Language for Peace Forum
language learning
10 Ways Language Learning and Peace Education Mix
For many language learners and peace educators, the crossover between the fields of language acquisition and peacebuilding are clear. Here are 10 of the ways the two lenses complement each other. 1. Communication is key Language is all about communicating with other people and a peace lens asks how healthy are our patterns of speaking … 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
Approaching Fluency: Stories from English Language Learners
I’m on the hunt for stories from language learners. What is the experience like? what grabs hold of a learner to motivate them? What are the struggles they encounter? How can we as teachers make it an experiences that enriches and empowers? So, though it is an old recording, I was glad to come across … Continue reading
Mennonite World Conference Workshop: Language for Peace Forum: a Peace Network for Anabaptist Educators
Mennonite World Conference is coming July 21-26, and some of the daily activities are workshops on topics pertinent to the church and to Anabaptists particularly. As you might have guessed, we’re facilitating one of the workshops! If you are attending the conference, consider coming out to the workshop led by me and Kate Wentland on … Continue reading
Foreign Language Teaching Methods: Online Professional Development
Some of us who are interested in language teaching and peace are specifically educated in those fields and have received adequate training and done much study of those topics. But some of us, like myself, are just taking first steps into teaching and may or may have not studied language teaching extensively. As teachers that … Continue reading
Children’s Literature for Teaching Peace
I’ll admit it; I’m a book nerd. I studied English literature in college and grew up being read to and reading hundreds of books. Because of this, I know that I have been shaped by what I have read. It occurred to me recently that cultural stories and values are perpetuated in literature. This is … Continue reading
Peace on the Hill: Speaking the language of peace
Originally posted on PeaceSigns:
By Charissa Zehr As a bilingual person aspiring to be trilingual, living with a bilingual spouse, I spend a lot of time thinking about language construction and the flawed way we interpret one language into another. Words fail to describe certain feelings; idiomatic expressions refuse to be confined by Google Translate…
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
Language for Peace Forum 