Bringing Humane Perspective to University EFL Classroom

BringingHumanePerspectivetoUniversityEFLClassroom

ElenaYastrebova

MGIMO,Moscow,Russia

Glasgow,April 2017

Guinness certificate

2

TheBeginnings:OpenSpace,Manchester,2015

Humane+EFL==EnglishforHumane

Purposes

EnglishforHumanePurposes:TheWHY(1)

I

WE

THEY

I

WE

THEY

EGOTIST HUMANIST

WETHEY

I

AskNotWhatYouCanGain…

WhatIwouldliketovolunteerforandwhy?ü I would like to teach Indian children English. I am learning Hindu at

university. Thus it would be a great opportunity to practice my Hindu. If I try to teach the language I will improve my own language skills. (Gleb)

ü …the best thing to volunteer for is a humanitarian mission because …one can benefit a lot as well. …will definitely be useful for your career building. ….you can establish important connections with workers of various international organizations. (Alexey)

ü If I decided to volunteer for something I would teach children from unsecured families Russian History. I would be quite successful and I’d I improve my own knowledge. (Leonid)

…butWhatYouCanGive

WhatIwouldliketovolunteerforandwhy?

üI would volunteer for an orphanage. Raising new members of society would be a great opportunity to pay back to it. (Anna)

üI would help to educate Russian deprived children. It could be history, geography or English. It would help deprived children to go to college. (Maxim)

EnglishforHumanePurposes:TheWHY(2)

Humanetouch→EmotionalInvolvement→

EngagementinLearning→ProgressinEFL+

DevelopingSoftSkills

SoftSkillsintotheBargain

GOODCOMMUNICATIONSKILLS

TIMEMANAGEMENTability

PROBLEMSOLVINGSKILLS

TEAMWORK /LEADERSHIP

CREATIVITY/FLEXIBILITY /

ABILITYTOACCEPTANDLEARNFROMCRITICISM/POSITIVETHINKING

EnglishforHumanePurposes:WhattoDo

• raisestudents’AWARENESSoftheissue

• teachtorecognizeINHUMANESITUATIONS,

• encouragestudentstolookforSOLUTIONS,

• instillthenotionthatindividual/localaction

doescontributetoGLOBALCHANGE

EnglishforHumanePurposes:TheHow

• focusonthe‘right’textstoreadanddiscuss,

• engagestudentsinproblemsolving

[tolearntodealwithinhumanesituations],

• addahumaneaspecttoprojectwork,

• ‘warmup’theclassroomatmosphere,

• gobeyondtheclassroom

A-A-AthroughM&AintheEFLClassroom

Coursebook

Student Teacher

Awareness

Atmosphere Attitude

Context

Targetaudience BachelorstudentsofIRandRegionalStudies

Module EGP,ESP+EAP

Duration 2classesaweek(90mineach)

Level Fromlow- toupper-intermediate

AWARENESS:GlobalIssues&LocalAction

It’softeneasiertobecomeoutragedbyinjusticehalfaworldawaythanbydiscriminationhalfablockfromhome(CarlRowan)

Topics: The Rich and the Poor. The North-South Divide

[ Debate: Can life improve for the world poorest?]

Human Rights. Refugee Crisis

Children of Donbass

Dr.Lisa,headoftheCharityFund“FairAid”

brought12DonbaschildreninneedofmedicalcaretoRussia October 2016

Projectwork:Doresearchtofindacharityyou’dliketojoinand

writealettertoofferyourhelp.

• “I know there is a serious problem with the homeless in London and I would like to do something which will help them”(Alex)

• “I’d like to work for Fair Aid and am prepared to work with Moscow homeless ”(Yasmin)

WritealettertotheEditorinresponsetothepublication‘Anew‘companionrobot’tokeepcompanywiththelonelyelderlyinMoscow.

Yourresponsemaydiffer:üYoumaywanttopraisetheeffortsofSkolkovoscientists.

üYoumayquestioniftherobotcanreallyhelpthelonelyelderlyinMoscow.

üYoumaywanttosuggestwhatneedstobedoneforthelonelyelderly

Guess which was the most popular J

EMPATHYthroughreading‘HumanIs’byPhilipK.Dick(AWindowontheUniverse)

Whatdoesitmeantobe‘human’?Whatmakesusdifferentfromotherlifeforms:capacityto

feelemotions,compassion,andkindnessandgrief?

Orthatwearecapableofbeingcruel,sadistic…andinhuman?

***“TheEndoftheParty”byGrahamGreene

(TheEyeofChildhood)

ATMOSPHEREintheclassroom

1. Mutualrespect

2. Toleranceofothers

Student- Student

Teacher- Students

Students-Teacher

Awareness+Atmosphere→ATTITUDE

HumaneApproachtoSolvingProblems:

Spontaneousvs

‘Enforced’vs

NUTUREDvia

PROJECTWORK

ProjectWork

TheBasicRightsofaChild

1. FindoutwhattheserightsareaccordingtotheUNConventionontheRightsoftheChild.

2. Findoutthesituationwiththerightsofthechildin….(country)

3. Suggestchangestothecountry’slawtoimprovethesituation.

YOUNGREFUGEESCRISES: RESPONSESINTHEPASTANDNOW

AnatolyShkareda,4th yearstudent

Possiblesolutions

1. Humanitarianvisasforyoungmigrants

2. Tofurtherfosterrecognitionofacademicdiplomasprocedure

3. Tobridgethefundinggapforregionalresponseplans

4. TosupportLebanese,Jordanian,IraqiandEgyptianeconomies…..

Wheredoesthelanguagecomein?

EVERYWHERE:

WheneveryouteachGrammar,Vocabulary,Coreskillsor

Criticalthinking

Aswellascommunicatehumaneideas,ideals&attitudes

GRAMMAR:Whatwouldtheworldbelike…

Iwishtherewere…Modalverbs:“Shouldwe…”

Thearticle:thepoor&theneedy

VOCABULARY:

Goingbeyond‘good’,‘bad’,or‘nice’

Usingsensorywords

Acrosstheworld,millionsofchildrendoveryhard workinverybad conditions.Theydo____workinthefields,ofteninthe____heatorin____factorieswheretheycanbeinjuredorevenkilled.Childlabourers liveina____adultworld,workin____conditions,theyareunderpaid,undernourishedandunprotected.

Listofwords:harmful,extremelyhazardous,scorching,noisy,poorlyventilated,awful,exhausting,brutal,cruel,appalling

DoesEnglishforHumanePurposeHaveaPlaceofitsOwn?

DoesItNeedOne?

Isn’titThereforUstoReachforandTeach?

Attheendofthedayweallfacethequestion“Whathaveyoudoneforsomeonetoday?”

Thankyou!

Contact:yastel@yandex.ru