Teaching English to Young Learners - English Teachers Association ...

EDITOR’S NOTES
“To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn.
That learning process comes easiest to those of us who teach who also believe that there
is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that our work is not merely to share
information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a
manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to
provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.”
bell hooks, Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom (1994, p. 13)
In this issue. I have a few sources of
exhilaration in this issue. First, it tells me
that our ETAS community is alive and vital.
Second, this issue is bigger because our
Call for Articles is reaching our prospective
readers and inspiring them to respond
enthusiastically. And third, this issue
contains new sections that I hope will
continue to grow and attract contributors.
The result is this impressive collection of
writings that range from studies with
sound theoretical frameworks to articles
with clear pedagogical implications and/or
applications in the areas of new materials
or materials preparation, innovative
classroom practices, needs assessment,
curriculum design and development,
IT application in learning/teaching
strategies, second language writing and
reading, cultural dimensions of language
teaching and learning, and the impact of
language and educational policies on
classroom practice.
Yet, in the beginning we were not working
toward any overriding theme. However, as
the issue grew, it became clear that the
pieces do speak to one another and the
underlying themes and overt connections
suggest themselves in a serendipitous way.
I have spoken about this notion of dialog
in my previous writings and this issue
reaffirms my belief in ETAS J as a splendid
forum on which the various views on
English language teaching are reflecting and
responding to one another. It is inevitable,
of course, because ETAS J’s mission is to
illuminate and perpetuate this dialog
between and among ELT professionals.
Our aim is to continue to offer our
colleagues in the ELT profession not only
good things to read, but also an enhanced
sense of community, a chance to come
out into the open, and compare notes.
Providing both the inspiration and the
philosophical underpinnings for this issue
are excerpts from three of my favourite
writers: bell hooks, e. e. cummings, and
Toni Morrison. Despite the diversity of their
themes and the variety of genres in which
they thrive, these three writers share a
passionate commitment to a humanist
educational philosophy which favors the
“I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach
10,000 stars how not to dance.”
e. e. cummings
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language.
That may be the measure of our lives.”
Toni Morrison
notion that learning is about making better
people and not merely about altering
behaviors. “My hope emerges from those
places of struggle where I witness individuals
positively transforming their lives and the
world around them. Educating is always a
vocation rooted in hopefulness. As teachers
we believe that learning is possible, that
nothing can keep an open mind from
seeking after knowledge and finding a way
to know.” Thus opens bell hook’s wonderful
work, Teaching community: a pedagogy of
hope (2003), in which she deepens her
exploration of the meaning of engaged
pedagogy she earlier developed in Teaching
to transgress: education as the practice of
freedom (1994), in particular the process
of building community in the classroom.
For bell hooks, engaged pedagogy is
about liberation and a specific mode of
thinking about learning: education is not
merely about enabling students towards
self-actualization; teaching itself should
empower teachers and move them further
in that direction. hooks’s notion of
“education as the practice of freedom” calls
for educators to go beyond the ‘teacherly’
selves that they bring into the classroom
and to show their whole selves. In other
words, we as teachers must bring to it all
of ourselves, our own lives a reflection of
the kind of education that is not merely
about knowing facts and understanding
concepts but also about learning how to live
life, and live it to the fullest. When students
experience liberation through learning, only
then will engagement become something
more than “real learning”. “The academy
is not paradise,” says hooks, “but learning
is a place where paradise can be created.
The classroom, with all its limitations,
remains a location of possibility. In the
field of possibility we have the opportunity
to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves
[...] an openness of mind and heart that
allows us to face reality even as we
collectively imagine ways to move beyond
boundaries, to transgress. This is education
as the practice of freedom” (1994, p. 207).
hooks’s ideas find resonances in the
collection of articles included in the Special
Supplement on Teaching English to Young
Learners. In spite of the variety of their
subjects and approaches, the authors
espouse the central beliefs that (a) every
child can learn in the right circumstances
and that we, as educators, need to adapt
to meet the needs of our children, and (b)
that learning must be engaging, social, and
centered on the needs and strengths of the
pupils. And all of them agree that when
teachers align their beliefs with their
practice, students succeed.
Acknowledgments. This issue once again
demonstrates that collaboration is the stuff
of growth. No journal can function without
the input from authors, production staff,
and Editorial Board members. Therefore, I
wish to express my appreciation and thanks
to all contributors to this edition for their
dedication, patience, and tremendous help
in preparing this issue. Ruth Benvegnen
and Joy Cosslett deserve special mention
for their wonderful efforts in putting together
the Special Supplement on Teaching
English to Young Learners. And they are
every editor’s dream collaborators – for
completing this project remarkably long
before the deadline, they have given a new
meaning to punctuality.
Readers will notice some changes in the
format and content of this volume and I
have Julie Mangold, JoAnn Salvisberg, Illya
Arnet-Clark, and Dorothy Sommer to thank
for paving the way for the rest of our
members to take a more active part in
our publication. Their contributions have
given life to my dreams to introduce
specific sections, beginning with this issue.
For being generous with their time and
expertise, Illya and Dorothy have my
gratitude. Though among the busiest, they
are also the most committed, and they
did not let me down when I requested
their participation in this issue at very
short notice.
A number of friends and colleagues, many
of them I have yet to meet in person,
have sent email or text messages of
congratulations and encouragement for
our work on ETAS J. These heartwarming
messages accompanied the completion
of this issue, providing the much-needed
ETAS Journal 28/3 Summer 2011 5