Ken WilsonWidening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

Can global issues provide authenticity

and context in English teaching?

IATEFL Conference Harrogate GISIG day

PARSNIPSPoliticsAlcohol/addictionsReligionSex/sexual orientationNarcoticsIsms (communism/atheism etc)Pork/PalestineSocial class

Question 1Widening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

Do you worry about PARSNIPS?

PARSNIPSPoliticsAlcohol/addictionsReligionSex/sexual orientationNarcoticsIsms (racism, nationalism etc)Pork/PalestineSocial class

PARSNIPS

Question 2Is it part of the duties of a language teacher to

include socially responsible topics in

their classes?

Question 2

Mandala Arfa Kaboodvand

Islamic Azad University, Tehran The teacher as saviourEnglish Teaching Professional,

Issue 88, September 2013

Question 2Can global issues provide authenticity and context in English teaching?Widening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

Is it part of the duties of a language teacher to

include socially responsible topics in

their classes?

Question 3Can global issues provide authenticity and context in English teaching?Widening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

What do we mean when we talk about

global issues?

•climate change/global warming•air and water pollution•military spending/making war•ethnic conflict•financial crises•loss of biodiversity•poverty•racism/ultra-nationalism•attitudes to minorities•famine and water shortage

Question 4Can global issues provide authenticity and context in English teaching?Widening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

Do your students care about any of these

issues?

Can global issues provide authenticity and context in English teaching?Widening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

•climate change/global warming•air and water pollution•military spending•ethnic conflict•financial crisis•loss of biodiversity•poverty•racism/ultra-nationalism•famine and water shortage

Question 5Can global issues provide authenticity and context in English teaching?Widening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

If your students DON’T care about these issues, should you do something

about it?

Question 6Can global issues provide authenticity and context in English teaching?Widening horizons with YouTube - ways of going deeper

If you decide to do something about it, how do you provide source

material?

Three classroom ideas

1 Images2 Sugata Mitra’s task3 United Nations webpage

1 Images

1 Images ELT pics Victoria Boobyer Carol Goodey Vicky Loras

2 Sugata Mitra’s task

2 Sugata Mitra’s task

Experiments show that children in unsupervised groups are capable of answering questions many years ahead of the material they're learning in school. In fact, they seem to enjoy the absence of adult supervision, and they are very confident of finding the right answer.

2 Sugata Mitra’s task

In most schools, we measure children on what they know. By and large, they have to memorize the content of whatever test is coming up. Because measuring the results of rote learning is easy, rote prevails. What kids know is just not important in comparison with whether they can think.

2 Sugata Mitra’s task

Students are rewarded for memorization, not imagination or resourcefulness.

Go to a job interview and tell and employer that you can recite the 17 times table; they don't care. Why are we still teaching it?

3 United Nations webpage

Three classroom ideas

Two more sources....

Useful linkseltpics.comdisabled-accessfriendly.combreakingnewsenglish.comUnited Nations homepage - www.un.org/en

http://kenwilsonelt.wordpress.com

Ken Wilson - Motivating the Unmotivated

http://kenwilsonelt.wordpress.comhttps://www.facebook.com/kenwrite

That’s it!Thank you very

much!