Personal Blogs

Simon has kindly sent my comments and feedback from people during the conference. I wanted to take some time to respond to them accordingly.  

Many thanks to all for your support and thought provoking presentations, i was absolutely terrified by the whole experience so receiver such positive input as well as presenting alongside some truly inspirational people was just brilliant!  Thanks 

• I wish we taught another language apart from English consistently from an early age in the UK

I agree!  I find the UK's lack of quality and consistent language teaching quite embarrassing.  I should have mentioned that not only do children learn English here but also another additional language (German, French or Spanish) because they appreciate that language is not simply limited to native tongue or English!  However, places like the Netherlands do not necessarily support the argument that English speakers (namely Brits and Americans) should learn other languages because English is so widely spoken-even when I speak Dutch here they switch to English as soon as they realise I'm not a 'Nederlander' because they prefer it!

• Are you specifically teaching 'British' culture alongside English language then? i guess even "dutch" english still carries western european cultural norms?

Dutch English definitely carries its own cultural norms, far different to that of British or even American culture.  'Politeness' here manifests itself in a very different way to how I as a Brit perceive it-for example there is no obligation to stand on a bus for an elderly person to be seated, or to even stand in line for that bus in the first place...something which, even as a Liverpudlian, we as Brits are taught and expect.  This is really where the issue lies because for students coming from a Middle Eastern background for example, where there are even greater cultural differences, they run the risk of assuming the Dutch 'habits'. Whereas the Dutch can (and do) travel freely to the English speaking world and realise these habits, my students can't and so there are limited opportunities to pick up good habits.

• Have you found that you need to adapt to the culture of The Netherlands  ?

I'm not sure whether this means me or the course.  For me personally I have adapted to some cultural differences here yet some are so inherent that I can and will not, and they are those I am trying to convey to the students.  Obviously the students will gather Dutch habits and culture, which is what we want for them; they (we) are immigrants to the Netherlands after all, but I hope to temper their English skills so they are more suitable for an English speaking market.  I tried to avoid going into this element too much in the research as it is a huge issue but it comes down to ethnicity. It's sad but true that in short a Dutch person can get away with their straightforward (almost rude) manner of speaking because they are essentially White Europeans.  If you pair that directness with an Arabic accent and the backwash of the European conceptions of their culture, they will receive a very different response.

• I often find that non-British English speakers have a more 'American' base to their cultural use of English as American English is far more widely used as it is culturally dominant 

Yes and that makes perfect sense-Netflix is predominantly American speaking programmes or the voice overs are with American accents.  Linguistically there is a difference (grammar, pruniciation, spelling) etc however UK and US share a lot of common cultural values; It was my initial idea to focus rather on East vs West cultural differences however this became far too broad and so it seemed more time productive to focus on British English (as I am one!)

• How have you developed you curriculum re: politeness, appropriateness etc?

The curriculum follows the structure of a textbook my students are working on.  When i first started teaching from it though (as i am one of two native speakers in the whole team) I raised a couple of issues with it.  One of which was they had people making an appointment and the vocabulary used is just ‘Hey, how’re you? Do you want to meet later?’ which is great if you’re only using the language to meet friends but my students need to make formal appointments and I, as a professional, would expect better than that!  So, the base curriculum is from the book and then I am adding to it by using my own experiences and that of the individuals i work with (EAN and HU) - and Tamer!

• Does video of people/situations help address that barrier of not teaching face to face?

As far as it can although if i was to answer my research question directly then i would say no.  It offers a practice space that can direct responses and reduce fear but i don’t think it can completely replace face-to-face interaction.

• Have you thought about using simulation based education where you could film and debrief ? / Do you have opportunities for students to record their responses to the situations, rather than selecting options? If so, what kind of feedback could you give them?

Yes!  This would be an ideal and if i obtain some funding it would be great to continue this.  The project was solely designed for the H818 module and so what i have been able to do has come from my (and my friends’) spare time - of which there is little!.  Since I started it has got some attention and so hopefully I can continue to build the resource as part of the the HU development programme.

• There's some interesting evidence (can't remember where!) that using animation enables educators to address more complex and distressing issues. Have you found a difference in the reception of cartoons vs videoed scenarios.

Short answer, I haven’t tested it!  I was disappointed that the animation software has very little diversity in its free version (no characters with disabilities, wearing hijab etc) and so if i wanted to continue this i would need to either buy the software or find an alternative.  Also, I also read some interesting stuff about the use of animation in complex situations however i would be concerned that the intercultural elements of facial expression, proximity etc would be lost in animation.