Teach English in Ganting Zhen - Linfen Shi

When comparing its means to its end, English language education seems to reinforce two opposing ideologies. Students across the globe encounter the English language nearly every day in their academic lives, regardless of their native language or proximity to speakers of the English language. Students’ success is determined by their ability to acquire English in an academic setting in preparation for global atmospheres, in which the common language of these environments is, decidedly, English. While the proliferation of English is a signature of European imperialism, it has also been reclaimed as a tool to empower disenfranchised communities. In most cases, English instruction is a large part of New American resettlement through refugee resettlement organizations throughout the United States. English language gives New Americans more control of their English-speaking environments and helps New Americans to decrease their dependence on native-speakers to go about their daily lives. Because of English’s role as a global language, it is both a symbol of oppression and a symbol of empowerment. For these reasons, it is integral for English language teachers to understand the nuances of how language directs power dynamics on the global stage and, whenever possible, present global perspectives to their students. By contextualizing the reasons for English as a global language, a teacher can both deconstruct euro-centric ideologies, which can be subliminally communicated through English education by western instructors, and help students articulate their own cultural experiences on the world stage. It is beneficial to present complex cultural topics to upper-intermediate or advanced-level students, particularly those who are about to enter situations where they will interact with cultures other than their own, like at university or in the job market. In order to help students begin deconstructing their roles as learners of English, a teacher might open up a conversation with their students addressing how they feel about their native language. The teacher might elicit specific characteristics of the language from the students in order to help them begin to articulate the different qualities of the language. This is also a good opportunity to help gauge whether or not students feel particularly proud of their linguistic heritage. A teacher could use the activity to transition into teaching language that students can use to describe the English language, particularly focusing on elements of the language that give it a transmittable quality. A teacher might discuss with the students that English spread so quickly because of its syntactical and morphological qualities, as well as the colonial tendencies of English-speaking countries over the last several centuries. It is helpful to historically contextualize the spreading of the English language in order to help students understand the nuances of English language learning and why they are sitting in a classroom learning English. After presenting the cultural implications of English language learning, the teacher might take the opportunity to ask students why they are learning English, from the indignant answers–things like, “I have to learn it in school,”–to more ambitious language learning goals, such as plans to study and live in an English-speaking country one day. At this point, a teacher must be careful not to consider America the Mecca of the English language in order to reinforce a global-mindset. Once the teacher has elicited some of the students’ goals, she might use the conversation to transition into discussing what English does for the students in any given classroom, as well as what it doesn’t do. A teacher might write “English” on the board, along with the students’ native language (or, in a multi-lingual classroom, just “My Native Language,” “My Home Language,” or “My Mother-Tongue”). Under each one, a teacher might work with students to elicit certain contexts in which each language could be used. The exercise can act as a tool for helping students visualize different languages as tools of varying forms that function in various ways. Looking at language objectively can both help students understand why they are learning English beyond its reputation as “the global language” as well as attributing dignity to their own language by articulating its value and describing it as a group. Likewise, the students learn to see themselves on the world stage by thinking about the differences in their home language and the language they’re learning in the classroom. Finally, a teacher might help students articulate their cultural presence further by helping them tell their stories. This can be an especially valuable exercise in multi-lingual classrooms, where diverse groups of students, with the teacher's support, can present new language to describe culturally complex experiences. By having these dialogues, students can become exposed to language that they can use to describe their own cultural experiences on the global stage and inform English-speakers who do not share their cultural experiences. Students might also be given the opportunity to engage in an exercise called, “English is my tool to…” in order to help them explain the role of language education in their own lives and how they will use English to reclaim power in the world around them. Through the process of seeing English objectively and understanding the value of English only through its ability to connect disparate people, a teacher can contribute to cultural and linguistic equality on the global stage despite the abuse of English throughout history as a tool to overcome disenfranchised people groups.