A Checklist for a Humanizing Approach to Language Teaching
Francisco Gomes de Matos, Brazil
Francisco Gomes de Matos is and TESOLer and an applied peace linguist from Brazil. He is an ELT consultant to Brazil-America Association/Recife. Currently president of the Board of the Brazil-America Association (
www.abaweb.org). He is a retired professor from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
E-mail: fcgm@hotlink.com.br
In an 8-paragraph section in Patricia Friedrich’s book Language, Negotiation and Peace: the use of English in conflict resolution, the readers of this far-sighted, inspiring magazine will find some suggestions which may prove useful. The excerpt is called "Humanising vocabulary and the culture of peace: a proposal for the teaching of EFL in public schools"(pp. 60- 61). The author summarizes a pedagogical approach implemented by Redjane Andrade, a 7th grade teacher in a public school in Recife, capital of Pernambuco state, Brazil. Here is my adapted checklist, based on Friedrich’s summary:
- Aim at helping students relate to one another in communicatively
friendly ways;
- Introduce polite sentences in English and ask learners to use them
in appropriate contexts;
- Engage students in reflecting on texts relating to peace, human rights,
and the Brazilian Statute of the Elderly. An outcome of that activity
could be the making of posters incorporating humanising vocabulary;
- Engage students in role playing, especially on core-concepts dealt with
in peace-building vocabulary. Thus, a student would act out the concept
of Justice, another learner would play Human Rights, etc.;
- Play peace-focused pop songs and challenge students to discuss
social values expressed in the lyrics;
- Challenge the class to translate everything they learned into
a bilingual (mixing of English and Portuguese) "peace rap"
to be performed in class and outside it. Suggest the use of props, etc.
Such humanising approach to what I’d call Using English for Peaceful Purposes has been paying off good educational dividends. Andrade’s "peace rap" group has been invited to perform before student/teacher audiences in other schools, including the Teachers College where she has done graduate work.
References
Friedrich, P. (2007) English, Negotiation and Peace: the use of English in conflict resolution. London: Continuum Books.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Expert Teacher course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the CLIL - Teaching Other Subject Through English course at Pilgrims website.
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