classroom' s issues

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Controversial Issues in the Classroom

by Jane Godwin Coury, Sao Carlos, Brazil, August 2001

Inspired by a plenary at the 4th

Southern Cone TESOL Convention

aving listened to !ro"essor # $ouglas Brown%s "as&inating 'lenary entitled Teachers for

Social Responsibility: Guidelines for your Classroom at the re&ent (thSouthern Cone

)*S+ Convention held in Curitiba, Brazil "rom July 12 to 1-, I "elt ins'ired to write

this arti&le# )he aim o" this arti&le is to summarize the !ro"essor%s main 'oints and

guidelines, as well as to share some 'ra&ti&al ideas "or the &lassroom based on our

reality in Brazil#

hat !as the plenary about"

A well known professional in the field of TESOL, H. Douglas Brown is a Professor of English

and also the Director of the Aerican Language !nstitute at San "rancisco State #ni$ersit%. !n his

plenar%, Professor Brown told the audience a&out a group of TESOL e&ers who are acti$el%engaged in integrating language teaching with social responsi&ilit%, world citi'enship and an

awareness of glo&al issues such as peace, huan rights and the en$ironent. This group of

people ais to proote social responsi&ilit% within the TESOL profession and to in$estigatecontent, ethods, and aterials which proote tolerance, international understanding, and action

for a &etter world.

*.am'les o" So&ial /es'onsibility and Global Issues

Professor Brown ga$e soe practical e(aples of the kind of work regarding this su&)ect &eing

carried out at San "rancisco State #ni$ersit%. English language learners were taken to a local

&each and were gi$en a dust&in liner each. The% were asked to pick up litter on the &each and sortit out into plastic, paper, etc for rec%cling. The ai was for the participants, who were fro an%

different countries, to discuss what the% were doing in the target language, as well as to &ecoe

sociall% aware of an en$ironental pro&le. Another e(aple was a newspaper article that wasa&out the &urning down of an a&ortion clinic. English language learners were asked to discuss the

issues in$ol$ed and ha$e a de&ate on the su&)ect. The o&)ecti$e of carr%ing out this e(ercise was

to proote a culture of open*indedness and acceptance of di$erse points of $iew.

)ea&hers% /ea&tions and Belie"s
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Soe research was carried out at San "rancisco State #ni$ersit% concerning the kind of reactions

a teacher a% ha$e if a student sa%s soething contro$ersial in the classroo, e.g. I would never

live next door to a black personor Terrorism is the only way to solve some problems. Teachers+

reactions ranged fro &eing deepl% shocked to ildl% taking the coent in stride. The

interesting finding was that when a teacher+s own &elief s%ste was contradicted e.g. the

terroris stateent a&o$e- there was clearl% ore likelihood that the teacher would follow upwith a stateent or class discussion to e(aine the other side/ of the issue. 0hen teachers felt

that a stateent agreed with their own philosoph% e.g. Lesbians adopting children is a great

idea- the% were uch less likel% to follow up with an e(aination of the issue. The essage thatthis stud% deli$ered, as related &% Professor Brown, was not onl% that teachers should &e open

and accepting of different opinions, &ut also should recognise that that their own &eliefs ight &e

contro$ersial in the e%es of others and therefore should gi$e e1ual tie/ to a treatent of thoseissues as well. !n fact, one of the guidelines for dealing with contro$ersial issues in the classroo

that Professor Brown entioned was that as teachers, we are responsi&le for creating an

atosphere of respect for each other+s opinions, &eliefs and cultural di$ersit% and all ideas are

welcoe.

!ra&ti&al Ideas "or the Classroom in a Brazilian Conte.t

0hile ! was listening to Professor Brown+s plenar%, ! started thinking how ! could integratelanguage teaching with social responsi&ilit% and glo&al issues in a Bra'ilian conte(t.

2arious ideas related to recent e(periences ! had had cae to % ind. These ideas are

e(plained &elow3

)he *nvironment

0hile ! was in 4uriti&a ! went to theBosque Alemo, which is a park where the stor% of Hansel

and 5retel is told along a trail. !n the iddle of the stor% %ou coe across the 5inger&read

House, which is actuall% a li&rar%*cu*stor% telling place for children. ! had an idea inspired &%

the children+s stor% which was &eing told on that da%. The narrator had a&out 6 different drawingsof a stor% which was a&out how planet Earth was sick. She elicited fro the children wh% planet

Earth was in danger showing pictures of the planet looking ill with a theroeter in her outh,

littered &eaches and ri$ers, the cutting down of trees and how planet earth could &e a health%place if the inha&itants looked after her properl%. This is an eas% acti$it% to prepare for children

learning English as %ou )ust need soe drawings, which can &e prepared &% %ourself or the

children, and %ou need to think a&out the $oca&ular% and graatical structures %ou are going to

use in the stor% &eforehand.

So&ial issues

There are an% talk shows on Bra'ilian tele$ision nowada%s and ost of the deal withcontro$ersial issues. ! had recentl% watched uperpop, a Bra'ilian prograe where ga% people

were talking a&out their li$es as parents. An idea &ased on a prograe such as this one could

&e to ask if an% students had watched the prograe and elicit the content of that particular issue


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fro the students as well as to pro$ide the with soe $oca&ular%. Afterwards write a stateent

on the &oard such asIt is !ine !or gay parents to bring up children. Students can then discuss thepros and cons in sall groups. 7ou can also e1uip the with stateents such as I strongly agreeorIn my point o! view.Another idea &ased on the sae task is to discuss an issue related to a soap

opera such asIt is ok !or black people to be portrayed as maids and not as middle"upper class

citi#ens. Also concerning social issues$ ! ha$e tried a thought*pro$oking acti$it% which is actuall%fro the Proficienc% 8asterclass course&ook 9- &ut can &e used for !nterediate upwards. A

situation is descri&ed in the &o( &elow and students ust discuss it in sall groups. The teacher

can act as facilitator helping with $oca&ular%. After the discussions, %ou could get two groups to

talk to each other to copare their ideas.

A &a&% has &een found a&andoned on the steps of a church, and the other has disappeared. 7ou ha$e&een asked to for a coittee to decide who should adopt the child. Discuss the following criteria

and ark the ideas as to how iportant the% are, on a scale of 9*6 6 : $itall% iportant, 9 : rele$ant-.

The adopti$e parents should3

both be under %& years old

be a couple$ i.e. the child should not go to a single parent !amily

have some pro!essional experience o! dealing with children$ i.e. as teachers or nurses

have other children in the !amily

both be in !ull time employment

be o! the same racial group as the child

be either in the middle'income bracket or rich

be married

not adhere to any minority religious group or cult

$oing our !art "or the orld

There is no dou&t a&out it, our planet is in danger as it is plagued &% en$ironental pro&les,

hatred aong social groups causing wars, po$ert% and an% other contro$ersial issues. Asteachers, we can ake a difference not )ust in ipro$ing our students+ English, &ut also in

helping the to &ecoe sociall% aware. There are an% e(aples in our e$er% da% li$es that can

&e used in the classroo, the energ% crisis that Bra'il is currentl% going through for one. There isalso a tie and a wa% to discuss such issues in our lessons. !t is no good going in on a 8onda%

and sa%ing Today we are going to talk about litter. 0e need to war up to the su&)ect, e1uip our

students with $oca&ular% and structures, and tr% to fit the issue into our schedule e.g. a unit in thecourse&ook on the en$ironent-. !f we all do our part and pull together, a%&e we can proote


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social responsi&ilit% within the TESOL profession and outside it and ake a significant

difference.

9- 5ude, ;ath% < Duckworth, 8ichael 9==>- Proficienc% 8asterclass, O(ford3 O(ford#ni$ersit% Press.

(ane )odwin *oury is !rom Bath$ +, and has been living and

working in Bra#il !or - years. he is an nglish teacher$

teacher trainer and co'ordinator at *ultura Inglesa$ o *arlos

/01$ Bra#il. he has had experience o! teaching nglish inngland$ 2rance and the +A and has an 3.A. in Applied

Linguistics and T4L !rom Leicester +niversity$ +,.

*ontact5 6gcoury7terra.com.br

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