Language for Peace Forum
communication skills
Classroom Management and Alternative to the Stoplight method
Jen Bradley’s blog beyondthestoplight.com looks at ways to do classroom management and check behavior in the classroom that do not include shaming students into good behavior. The Stoplight method is the one focused on here (the moving of a student’s name from green to yellow to red on a prominently displayed stoplight to indicate their … Continue reading
The Meaning Between the Words and Peaceful Communication
I was driving to work a while ago and heard a short story on the radio about etiquette and rituals in Japanese business culture, and though I personally am not very interested in business, a part of the discussion caught my ear: “…What’s really important is understanding the different styles of communication that different cultures … Continue reading
Who do you help? Introductions from a different angle
How do you introduce yourself? Bernard Marr suggests that rather than throwing a business card, dropping names, or telling our life story, we simply frame our work by saying who we help. Introductions can shape the rest of our interactions and the language we choose can open others up to relating or shut things down. In language learning settings, we are often asked to introduce ourselves as one of the first phrases we say in a new language. Continue reading
Storytelling for Peacebuilding
In my internet research wanderings, I came across an interesting, albeit a few year old blog post on the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation website. In the post, “Using Stories to Build Peace: An Experience of a Lifetime,” Edward Chinhanhu recounts his experience presenting at the Storytelling for Peacebuilding Workshop at the Royal Bafokeng Institute in Thailand in … Continue reading
“The World Is As Big Or Small As You Make It”
In November we highlighted a virtual exchange program called Soliya that connected college students from different religious and cultural backgrounds, promoting peace and dialogue. The program was really interesting to me, and exciting, because it showed how much technology allows us to create connections that might never have been made otherwise. However, noticing that it was … Continue reading
Active Listening: Essential for Peace and for Language Learning
Active Listening is a well-known concept in the peacebuilding field, and one that Peace Scholar Chris Spies delves into quite extensively in some of his published articles and in an excellent blog post entitled Listening Deeper and Deeper! His Five-Level Listening focuses on five body parts and corresponding listening practices that are illustrated by each … Continue reading
Studies show language learning changes how you see the world
Recently several studies on perception and multilingual speakers have pointed to what language learners already know: even a little language learning will help you see the world differently. This has implications for abilities in communication and in seeing another’s point of view – essential in any conflict resolution and peacebuilding practice. Continue reading
The Missing Connection: Language Learning as a Tool for Peace in Israel/Palestine
An article entitled The Missing Connection: Language learning as a tool for peace in Israel/Palestine published by Tikkun.org provides an interesting perspective about the fundamental need for speaking each other’s language in the peacemaking process. What are my goals in teaching the language I teach? Am I contributing to understanding between cultures or am I creating bigger disconnects? Continue reading
18 Behaviors of Emotionally Intelligent People
Interesting to note how language plays such a significant part in many of these characteristics of people with high EQ. Does teaching this language help to raise levels of emotional intelligence as well?
Relationship key to communication and community
Daniel Siegel, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, and co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center, has done extensive work with connections among relationships, mind and brain in his neurobiological research. Relationship, it turns out, is an essential key to learning. Communication and community are interrelated. Continue reading
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