A 6th
Lesson Learned at ABLA 2016:
“Teaching
English in the 21st Century: Education for Global Competence”
By
Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.
School
of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Thursday,
September 8, 2016
Post
290
Do you ever wonder how much education
has changed since we were high schoolers roaming town or the sophomores at our
universities? Well, no doubt that it has adapted to the new learning tendencies
and has evolved exponentially. But was education better before? Being a bit
Romantic in my perspectives, in hindsight education was different and somehow
effective since we are the result of a learning process or curricula. But upon
completion of our majors time ago, were we globally competent? Hmm! I guess not
because in retrospection I cannot see that much cross-culture understanding but
attempts in our study programs, at least in my home country; compassionate
communication was absent and respect for diversity was not an issue at that
time. Additionally, we were not exactly part of environmentally-oriented
communities who really fought for the protection of our local ecosystems because
environmental awareness was just emerging. But now that we are the educators of
the 21st Century, still a vast majority of our learners are not
globally competent.
“Time has passed and we are almost two
decades away from a new century. This century has invited us to rethink and
revisit what we have done over the past years concerning Education and English
language teaching” (Ladosky, 2016) . Along the rethinking and revisiting
process, many teaching trends and methodologies have emerged and later on
abandoned. Take the example of TBLT; who teaches with this method today 100% of
their classes? Not those many, I guess. As an addendum to CLT, TBLT is very
useful but is not the panacea for teaching and learning, like many other
approaches that came to life. However, going beyond any teaching method, did
those trends help us have learners become global citizens? Not exactly! To
provide students with a bit of this global awareness or consciousness, the
instructors’ twist in their teaching was part of the magical formula to instill
in learners a bit of curiosity to explore beyond textbooks and their own
cultural and ecological surroundings. At this point of the 21st
Century we have just begun to disseminate in our learners the importance of
being a global citizen and someone who can develop their global competence to
work with and understand others in this technology-oriented world society.
“What is the role of English language
teaching in a time when knowledge is a click away?” (Ladosky, 2016) . In our technology-oriented societies,
language teaching helps us guide students to acquire a global competence, which
“refers to the acquisition of in-depth knowledge and understanding of
international issues, an appreciation of and ability to learn and work with
people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, proficiency in a
foreign language, and skills to function productively in an interdependent
world community” (NEA National Education Association, 2010) . ELT can help us
teaching professionals to avoid circumscribing learning to students’ immediate
reality; language teaching can help us expand language trainees’ horizons in
their “understanding of international issues.” ELT also allows us to expose
learners to ideas and ways of being from across the globe and to learn about
people with “diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.” All these, by means
of ELT, help us develop critical thinking in our learners, deal with various
levels of language command, and develop the right “skills to function
productively in an interdependent world community.” No doubt that global
competence is one of the benchmarks for learning in the 21st
Century.
The 21st Century has given
us plenty of room to rethink and revisit what we want in our educational
systems in our binational centers across Latin America. Global competence is
the way to accomplish what the National
Education Association (2010) endorses as a “21st Century
imperative.” In our binational center’s experience in Costa Rica, designing and
developing a whole new curricula around a National Geographic Learning’s
language series has given us the chance to help language performers to develop
“international awareness” by having them build “the knowledge and
understanding of world history, socioeconomic and political systems, and other
global events” (NEA National Education Association, 2010) ; something that was not
achieved with our former language series. Understanding our Academic Director’s
vision and National Geographic Learning’s mission also gave us the chance to
provide our language trainees with “the appreciation of cultural diversity”
which “entails the ability to know, understand, and appreciate people from
other cultures along with the capacity to acknowledge other points of view
about pressing world issues” (NEA National Education Association, 2010) . Our binational
center’s partnership with National Geographic Learning has given us room to
help students to develop their proficiency in English to understand people from
other cultures who use English as a second or first language and to foster
“competitive skills” since learners “who gain a thorough understanding of the
economic, social, and technological changes taking place across the globe
enhance their ability to compete in the worldwide marketplace” (NEA National Education Association, 2010) .
Bearing in mind the importance of
global competence, “how can the English school be effective and make a
difference to the students’ lives?” (Ladosky, 2016) . Let it be borne in mind that
effectiveness derives from the sense of global citizenship and global competence.
Binational centers (BNCs), or any other language school, can make the
difference by comprehending that we human beings are not isolated from the rest
of the world, and by developing our global competence we can establish our “international
awareness” and can cultivate our “competitive skills” to be more competent and eligible
in the job market. Additionally, BNCs can nurture a sense of acknowledging and respecting
others and their diversity in their learners aiming at complying with the “appreciation
of cultural diversity” and “proficiency in foreign languages.” BNCs’ role as
cultural centers is to endorse the four pillars of global competence presented
by the National Education Association (2010).
By having our pupils embrace these pillars, BNCs will be contributing with society
to shape individuals who show respect for others and their distinctiveness and value
the enhancement of a sense of comprehending what is happening worldwide and how
it affects them, us, and the others.
“Is it possible to enhance the
development of Global Competence and teach the content the school is supposed
to?” (Ladosky, 2016) . Of course it is
possible! But, first of all, BNCs and language schools must understand that we
are not part of close societies, but nations that are part of ever-moving people
who immigrate to other latitudes. This movement of peoples produces cultural
exchanges on our daily lives. This comprehension of the non-close society
implies that we need to think of training our citizens to become globally
competent and open-minded individuals.
Following this line of thought on
enhancing Global Competence, our national BNC, Centro Cultural
Costarricense-Norteamericano (CCCN), is setting the example in Costa Rica by
searching the right formula to have our language trainees become globally
competent. CCCN and National Geographic Learning became partners in a joint
effort to provide language students with content to promote the 21st
Century imperative: Global Competence. CCCN’s curricula are now oriented
towards global citizenship and competence. Language performers are exposed to
the cultures of the world with the archives of the National Geographic present
in each thematic unit our teaching professionals cover in class and online.
CCCN is now in the constant search for the enhancement of the awareness of
respect for local and other cultures and the environment. And our BNC is
preparing learners to deal with the new challenges of the 21st
Century world society.
Providing the reader with some
concluding remarks on what Ladosky presented and had us participants reflect
upon during the ABLA 2016 Convention in Houston, it needs to be stated once
again that education has changed. Our Romantic views of the past will not yield
any trace of global competence if the four pillars it is based on are not
overtly taught in the classroom. BNCs and language schools’ curricula needs to
become the means to start making a change in our institutions that will permeate
in our communities. The exposure our school provides our pupils in terms of the
importance of global competence will help us prepare them for better lives and
more opportunities. Initiatives like the one carried out by National Geographic
Learning allows language trainees to admire the world and its diversity with
different lenses and equipped with other 21st Century skills needed
to function in our current societies.
References
Ladosky,
T. (2016, August 16-19). Teaching English in the 21st Century: Educating for
Global Competence. 21st
Century Challenges ABLA 2016 Houston Convention . Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico: Instituto Mexicano
Norteamericano de Relaciones Culturales.
NEA National Education Association. (2010). Global
Competence Is a 21st Century Imperative. Retrieved from National
Education Association:
http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/HE/PB28A_Global_Competence11.pdf
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