Values & Principles in Teaching English
to Speakers of Other Languages
LANGUAGE
• Cognitive learning
• Reflects the substance of
fields such as education,
sociology, psychology,
politics.
Language teachers usually focus on
the capacity of learning and
overlook the hidden messages.
Does language reflect the concepts – messages or
does it reinforce and create new codes of meaning?
Concepts, messages, codes form social norms.
social norms
social patterns
concepts
power
social norms
Chain of power
Who imposes power
• on a country?
• on a community?
• on a group of people?
• on the family?
• on the classroom?
Power and Educational Material
Publishing house
Teachers
Students
publishers – editors
Teachers are decision makers.
Teachers have the responsibility of choice.
Teachers impose power on students.
Meet the Stars
What if I were a
celebrity?
The message
• You are worthy only if famous.
• You are worthy when you exert the least
effort, to gain fame and fortune.
• What remains for the rest of us is to
confine ourselves to being mere observers
of the rich and the famous.
Leonardo Di Caprio – Hair: short, blond
Eyes: blue
Character: kind
Emma Bunton – Hair: long
Eyes: blue
Character: friendly
Jamie Lee Curtis – Hair: short, brown
Eyes: blue
Character: clever
Facial features reveal your personality! Smile, sneer, laugh, pout!
The message
• Attractive men and women are blonde and
have got blue eyes.
• People who are blonde and have got blue
eyes are kind and friendly.
• Blonde women aren’t clever and have no
need to be.
• Clever women are not blonde.
I’m your number one fan
Designer clothes are a must! (…)
But I don’t agree, no, no not at all!
I make my own dress code, my own set of rules!
The message
• I know the song. This will be fun to learn.
• It’s cool to be a fan.
• What must I do, how must I act to be a
real fan?
“Making a Million”
(millionaires under thirty)
Isaak Asimov
The message
• You are worthy only if you’re making
millions and are under thirty.
• My hard-working parents can’t be worth
much. I’m not worth much.
• My teachers aren’t worth much. Otherwise
they wouldn’t be my teachers. They would
be celebrities.
She is old. She can’t dance.
She is old. She travels a lot
and has a lot of fun.
The message
• Old is bad.
• Old is unhappy.
• Old is boring.
My family and fashion
“… in fact she is the most fashionable person in my family…”
“Poor Carol. She is a fashion victim!”
The message
• You are successful only if you are
fashionable.
• I must be fashionable and buy all the latest
trendy clothes.
• I need a lot of money.
• If I’m fashionable everyone is going to
love me.
• I must do what fashion magazines tell me
to.
My grandma is 60.
My granddad is 67.
My mum is a teacher.
My dad is a doctor.
(John) I love football.
My sister plays the cello.
Mary is an architect. Her daughter is following in
her mother’s footsteps.
The message
• I don’t have such a family! There must be
something wrong with my family.
• My mother is older than my father. That is
not normal.
• I only have a father. I am deprived
compared to others.
• Boys like football and girls like the arts.
HILLSIDE PRESS
The message
• You can be successful if you are a woman.
• You can also lead a happy family life if you are
successful.
• The older you are, the better it gets.
• Life doesn’t end when you are no longer young.
• Life is fascinating.
Educating learners for
a BETTER WORLD !