Language for Peace Forum
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Failing bilingualism in US public schools
An insightful article, How we kill languages and fail our cleverest children, looks at the limitations of views on bilingualism in United States public schools. Besides economic reasons, maintaining and supporting student’s first languages affirms them and their communities as valuable and valued in the society. Honouring our students’ mother languages is a very practical … Continue reading
Acting Out Helps ESL Students
In an article on the Scientific American site entitled How Acting Out in School Boosts Learning, the writer looks at the theory of “embodied cognition” in education. Connecting mind and body is shown to be helpful particularly for language learners. This also resonates with the holistic approaches in peace education.
Trying Harder Can Make Learning Language More Difficult for Adults
In Kelly Dickerson’s report Why Adults Struggle to Pick up New Languages, an experiment with adults shows that trying harder can actually make it more difficult to learn a language. Adults who were distracted with colouring actually picked up more of the functional grammar than those told to study for a test. How might this … Continue reading
Learning Empathetic Listening
In the article Three Ways Leaders Can Listen with More Empathy, John Coleman writes the impact of empathetic listening on leadership. In most societies, listening with empathy has to be learned and practice. Learning a new language is an opportunity to acquire communication skills such as empathetic listening and enhance learners’ leadership abilities. Thus article … Continue reading
8 Tips for Transforming School Culture
Montie Koehn, an educator in Oklahoma public schools, writes about Transforming school culture through mutual respect. Listing eight basic principles to affirm, Koehn claims that these simple ways of showing respect can create a more sustaining and healthy educational environment. How many of these tips do you see in your place of work?
Short-term ESL Program held by EMU in Lancaster school district
Eastern Mennonite University students connected with English language learners in the Lancaster school district for a two-week project. See more at EMU News.
Storytelling and Language Learning
Matthew James Friday’s article on Why Storytelling in the Classroom Matters highlights storytelling with children, emphasising the role of stories in language learning. Although the types of stories may be different, this holds true for adult education as well.
Economic Reasons for Actively Welcoming Immigrants
A recent Forbes article entitled Welcoming Immigrants: Why Empathy Is Smart Economics For Cities describes the economic benefits of creating active ways of welcoming newcomers to a city. Language support for both learning the dominant language and providing interpretation services throughout the city services would be included as one aspect of “active welcoming.” While a … Continue reading
50 Links For Learning & Teaching English
All language educators have their go-to websites. This annotated list of links may have some new ones to add to yours!
Women as Leaders and Peacemakers Infographic
Alliance for Peacebuilding posted a helpful infographic on Women as Leaders and Peacemakers. This could be a discussion starter in a class, or an example for students to make their own infographic on another peace-related topic.
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