signed up to the MDGs in 2000
on behalf of their citizens. We are now
two-thirds of the way there by the clock,
but a lot further in terms of achieving the
g
o
a
l
s
.
The book was developed in a rather
intense seven month period. A group of
12 teachers interested in preparing some
lessons for the book attended a seminar
in which the complex phenomena listed
above were dealt with in some depth.

the up-coming tasks. While direct

grammar teaching was banned,
students constantly recycle their
grammar knowledge in all the tasks they
undertake.
The lessons aim at maximum student
participation.
They not only
There are also
involve
the
students
i n links to photos and
videos which can
reading, writing,
speaking
and
be accessed from
listening but see
the
s t u d e n t s www.globalissues.e
discussing,
d e b a t i n g ,
questioning assumptions, moving
purposefully in the classroom, creating
posters, and using the internet. And
despite the toughness of the topics,
lessons conclude with questioning our
roles, and noting connections. We aim
for positive endings to lessons - "third
world blues" never.

Coming from secondary schools,

language schools and
universities, each brought
their own perspectives on
Since students
learner needs to the project.
They formed four groups learning a foreign
each of which focussed on
language are
two of the MDGs. They
already taking a
prepared their lessons and
pilotted them on each
step into a new
other's students. Martina
world, opening
Pavlickova and others at the
Spolecnost pro Fair Trade their minds to new
acted as consultants for dimensions did not
appropriate content and
seem like an
methods characteristic of
global
d e v e l o p m e n t unattainable leap,
education. James Thomas
opened the door to some
task-based
learning
procedures, and advised on developing
pre-teaching activities such as
vocabulary, pronunciation and the
functional language necessary to perform

As the lessons took

shape, we provided
supplementary
resources of information
including the Global
Issues website. And then
came the quite involved
process
of
writing
instructions for each
lesson. These are often
enhanced with variations,
catering for different
lesson durations and
class sizes as well as
ideas for homework and
other follow-up options.

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 14

Thus a typical lesson plan consists of

Teacher notes with general information:
time, level, skills developed, knowledge
goal, materials (info on students
sheets); the lesson plan step by step:
lead-in, main activity, follow-up, ideas
for homework, key; infoboxes,
recommended websites. The following
pages are the students worksheets
which might include cards, vocabulary
exercises, articles, photos, board
games, crosswords, role-play
cards. There are also links to photos
and videos which can be accessed from
www.globalissues.eu.

The second pillar is teacher training

seminars that demonstrate how a global
dimension can be effectively integrated into
a wide range of classes.

Global education.

Another factor is that English teachers

have considerable freedom in choosing the
content of their lessons. Finally, research
into language and language acquisition has
blossomed in the second half of the
twentieth century and the ramifications of
these filters into ELT as new approaches
to many aspects of learning. ELT is one of
the most progressive areas of
education. The funding for the Global
Issues project was provided by the Czech
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Austrian
Development Agency (2007-8).

The third is writing teacher resource

books, not only for ELT teachers. In fact, GI
in the ELT Classroom is so far the only
one targeting ELT.There are several
reasons why the SFT decided to write an
ELT global education book. Since students
learning a foreign language are already
taking a step into a new world, opening
their minds to new dimensions did not
seem like an unattainable leap, as their
language education primes them for new
What we ended up with was a resource concepts.
book of 32 lesson plans, each from 45
to 90 minutes long targeting teenage It was also felt that ELT offered a much
and adult students of three levels of wider platform than other subjects, given
English: pre-intermediate, intermediate that English is taught in secondary schools
and upper-intermediate. The book is and universities, languages schools, private
also available in CD ROM format with company lessons etc., to adults as well to
the book in pdfs.
teenagers.

The Spolecnost pro Fair Trade is

active in raising a general awareness of
what fair trade is through participating
in international campaigns on
sustainable consumption, such as what
lies behind the manufacture of clothing
and toys.

Fair trade
Since
SFT

2005,

has been
organising many activities in global
education through three main pillars.
The first is workshops run directly
with students at schools in which
everyday products are linked with
problems in other parts of the world
such as child labour in cocoa plants the chocolate we eat, the child labourers
rarely know exists.

Think globally, teach

locally.

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 15

English teachers have

considerable freedom in
choosing the content of their
lessons.
Since the book came into existence in
September 2008, the authors have been
conducting workshops and presenting it
at conferences in Austria and the Czech
Republic.
To date, hundreds of teachers have
attended these events. The feedback at
the workshops has always been
positive, with the high level of student
activity being one of the most
appreciated aspects of the lessons.
Ultimately, the authors hope to see the
book in wide use wherever English is
taught as a foreign or second language.
This unique and innovative resource
was designed to make students global
citizens - let us hope that it does.
Think globally, teach locally.
Written by James Thomas, Martina
Pavlickova
[email protected]
Brno, May 11 2010

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 16

Contribute to our Wider Membership Individual Scheme

Launched at the Aberdeen conference, this initiative is the next phase of our
Wider Membership Scheme. It is designed to enable individual IATEFL members
to sponsor memberships for colleagues in the less economically developed
world where there are no local TAs who are Associates of IATEFL.
Currently, we are focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa. A number of members of the
profession have agreed to be scheme founders and have started a fund which
we will used to match members donations. So by donating 20 you can enable
a teacher from Africa to become a full IATEFL member. However smaller donations are also very welcome. Please contact Glenda Smart [email protected] if
you would like to donate or visit the donations section on our website at
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Do you know what the IATEFL Associates do?

IATEFL has around 80 Associate Members. Our Associates are Teacher Associations from around the world. On the IATEFL website you can find information about all the upcoming Associate events. Network with other ELT educators from all over the world, from a range of diverse backgrounds and nationalities. Log on to http://www.iatefl.org/associates/ for more details.

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 17

Developments in ICT,
mass media,
travel, multinational trade,
international
finance, technology, and
migration, compress space and time,
and accentuate what is today commonly referred to as globalisation. Although some would place the origins of
globalisation in Roman times, others
point to Columbus discoveries, sixteenth century capitalism, postFordism, more recent links to international travel, and the movement of finance and capital facilitated by rapid
developments in information technology. Contested representations of globalisation result from competing visions
of what is a just nation state and world
order, (Apple, Kenway, & Singh, 2005)
with repercussions in education for notions of legitimate knowledge, good
teaching and learning. While economic
analysts value communications and
technology, flexible production and
trade, in an unfettered ever-extending
market, political analysts see the reduced power and sovereignty of nation
states, and cultural and social analysts
fear standardization, and loss of cultural
and linguistic diversity. Educators regret
their inability to design an appropriate
global curriculum (Hooghof, OSullivan),
yet in my opinion, this position, reflective of a critical realist relativist epistemology and ontological emergence,
should in no way dampen their ardour,
nor dispel the urgency of their mission.

Global Challenges
for
Education.

by affluence, eg ozone hole, greenhouse effect, pollution, pandemics, genetic engineering, reproductive medical
technologies; (ii) global socio-economic
injustices destroying ecological and
multicultural diversity of language, culture, and indigenous knowledges; (iii)
terroristic dangers of nuclear, chemical,
biological mass weapons of war which
threaten local, regional, global. However, while this chapter delineates the
extensive and serious potential levels of
stratified damage caused by globalisation, it also points to some of the affordances and potential for a responsive,
even a transformative global education.

Contested representations of globalisation result from

Within the severity of socio-economic

destruction, there are finer nuanced
psycho-social dangers for education, in
globalisations resulting explosion of
knowledge, the ideological bombardment which fractures the integrity of
knowledge or visions of consilience; the
increased scope for paralogism and
sophism which requires more discerning filtering and analysis of the plethora
or semiotic glut which assails us each
day. The consumer-media culture prevents a reflective, discriminating of the
myriad symbolic / cultural representations we are surrounded by, both of the
Other, others, and ourselves. The ubiquitous, pervasive power of multi-modal,
multi-media is harder to identify, define,
control, without the development of
multiple semiotic and digital literacies.
Our very shifting identities can be deBeck (2000 cited in Apple, Kenway, personalised, isolated, dislocated to an
Singh) identifies global risks as (i) tech- arithmetic particularism, testing our
nological-industrial, frequently caused genuine
IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 18

individuality, our collective purpose and

concern for
others, and
sense
of
agency.
The critical
realist perspective of
this series
requires a vertical cross-sectional view of
the many-layered influences of globalisation on individual practitioners, from overarching transnational ideology of economic neo-liberalism, to its political, environmental, social and cultural levels, with
ramifications for individual beliefs and behaviour. Consequently I shall begin this
analysis with the economic ideology which
penetrates every layer of our Being,
seemingly paralysing the good intentions
of committed educators, yet reflecting the
insightful political truism, Its the economy, Stupid.

a public good (Dewey, Freire). As against

education reform, which 30-40 years ago
focused more on social mobility and individual welfare (Bowles and Gintis), today
reforms across the international industrialized world are justified by economic rationale, competition, and the workforce
(OECD 1993: 9 cited by Levin in Ball,
Maguire, Goodson, 2007).
Rawls and Pogge provide grounds for redistribution of educational resources and
reforming unjust institutional arrangements. Rawls defines the benefits of education as not only economic but social and
personal, enjoyment of the culture of ones
society, participation in its affairs, and a
secure sense of worth; in education this
requires resources for the long-term improvement of the least favoured. However,
anorexic funding policies(Kenway,
Bigum, et al in Ball et al, 2007) have
forced education into the market place,
marginalising educators in favour of trainers and business managers.

Neoliberal values stress economic rationality, efficiency, cost-benefit, human capital, competition, with democracy converted from a political to an economic concept. Strong education for employment
policies, with choice, vouchers, tax credits,
all subject schools to the discipline of market competition (Hill, 2009). Marketization,
commodification, and commercialisation
(Ball, 1997; Lipman in Darder, 2009) in
education has meant performance regulation, competition, and compliance, heavy
reliance on quantitative indicators of
achievement for international comparisons. The panoptic surveillance of education has further enforced a standardisation
and performativity which has diminished
educational purpose (Foucault, 1979) with
business metaphors of quality control, accountability, standards replacing notions
of democratic participation in education as
IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 19

In the UK, USA and Australia the insistence on productivity and cost effectiveness, manufactures further pressures
(Lipman, McNeil, in Darder, 2009). Disciplinary knowledge-based, assessment-driven curriculum demands didactic drill-training for exam success, suppressing a critical disposition and creating school leavers who are passive serf
or discontented outlaw rather than an
emancipated citizen or productive
worker (Griffith, 2000), consumers with
marginalized creative, moral, cultural
and aesthetic agendas. Teachers under
pressure to deliver externally created
curriculum, control content by omission,
mystification, defensive simplification,
and disembodied fragmentation, divorcing it from the culture, interests, and
previous
knowledge
of
students
(McNeil, in Darder, ibid), thus stripping
theory of agentive outcomes.
Like trade, international education
seems a one-way process in favour of
Minority World nations - UK, USA, Australia. While cross-border delivery or
transnational programs, have led to
educational innovation, and although
selective recognition of foreign qualifications can have a good influence on harmonising national / international standards (Ziguras, in Spring, 2006), the
downside is evident in the resistance to

GATS, cultural homogenization; prioritising of science,

technology and business to the detriment
of education, health,
social services, normally left to national
governments to address; loss of sovereignty in the education sector; reduced
quality
assurance
and contextual appropriacy; and the brain drain (Verger and
Bonal, in Hill, 2009). The Australian
television programme, Four Corners
(2009) demonstrated the dangers of excessive international competition in educational markets, with consequences for
quality assurance, law, and politics
within Western nations.
Global borrowings which tend to be topdown appropriations of Western school
management (Steiner-Khamsi, 2004),
or generalised universalised curriculum
can mean loss of indigenous, contextual, cultural, biological, environmental
details, threatening validity, relevance,
conviction, usefulness. Local resources,
needs, accumulated knowledge, cultural
identity, transmission of culture and language, national cohesion building
(Gandin in Hill, 2009) are frequently neglected. Adoption of broad references to
the vocabulary of Western allies, to diversity, multiculturalism and integration,
can entail a hybridity of discourses,
transferred selectively and used inconsistently by different ethnolinguistic, political, and educational groups (SteinerKhamsi, 2004). ESD in Africa may
mean Education for Survival, rather
than the contradictory concept of Education for Sustainable Development

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 20

Tying schooling to global economic

competition, reduces students to objects for psychological manipulation to
serve economic interests (Spring,
2006). The seductive rhetoric of lifelong
learning (Edwards and Nicoll, 2001), the
constant
upgrading of skills
for the knowlKnowledge
edge economy,
commodified for denies escape
from the desale
vouring power
of the educational security
state. Employment-related training,
knowledge linked to technology, symbolic professions, vocationalisation, all
optimise the socio-economic order (Ball,
Goodson). Skills cards, recognition and
transferability of qualifications and competences link assessment-driven
schools to an assessment-driven labour
force. University subservience to globalisation, to corporate research grants,
and international students (which)
would be jeopardised by a fundamental
critique of current economic and social
trends (Jackson, 2008).
Knowledge commodified for sale, is valued providing it leads to exchange and
production. The Lisbon Strategy and the
Councils review talk of knowledge as
productivity growth, referring to others
(who) compete with cheap labour and
primary resources. Educational and vocational guidance further emphasise the
instrumental rather than intrinsically
valuable, steering development towards
careers in Maths, Science and Technology, neglecting the Humanities and cultural studies. Such a depleted model of
education is unable however, to generate the critical mass of ideas and creative, skilled labour that even capitalism
needs (Raduntz, in Apple, Kenway,

Singh, 2005) New forms of inequity emerge in the education market

not only between race, class and gender, but between producer and consumer and between developed and developing countries.
In England, the drive to increase economic competition and social cohesion,
has changed the strong liberal-humanist
traditions of schooling, to more functional, competency-based, resultsdriven teaching, payment by results and
forms of indirect rule from the centre
(Lawn, 1995 in Day, Stobart, et al,
2006). What has happened to education
is one outcome of a larger ideological
debate on the costs, management and
performance of the public services in
general. Education as a public service
was the test bed for a raft of radical reforms from the mid-1970s new right
ideology and economic pragmatism and
a deep distrust of teachers and of public
education itself, challenges to the postSecond World War monopoly which
professionals in education, health and
the social services had helYet business
leaders, educators, policymakers and
parents join in a general consensus that
students are not bringing to industry the
skills needed to thrive in the 21st century
(CEO Forum on Education and Technology, 1999, cited by Grieshaber and
Yelland, in Apple, Kenway, Singh) such
as problem-solving, critical analysis,
adaptability, flexibility, interpersonal
skills, competence and confidence with
ICT.

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 21

An attempt
Oxfam (2006) to categorise
plethora
lists globally the
into cognipertinent skills tive, behavioural,
or
of
ersonal
communication, pand
interperconflict resolu- sonal skills,
reveals the
tion,
negotiation or as en po amraaltoi ou ns
advocacy, and of
knowledge
from
mediation.
personal values and individual agency. DCSFs SDAP
states,We do not know exactly what
will be the skills needed for sustainable
development, but we expect that they
will include team work, flexibility, analysis of evidence, thinking critically, making informed choices and participating
in decisions. Oxfam (2006) lists globally pertinent skills of communication,
conflict resolution, negotiation or advocacy, and mediation. Critical thinking,
the prime focus, is frequently highlighted in any education mission statement, as in DfES Global Dimension in
Schools, justifying the need to investigate practitioners interpretations.

might sell! Yet countries with highest national achievement have not focused on assessment but increased
professional autonomy in teaching and
assessment (OECD 1996) What we
need is not simply clever workers and
committed consumers but cultured,
compassionate, creative, critical and
courageous human beings (Raduntz).
We need urgently to move beyond
ideological commitments to particular
strategies to see the real impacts of
policies and how these can be shaped
in desirable ways, to look more closely
at students learning, not just governing
bodies and testing agencies (Levin).
Teacher educators who see how current policy offers constrained alternatives to teachers (Hatton, Zeichner,
Denscombe, Hargreave, Ball, Hill), will
equip teachers to participate in the debate, rather than be content to create
bricoleurs.
Written by Maureen Ellis
[email protected]

Global educators will challenge simplistic assumptions in educational management: local management does not
necessarily mean better decisions;
choice need not result in competition
and improvement; powerful assessment strategies do not guarantee motivated students. More provision for the
most able is frequently at the cost of
the least (Ball, 1993); market systems
which leave damaged environment do
not necessarily deliver on long-term
goals; schools are inclined to sell what
they make instead of making what
IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 22

cover the different styles of illustration

and culture of the illustrator. These are

Promoting
Diversity
through
childrens
literature

just some of the many reasons for using

childrens literature. Our main aim is to
develop positive attitudes in children towards language learning and towards
their appreciation of literature.
The British Council teaching centre in
Paris is very pleased to share with you a
small selection of stories we have used
in our centre to address different aspects of diversity. Click on the British
Council/BBC teachenglish site link below to find out more details and to
download all activity plans and work-

A storybook acts as a springboard

sheets.

for a wide variety of activities designed

The story notes provide suggestions on

to develop childrens English language

how to exploit the storybooks which can

skills as well as opportunities to develop be used as they are or adapted to your

the theme or content of the
own context as per your time available,
book. Stories link to childrens learning

your course aims and structure as well

across the curriculum and develop their as your childrens needs and interests.
general knowledge. Storybooks are also
Gail Ellis
very motivating as they exercise chilTeaching Centre Manager
drens imagination and cater to different
British Council Paris
interests and learning styles. Storytelling is a shared social experience and
provokes a response of laughter, sad-

Promoting diversity through chilness, empathy, excitement and anticipa- drens literature
tion which encourages social and emotional development. The excellent illus-

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/
trations support childrens understand- try/teaching-kids/promotingdiversity-through-children%E2%80%
ing and help them relate what they hear
99s-literature
to what they see and therefore decode
meaning. Children develop their visual
literacy and appreciation of art and disIATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 23
was asked to present a plan for every lesson I taught.

Approaches to
Lesson Planning in China
and the U.K.

Good planning consists of many factors.

One of the criteria is its clarity with all necessary details. My school mentors in two
different schools both said to me that a
good plan should be clear enough with all
the details to enable any supply teacher to
pick it up and teach the lesson effectively
without any verbal explanation. They advised me not to overlook planning, as our
lessons would be marked as failed if our
plans did not meet the high expectations of
our tutors, mentors or inspectors from Ofsted. These people who have the right to
mark trainee teachers or class teachers
lessons in schools can be very strict about
the need for written plans.

Qiuzi Pan studied for her PGCE from

Sep 2008 to July 2009 at the Institute of
Education (University of London). She
achieved her Masters degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language in
the UK in 2006, and then worked as a
teaching assistant in several London
primary schools in London for 3 years
before taking her PGCE course. Before
she came to UK in 2002, she studied for One of the reasons why we need to have
a diploma level course in English Educa- detailed plans for our observation lessons
tion from Sep 1998 to July 2001 at a Nor- in England is that class teachers have a
great degree of autonomy
mal University in China.
When I did my over their lessons. They
teaching practice just take the learning aims
required by the statutory
When I did my teaching pracin
a
Year
1
class
documents, such as the
tice in a Year 1 class in a secondary school (similar to a
in a secondary National Curriculum (NC)
and the Early Years FounYear 7 class in UK) in Guangdong in 2001, I was not re- school (similar to dation Stage (EYFS) and
quired to write plans for my a Year 7 class in then use these learning
aims to plan the rest of
observation lessons. My class
UK)
in
Guangtheir lessons. In other
teacher-mentor would give me
dong in 2001, I words, they decide what
feedback based on my 45
can best help chilminutes lessons. Recently I
was not required content
dren to achieve the learnasked three practitioners in
China (two university lecturers to write plans for ing aims, what teaching
and one secondary school my observation methods to use as well as
how they will assess their
teacher) whether they needed
lessons.
learning. In short, every
to write lesson plans for their
teachers lesson can be
lessons. The two practitioners
working in universities told me that they did very different even thought they may have
not need to write lesson plans, however, the same learning aims.
they had their plans in their heads after
years of experience. Another practitioner in
a secondary school said that she wrote
plans for important observation lessons.
During my teaching practice on my PGCE
(Postgraduate Certificate in Education)
course in Primary Education in the UK, I

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 24
be available, which children you want
them to work with and how you expect them
to support those childrens learning in that
lesson. Occasionally, I planned for the teaching assistant to record individual childrens
progress using post-it notes when I was
teaching. This saved time jotting down notes
and helped me to focus on my teaching and
engaging the childrens attention. I needed to
write that down in the section labelled
Now I will talk about the ingredients we Organising Adult Support in my plans.
need to consider when we plan our lessons
Moreover, most class teachers write
in England. In the foundation stage, we call
down key vocabulary and questions in their
them session plans or activity plans as the
plans. Key vocabulary items are the main
younger children have shorter sessions
words to be used in the lesson, including
rather than lessons. But their formats are
similar. In this article, I just call them all les- previously learnt vocabulary and new words.
Key questions are the ones you ask to exsons to simplify the terminology.
tend or assess pupils learning. While key
Firstly, childrens prior knowledge needs vocabulary will just take us a short time to
to be considered when we plan our lessons. prepare, key questions can take a much
It is important for us to know what they have longer time to think about, because our various questions are expected to target children
already learnt, as this will enable us to decide what they are going to learn in the new who are at different levels. Furthermore, we
need to make sure that our targeted queslesson and achieve by the end of it.
tions are challenging yet attainable and
match the childrens abilities. One of my obThe learning aims for each lesson
servation lessons in a nursery class did not
also need to be written down and be linked
to the statutory documents (Refer to Appen- go well, mainly because the questions I
planned were harder than I expected for the
dix 1) in our plans.
class.
A lesson plan should also include the
resources that we need for the lesson. I
found it very helpful to write down all the resources in my lesson plans as it could help
me to check quickly whether I had got everything that I needed for that lesson. You could
imagine what a disaster it would be in an observation lesson if you suddenly remembered that you had forgotten certain important resources. What if you needed to get
them from outside the classroom, knowing
that you could not leave the younger children
in the classroom without another adult keeping an eye on them, for safety reasons.
That is probably one of the main reasons why we need to have a detailed plan for
our observation lesson or for a supply
teacher to use. This is different from my
teaching experience in China as there we
use textbooks and we just need to think
about how we are going to teach the given
learning aims, using the pre-prepared teaching materials in the textbooks.

Besides, we need to plan for the adults

roles in a lesson, such as which adults will
IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Pag
There are a range of strategies and techniques for asking questions. According to Dalton
and Smith (1986), different questions should be
used to develop childrens various thinking
skills, such as comprehension, application,
analysis, evaluation and prediction. Therefore,
what questions we are going to ask is also decided by what thinking skills and abilities we aim
to assist our pupils to develop. It is worth mentioning here that thinking skills are given a crucial place in the National Curriculum (for Englands primary schools) and teachers are expected to support children to expand their various thinking capabilities as much as possible in
their schooling.

However, each class teacher can adjust their

format according to their own needs and what
works best for them. We are not required to produce such detailed plans for all the lessons that
we teach. This is also not feasible in reality as a
result of our hundreds of tasks each day. But
class teachers do need to write their weekly
plans for core subjects .
Written by Qiuzi Pan
Bibliography:
Dalton, J. and Smith, D. (1986) Extending Childrens Special Abilities-Strategies for Primary

Another important part of planning is to differentiate tasks or support for children with
mixed abilities (QCA, 1999a). Regarding differentiation, Dweck (2000) proclaims that much
current educational research shows the significance of designing tasks with an appropriate
level of challenge for all the children because it
can help to enhance their confidence in their
abilities through persisting in overcoming difficulties. I also need to plan any differentiated
support that I will need to give to children with
Special Educational Needs (SEN) or with English as an Additional Language (EAL). Following
that, we come to a prominent part for our formal
plans - assessment. I agree with James and
Pollard (2008) that assessment has a big impact
on our teaching and childrens learning because
it gives a class teacher information regarding
childrens achievements, interests and learning
difficulties. This information will beneficially inform our further planning by following their interests, providing support for their learning barriers
and taking what they have already achieved into
account.

Classrooms. Australia: Ministry of Education

Victoria.
Dweck, C. (2000). Motivational Processes Affecting

The last part of my plan is the lesson

stages, consisting of all the steps in detail. In
some of my plans, I also put down timing to
make sure that I manage time efficiently. As a
result, the sessions will not finish too early or go
over time. In order not to finish some sessions
too early, I was advised to prepare something
extra, such as activities or exercises and put
them down in my plans.
The above is only a sample to show how I
have learnt through my PGCE course about
writing a good plan for observation lessons.

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 24

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 25

Stories for language learning

Storyleaves website is launching this

summer!
Storyleaves is a website selling teaching material for creative
story-based language learning.
We create story based teaching packs for primary school teachers
who teach English as a foreign language. They are designed to take
a class through approximately one story over a duration of ten 1hour
lessons.
Storyleaves language learning packs aim to develop childrens minds,
thoughts and social practice. The tasks and activities help to build
cultural, artistic and communicative competence in young learners.
Each pack is inspired and based on the authentic childrens story
book and includes:

Simple step by step teachers notes

Flashcards
Activity sheets
A Learner diary
Book making activities
Arts and crafts ideas
Links to other cross curricular sites

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 26

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Find out more about IATEFL SIGs

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coordinators of each group at the relevant email address for details
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Teacher Development - [email protected]
Teacher Training and Education - [email protected]
Young Learners and Teenagers - [email protected]

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 27

How does it work?

Overview of Developments in the Wii
Whiteboard

The wiimote has a special chip that follows

the 4 brightest sources of infra-red light with
a frequency of 940 nm, with an interpolated
camera resolution of 1024 x 768. A web
cam cant beat this resolution for the same
price, and doesnt have the built in tracking
capabilities, or the built in transmission of the
information by Bluetooth.
Placing the wiimote in front: 45 degree angle, height of the middle of the screen, at a
distance of about 2 times the height of the
overall image (thanks to Ben Paddle Jones
for that information.) Retro-projection: place
on top of projecter, aimed at center screen.

Any potential problems I should

know about ?
1.Cant be used outdoors: sunlight and halogen lights can emit ir light at the right frequency. (as can flame, so it isnt great for
bonfires, romantic dinners, or chain smokImage by Francisco Cardoso Lima used with per- ers.) Most programs identify number and location of extra IR. (Smoothboard will allow
mission.
you to ignore a stable one.)
Since Johnny Chung Lee came up with his
program, (and video!) in 2007, the wii
whiteboard community has been growing, 2.f the wiimote disconnects, you may have
and new tools popping up all the time. This to reconnect it via the Bluetooth icon. (As
article will try to paraphrase these events, an important aside: the Bluetooth adaptor
and let you know the basic facts behind a
you buy can make your life easier, or a nightvery exciting invention that means you can
have your own portable interactive white- mare: there is no standard controller, the
controller is seldom marked on the box, and
board on an English teachers salary
what you buy/use depends on your program
and operating system.

What is it?
The Wii whiteboard turns any flat surface
into an Interactive Whiteboard. Using the Wii
controller, (no need to buy a Wii ) an
infra-red pen, a Bluetooth stack (BT adaptor and the controller) and the
screen (projected image, flat monitor or
flatscreen tv) you have an interactive surface, thanks to any of the software listed below.

Rule of thumb:
Windows machines (including macs with
bootcamp) not running Java whiteboard buy
an adapter that uses native Microsoft Bluetooth stack. (ie: Zoom, or any brandnames
specifically mentioned in the bt.inf file that
you can find with a search of your computer )

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 28
T h e
m o s t
popular
is
still
Johnny
Chung
Lees
program, but it is also the base for the rest of
the programs, and logically, the point at
which all the others start from wont be the
most advanced. This does not diminish J.C.
Lees brilliance, and his generousity in open
sourcing his original ideas: he is the giant
whose shoulders the rest stand on. (credits
also go to Brian Peek, a Microsoft programmer like Lee, whose wiimote codes were the
base for Lees work.)

cult for me in windows, but that might be

me) on my netbook to run Smoothboard
on it, and I suspect it might be impossible
connecting through the MS BT stack. Uwe
puts a lot of time running suggestions and
from what I saw, I really think it is a good program, especially for people who dont want
anything to do with Microsoft. (I have to
admit, using the Wii whiteboard with Vista
Premium (and included tablet PC drivers and
ink recognition) combined with OneNote and
the totally *free* InkSeine from the good old
boys and girls of Redmond have given me
certain warm fuzzy feelings for them that just
werent there before.)

Autoconnecting to one wiimote only to the

MS stack, it is a simple and transparent program. Less complicated interface than most
printer
Silver Medal
http:// d r i v e r s
www.uweschmidt.org/
and that
wiimote-whiteboard
means it
is easy
to learn,
and not intimidating to teachers who are a bit
technophobic. And it is free. (With a little
shameless self promotion from a pioneering
and respected IR pen company.)

-Multiple Wiimotes with possibilities to track

separate spaces for a larger complete image. the only IWB that as far as I know offering TRUE multi-touch. (the multiple pens in
commercial boards create multi operative
boxes, not multi-touch. .. aside from the fact
that if you have 4 students at one board,
youd better have it retro-projected because
the you make a better door than a window
effect, to the power of four, well makes for
lots of shadows.) It does multi-touch through
TUIO commands which has an applet for
MS multi-touch, but if you need to ask, you
dont need to know.

Which Software
should I use?

Java Wii Whiteboard Uwe

Schmidt, Germany.
If you are a Mac or Linux user, this is your
only option for the moment. And not a bad
one free and open source. Connects to
Linux via BlueZ stack, and uses the incorporated BlueCove to connect. I havent spent
enough time with this program to really give
it a really fair shake, on in-depth calibration
comparison, but it seemed pretty accurate,
when well calibrated I lost it as usable as I
had to take off the heavily-modded-to- beusable widcomm driver (connecting was diffi-

Unique Features

The name comes from the pixel smoothing

function of Boons algorithm, which has since
been incorporated in the rest of the programs, including Johnny Lees. As far as I
can see, Boon Jinn is now the driving force
behind the rest of the groups, as he has
pushed the concept of Lee into a very functional program. (Lee is busy on the Microsoft
Natal project, making a wii- killer interface
that might bring down prices further...)
Unique Features:
-Like Johnny Lees program, is written
in .net , which means it works on all windows
platforms, and will someday be ported to
Mac and Linux when things like project Mono
are more developed.

IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group

Page 29

The wii whiteboard is small, flexible, cheap,

easy to use, and constantly reinventing itself.
A travelling English teacher can carry a portable projector, netbook, and wiimote, and still
save on weight over the typical bookload,
apart from creating a digital whiteboard in
classes that dont even have normal whiteboards.

Unlike most digital whiteboards, you

can retro-project, eliminating shadows.
You can use it on any TV or monitor
where you can connect your PC. (Note
a clear acrylic sheet over LCD screens
could save a friendship and this is
the only thing that is really liable to
break.)
It uses the interface you are familiar
with your computer. Above all, it is
scalable, and students can copy the
idea and apply it to their work, projects
or hobbies.

Why bother with any of

this?
The wii whiteboard is small, flexible,
cheap, easy to use, and constantly reinventing itself.
A travelling English teacher can carry a
portable projector, netbook, and wiimote,
and still save on weight over the typical
bookload, apart from creating a digital
whiteboard in classes that dont even
have normal whiteboards.
Unlike most digital whiteboards, you can
retro-project, eliminating shadows.
You can use it on any TV or monitor
where you can connect your PC. (Note a
clear acrylic sheet over LCD screens
could save a friendship and this is the
only thing that is really liable to break.)
It uses the interface you are familiar
with your computer. Above all, it is
scalable, and students can copy the idea
and apply it to their work, projects or hobbies.
Written by Matt Ledding

Matt Ledding.

A graduate of l'cole nationale de cirque de Montrel,

(created by the founding artistic director of Cirque du Soleil) ran away from the circus to join a home. After 5 years and over 750 shows in 8 different languages with
his duo show, he decided to reinvent himself as an English teacher. Based in Madrid, Spain, he performs English
language edutainment shows with
h i s
c o m p a n y
fifthbiz.com for primary schools,
high schools, universities, and language schools using circus and
magic to make learning visual.
Aside from circus, magic and language, he loves tech but prefers
not to be referred to as a circus
geek, which is a different profession entirely.
IATEFL Global Issues Special Interest Group