Oh! What two weeks it has been! You couldn't believe what happened in the previous weeks even if I told you but I AM BACK. I missed you so much. Those days a bit lonely as we are always at home however I have a good opportunty to make my loneliness more bearable. Yes, I'm talking about 21st Century Skills Teacher Training. Two week ago, we had our last training meeting and it was very informative and fun. If your are interested, keep reading!
We have discussed about an article, Teaching Material in EIL by Matsuda, in the first session. This article focuses on important parts of materials and textbooks. We have made a group and whole class discussion on this topic by sharing our reflections on the article. We found out that materials should include diverse representation of different things such as cultures, ideologies, accents, visuals, etc. Also, the article point out to the evaluation of materials by giving different criteria. For example, we should think about the variety of users, adequate exposure of various Englishes, relation to local contexts amd authentic language use.
In the second session of the training, we shared our opinions about different textbooks that we have used or are using. We examined them and evaluated their usefulness and being global. Bilge from our discussion group shared three good textbooks from Oxford Press. However, even they exclueded highly global activities.
At the end of the training, we talked about our whole experience in this training and had a good chit-chat. I enjoyed it so much because our teacher Melda shared her experiences as a new teacher years ago and gace us some suggestions on how to be more prepared to work life. Also, we set a weekly meeting for the rest of the projects so that we can see one another and have conversation while drinking tea.
This was all from the training but I have a lesson plan example for a global perspective. You can check it!
Think Local, Write in English: “Turkish
Twelfth Night “
Goal
This activity aims to raise awareness on the issue of cultural
relativity that different styles and interpretations are possible for the same
play through showing different pictures of the adaptations (see Appendix) of
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.
Appropriate Courses: Literature &
Language Teaching, Drama, Identity and Culture.
Class Time:
Procedure
(It is assumed that everyone in the
classroom have watched the original version of the play on YouTube (National
Theatre) beforehand by the suggestion of the teacher.)
(1)
Warm up and interaction to
World Englishes literature (10-15 minutes). Teacher
shows pictures of Shakespeare, The Globe Theatre, and Elizabethan costumes,
etc. And T asks the following questions: Did you like the play you watched by
Shakespeare? What was the thing that you attracted/disliked most? Which
century/culture/setting do these costumes belong to? Which cultures are
represented in the play? After some answers and discussions teacher sets a
groupwork.
(2)
Group Work (20-25
minutes). In
order for students to better make sense of the plot, Teacher handouts different
set of scenes from Twelfth Night which are not in the right order. Students are
expected to put them into right order in groups. .
(3)
Group Work (25 minutes) Teacher
writes the names of different cultures on small papers and make students
randomly pick the papers (Hindi, Chinese, Afro American, Japanese Anime &
Pantomime version and Russian). Then, Students will decide on the cultural
elements based on their world knowledge (Constructivism). Teacher hands out worksheets
consisting categories such as language use, setting (dominant colors, gender
representation, censorship), costumes, cultural elements, atmosphere. Then,
Teacher shows the pictures of different adaptations of Twelfth Night around the
world. And each group will put a tick on the features that they have found in
their groups. Then, a speaker from each group will share the answers with the
class. Teacher writes the answers on the board. Students will comment on one
another’s work.
(4)
Whole Class Discussion (30
minutes) Now that they have identify other cultures, teacher will ask them to
consider the Turkish context, asking the following questions: What kind of
costumes they would wear? What might be the settings? This will initiate a
deconstructive approach on literary works based on multiculturalism and
critical thinking.
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