All posts by sharmashyam

Teacher’s Anecdote June 09

Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

In this issue, we have included an article that talks about the reasons behind using an anecdote for language teaching purposes.

This article was published originally in English Teaching Forum (2008). Abstract Anecdotes are stories, usually from personal experience, that people tell to make a point or entertain others during a conversation. These personal stories have a considerablerole in everyday human interaction (Jones 2001), and according to Wright (1995, 16), “the whole world is full of storytellers.” Anecdotes often have an emotional component, such as happiness or sadness, excitement or embarrassment, or amusement or disappointment. Therefore, when we share an anecdote, we share a compelling story with other people. While it is not possible to remember all of the anecdotes we know, we do remember the content of noteworthy ones, and often we pass them on to others. It is well known that inserting anecdotes in essays and oral presentations is a good strategy to attract and hold audience attention (Benson 2000; Lukey-Coutsocostas and Tanner-Bogia 1998). This also applies to the second language classroom; using anecdotes is a good technique to arouse student interest and establish a meaningful and memorable context for learning. This article aims to describe types of anecdotes, explain why anecdotes are useful in language teaching, and suggest how to use them in the classroom. Read the full article…

Multilingualism in Nepal (Jun 09)

Oral History Project

This audio clip was archieved from one of the BBC Nepali Sajha Sawal programs. This media reveals us the complexities and challenges of multilingulism in Nepal. Because we have been arguing that language pedagogy is shaped by every setting’s unique socio-cultural and linguistic particularities, this stimulus can be one of the resources to familarize the audience of this specificity. This one-hour audio centers around four issues of multilingualism and restructuring of the state: language in the central government level, language in the local level, language in education pollicy, and language for international communication.

(Source: www.bbc.co.uk/nepali)

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. The next week the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5.00 am for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he finally wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5.00 am.”

The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9.00am, and that he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn’t woken him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed … it said… “It is 5.00am; wake up.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

An English teacher often wrote little notes on student essays. She was working late one night, and as the hours passed, her handwriting deteriorated. The next day a student came to her after class with his essay she had corrected. “I can’t make out this comment you wrote on my paper.” The teacher took the paper, and after squinting at it for a minute, sheepishly replied, “It says that you need to write more legibly!”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

A young student reported for a final examination that consisted of only true/false questions. The student took a seat in the hall, stared at the test for five minutes, removed a coin from his pocket and started tossing the coin and marking the answer sheet. Heads meant true, tails meant false. The young student finished the exam in 30 minutes, while the rest of the class was sweating it out. Suddenly, during the last few minutes, the young student began desperately throwing the coin and sweating profusely. The moderator, alarmed, approached the student and asked what was going on. “Well, I finished the exam in half an hour,” said the student, “but I thought I ought to recheck my answers.”

 

( Source: http://www.101funjokes.com/school_jokes.htm)

Classroom Humour (Jun 2009)

ELT Humor

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. The next week the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5.00 am for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he finally wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5.00 am.” The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9.00am, and that he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn’t woken him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed … it said… “It is 5.00am; wake up.” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. An English teacher often wrote little notes on student essays. She was working late one night, and as the hours passed, her handwriting deteriorated. The next day a student came to her after class with his essay she had corrected. “I can’t make out this comment you wrote on my paper.” The teacher took the paper, and after squinting at it for a minute, sheepishly replied, “It says that you need to write more legibly!” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. A young student reported for a final examination that consisted of only true/false questions. The student took a seat in the hall, stared at the test for five minutes, removed a coin from his pocket and started tossing the coin and marking the answer sheet. Heads meant true, tails meant false. The young student finished the exam in 30 minutes, while the rest of the class was sweating it out. Suddenly, during the last few minutes, the young student began desperately throwing the coin and sweating profusely. The moderator, alarmed, approached the student and asked what was going on. “Well, I finished the exam in half an hour,” said the student, “but I thought I ought to recheck my answers.”

( Source: http://www.101funjokes.com/school_jokes.htm)

May 09: Globalization and English Language Teaching

Editorial

Introduction: NeltaChoutari May 2009

Globalization—or the flow of economic, educational, cultural, and other “materials” across national borders—has radically changed people’s lives and societies around the world. Those materials are sold/bought, used/misused to affect communities around the world in all kinds of ways. In the case of education, globalization involves the flow of products of knowledge through channels of power; in local, national, and global markets, knowledge flows in the form of learning materials, teaching methods, attitudes about what counts as legitimate knowledge, subjects in schools/universities, and so on. For teachers like us must take seriously this commodification and flow of knowledge when the globalized market of knowledge makes the knowledge of some societies flow into others and not so much vice versa.

In the case of ELT, English language—which is not just a neutral means of communication among societies but also the vehicle of cultural and political power—flows from centers of global cultural power into most other societies around the world whose languages and knowledge are not yet as economically and culturally valuable. That is why a vast majority of people in the developing world, along with a lot of well-meaning English teachers, believe that there is such a thing like English education (as if knowledge speaks in one particular language). It is very true, as things are in the world of raw facts, that English is a more valuable ingredient for the manufacture of more valuable cultural products. Also, it is because English language is commodified that many people think there are no alternatives to buying it and then selling it at a higher price to others. But teachers should never be people who simply accept and teach the raw facts and maintain the status quo. By rethinking how we can challenge the one-way center-to-margins flow of intellectual, cultural, and social power in the world, teachers can contribute to the making of a better world.

No one would have to worry if the commodification of English did not intensify the divide between people who can and cannot afford to buy it. Nor would even just that be a big problem if the supermarket of English didn’t also destroy the small bazaar of local products of knowledge. One argument or underlying assumption many English teachers fall victim to is that if we can teach English to everyone, then everyone will be better able to sell their knowledge for their own progress as well as survival. Well, the problem with that simple-minded dream is simply that it doesn’t acknowledge that your supermarket is neither buying from the local farmers of knowledge nor selling them anything at affordable prices, the idea of the market has to be regarded more critically. That is where national governments, local entities, and professional organizations intervene for justice for all. One of the many solutions to that reality which many of us don’t even believe we can solve (or that it is our job) is to not only work in the supermarket and enjoy its paycheck but also to help local farmers modernize the local agriculture of knowledge-making with the aim of making the supermaket make the local produce its best commodity. The supermarket is blind: teachers need not be slaves to that blind master. There is no point in opposing this global company of English. It is only reasonable to buy most of the stock of its regional stores in our own localities.

To help us prompt another interesting series of conversation on this interesting subject “ELT in the context of globalization,” we have this month the following columns:

Teacher Anecdote (NeltaChoutari May 09)

Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

Using Anecdotes Cautiously

Anecdotes are stories, usually from personal experience that people tell to make a point or entertain others during a conversation. Inserting anecdotes in presentations is a good strategy to attract and hold students’ attention. The English language teachers can use anecdotes form various sources.  ‘Using anecdotes is a good technique to arouse students’ interest and establish a meaningful and memorable context for learning’ (Salli-Copur, 2008:34). The benefits of using anecdotes in EFL/ESL class are as follows:

·         Attention grabbing anecdotes may wake up sleepy students, engage unmotivated ones with the task and reinforce a context so it is not easily forgotten

·         Anecdotes reinforce the friendly relationship between teachers and students

·         Anecdotes provide cultural experience if they are about experiences in English speaking countries

·         Anecdotes contain natural language and therefore develop learners’ conversational skills

·         Most importantly, short anecdotes can be used to motivate the students or to make the classroom more vibrant ( for effective classroom management)

Some considerations while using anecdotes

·         Be honest, do not fabricate an anecdote on your own-students may understand it

·         Be careful about local and national culture-students should not feel ashamed

·         Make sure that anecdote is relevant to students’ cognitive and intellectual development

·         Point out its worth and objective

·         Use short anecdotes which do not take more than five minutes

·         Use anecdotes  reciprocally-let students also sometime share their anecdotes (ibid.:38)

An anecdote in my anecdote

“I Can Make It Happen”

History abounds with tales of experts who were convinced that the ideas, plans, and projects of others could never be achieved. However, accomplishment came to those who said, “I can make it happen.” Something similar happened to me as well about a decade ago. I had taken the examinations of M.Ed. and was quite optimistic about excellent result. I was teaching at an English medium school (better not to tell) in Kathmandu but was tremendously disappointed as the return did not correspond to the time and energy I had to spend. It was my fourth school in two years of time (shows the bitter reality of private schools) and I was still endeavoring to get even a better one (that pays more and assigns less work). I had applied in a few schools but negotiations had not been so encouraging. Once I was enjoying my siesta in the afternoon as it was Saturday and therefore, I did not have to make visits of schools for the application. The telephone bell rang (cell phone had not made life so upsetting). I saw the number with a big curiosity thinking it to be from a school that I had applied in. I thought some boarding school owner might have called to negotiate the perks. Contrarily, it was a call from my Guru and my thesis guide Mr. Ram Ekwal Singh, a faculty in the central department of English Education. Presently, he is doing PhD student in the University of Delhi. He had been my internal supervisor too in M.Ed. practicum. He had observed a couple of classes of mine. I think he had seen some potentiality in me. He along with the campus chief (Mr. Kedar Pd. Sah) and head of department of English education (Mr. Jai Prakash Singh) of Thakur Ram Multiple Campus Birgunj wanted to meet me in person. They arrived at my quarter and they offered me a job that I had not expected at all. They were looking for a teacher for the M. Ed. Program that they were going to launch. My heart leaped up with a great joy thinking that I would get rid of working in boarding school. However, I was at sixes and sevens. In other words, I was in a big state of dilemma whether I will be able to teach the people of M. Ed. I myself had not completed my M.Ed., my thesis was still going on. After a week, I arrived at Birgunj for a demo class. I was quite nervous to see the students with white hair and long moustache. Some of them were of my father’s age. Many of them were teachers who had been teaching English for 20-25 years in different schools. I did not know what to do. My heart started beating faster. My demo was scheduled at 3 pm. I had carried a couple of books, lecture cards and some flash cards in my bag. Unintentionally, I had happened to keep a magazine in it. I just glanced over its contents and found an interesting topic-‘I can make it happen’. The anecdote read as:

The Italian sculptor Agostino d’Antonio worked diligently on a large piece of marble. Unable to produce his desired masterpiece, he lamented, “I can do nothing with it.” Other sculptors also worked this difficult piece of marble, but to no avail. Michelangelo discovered the stone and visualized the possibilities in it. His “I-can-make-it-happen” attitude resulted in one of the world’s masterpieces – David.

The experts of Spain concluded that Columbus’s plans to discover a new and shorter route to the West Indies was virtually impossible. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand ignored the report of the experts. “I can make it happen,” Columbus persisted. And he did. Everyone knew the world was flat, but not Columbus. The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, along with Columbus and his small band of followers, sailed to “impossible” new lands and thriving resources.

Even the great Thomas Alva Edison discouraged his friend, Henry Ford, from pursuing his fledgling idea of a motorcar. Convinced of the worthlessness of the idea, Edison invited Ford to come and work for him. Ford remained committed and tirelessly pursued his dream. Although his first attempt resulted in a vehicle without reverse gear, Henry Ford knew he could make it happen. And, of course, he did.

“Forget it,” the experts advised Madame Curie. They agreed radium was a scientifically impossible idea. However, Marie Curie insisted, “I can make it happen.”

Let’s not forget our friends Orville and Wilbur Wright. Journalists, friends, armed forces specialists, and even their father laughed at the idea of an airplane. “What a silly and insane way to spend money. Leave flying to the birds,” they jeered. “Sorry,” the Wright brothers responded. “We have a dream, and we can make it happen.” As a result, a place called Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, became the setting for the launching of their “ridiculous” idea.

Finally, as you read these accounts under the magnificent lighting of your environment, consider the plight of Benjamin Franklin. He was admonished to stop the foolish experimenting with lighting. What an absurdity and waste of time! Why, nothing could outdo the fabulous oil lamp. Thank goodness Franklin knew he could make it happen. You too can make it happen!

The anecdote energized me; all my nervousness and fear vanished in a moment. I felt as if I could climb up Everest, I could get a mandrake root; I could catch a falling star. Altogether, I felt as if I could do everything, lest teaching. I became audacious adequately. I stepped into the campus premises with bold and dashing temperament. I was supposed to teach psycholinguistics. After I had addressed the class of 25 college teachers (who were the judges) for about 25 minutes, the campus chief stood up and congratulated me saying: ‘Thank you very much, you are selected’. This magnified my happiness. Today, I have been teaching there satisfactorily and effectively (I believe and my students often say) for the last six years,. Today I remember the same “I can make it happen” whenever I have to face any challenge in my personal as well as academic life”

REFERENCES
Salli-Copur, D. 2008. Using Anecdotes in Language Classes. In English Teaching Forum. Vol.46.No.1. http://www.liraz.com/Anecdote.htm

Teacher Humor (NeltaChoutari May 09)

ELT Humor

Students are very often funny, sometimes even inspiring, because of their curiosity, their effort, their honesty. Here are two cases.

A COMMON SNIPPET YOU MIGHT HAVE ALREADY HEARD

Ankit was rote-learning some English words that his teacher taught at school. “my mane miss ko, my mane miss ko, my mane miss ko…” (”my” means “belongs to Miss”–because his “Miss” had said “my” means “mero” in Nepali). His father, who was watching TV heard that and instantly corrected: ”Ankit, no, ‘my’ means ‘mero’,” NOT “miss ko.” Ankit said “ho ra” (is it?) and went away to the kitchen, where his mother heard him repeating “my mane baba ko, my mane baba ko…,” to which, like a caring mother, she instantly responded: ”Ankit, no, ‘my’ doesn’t mean ‘baba ko’–it means ‘mero’.” Ankit did not know what to make of the explanation that followed, but he took the new meaning seriously!

Next day, at school, Miss Pabitra said to the class, “La ta bhana ta nani haru ho, ‘my’ bhaneko ke ho?” Ankit thought he had more ideas than the rest: ”Miss, ‘my’ bhaneko baithak kotha ma ‘baba ko,’ bhansa kotha ma ‘ama ko,’ ani ikkul ma chahi ‘miss’ ko”!

ARE YOU COCKSURE?

(by Shyam Sharma)

When I was teaching English in grade 6 one day, I shared a new technique for learning new words which I had heard at a NELTA training: You know that you can best remember word meanings and make words your own by using them. When you learn a new word, try to find as many opportunities as you can to use it.

Then no sooner than I had started teaching the lesson of the day, Dinesh raised his hand and said, “Are you cocksure about that?” I was a bit confused. “Dinesh, why are you using the word ‘cocksure’ in this context? Remember what we said it means when we came across it?” Dinesh said, “I just wanted to remember it by using it as often as I can.”

ELT, Globalization, and Local Epistemologies

Critical Pedagogy, Scholarly Article

Introduction: NeltaChoutari March 2009

Add 17 and 6, multiply the sum by 2, then subtract 6 from the result, and finally divide that by 2. Now, if you ask me why I asked you to do that calculation, and if I say that I have no reason except to ask you to do some math, would you like that? For many years, I have thought of education in Nepal as a formalized exercise where teachers don’t feel the need to let students know why they are doing what they are doing. This disease of institutionalized education is not just a Nepalese phenomenon (”teaching in a vacuum” was an important subject of discussion, research, and educational policy-making in the US in the 1980s and the concern is still there when it comes to grade school education), but it seems to me that we are doing this so well that we are probably very high on the list of societies doing meaningless math and purposeless language teaching. As teachers of English in Nepal, let us think more critically than usual for one moment about the PURPOSE of teaching our students a language for one and a half decades. If we think in habitual ways, we will come up with very simple answers, including these: English is a language of international communication, it is an access to global resources of knowledge…. If we think less superficially, we will come across some other not so simple issues, including these: English is a language whose imposition as the language of instruction in societies like ours makes content learning ineffective, it is a tool of social power that can further disempower learners from marginalized communities…. And finally, if we think more critically, we will stumble upon some significant confusions, such as these: Do we really know how learning something IN English makes learning more effective, compared to learning the same thing by using our own languages? If the purpose of education is knowledge, are we not putting the cart of English in front of the horse of content? Are we not confusing the purpose of teaching language as means by putting it before the larger intellectual purpose of teaching as helping students to be(come) producers of knowledge? We have seen tourists learn Nepalese in a few months, and we have seen the world’s best philosophers, scientists, and businessmen from non-English backgrounds function as well as the products of our “boarding” schools–well, actually better, you might want to add. There is no doubt that there are simple answers about what we spend our lives doing–teaching a language. But, wait, should we just be teaching language as if it were for its own sake, or should we be teaching language as a means and part of a larger process called educating people? Let us not jump to thoughtless answers like, “I teach English and the science teacher teaches science.” No theory of language learning supports the idea of teaching it for 15 years, for Pete’s sake! So, there is no doubt that there are simple answers; but it is our responsibility to help our educational leaders, national policy-makers, parents, and teachers think more critically about the over-emphasis the “society” has given to English in Nepal, over-emphasis at the cost of rendering learning ideas and producing knowledge-makers less important than producing graduates who can speak English fluently, kararara! What the heck are people supposed to do with fluency of language if that language diminishes the effectiveness of learning itself? Should we blame the society for not doing anything about it? There is no visible agent called the society: logically, this invisible target of our blame for such a serious thing like a nation’s wrong-headed educational priority is height of our professional irresponsibility. Let’s own that first. During a discussion about education in Nepal the other day, a Nepalese-American fellow said that it is crazy to talk about education and stuff while the politicians are wrecking the society indefinitely. We have just enough stupid people who don’t believe in the value of professional dialog. Let’s not just join them. Let’s talk and understand problems even when they seem to be far beyond our control. I don’t think Newton wanted to control gravity in any way when he had the urge to understand it. Let’s communicate our ideas, dissatisfaction, or solutions to problems that we perceive and influence one person. Those of us who make or influence policy, government, or at least institutions, let’s do what we can. Thinking can and must happen even when the country is in a wreck. Talking can happen too. In fact, we should not take for granted that we can talk across the globe and share our thoughts publicly and permanently through the many fast and powerful media. Solutions don’t happen before we identify and discuss problems. It might sound somewhat logical when someone says, as many people do when you start talking about making learning practical, that students need to learn the “skills” of math itself first and they will figure out themselves how to solve problems by applying their knowledge in the future (a math teacher must teach math), that they first need to be proficient in the English language so they can communicate and study further in the future (we’re there to teach language, not to solve problems of the system), that we DO NOT have the “resources” to make teaching practical, and so on. Those arguments sound reasonable in themselves but when we consider them more critically they are the result of irresponsible and lazy thinking. It is possible to start making learning more meaningful by communicating the purpose and creating situations or problems in the class for students to solve (give 50 points for class activities and the other 50 for exams that test students under terrible anxiety and artificial context). It’s not impossible to understand ourselves and also share with our students the limitations of our learning environment. It is possible to motivate students by informing them how what they learn will benefit and empower them (let students write about their lives and ideas and let grammar take care of itself for a while). It is possible for us to UNDERSTAND, discuss, and rethink our teaching. Understanding is the best resource, best capital, best investment and we don’t have to be nationally poor in that regard. It is time that we question, discuss, rethink, and honestly assess our profession. No, we cannot change the entire educational or political structure, but our questioning, discussing, rethinking, and assessing of our work and priorities can lead us into having better ideas and then making our work more meaningful and satisfying. Professional discussion can help us use English language teaching to achieve the larger purpose of educating our students: social and intellectual empowerment. Professional dialog can help us avoid teaching a mere language but teach language as a means of finding, processing, and presenting new knowledge, a means for becoming knowledge-makers. The Principal, the education board, the “society” may set very restrictive limits on what book we teach, but we don’t need to let them do the thinking about the perspective and attitude about learning we want to instill in our students. We can at least do that. No one can stop us from helping our students understand the purpose behind and beyond just learning a language.

Ira Shor: “Education Is Politics: An Agenda for Empowerment”

Critical Pedagogy

Scholarly Article 2: Nelta Choutari April 2009 Issue

When we say that NELTA is a non-political organization, we use the word “politics” to mean something that has to do with politicians, political parties, and political ideology that divides people into parties and party affiliations. But there is another important meaning of the word “politics”: any practice, problem, or phenomenon as seen from the point of view of social or institutional policy. We can say that the practice and policy of requiring English as a medium of instruction in private schools involves a social “politics” about education. Issues of economic class and social power, of values attached to gender and ethnicity, of prestige attached to the same knowledge gained through different languages, and such other subjects are deeply political in the context of our education system in Nepal. Yes, we should avoid politics in education in the first sense of the word described above. But if we think we are doing good to our students or our profession by avoiding the discussion of social, economic, cultural, ethnic, gender, or such other value-based questions about teaching English–or teaching anything for that matter–then we are being unintellectual, insensitive, and irresponsible, to say the least. In his article “Education Is Politics: An Agenda for Empowerment,” Ira Shor discusses how we can and must socially as well as intellectually empower our students not only by engaging ourselves in the discussion of politics inherent in the design and system of education but also by encouraging students themselves to ask those questions, because the practice of education that pretends to be non-political is usually impractical, unjust, or even oppressive. Any education system tries to socialize and shape students’ knowledge, behaviour, and values; therefore, it is dishonest to not allow and help students think critically about social issues that affect their learning and lives–yes, even in high school. The question is not whether to make students critically conscious about the purpose, problems, and politics of education; the question is how to. In a context like ours, we might need to do so carefully, slowly, intelligibly. The goal of this awareness teaching, on top of language or information teaching is, Shor argues, democratic participation, critical awareness, and affective involvement of the learner in the process of learning. Only awareness IN the students, not just teachers, can help students participate in helping them and their future society overcome the political status quo and injustice inherent in today’s educational system and society. The article  is posted on NeltaMail.

To STEAL or to TELL (ELT in a Global Era)

Critical Pedagogy

Scholarly Article, NeltaChoutari April 2009

Seonagh McPherson: “To STEAL or to TELL: Teaching English in the Global Era”

In the article “To STEAL or to TELL: Teaching English in the Global Era,” Seonagh MacPherson proposes a constructive model for teaching English that will help us avoid destroying the languages and cultures of non-English speaking learners, and thereby the meaning, motivation, and purpose of learning itself. The most important idea in this essay (second half) is that we must not teach a foreign language as if to “STEAL (Surreptitiously Teach English as an Assimilationist Language) (79)” but to “TELL (Teach English as a Liberatory Language) (86).” When English language is taught without empowering the learners themselves, the happy prospect of making our students able to speak in English will in the long run turn into the “cataclysmic erosion or outright elimination of human diversity in languages, cultures, and consciousnesses.” It sounds scary but that is what English teaching is doing to a great extent in many countries like ours in the world today. You might wonder if there is any good to this skeptical outlook—oh, yes, there is. Through critical thinking about our profession, we can help create a richer body of knowledge and better goals for language learning, and we can help our students become better citizens and intellectuals, as compared to teaching grammar and making our students love the bell at the end a lot more than the learning during the hour. If we make local knowledge the primary substance and empowerment our primary goal of English language teaching, we can not only help students better realize the positive potentials of learning English but also make them use it as a “conduit to the ‘global,’ transnational network of education, justice, economic development, and mobility … [or] what liberation means to most people in the world” (86). As a teacher of Tibetan refugees in India, MacPherson speaks from direct experience of how disenfranchised people are able to join, with the medium of English , into the “transnational community of people who support their political, activist, religious, ecological, and economic aspiration and needs.” Our context and realities are not far removed from the learners he is talking about. MacPherson proposes that English teachers should advocate “multilingual, multiliterate, and intercultural curricula as central to the postcolonial educational agenda” (89). His conclusion is an insightful one: “Thus, it may very well be that our struggles with globalization, and with English as the language of globalization, ultimately become the struggle to understand our collective place in the universe” (90)—that is, if English could be taught to “TELL” and not to “STEAL.” MacPherson weighs both the benefits and dangers of teaching English as a global language, and then concludes that “a genuine … resolution is to negotiate a way for humanity to move beyond the sense of a narrow choice between extremes of [global] monocultural assimilation and [local] fundamentalism[s]” which will constitute an “international, intercultural Third Space” towards a better understanding of world communities through what he calls the “presence of choice” (79) that will help people from all societies and cultures learn from one another. A more critically conscious language teaching pedagogy would enhance the struggle of the people of different cultures and contexts to understand one another by not only having a means to communicate with other cultures but also the substance to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the global village we live today. Article is posted on NeltaMail.

Teacher’s Anxiety

Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

Nelta Choutari April 2009 Issue

Prithvi Shrestha

Most of us don’t want to talk about our lack of confidence, our teaching nightmares, our bad moments–as if we won’t be good teachers if we are less than perfect, from day one, every single day of our teaching lives. Gosh, that’s too much to expect from mere human beings! But here is a colleague who is helping us rethink how anxiety may be helpful, may be dealt with, may be something that we must talk about in serious ways. It’s such an interesting issue I didn’t know until I read this part story part scholarly article (if there’s any distinction like that). Well, anyway, I will let Prithvi tell the story, and let you share what you think about it. (-Ed. Shyam Sharma)

My first English lesson in English: Foreign language teaching anxiety by Prithvi Shrestha (NELTA Life member), The Open University, United Kingdom.
Affective variables have recently been researched quite widely in foreign language learning particularly in the context of English language teaching (ELT) in relation to learners (e.g., MacIntyre 1995; Spielmann and Radnofsky 2001). This move was inspired by the theoretical assumption that language learning should be viewed from the humanistic perspective (Arnold 1999). However, the research on affective variables, especially anxiety of ‘novice’ foreign language teachers, is sparse in the literature whether the studies are quantitative or qualitative/ ethnographic. Therefore, my attempt in this anecdote will be to share my anxiety that I experienced when I embarked on teaching my first English lesson in a comprehensive Nepali-medium secondary school in Gorkha, Nepal. Where appropriate, I will refer to other studies vis-à-vis my reflection here.
First let me define what I mean by foreign language teaching anxiety (henceforth, FLTA). Drawing on Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1991, p. 31), FLTA is “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language” teaching that arises from the uniqueness of the language teaching process. Of course, a whole raft of other factors also do contribute to FLTA including institutional practices, learner perceptions and beliefs and the classroom dynamic.
Now how does this concept of FLTA relate to my experience? When I was about to complete my Intermediate of Education (IEd) in 1987, like all IEd students, I had to go for ‘teaching practice’ (as it was called) for 45 days. This effectively involved teaching two or more lessons a day in a middle school in the subject of the student-teacher’s choice such as English, maths, etc. I think I do not have to spell out how this works in general but I will focus on my experience of being a ‘novice’ English teacher, especially reflecting on my ever first English lesson.
There were six student-teachers including myself allocated to the secondary school I mentioned earlier. Only two of us were English teachers. I had to teach class six and seven in one of the sections in each class which had at least 60 students of mixed abilities. In Gorkha Campus where I studied, we had an ‘orientation session’ prior to going to this school. It was just to explain what to do and what not to do during ‘teaching practice’. None of us had any peer teaching experience or anything of this kind before. Therefore, all of us were very anxious, particularly, because this ‘teaching practice’ was associated with 50 marks, and hence test/ exam anxiety (see Aida 1994; Kitano 2001). I was under a huge amount of pressure because I wanted to perform really well so that I could enhance my aggregate marks. Anyway, I did my best preparing for my first English lesson. For example, I made my lesson plans, and some pictures, flashcards, and charts that I thought would be useful for the lessons and because these materials are often associated with communicative language teaching (whatever the definition may be!). However, my body was experiencing a strange surge of fear and anxiety from the night before I was going to teach. I did not know anyone in the school except that we were introduced to the head teacher and the regular English teacher whose class I was going to teach.  I had a kind of butterfly feeling in my stomach as I entered the school compound that day. At times, my body was shaking as I thought about speaking in English for 45 minutes in the lesson which I had never done before in my life! In the school, I met with other classmates who also were going through the same experience as I did. But sharing our feeling helped to alleviate our anxiety to some extent although the whole idea of facing 60 students in the classroom kept on coming back to my mind.
I had my first lesson (first period) in class six. The classroom was on the ground floor which was dusty and had a big blackboard on the concrete wall. As soon as I entered the classroom (that is on my own), I was greeted with ‘Good morning, sir’. I went red and the blood in my body surged through my veins and I started sweating but I greeted back ‘Good morning class, sit down’ as a programmed robot does. Well, some students were smiling to see a new face in the classroom whilst others looked anxious like me. I forgot what I wanted to say, that is, real communication with students such as ‘how are you today?’ Some students were puzzled as to what I might be doing. I gathered myself and started speaking in English slowly. I tried explaining what I was going to do and what I wanted them to do. I often looked in my lesson plan to ensure that I am following the steps that I am supposed to. Well, miraculously, I could talk in English, eureka! But could the students understand me? I don’t know! As the lesson moved on, I realised that I was teaching to the first two rows – five girls on the left and five boys on the right! Then I walked along the passage between the two columns of desks in the hope that I would be able to get the students at the back involved in my lesson. I noticed that these students did not know what I was doing nor did they understand my English! What a shame! I changed my strategy: explained briefly in Nepali what I wanted them to do. Suddenly the penny dropped! Then I realised that teaching English does not mean that I talk in English all the time even when my students do not understand what I am saying. But on reflection, I can see what caused me to do what I did: foreign language teaching anxiety. I was too anxious about my speaking English and teaching the language. As a result, my pedagogic strategies were not appropriate to suit the needs of the students. In other words, I failed to notice the socio-historical context of the classroom and its participants. These participants including myself were not used to learning/ teaching a foreign language like English as I tried to do. As a result, both the teacher and the students had foreign language anxiety which was compounded by the fact that both the teacher and the students were new to one another.
As language learning necessarily involves human beings and the interface between their beliefs, attitudes and perceptions, such factors need to be seriously considered in any sustainable language learning programme (Tudor 2003, p. 5). Hence, it is obvious that we should be sensitive to FLTA in our classroom so as to make our teaching ecologically sound. We can do so by being a reflective teacher as I tried to be here (but of course not after 22 years!).

References

  • Aida, Y. (1994). Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese. The Modern Language Journal, 78, 155-168.
  • Arnold, J. (1999). (ed.). Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B. & Cope, J.A. (1991). Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125-132. Reprinted in E.K. Horwitz & D.J. Young (eds.). Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 27-36.
  • Kitano, K. (2001). Anxiety in the college Japanese language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 85, 4, 549-566.
  • MacIntyre, P.D. (1995). How Does Anxiety Affect Second Language Learning? A Reply to Sparks and Ganschow. The Modern Language Journal, 79, 1, 90-99.
  • Spielmann, G. & Radnofsky, M.L. (2001). Learning Language Under Tension: New Directions from a Qualitative Study. The Modern Language Journal, 85, 2, 259-278.
  • Tudor, I. (2003). Learning to live with complexity: towards an ecological perspective on language teaching. System, 31, 1, 1-153.

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank those students of class six (1987 batch) in Shakti Secondary School, Gorkha, who inspired me to become a reflective teacher as I stand now. And also my ‘heart-felt thank-you’ to Shyam Sharma who continually ‘nudged’ me to write something of this nature, which I kept on putting off due to my inability to find ‘some free space’ in my schedule.

Teaching Resource (Apr 09)

ELT Resource

Using Tourist Brochures in ELT

Andy Bowdler

Thinking about using English to teach about Nepal and its history/culture/etc., it occurred to me that one thing to use is the tourist brochures that are increasingly available around the country.  When I was working in Pokhara back in the 1990s, there would be leaflets, in English, about various parts of Kathmandu or Pokhara, or the Chitwan National Park, or the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), etc; or about various organisations, such as NELTA, S.O.S., etc.  I am sure that, in the intervening 10 years, these have got more numerous and are possibly written in better English.
I have used the same ideas here in the UK for use with both indigenous and ethnic minority students and pupils (it can be done at just about any age or level, provided that the students can read).
I start off by creating a comprehension exercise based on the text – and occasionally using the pictures as prompts as well – to see how much students understand
Depending on the level and age of the students, I would hand out copies of the leaflet and ask students to comment on them – getting them to say what they liked or disliked about them, whether the material would encourage them to visit the place concerned, etc.  Then we would read the material – either aloud together, as a reading exercise, or silently to themselves, before getting students to do the comprehension work (again, this can be done individually or as a class exercise).
Once this has been done, and students have shown an understanding of the material, I would initiate a discussion on one or more aspect of the material.

  • It might be technical: what do you like about the design (or dislike); how could it be improved; how could the language used be improved or corrected, … .
  • It might be topical: why is this landmark/place of worship/historical site important in our context; what relevance does something (such as the Martyrs’ Memorial Gate in Kathmandu, or the monastery at Mukhtinath) have to a pupil or student living in Surkhet or Jumla; why is this important in the history or culture of our nation; is it still relevant (if not, why not), … .
  • It might be locally relevant: is there a local landmark/site that you think would benefit from similar treatment (such as Bulbule Park, or Kakrebihar Buddhist Monastery in Surkhet).  In reality, there may already be a leaflet for the place(s) mentioned, but students may not be aware of this. If there is, I’d make sure I had a few copies, but for use later in the process.

The next stage of the process, if you so wish, is to get students to produce their own leaflets using the ideas they have just been talking about.  This could be an individual project or a group one (I prefer group-work for this, especially at school level).  This could be a fairly cursory exercise for lower-level classes, or a much more involved one for more advanced ones.  Depending on your school’s resources, they could do research online or by interviewing friends and neighbours, before creating their finished article.
It would be after they had produced their own brochures that I would show any existing brochures – for comparison.  I’ve even shown a copy produced by a previous year’s class for this comparison.  In one place I taught in the UK, we sent a copy of a group’s brochure to the local tourism department, suggesting that they consider using it rather than their existing brochure – or it could act as a prompt to get them to produce one for a particular place of interest.
As you will realise, the various stages build on previous work – for instance the reference to what students like/dislike in the pre-reading opener followed up in the technical discussion (they might have changed their opinions during the reading and comprehension work).
As you can see, this isn’t really a single lesson project, but could become a much bigger project covering several lessons or even one lesson a week for X weeks.  Even if the finished product isn’t taken up by a professional or local tourism group, it could be reproduced for use within the school or college.

——————editor’s accknowledgment—————

Many thanks to Andy for his contribution of some really useful teaching idea and material. This is particularly relevant to the issue of using local base of knowledge in teaching language and using language learning as a content learning opportunity. In fact, if students are involved in creating new (or their own) knowledge, you are doing the ultimate good of teaching–helping students become knowledge-makers. This is not just a clever idea: the idea of using local resources/materials/ideas can motivate students more than anything, making them see that what they know is knowledge too!

Classroom Humor (Apr 09)

ELT Humor

Classroom Humor (Nelta Choutari Apr. 2009)

Interestingly enough, some of these linguistic errors are NOT funny if we consider that they could be elements of the local English where they occurred (most people in the context might understand what is meant).

Don’t use two words where one is enough: as in men’s (male sex). Don’t translate words; translate sentences. (from engrish.com)
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It should be any one (separately), otherwise you’d “use” people! (from engrish.com)
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It’s all “crap” here (instead of crab). And that’s why phonetics is important. (from engrish.com)

CARTOONS (from cartoonstock.com)

If teaching language is all about grammar, then this lady is gonna be a terrorist in the world of principals.
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This is from cartoonstock.com. No, the computer can’t do the thinking for you.
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Thinking like you do can re-produce excessive numbers of fools.

Putting Local Knowledge First

Oral History Project

Oral History Project-1 (Nelta Choutari April 2009 Issue )

As a part of a plan that could in some ways be called an oral history project, three of us–Bal, Prem, Shyam–started audio-recording ELT talk among ourselves. In future issues, we will try to talk to experienced teachers at home and with scholars abroad. We hope that this will not only make your khurak more lively with real people’s voices, it might also preserve the voices/resources of this generation for future ones, contributing to the society’s intellectual/professional collective memory, archive, or whatever we call it.Please listen and comment on this international conference call (Hawaii, London, Kentucky) done by Skype and recorded with Audacity. We’ve given it a title: Putting Local Knowledge First.

Hello World!

Miscellaneous, Nelta Networking

Written by Shyam Sharma as the About page when Choutari was started.

—————

The new era of web based communication began with someone writing “Hello World!” in a website created with complex web/code language. Today, with the advent of Web 2.0 web technologies, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). Bal, Prem, and Shyam (3 NELTA members who are studying abroad) began this collaborative blog in the beginning of 2009. Our intention is to make our often useful conversations, and the conversation of everyone who will join us in the future, accessible to other ELT professionals back home in Nepal and abroad. In sharing our ideas publicly, we are sort of making a rhetorical statement to the effect of something like this: What we know is knowledge too.

Please join us and let us help one another grow as knowledge-makers, as teachers and learners.

Teacher Experience and Teacher Development

Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

Nelta Choutari: Intro to March 2009 Issue

All teachers have some sorts of experiences and stories which have inspired them to improve teaching or encumbered their professional development. When an intellectual interacts with 10, 20, 50, 100 or more intelligent youngsters everyday, there is a lot going on than first meets the eye i.e. the ‘routine’ of teaching. Now, if we pause to reflect on a striking incident in the process of that interaction, we will have stories to tell that are as serious and important as we find in the scholarly articles or books. A teacher story may be based on very ordinary everyday classroom activities like trying to get students’ attention, or it may be about some serious difference of perception on how to approach teaching a lesson with colleagues. Apparently, insignificant incidents might become the basis for innovative approaches or philosophical ideas of great significance in the field of teacher education–if we take the time to reflect and if we value the experiences.
Aagainst  this backdrop, this issue contains two scholarly articles, one teacher’s anecdote and one classroom humor.

Techer Experience as Professional Resource

Critical Pedagogy, Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

Introduction to Scholarly Articles: Nelta Choutari March 2009

Jin (pseudonym), a teacher from Singapore, as described in Farrell (2006), faced many complications as a newly qualified teacher (NQT). The first complication was the conflict between his approach to teaching English and expectation of the school. His second complication was related to the conflict between what he wanted to teach (i.e. content) and what he was required to teach. He has many other complications. The important thing to mention here is; how did he solve these complications and establish himself as an English language teacher? Jin’s story can be downloaded in the form of a .pdf file here.

Minfang (pseudonym), a teacher from China, has also faced similar complications. Minfang got no personal satisfaction. He did not want to encourage any discussion in case his “disgraceful past” has inadvertently revealed in the course of discussion. Nor did he want to be a popular teacher, because in Chinese culture, a teacher who is popular among students is perceived as a teacher of little substance and one who has nothing but relationships to win the students’ hearts. He found working in a hierarchical institution oppressive with so many powerful people above him. He could not apply CLT into his classes and so on. However, he established himself as the best teacher in the school. Mingfang’s exciting story can be downloaded as a .pdf file here.

Teachers’ Anecdotes

Teacher's Experience/anecdotes

My first presentation at a conference

–Balkrishna Sharma

When the preparation for NELTA’s International Conference was going on, I for the first time in my life decided to make a presentation at the conference though I was not sure what I specifically was going to talk about. I now want to recall what thoughts went inside my head before the presentation day. I first thought that I should not have decided to present in front of so many people. And again thought that if I did not start at that time, when would I start presenting? Then came another crazy idea: it was better not to present than to give a bad presentation. Another half of my mind again suggested that I present. Again I thought what if I trembled in front of the people. Then I thought what would happen if no people came in my presentation room. Then another silly idea occurred: how would the presentaion go if the computer did not work or if my power point slides did not open. Then I thought people would laugh at me if I could not answer audience’s questions. I hardly slept that night. Surprisingly, I was able to present without any hesitation and fear the next day. The room was full of audience; the powerpoint slides worked well; and I was able to answer the audience’s questions. The implication of my story is that it is always challenging to ‘break the ice’, but once you get started, everything moves smoothly. Last month I presented at East-West Center Graduate Student International Conference, and at Hawaii TESOL, and on 26th of March I am presenting at TESOL Convention at Denver (USA). My first presentation at the NELTA conference was the foundation and encouragement for my present and future presentations. I reiterate: a journey of hundred miles starts from a step. Let’s try…. and reflect…

 

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My first day as a secondary teacher

–Kate Miller

We had a couple of hours to get to know our new tutor group, and we spent some of this time going over their timetable, checking they had written everything down correctly and understood what was required of them. About three quarters of the way through, to my horror, I realised that I had turned over two pages and had given them completely incorrect information. What to do? The only thing was to confess and apologise!! – two hours into my teaching career. So much for my credibility. An 11 year old boy, with great sensitivity, said “Don’t worry Miss. The last teacher wasn’t even half human!” My lesson from this. If you get it wrong, apologise. —————————————————————————————————————————————

Classroom Humor

ELT Humor

Nelta Choutari March 2009 Issue

Humorous anecdotes can sometimes be very useful tools for teaching language. They make classes lively and entertaining. Maybe some of these will be useful spice for your class.

Little Julie was sad and sitting on the back bench. Teacher came in the class, and she found Julie sitting at the back, where she never sat earlier.
Teacher asked, “What is wrong with you Julie?”
Julie said, “Ma’m, you tell me, whether it is right to punish someone for not doing something?”
The teacher thought for a while, and said, “No, of course not.”
Little Julie said, “Then, Ma’m, I have not done my homework.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Teacher: Why have you come so late to class?
Darwin: Sir I saw a signboard down the road.
Teacher: That is fine that you saw a signboard down the road, but what does a signboard have to do with your being late?
Darwin: The signboard said, “School Ahead, Go Slow!”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Martha was a Math teacher. She asked her pupils: There is a tiger and three lions walking down in a jungle. It is raining fast. What is my age?
Little Mary stood up and answered: 32 yrs.
Martha: How do you know I am 32?
Little Mary: Simple, my sister is 16 yrs old and she is half mad.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Samantha was teaching arithmetic to her fifth grade students. She gave a problem to solve: “Suppose, there are a dozen sheep and six of them jump over a fence. How many would be left?”
Little Julie: “None,”
Samantha: “None? Julie, you don’t know your arithmetic, start studying well.”
Julie: “Teacher, you don’t know about sheep. When one goes, they all go. It is better if you keep your sheep inside the boundary
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Mary thought of teaching her students something about God.
She asked her class, “Where does God live?”
Sam: I think he lives in our bathroom.
Teacher: What? Why do you say that?
Mary: Well, You know Mam, every morning my daddy bangs the bathroom door and says, ‘God, are you still in there?’

(Source: Fundoo Times- http://www.fundootimes.com/jokes/teachers.html)

Nelta Choutari February 2009

Editorial

NELTA CHOUTARI– ISSUE 2

Welcome to the second issue of NELTA CHOUTARI. In our attempts to promote some professional/pedagogical conversation among English teachers in Nepal and abroad, we are asking you to read and comment on the useful resources we are posting here. The most effective way to do this would be to share what you think about these materials (see prompts below) via NELTA email, and to respond/challenge one another’s ideas on these materials or issues that branch out from the discussion. Closely connected to the first issue on critical pedagogy, this issue focuses on student agency over classroom English, and at the same time informs the readers of an approach to alternative curriculum for students with learning disabilities. This issue has four items: NELTA History, Scholarly Articles, Teacher’s Anecdote, Classroom Humor

Choutari Feb 09: Scholarly Articles

Critical Pedagogy, Scholarly Article

Introduction to Research Articles (Nelta Choutari February 2009 Issue)

English in Classroom’ and ‘Alternative Curriculum’

In the first section, we have attached an article on ‘annotation’ published in 2005 in the journal English in Education. Literally put, annotation is the use of underlines, highlights, comments, and notes written by the students in textbooks. They are, nevertheless, very useful strategy employed by the students to manipulate texts, and show their agency over reading materials. Though this article reports the findings of the research study which was carried out in the setting where English is a native language, they are very useful in all the ESL and EFL contexts. Click click here to access the article.

The second item is an article on a case study of two students with learning disabilities. The findings that come out of these studies provide the English teachers with various lenses to look at the challenges of students who superficially have learning problems. Have we as teachers ever thought whether we can review our own teaching-learning activities and our curricula to address diverse needs of our students? This research provides insightful suggestions for language teachers and program administrators to understand L2 teaching-learning process better. Click click here to access the article.