A working manifesto of Fall 2011 TESOLers:

As I was re-reading Kuma's 2006 article, I couldn't help but notice some thought-provoking points that highlight the critical turn in the field of TESOL. I hope that as a class we can construct an evolving manifesto that can represent our complex teacher beliefs which are shaped by class readings, discussions and your field experiences. I'm starting a working manifesto below, and hoping that you will continue to add to this throughout the semester and use this as your guideline, your personal conceptualization of critical language education for a more democratic society.

Feel free to comment on this entry by adding your evolving manifesto:

As language educators of the global world of the 21st century, we have been awakened to:
1. Necessities of making method-based pedagogies more sensitive to local exigencies;
2. The opportunities afforded by postmethod pedagogies by helping teachers develop their own theory of practice;
3. The multiplicity of learner identities;
4.The plurality of Englishes;
5. The complexity of teacher beliefs;
6. The vitality of macrostructures--social cultural and political, and historical—that shape and reshape our pedagogical enterprise.
7. The importance of theory building.
8. The vitality of culturally sensitive language teaching.
9. Please ADD more....�

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Aut. 30 Dan
Sep. 1 Katie P.
September 6 kelsey
Sep. 8 Laura
Sep. 13 Katie H.
Sep. 15 Keri
Sep. 22 Hannah
Oct. 6 Steve
Oct. 11 Kiersten
Oct. 20 Raul
Oct. 27 Amy
Nov 1 Tom
Nov 3 Melissa
Nov 10 Nicole
Nov 29 Elise
Dec. 8 Seloni

WEEK 1: KNOWING THE CONTEXT: WORLD ENGLISHES

English 345 slide 1

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Course Description

As the number of English language learners in the U.S. increases rapidly, there is an urgent need to understand the academic needs of ethnolinguistically diverse student population. Today, the reality of globalization and the immigration requires all pre-service and in-service teachers to become more knowledgeable and sensitive about the affective ways to 1) teach English as a global language while respecting and embracing students’ home languages and discourses; (2) help learners improve their literacy skills in English (reading, writing and speaking), (3) teach content while teaching English language skills, and (4) create culturally relevant materials. In this context, it is crucial that all teachers are equipped with the necessary tools to create optimal learning environments for ethnolinguistically diverse students and move beyond “one-size fits all” approaches which, most of the time, do not take into consideration the economic, cultural and linguistic differences of diverse student population.

As we will discuss during this course, each language teaching context is different and unique. Therefore, our teaching practices and methods must be context-specific, particular and individualized. With this rationale in mind, this course aims to help pre-service teachers develop materials and pedagogical practices that accommodate academic and sociocultural needs of the 21st century’s diverse classroom contexts. Drawing on the principles of critical pedagogy and sociocultural theories of language learning, this course aims to raise pre-service teachers’ awareness on critical issues such as students’ rights to their own languages, multilingual approaches to literacy education, English-only language policies, culturally relevant material development in K-16 and first language maintenance of students.

Welcome Back, TESOLers!