ENG 345: Week 10

           In Brown chapter 26, he talks about being a socially responsible teacher and how to develop a personal set of ethics for language teaching. Brown also brings up the guidelines for dealing with controversial issues in the classroom. Controversial issues will come up in the classroom, it is only a matter of time. It is really important how you handle these situations and that you don’t let anyone feel inferior because of their beliefs. One of the main themes of this chapter is making sure the first language is still a part of their identity while learning their second language. I remember learning French in high school and all my teachers promoting French so much and teaching lessons on why it is so important to learn French and how it is one of the “best” languages to learn. It definitely makes an impact on students, whether positive or negative, and it should still be taught in the context of the real world.

            In Kumar chapter 11, he talks about ensuring social relevance. He talked about what English means as a global language and therefore, how it should be treated. No one can own English if it is a global language. He also talks about the “standard” of English and all of the different varieties of Englishes. Kumar then talks about appropriate teaching materials. Materials should have activities that will make sense to people of all different cultures and backgrounds. It should include target culture materials and native culture materials.

            In Kumar chapter 12, he talks about raising cultural consciousness. He talked about the complexity of culture and how it is hard to define and hard to describe. Everyone has their own culture that they are a part of and it is important that while learning another language they continue to have an identity in their own culture. Kumar gives the example of the Color Purple from Robinson, where your culture lens (blue) and another person’s culture lens (red) can be overlapped (purple).  Neither can be changed to another color, but you can learn and grow as person by knowing more about another person’s culture, which in turn you learn more about your culture. I thought the microstrategies at the end of the book were really helpful and I think it is fun if you give language learners a chance to display their culture within the context of another culture, especially in a multicultural classroom.