A 6th Lesson Learned at ABLA 2016

Taken from http://www.relacionesculturales.edu.mx/abla-2016/

A 6 th Lesson Learned at ABLA 2016: “Teaching English in the 21 st 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 21 st 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” [ CITATION Lad16 \l 1033 ]. 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 21 st 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?” [ CITATION Lad16 \l 1033 ]. 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” [ CITATION NEA10 \l

1033 ]. 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 “21 st 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” [ CITATION NEA10 \l 1033 ]; 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” [ CITATION NEA10 \l 1033 ]. 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” [ CITATION NEA10 \l 1033 ].

Bearing in mind the importance of global competence, “how can the English school be effective and make a difference to the students’ lives?” [ CITATION Lad16 \l 1033 ]. 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?” [ CITATION Lad16 \l 1033 ]. 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 21 st 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 21 st 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