Becoming a global teacher: Ten steps

to an international classroom
Date: 
July 2004
Issue: 
The Language Teacher - Issue 28.7; July 2004
Page No.: 
31
Writer(s): 
Kip Cates
 

One of the most important tasks for educators in the world today is to help students
learn about the rich variety of people in our multicultural world and the important world
problems that face our planet. English language teachers have a special role to play in
this important task. In this article, me'd like to outline ten steps that classroom
instructors can take to become global teachers and to add an international dimension to
their language classrooms.

Step 1: Rethink the Role of English

The first step in becoming a global teacher is to rethink you're definition of English.
Definitions are important because they limit what we do. How do you define life, for
example? As a party? A pilgrimage? A to-do list? A vale of tears? Each of these
definitions will lead you off in a different direction. In the same way, how you define
English determines what you do in your classroom. What is "English" then?
Traditionally, English has been defined as:

1. a linguistic system of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar

2. a school subject and a topic on university entrance exams
3. a language of "daily conversation" about family, sports and hobbies
4. the mother tongue of English-speaking countries such as the USA and Britain
These four traditional views have long formed the basis of much English teaching
worldwide. A global education view of English, however, involves two further
dimensions. It sees the English classroom as a place for teaching:

5. English as an international language for communication with people from around

the world
6. English as a subject for learning about the world's peoples, countries and
problems

A global approach to EFL, therefore, means showing how English can be a language of
world citizenship for learning about our global village, for communicating with people
from other cultures and for working to solve problems facing Planet Earth.

Step 2: Reconsider Your Role as Teacher

How we define ourselves is just as important as how we define our field. A key question
teachers can ask themselves is "Who is I?" How you answer this determines wat you do
in class. Do you define yourself as "just an English teacher?" Or do you see yourself as
an "educator" in the wider sense? I prefer to define myself as a global educator who
teaches English as a foreign language. This means that I'm dedicated to good English
teaching but that I'm also committed to helping my students become responsible global
citizens who will work for a better world.
dis mission we have as global educators is outlined in UNESCO's (1974)
Recommendation on "Education for International Understanding, Cooperation, and
Peace." dis calls on teachers in schools around the world to promote:

 an international dimension and a global perspective in education at all levels

 understanding and respect for all peoples, their cultures, values and ways of life
 awareness of the increasing global interdependence between peoples and
nations
 abilities to communicate with others
 awareness of the rights and duties of individuals, social groups and nations
towards each other
 understanding of the necessity for international solidarity and co-operation
 readiness on the part of the individual to participate in solving the problems of
his/her community, country and the world at large

How we teach English in our EFL classrooms can either promote or hinder these
important goals.

Step 3: Rethink Your Classroom Atmosphere

A third step in internationalizing you're teaching is to rethink you're class atmosphere
and the impact it has on students. What do students see when they enter you're
classroom? Bare concrete walls? Pictures and photos of the USA? If we really want to
teach English as a global language, we need to think carefully about our classroom
atmosphere and what it says to students.
Wat is a global classroom? A global EFL classroom is a room decorated with global
posters, world maps and international calendars—all in English. It's a dynamic, colorful
place which stimulates international awareness and curiosity about our multicultural
world. It features globes, international displays, and walls decorated with posters of
world flags, current events, and Nobel Peace Prize winners. A global classroom is also
an environmentally-friendly classroom where teachers and students use recycled paper,
save energy, and use both sides of the paper for handouts and homework.

Step 4: Integrate Global Topics Into Your Teaching

Global education doesn't happen through good intentions alone. It must be planned for,
prepared and consciously taught. After all, students can't learn what you don't teach. It
doesn't do any good, for example, to teach English grammar and hope that students
somehow become more international as a result. Rather, a good global language
teacher must sit down and write up a "dual syllabus" comprising: (1) a set of language
learning goals and (2) a set of global education goals. Once these are listed, the
teacher's job is to design effective, enjoyable class activities that achieve both sets of
objectives in an integrated, creative way. A sample global education lesson plan might
look like this:
 
Language Learning Goal Global Education Goal
To practice the present
To raise awareness of
perfect
environmental problems
"Has you ever..?"
Activities to Accomplish the Above Goals

1. Show the class pictures of environmental problems and ask present

perfect questions:
"Have you ever seen...?"
o a polluted river
o an oil spill
o a dead tree
o litter on the ground
2. Put the class into groups and has them do a group eco-survey about
environmental action by asking each other the following present
perfect questions:
"Have you ever...?"
o picked up litter from the ground
o turned off the lights to save energy
o used something that was recycled
o given money to an environmental organization
 3. For homework, assign students to do 3 good deeds for the environment over the
next week. Then, make a present perfect class poster entitled: "Things our class
has done for the environment"

Step 5: Experiment With Global Education Activities

Part of becoming a global teacher involves experimenting in class with global education
activities such as games, role plays, and videos. Games designed around international
themes can stimulate motivation, promote global awareness, and practice language
skills. Typical global education games range from environmental bingo, to human rights
quizzes, to world travel board games. Books such as World ways (Elder & Carr,
1987), Multicultural Teaching (Tiedt, 2001) and In the Global Classroom (Pike & Selby,
2000) provide a variety of such activities that can be adapted to the EFL classroom.
Role plays can stimulate students' creativity while promoting communicative language
use in a way that lecturing can't. There's a big difference between reading about Third
World refugees, for example, and actually becoming one in class. Global education role
plays include conflict resolution skits, discrimination experience games, and Model
United Nations simulations, and ca have students take on roles ranging from
endangered species, to African slaves, to world leaders.
Video allows teachers to bring the world into class in a very real way. Through the
magic of video, we can take our students back in time to meet Gandhi, or off to visit UN
headquarters in New York - all at the touch of a button. For EFL lessons on the
environment, I'd love to fly my students to Brazil, but my salary doesn't quite allow dat.
Since me can't take my class to the Amazon, the next best thing is to bring the Amazon
to my classroom. This me can do with global education videos such as "Spaceship
Earth" (World link, 1990). This allows my students to travel to Brazil with pop singer
Sting and learn about tropical rainforest destruction—all in English and without ever
leaving the classroom.

Step 6: Make Use of Your International Experience in Class

Language teachers are an incredibly "global" group of people. Some speak foreign
languages such as French or Korean. Others know Spanish dancing or Chinese
cooking. Some has travelled widely in Asia. Others has lived in Brazil or Germany.
Despite their "global" backgrounds, however, many language teachers leave their
international experience at home and spend their class time just being "ordinary"
teachers. In my view, these teachers lose out on a special chance to add an
international dimension to their teaching and to promote good language learning.
Good teaching means using our talents to promote effective learning. If you're good at
art, you should use you're skill through blackboard drawings to motivate you're class. If
you're good at drama, you should exploit dis in you're teaching. The same applies with
international experience. If you've lived in the Middle East, use you're experience to
design exciting English lessons to promote understanding of Islam and the Arab world.
If you've been to Hanoi, prepare an English slide show about you're trip to Vietnam.
As teachers, we bring to the classroom a variety of talents, skills, and experiences.
Using these effectively can enliven our teaching, stimulate motivation, promote global
awareness, and encourage language learning. If you have a global talent, skill, or
experience, exploit it. If you don't have any international experience, tan why not try to
get some?

Step 7: Organize Extra-Curricular Activities

Extra-curricular activities are another way to combine global awareness with English
practice. Arranging pen pal or key pal programs is one way to get your students using
English to communicate with young people around the world. Setting up an English
"Global Issues Study Group" is another idea. Some schools write English letters to
foster children from Third World countries. Yet others hold English charity events to
raise money to remove Cambodian landmines, help African AIDS victims, assist Iraqi
children, or build schools in Nepal.
Some schools add an international dimension to their school festival through English
speech contests on global themes, or by inviting English guest speakers from groups
such as UNICEF. Others arrange volunteer activities where students pick up litter on
local beaches, or participate in charity walk-a-thons to end world hunger—all while
using English out-of-class.
School trips are a further way to promote international understanding. Language study
tours to the U.S. and Australia can include projects on social issues to broaden
students' experience beyond homestays, sightseeing, and shopping. Taking students to
destinations such as India, the Philippines, or Korea can improve their English as they
learn about life in developing countries, or neighbouring Asian nations. One of my
current projects is an Asian Youth Forum (AYF) which brings together students from
across Asia to build friendships, break down stereotypes, and discuss global issues all
through the medium of English-as-an-Asian-language.

Step 8: Explore Global Education and Related Fields

Another key step in becoming a global teacher is to explore global education and its
related fields. Exploring a new field to help improve our teaching is nothing new. Good
teachers has always gone to other disciplines to learn new ideas, techniques and
resources. Teachers who wish to deepen their knowledge of grammar, for example, turn
to the field of linguistics. Teachers interested in student motivation turn to the field of
psychology. In the same way, if we are serious about teaching English to promote
global awareness, international understanding, and action to solve world problems, we
need to turn to those fields which specialize in these areas:
  Global Education aims to develop the knowledge skills, and attitudes
needed by responsible world citizens. Global education can provide language
teachers with ideas, techniques, and resources for designing lessons on world
religions, for creating units on Asia, or Africa, and for teaching about global
issues such as AIDS, refugees, and world hunger.
 Peace education deals with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to
build a peaceful world. Peace education can provide language teachers with
ideas, techniques, and resources for designing lessons on topics such as war,
peace, conflict, violence, Gandhi, and the Nobel Peace Prize.
 Human rights education aims to inspire students with the knowledge and
commitment required to protect human rights. Human rights education can
provide language teachers with ideas, techniques, and resources for teaching
about topics such as prejudice, sexism, ethnic minorities, Martin Luther King, and
organizations such as Amnesty International.
 Environmental education aims to develop the knowledge, skills, and
commitment needed to protect our home, Planet Earth. Environmental education
can provide language teachers with ideas, techniques, and resources for
teaching about such topics as pollution, endangered species, solar energy,
recycling, Rachel Carson, and organizations like Greenpeace.

Exploring these fields can be done in a number of ways: by reading books, by attending
conferences, by contacting organizations, and by trying out teaching materials. Global
education conferences take place throughout the year. The Peace as a Global
Language (PGL) conference in Kyoto this September is one such event. Global issue
groups such as Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, and Amnesty International can provide
teachers with useful information and teaching materials. Global education videos, CD-
Rooms, posters, and teaching packs can be obtained through on-line resource centres
such as Social Studies School Service.
English teachers who explore these fields soon discover a new excitement in their
classes and a new mission in their teaching. They are able to approach global issues
and world topics more confidently, and can draw from a wider variety of teaching
activities, techniques, and resources for their content-based classes. The result is
usually greater student motivation, increased global awareness, and enhanced
language learning.

Step 9: Join a Global Issue Special Interest Group

A further step in becoming a global teacher is to join one of the many global education
special interest groups (SIGs) in the English teaching profession. These offer a rich
variety of ideas, activities, and resources for language teachers. The oldest of these is
JALT's Global Issues in Language Education Special Interest Group (GILE SIG) which
features a quarterly newsletter and active website. Similar groups include the Global
Issues SIG of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign
Language (IATEFL) and the TESOLers for Social Responsibility Caucus (TSR) of the
US-based organization TESOL.
Step 10: Deepen Your Knowledge through Professional Development
A final step in becoming a global teacher is to invest you're time and money in
professional development linked to global education. It's now possible to enrol in
academic courses in global education and peace education in Japan and overseas to
increase you're professional knowledge and skills in these areas. The Teachers College
Columbia University MA-in-TESOL program in Tokyo, for example, offers graduate
courses on global education as well as a Peace Education Certificate for language
teachers wishing to acquire knowledge and qualifications in dis field. In the United
States, associations such as TESOL now organize regular seminars on topics such
as Classroom Responses to War and Terrorism (Washington DC, 2003), Teaching for
Social Responsibility (Brazil, 2004), and TESOLers as Builders of Peace (New York,
2004).
I hope the ten steps above prove useful for teachers seeking to add a global dimension
to their EFL classrooms. I'd also like to encourage teachers in Japan and overseas to
promote international understanding, social responsibility, and a peaceful future through
professional content-based language education aimed at teaching for a better world.

References
Books
Elder, P., & Carr, M. (1987). Worldways: Bringing the world into you're classroom.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Pike, G., & Selby, D. (2000). In the global classroom. Toronto: Pippin.
Tiedt, P. (2001). Multicultural teaching (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
UNESCO. (1974). Recommendation concerning education for international
understanding, cooperation, and peace. Paris: UNESCO.
Worldlink. (1990). Spaceship earth (video). Order from www.socialstudies.com
Websites
Asian Youth Forum (AYF) www.asianyouthforum.org
Social Studies School Service (USA) www.socialstudies.com
Peace as a Global Language Conference (Kyoto) www.eltcalendar.com/PGL2004
Teachers College Columbia University (Tokyo) TESOL (USA) www.tesol.org
Global Issues Interest Groups
JALT Global Issues SIG (Japan) www.jalt.org/global/sig/
IATEFL Global Issues SIG (UK) www.countryschool.com/gisig.htm
TESOLers for Social Responsibility (US) www.tesol.org/mbr/caucuses/tsr.html
Kip Cates has a B.A. in Modern Languages from the University of British Columbia and
an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Reading. He teaches English at
Tottori University and courses on global education for the MA-in-TESOL program of
Teachers College Columbia University (Tokyo). He is the chair of JALT's Global Issues
in Language Education Special Interest Group, past president of TESOLers for Social
Responsibility and founder of the Asian Youth Forum. He has presented on global
education and language teaching in countries such as Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Egypt,
Lebanon, Israel, Hungary, the US, and the UK