Dear Readers, My name is Thanousone Sangthongphet or you can call me Koung (my nick name). I am very proud
Erasmus+ programme: My expectation in studying and living in Karlsruhe, Germany, in summer term 2022 Let me introduce my name
Greeting from the Philippines Hello! I am Viengvilaiphone Botthoulath (Vieng) from Lao P.D.R. I hope some readers still remember me.
Hello! My name is Outh and I am 20 years old. Four years ago I already wrote an article for
Editor's note: This article by Ms Carlotta Ehrenzeller is the second post in our NEW SERIES "Decolonise Your Mind (&
Editor's note: Mr Jonas Hoffmann studies English and politics in the teaching degree for lower secondary school at the University
Editor's note: Mr Nico Eckardt completed his studies of English and music at the PH Karlsruhe in the Secondary School
Editor's note: Ms Shirin Ud-Din finished her Master's Degree for teaching English and biology at secondary school in January 2020
Editor's note: Jessica Weigelmann is a student of English and Art in the Bachelor's Degree for secondary school and currently
Editor's note: Ms Francesca Diligu is studying the English teaching degree for secondary schools at the University of Education Karlsruhe
Quiet time on this blog (May to July 2021) The pandemic has prevented tandem-teaching for our Lao and German project
“Call for Applications“ for students and graduates of ALL subjects (not only English): Team XII (October - January 2021/22) and

Project videos

Ban Sikeud primary school

The first school supported by the foundation since 2003

Ban Phang Heng lower secondary school

Lower secondary school, supported by Angels for Children since 2011

Ban Phang Heng primary school

Second primary school supported by the foundation since 2013

Lao-German Technical College

Joint vocational training with BHS Corrugated since 2015

Savannakhet University

University cooperation between Savannakhet and Karlsruhe since 2018

Vocational Education Development Institute

Cooperation between the VEDI and  the University of Education Karlsruhe since 2019

Sunshine school

Cooperation between the Sunshine school and  the University of Education Karlsruhe since 2020

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Letters from Laos (Savannakhet, no. 7) – “Adventure begins on Erasmus+Student Mobility” by Thanousone Sangthongphet (Erasmus+ participant)

Dear Readers,

My name is Thanousone Sangthongphet or you can call me Koung (my nick name). I am very proud and happy that I was selected as a representative from Savannakhet University (SKU) to be as one of two students to study in the summer term (6 months) in Karlsruhe University of Education (KUE) in Karlsruhe, Germany, for my Master Degree in English under the support from the Erasmus+ KA107 project and Prof. Isabel Martin.

Note from the editor: Our two Lao students arriving in Karlruhe tomorrow will join 28 other international students for their 4-week German Intensive Course on Monday. It continues as a regular course in the summer term and is organised by the International Office (Ms Julia Friedl). Ms Souphansa and Mr Thanousone will take up their studies in the English Department in mid-April and stay in Germany until the end of August. At the same time, after a 2-year hiatus, our two doctoral students Ms Rebecca Dengler and Ms Miaoxing Ye are preparing to fly to Savannakhet again next week for their “Student Mobility” at SKU. Over the summer term, they will complete their research and data gathering and also teach “Academic Writing” for staff at SKU.

In May we expect our two lecturers from SKU who could not come over last spring because of the sudden lockdown, Ms Somsanouk Xayyavong (IT) and Mr Sitsanou Phouthavong (Physics) – and, last, but not least, also Mr Napha Khothphoutone (Biology), whom our readers may remember from his illuminating posts written during his first stay in Karlsruhe 3 years ago. (With a bit of luck, a new Lao doctoral student from the VEDI will come to Germany later this year, on a DAAD scholarship.)

Under the tab “Project“, in “Project phases“, you can find descriptions of our first Erasmus+ Mobility Programme “Bi-directional teaching and learning” (2018-2020) and also our new one, “Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship” (2020-2023). As we could not start our second project last April due to Covid-19, this is a new start.

 

About myself and be prepared for an Erasmus+ Mobility in Karlsruhe, Germany

Before I received this Student Mobility scholarship, during I was working at the Faculty of Linguistics and Humanities, I joined the Mr. David Schrep class, the first volunteer from KUE who taught us “Further Education in Didactics and Methodology, Regular Language Work, Mini-Workshop on Feedback-Methods, Student Motivation and Lesson Planning” and Ms. Rebecca Dengler class, the first PhD student from KUE taught us “Teaching Methodology”.

This is my first post which I would like to share about my preparation and about my expectations for my programme. We call this Erasmus+ “student mobility. The program that select to study in KUE is English and I will also take a German Language course.

Let’s talk about my flight details, on the 4st of March 2022 I am taking an early flight from Wattay International Airport in Vientiane capital, Laos to Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand then I will transfer just before midnight to the flight to Frankfurt Airport and I will arrive there around 6 a.m. on 5th March and then take a train at 9 a.m. from Frankfurt to Karlsruhe. Finally, there will be my “buddies”, Lea Lindner and Kim Hesse come and pick me up to my stay in Karlsruhe.

 

Let’s talk about my destination country, what I know about Germany

Compared to the other countries in Europe, I believe that Germany is one of the countries I know well. For example, when I learned about Geography, I thought that Germany has the biggest population in Europe after Russia. It is a developed country. Germany has the best economy in Europe. There are many luxury car industries such as BMW, Benz, and Porsche and so on. Germany is home of beer. German people are very organized, on time, work as a teamwork not only as an individual benefit which shows you on sports such as football, the national football team won 4 times of the World Cup championship. Germany has an excellent education system. Therefore, I do hope that I can learn, exchange with students people in Germany to pursue my skills especially my communication and speaking skills.

When I stay in Germany, of course I would take a visit to the famous site in Karlsruhe. If I have an opportunity, I would like to visit the other cities in Germany and also in other neighbor countries. I love football so I hope to see the stadium of Baryen Munich football club which is one of the best football cup in the world I know.

 

My documentation process and before receiving a visa 

During the process, I had to prepare for the related documentation from the both sides, Germany and Laos. I had so much received facilitation and support from the International Office, Karlsruhe University of Education (KUE). They work very professionally, organized, step by step. They also found me my very kind and friendly “buddies”. We have got in touch via email and WhatsApp group and I have learned a lot with them. From our side (Laos), at the university level, my university is always helping me in all conditions but we had a little bit longer process on related documents from the Ministry level. However, due to the COVID 19 situation around the world, especially in Germany and Laos, we need to have proof of vaccination, negative test result and other conditions before entering Germany and re-enter Laos after six months of our mobility.

 

Let me talk a little about my background

I am holding BA in Applied English. I have been working in Savannakhet University (SKU) as a volunteer teacher since 2016. I worked at the Faculty of Linguistics and Humanities (FLH) from 2016 to 2019. I used to teach for several subjects including General English for beginners at the Departments of Japanese, Vietnamese, and French.

I taught basic grammar for year 1 students, and Lao Literature in English language  for year 2 students in English Department. This means using English to speak about Lao culture, festivals, ceremonies, story and some foreign stories.

I also used be invited to teach English for students in the other faculties in SKU too.

Then in October 2019, I moved from “Faculty of Linguistics and Humanities” to the “General Affairs and International Cooperation Office”.

Due to I am holding a bachelor degree now, this is therefore I am looking for upgrading my qualification.  I hope to earn credits from my mobility program in KUE in this summer 2022. On this Erasmus+ program my colleague, Ms Souphansa Inthachack form my faculty is also joining to study in KUE.

 

My hometown (Khammaoune Province)

Originally, I was born in Mouangsoum Village, an old village in Thakhek District, Khammoaune Province. It’s located close to the Mekong river bank in the southern part, 6 kilometers far from the central of Thakhek (main district of Khammouane).

My village has the most popular culture heritage site in Khammoaune called “That Sikhodtabong or Sikhottabong Stupa“. In this village also has a wonderful and very beautiful beach called “Moungsoum Beach”.  We have very big festival and cerebration during Lao New Year’s day. There are many people from different town in Khammoane and from other provinces come and visit here.

 

 

Interests

I like playing football and badminton. I always enjoy reading and watching football and movies. I also love to listen to music in my free time

Last but not least, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to the Erasmus plus program, KUE, SKU for giving me this very good opportunity and making my dream come true.

Can’t wait to see you Germany.

 

Text by T. Sangthongphet

Photos by  T. Sangthongphet, S. Inthicak & S. Phanomphone

Letters from Laos (Savannakhet, no. 6) – “Coming soon!” by Souphansa Inthichak (Erasmus+ participant)

Erasmus+ programme: My expectation in studying and living in Karlsruhe, Germany, in summer term 2022

Let me introduce my name is Souphansa INTHICHAK (Nickname Mouk) I am 33 years old, I graduate from Savannaket Teacher Training College, majoring in English Teacher and I am a volunteer teacher in Faculty of Linguistics and Humanities, Savannakhet University (SKU), Laos. According at March, I will have the opportunity to participate in a training programme in pedagogy as well as English Department at Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany. I am very happy to be a part of this project Erasmus+ Student Mobility.

Editor’s note: Two years ago, the pandemic froze all cooperation projects between the universities in Karlsruhe and Savannakhet, and it also made travelling to Laos impossible for our volunteers of Team XI, who had planned to work at the Lao-German Technical College (LGTC), the Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI), and Sunshine School in 2020. We tried three times to get the necessary permits, stamps, visa, and flights for them and also for our doctoral candidates and Lao partners – but this work was in vain. There was only one exception: Volunteer Leya (XI.5) managed to get over in March 2021, but then was locked down in Vientiane. Our last attempt at the end of April 2021 looked promising until the very last moment – and then a total lockdown prevented our partners from getting to the airport to catch their flights on that same day. Our next Lao students Ms Souphansa Inthicak and Mr Thanousone Sangthongphet are to arrive in Karlsruhe this coming weekend, and I will believe it when they land in Frankfurt.

Currently, I am studying Master Degree in 2nd semester, in pedagogic and also have been teaching as a volunteer teacher for seven years in SKU, also  I am really passionate on teaching and love English more over I like teaching reading. English can help to know more cultural and open my mind to become more international. Even though I’m not good at English enough but I love teaching, I am very happy to be a part of the Erasmus+ programme between Karlsruhe University of Education and Savannakhet University to help improve myself and later also the students for faculty at SKU to comprehend in English skills and also contribute to Faculty development.

I haven’t know about Karlsruhe University of Education before, until 2018, when I met Prof. Dr. Martin, Isabel, She came to observe and guild us about Couse outline, then know David Schrep, he came for the University cooperation project between Savannakhet University and the University of Education Karlsruhe (Germany) in 2019, but in that time I’m not a participate on that project. Due to second project I’m be a participate for moreover I ‘m buddy of Rebecca Dengler. I help her settle in Savannakhet in 2020 and she guild me in class how to teach, play game, remember the world by doing word of the day, how to give feedback (like sandwich) and how to manage the class…. ,So I found that Erasmus+ is the project who support training teacher and research of doctoral students like Rebecca.

My expectations at Karlsruhe University of Education due to living in aboard is an amazing, life changing adventure that will not only leave my with memories for a lifetime, but continue to transform my career path and expand my skills.

My first fight is on 4 march 2022, So i’m very exciting ,whether that includes different languages, religions, daily practices or living circumstances.

 

Text by S. Inthicak
Photos by S. Inthicak & P. Keomanyvanh

Letters from the Philippines – “Adaptive research mode and Christmas spirit during the pandemic” by Viengvilaiphone Botthoulath

Greeting from the Philippines

Hello! I am Viengvilaiphone Botthoulath (Vieng) from Lao P.D.R. I hope some readers still remember me. Literally, I was part of a staff training mobility exchange under the Erasmus+KA107 program PH Karlsruhe and Savannakhet University collaboration in 2019. At that time, I worked with two German partners for bi-directional teaching and learning and job-shadowed Dr. Martin Remmele, my main partner at the Department of Biology, and Prof. Dr. Isabel Martin, the project leader, and my partner at the Department of English. We did interesting project work together in- and outside class.

I miss my life at the University of Education Karlsruhe a lot now that it has been three years since it was my first experience in European countries, which was an unforgettable memory for me. Although I already finished with our collaboration on this project, maintaining our network and friendship has never ended. Therefore, my greeting goes to Prof. Dr. Isabel Martin, Dr. Martin Remmele, and all my friends at PH Karlsruhe, and may allow me to share students’ life in a scientific field and re-kindle the Christmas spirit on the campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. The Christmas Season ends with the Feast of the Three Kings on 6 January.

 

Laboratory learning in the midst of COVID-19

I am currently pursuing a doctoral program in Microbiology at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (“UPLB”), under a SEARCA scholarship (“Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture”). My main research work is about probiotic microorganisms that are isolated from Lao traditional fermented foods like Lao traditional bamboo shoot fermentation, fermented fish products, and etc.,  the obtained potential bacteria that indicate the probiotic properties which then can be applied as a starter culture or a preservative agent in food products. Additionally, my minor field of study is Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, which is related to something to the molecular level of living things such as amino acids, enzymes, DNA, RNA, and so on. It seems to be a complicated study, right?  Yes, it is. But, it really interests me to explore such invisible, tiny organisms in nature and learn the mechanism of growing from them to be applied to our real lives.

Similar to the Philippines, many countries around the world have continued to practice living in the face of pandemics COVID-19. Here, UPLB has conducted remote learning for learning-teaching for almost two years already, using various platforms such as Zoom, Google Class, Messenger, Canvas Application, and so on.

My courses are mostly components of the laboratory section, meaning that my studies require me to perform experiments in the laboratory. This causes me to extend my graduation time for a year more at this university due to laboratory restrictions in the midst of COVID-19. This is the main challenge for many students who study the scientific field, and as a consequence, students have had a difficult time adjusting to the sudden change in the educational system. However, some courses manage the laboratory section online.

You may have a question about how to study experiments online. Actually, professors provide experiment sheets for students and explain the procedures for the given tasks. Then, students perform the laboratory by creating the schematic diagram of the experiments and even modifying the use of some materials/utensils that we have at home as an artificial lab supply for experiments. For example, students can use a candle that available at home to replace a laboratory alcohol lamp.

That is the strategy that our courses have applied during this tough time, which at least helps students minimize their extension of graduation.

 

Re-kindle the Christmas spirit on campus in the Philippines

When I walk through the Freedom Park area at the UPLB campus, I am reminded of the Karlsruhe Palace Gardens, which cover a large area behind the Karlsruhe palace, and from where I usually take this route walking to Karlsruhe University of Education very close by. Similarly, these two locations are popular gathering spots for picnics, sports, extended strolls, and simply getting away from the stresses of daily life.

The UPLB campus has been quiet and empty for the past two years, as no one has been allowed on campus due to COVID-19. People are frustrated, have less hope, and have lost the Christmas spirit because all the activities are online. Now in 2021, the Christmas decorations are back at the campus with the ornamentation of a Christmas tree, fountain, and more public access inside the campus. People are enjoying taking photos of the campus.

As we know that the Religion in the Philippines takes pride in being Asia’s sole Christian country. More than 86 % of the population is Roman Catholic, 6% is affiliated with various nationalized Christian cults, and 2% is affiliated with one of more than 100 Protestant denominations. Therefore, it can be observed that numerous people go to the church and practice their Catholic culture’s Christmas spirit face-to-face by following the rules of the new normal, which is known as “Simbang Gabi“, is a devotional, nine-day series of Masses attended by Filipino Catholics in anticipation of Christmas.

The event is usually organized from December 16 to 24. Filipinos from all walks of life make an effort to wake up every dawn to attend the novena masses, which start as early as 4 a.m. to pray to God for a healthy life, successful career, stronger family ties, among others. This indicates that the predicament is being lifted in Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.

I am now falling in love with the Philippines already, especially the Filipinos. They are very kind, friendly, and helpful. I already consider UPLB, the Philippines, to be my second home. Besides, I also have a lot of friends from various countries, such as Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, East Timor, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, and many more. This inspires me to learn more about cultural diversity from various parts of the world.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Erasmus+ KA107 program, Karlsruhe University of Education, and Savannakhet University for the great opportunity that was given to me. I hope I will have a chance to visit Karlsruhe again someday.

 

Text & photos by V. Botthoulath

Letters from Germany – “My new life in Germany” by Outh Sinminah (LGTC)

Hello! My name is Outh and I am 20 years old. Four years ago I already wrote an article for this blog, which was also published on New Year’s Eve. In  this article, I took a look into the future and described what my life would look like in ten years. My dream at that time was to start a vocational training program at BHS Corrugated in Germany – I have to say, this dream already got true within only three years!

I trained as a mechanic at Lao-German Technical College in Vientiane (Capital of Laos) for 3 years. When I finished my training in July 2020, I had the chance of further training as a machine and plant operator (German: “Maschinen- und Anlagenfuehrer”) at BHS Corrugated for two years in Germany. I planned to arrive in Germany in August 2020, but due to the Covid-pandemic and travel restrictions, I was only able to come in mid-October 2020. When I came here for the first time, I had a big problem with the language, even though I did a 6-month German course in my home country. Here Germany is almost 11 000 Kilometers from my home country and many things are different from my home country including food, weather, culture, lifestyle…

I am doing dual training here, That’s mean I have to go to work and school. In the workplace I work with new colleagues they are also very nice, they help me with the language. We learn some new things together, At lunchtime we go to the canteen to eat together. It is a lot of fun. At school it is exciting too, I meet a lot of people from all over the world, we exchange languages, cultures and stories with one another. After work or school I still go to a German course. I also meet a lot of foreigners there who leave home by various reasons, we learn German together with many accent. That is a the nice experience.

The whole day is going well, except in the evening. Because since I live alone here in Germany, sometime I feels homesick and sadly but I have to go on. I planed to have to fish my training here. I will work here, do a further training. Of course I will go back to my home country in some year to give the good experience and knowledge for the students in my home country.

 

Text & photos by O. Sinminah

NEW SERIES: “Decolonise Your Mind” (2) – The Performance of Decoloniality (by C. Ehrenzeller)

Editor’s note: This article by Ms Carlotta Ehrenzeller is the second post in our NEW SERIES “Decolonise Your Mind (& language & teaching)”. Ms Ehrenzeller’s article serves very well as an introduction to the new series in its own right, and it was finished just in time for me to wish our readers Merry Christmas!

Ms Carlotta Ehrenzeller is a second-year doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests are peacebuilding, holistic education,  school reforms, comparative education and participatory methodologies. Ms Ehrenzeller has been an sdw scholar (Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft) since 2016, and I first met her at an sdw conference about “Digitality in Schools” that Ms Shirin Ud-Din organized virtually in autumn 2020. She has since held various workshops and guest lectures about at our university (“What does decoloniality have to do with me?”).
Ms Ehrenzeller previously studied in Lausanne (Switzerland) and Montréal (Canada). She holds an MPhil (2019) in “Education, Globalisation, and International Development” from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge. Her MPhil research focussed on teacher motivation and teacher retention in rural Bangladesh.
After her Master’s Degree, Ms Ehrenzeller absolved a diplomatic traineeship in Sri Lanka and Switzerland before returning to academia. She is currently chairing the sdw UK group, and holds the position as Vice-Chair of the Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group. She has just completed fieldwork in Berlin (Germany) in which she collected data for analysing the contextualisation of Montessori Education in a forest school as well as Montessori pupils’ conceptualisation of peace.
In her podcast “Footnotes – My PhD in the Making”, Mrs Ehrenzeller critically shares questions, doubts, and personal experiences throughout her PhD journey and explores alternative ways of knowledge-making in a critical manner. You can connect with her on Linkedin: Carlotta Ehrenzeller or reach out to our guest author via cme48@cam.ac.uk.

 

The Performance of Decoloniality: A Journey Through Power

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds.
(Bob Marley)

We are at a point in history where striving towards peace, social justice, and environmental sustainability at every level is no longer a vision of dreamers, but a global necessity calling for immediate action (Rincón-Gallardo, 2020). The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda sets out a vision of a more just world in terms of economic, social, and environmental equality across and within countries. Nonetheless, capitalism, patriarchy, and colonisation persist in prevailing regimes of inequality worldwide (de Sousa Santos, 2007).

 

My Positionality: Whiteness

Let me start this blog post by disclosing my own positionality. As a white Western researcher, I want to acknowledge from the beginning that I am aware that I am speaking from a privileged position (see my positionality in the visualisation below). I myself have benefited from the systems in place and am aware that the process of “learning to learn from below” (Spivak, 2004) implies to start learning in new ways, as well as in new relationships and to ultimately unlearn privilege. In addition to this, I am in the process of learning how to express my allyship as part of the decolonisation1 and decoloniality2 in and of higher education and in no ways wish to prescribe what decolonisation is or should be.

Importantly, in this introductory post to the new blog series on decolonisation and decoloniality from the University of Education Karlsruhe,3 I take the questions of whether or why to decolonise as a given, focusing on how to decolonise  within higher education. In the following contribution I reflect on both decolonisation and decoloniality, from a personal perspective as a researcher and early-career academic.

 

Decolonisation vs. Decoloniality

In my field, education and peacebuilding,  decolonisation is seen as “a messy, dynamic, and contradictory process” (Sium, Desai, & Ritskes, 2012, p. II). It starts with the challenge that decolonisation and decoloniality are often used interchangeably in general discussion about colonial legacies. The words we use and what we intend to communicate shape our world and understanding thereof. Therefore, for reasons of clarity, I aim to distinguish between the two concepts based on the definitions of futurelearn in the visualisation below.

 

Therefore, colonisation refers to the systemic exploitation of land and resources.  Decolonisation describes the undoing thereof. This means the time-bound process of liberation from colonisation. On the other hand, decoloniality refers to continuous actions based on recognizing the real-world impact that coloniality has on today’s world systems (based much on capitalism, nationalism and modernity). Decoloniality intends to move away from dominant Eurocentric knowledge systems and “ways of knowing” towards alternative and pluralistic ways of knowledges.
Namely, Shahjahan and Ramirez (2017, 52) define decoloniality as the “epistemic,4 political, and pedagogical project that involves the unpacking of modern civilisational worldview and the inclusion of non-modern systems of knowledge and categories of thought as legitimate ways of knowing in higher education”.

In short, the role of coloniality is constructing the assumption of Western cultural hegemony in every possible aspect. Can we, then, state that the goal of decoloniality is deconstructing the assumption of Western supremacy in ontological (ways we perceive) and epistemological (ways we know) terms? The violences of colonisation and coloniality affect nearly every dimension of being (Mignolo, 2011).

Decoloniality can thus refer to a
• particular version of postcolonial political theory,
• historical narrative after the end of empire,
• way of knowing that resists the Eurocentrism of the West,
• an ethical attitude towards social justice and human rights for Indigenous peoples, and
• moral attempt at righting the wrong of colonial domination, stolen land, and enslavement (Mackinlay & Barney, 2014).

 

Knowledge Production: Controlling the Narrative

Knowledge production (this can mean doing and publishing research) can be seen as a form of labour, done by specific groups of workers in specific social contexts with specific goals in mind (Connell, 2014). Moreover, this labour process was and is influenced by colonialism, and is now being re-structured and redefined by neoliberal5 globalisation. De Sousa Santos (2007) reminds us of the need to compare knowledge that is being learned with knowledge that is being forgotten in order better understand whose stories are being told and whose goals a particular production of knowledge serves. A defining feature of the extensive duration of colonial modernity is the concealment of historical and systemic violence against oppressed populations (Andreotti, 2016).6

Could we imagine a form of knowledge production that aims to provide epistemological alternatives for more intentional, pluralistic thinking?7 If the dark sides of modernity are concealed in the narratives of local and global histories, the result is an uncritical celebration of progress and development. Consequently, this leads to the belief in neutrality and innocence in current and past global injustices. Post-colonial and decolonial literature is trying to critically illuminate this celebrated idea of progress and development.

 

Decoloniality in Higher Education

I wonder: What then is our role and obligation as academics and researchers in the project of decolonisation? How do knowing and being combine themselves in the moment of learning to create the very world we are studying, and how do we wish to participate in this world (Bayley, 2018)? Whose knowledge do we consider worthy, and what do we actually consider as knowledge? Spivak’s thinking reminds me of Foucault, who highlights the relationship between power and knowledge. Researching and knowing more about ‘the other’, about people in cultures other than our own, comes with the power to control the narrative. Furthermore, from the position of a Western researcher in particular, it remains crucial to critically question myself: To whom does decolonisation belong? And whose vision of a more just world is decolonisation working towards? After all, at the foundation of this lies the need to go one step further and to question the relationship between knowledge, power, and politics in order to realise calls for more diverse ways of knowing (Santos, 2018), as well as more reflexive and embodied praxis for scholars (Cremin, 2018). The following diagram suggests some concrete actions that academics can take, in order to address colonial practices and work towards more pluralistic and inclusive implementations (Golding, 2017; Kurian & Kester, 2019; Law & Bretherton, 2016):

With this in mind, concrete actions in academia as demonstrated on the visualisation above, could be, to publish not solely in English, but to increasingly include a diverse range of languages (for example Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish ) in dominant journals. A further concrete step is to ensure that core curriculums of Universities  include diverse literature and articles produced by Southern academics. This ensures that various narratives are being demonstrated and shifts the power from western-centred knowledge domination. Consequently, when doing literature reviews, or publishing texts (like for example for this blog post), I pay particular attention to build on research from authors with diverse backgrounds, including authors from the global South. Additionally to the above-made points, as academics it is important to reflect on our own fields of study. It is crucial to interrogate the development of our disciplines, to unpack how our fields came to be and what logics underpin its development. From there, transformation can happen. In this vein, Kester et al. (2019) argue for a practice of glocalised,8 decolonial thinking across fields, and a continual reflection and dialogue about why and for whom certain knowledge productions and prevailing colonial practices persist.

 

Personal responsibility

Concluding, I embrace the idea that behind all these complex and messy structures, what remains unquestionable is the responsibility on a personal level. I agree with Hajir et al. (2021) and Scully et al. (2017) that dismantling colonialism within the field of higher education ultimately calls to mobilise the privileged to push against their own interests. However, this call to mobilise those in power positions (also within higher education itself) to advocate with the oppressed and needs patience and persistence.

Altogether, decolonisation (a noun) and decolonise (a verb) cannot easily be explained, defined, or grafted onto pre-existing social justice frameworks. Tuck and Yang (2012, 3) helped me realise the importance of not seeing decolonisation as a metaphor;9 they argue: “When metaphors invade decolonization, it kills the very possibility of decolonization; it recenters whiteness, it resettles theory, it extends innocence to the settler, it entertains a settler future”. The authors critique that creating a white narrative around decolonization without concrete actions of returning indigenous land,  reinforces a Western-centred domination and an apparent innocence to the white settler.
I have spent – and indeed continue to spend – much time grappling with the challenges of decolonization and decoloniality and with the act of decolonizing (in) higher education as a white, Northern researcher.

Therefore, I choose to share some of my personal reflections on my Podcast Footnotes – My PhD in the Making. In short episodes I explore alternative ways of knowledge-making, and aim to break away from purely textual knowledge. My aim is to honestly share questions, doubts, and learnings throughout my PhD journey. All in all, I strive to genuinely understand history; hose histories told and those concealed. In short, I commit to holding marginalised voices at the forefront in my own research, disclosing my positionality, to reflect on power and to voice my allyship.

 

Lifelong Process

Finally, I would like to share the following personal reflections: For me, decolonisation and decoloniality cannot be achieved by solely engaging with the topic on a theoretical level within a bound timeline. It is both a personal and a structural process that is lifelong and calls for personal and structural confrontation of the world we have known to be. Firstly, on a personal level, it requires me to reflect on my own privileges, structures, opportunities, research methods, publications etc. and to adapt my behaviour accordingly. This process is lifelong, and I continue to learn and change when it comes to decoloniality. Secondly, on a structural level, it remains indispensable to be an ally when it comes to questions of returning indigenous land, colonial art or other artefacts that are in western possession due to settler colonialism.

Therefore, decoloniality calls to critically question hegemonic structures, our institutional practices, and our personal privileges within and outside higher education. Who has access to our universities? Who receives funding and scholarships? Who is able to go through bureaucratic processes and receives study visas? Who is published? And what kind of knowledge is considered worth publishing and therefore letting be part of the current knowledge production? These questions are only partially rhetorical. Think to yourself, in what ways your positionally (your gender, race, sexuality, skin color, accent, family background) has brought you to where you are today. Which opportunities do you have or not have, because of who you are?

To circle back to the beginning of this blog post, as Bob Marley expressed in his redemption song (see motto above), and as Frantz Fanon echoed in 1963 (The Wretched of the Earth), I argue that each of us is responsible for decolonising our own minds as a first step. We are responsible for de-linking our epistemic assumptions established in the Western World, to stop the silencing as an active act of erasure and misinterpretation with the goal to challenge our own “epistemologies of ignorance” (Sriprakash et al., 2020).10 Concluding, in light of these “epistemologies of ignorance”, self-reflexivity in the global North must be focussed not only on the value of diversity but also recognise the different ways of knowing and of being, which I hope we will find in this blog series.

 

Text by C. Ehrenzeller
Illustrations by S. Bieger
Editor’s notes by I. Martin

 

Notes
1Decolonisation: “the process in which a country that was previously a colony” (= controlled by another country) becomes politically independent” (cambridgedictionary.com)
2 Deoloniality: “ways of thinking, knowing, being, and doing that began with, but also precede, the colonial enterprise and invasion. It implies the recognition and undoing of the hierarchical structures of race, gender, heteropatriarchy, and class that continue to control life, knowledge, spirituality, and thought, structures that are clearly intertwined with and constitutive of global capitalism and Western modernity.” (urbandictionary.com)
3 Editor’s note: The new series will be post-inaugurated with my post “Changing the Matrix”. It will then develop with articles by Luana Ebert, Chelsea Hog, Jonas Nonnenmacher, Selina Stegmeier, Nico Eckhardt, and Carolin Callahan. We are also interested in contributions by potential guest authors (contact the editor).
4 Epistemology: “the study or theory of the nature of knowledge, especially with reference to its limits and validity” (merriam-webster.com). Epistemology explores the ways in which we understand and perceive the world.
5 Neoliberalism = ” ideology and policy model that emphasizes the value of free market competition” (britannica.com).
6 In recent times, there are individual examples of institutions (e.g. museums) and states (e.g. Canada) recognising the continued systemic violence against oppressed populations who choose to repay and return what belongs to ex-colonised nations. Although these acts may be taken as a positive signal, in the larger context they remain isolated as yet, as the majority of institutions in ex-colonising countries are still not recognising the issue.
7 To see a concrete example cf. diagram “Concrete Action in Academia”
8 “Glocal”: a merge of the words “global” and “local
9 Tuck and Young argue in their 2012 article (cf. references), that decolonisation is not a metaphor for ways to improve our education system and society. They highlight the importance that at the heart of decolonisation should be concrete actions of returning stolen land, rather than just “thinking differently”.
10“Epistemology of ignorance”: Sriprakash, Tikly and Walker (cf. references) argue that being silent about a specific topic, in their case racism and racial domination, is an active act to erase a part of history that is the base of todays economic, political and social systems worldwide. This silence around racism in the field of education and international development, produces and normalises racism as a political system and this is what Mills (cf. references) calls the “epistemology of ignorance”.

 

References  

Andreotti, V. (2016). “The educational challenges of imagining the world differently”. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/ Revue Canadienne d’études Du Développement, 37(1), 101-112.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2016.1134456

Bayley, A. (2018). “Posthumanism, Decoloniality and Re-Imagining Pedagogy”. Parallax, 24(3), 243-253.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13534645.2018.1496576

Connell, R. (2014). “Using southern theory: Decolonizing social thought in theory, research and application. Planning Theory”, 13(2), 210-223.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1473095213499216

Cremin, H. (2018). “An Autoethnography of a Peace Educator: Deepening Reflections on Research”. Emotion, Space and Society, 28, 1-8.

de Sousa Santos, B. (2007). “Beyond Abyssal Thinking: From Global Lines to Ecologies of Knowledges”. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), 30(1), 45-89.

Golding, D. (2017). “Border cosmopolitanism in critical peace education”. Journal of Peace Education, 14(2), 155-175.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17400201.2017.1323727

Hajir, B., Clarke-Habibi, S., & Kurian, N. (2021). “The ‘South’ Speaks Back: Exposing the Ethical Stakes of Dismissing Resilience in Conflict-Affected C”. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 18.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17502977.2020.1860608

Kester, K., Zembylas, M., Sweeney, L., Lee, K. H., Kwon, S., & Kwon, J. (2019). “Reflections on decolonizing peace education in Korea: A critique and some decolonial pedagogic strategies. Teaching in Higher Education”, 26:2, 1-20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1644618

Kurian, N., & Kester, K. (2019). “Southern voices in peace education: Interrogating race, marginalisation and cultural violence in the field”. Journal of Peace Education, 16 (1), 21-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/17400201.2018.1546677

Law, S. F., & Bretherton, D. (2016). “The Imbalance between Knowledge Paradigms of North and South: Implication for Peace Psychology”. In: M. Seedat, S. Suffla, & D. Christie (eds.). Enlarging the Scope of Peace Psychology: African and World-Regional Contributions. New York: Springer, 19-36.

Mackinlay, E., & Barney, K. (2014). “Unknown and unknowing possibilities: Transformative learning, social justice and decolonising pedagogy in Indigenous Australian Studies”. Journal of Transformative Education, 12, 54-73.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344614541170

Mignolo, W. (2011). The Darker Side of Western Modernity: Global Futures, Decolonial Options. Durham: Duke University Press.

Mills, C. 2015. Global White Ignorance.In Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance
Studies, edited by M. Gross and L. McGoey, 217227. Abingdon: Routledge.

Santos, B. de S. (2018). The end of the cognitive empire: The coming of age of epistemologies of the South. Durham: Duke University Press.

Scully, M., Rothenberg, S., Beaton, E., & Tang, Z. (2017). “Mobilizing the Wealthy”. Business & Society, 57.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650317698941

Shahjahan, R. A., & Ramirez, G. B. (2017). “Attempting to Imagine the Unimaginable: A Decolonial Reading of Global University Rankings”. Comparative Education Review, 61:S1, 23.

Sium, A., Desai, C., Ritskes, E. (2012). “Towards the ‘tangible unknown’: Decolonization and the Indigenous future”, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1:1, 13.  

Spivak, G. C. (2004). “Righting Wrongs”. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 103 (2/3), 523–582.

Sriprakash, A., Tikly, L., & Walker, S. (2020). “The erasures of racism in education and international development: Re-reading the ‘global learning crisis'”. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 50(5), 676–692.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2018.1559040

Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1 (1), 1–40.

 

Websites

Bob Marley. “Redemption Song Lyrics.”
https://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+marley/redemption+song_20021829.html (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Britannica. “Neoliberalism.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/neoliberalism (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Cambridge Dictionary. « Decolonization .”
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/decolonization (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Dictionary. « Glocal . »
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/glocal (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Futurelearn. “Coloniality, decoloniality and the legacies of imperialism.”
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/decolonising-education-from-theory-to-practice/0/steps/190003 (last accessed 21 December 2021).

IGI Global. “What is Coloniality.”
https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/the-ambit-of-ethics-in-the-south-african-academic-institutions/44165 (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Merriam Webster. “Colonization”.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colonization (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Merriam Webster. “Epistemology.”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epistemology (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Reading the periphery. “Can the Subaltern Speak? By Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.”
https://readingtheperiphery.org/spivak/ (last accessed 21 December 2021).

United Nations. “The 17 Goals.”
https://sdgs.un.org/goals (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Urban Dictionary. “Decoloniality.”
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=decoloniality (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Wikipedia. “Franz Fanon.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frantz_Fanon (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Wipkipedia. “Michel Foucault”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Wikipedia. “Ontology.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology (last accessed 21 December 2021).

Wikipedia. “The Wretched of the Earth.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wretched_of_the_Earth (last accessed 21 December 2021).

“The Secret War”(aka “American War” aka “Vietnamese War”) – Bachelor thesis by J. Hoffmann

Editor’s note: Mr Jonas Hoffmann studies English and politics in the teaching degree for lower secondary school at the University of Education Karlsruhe. He chose the topic “The Sustainable Development Goals” in my “Global English(es) & Global Citizenship Education” seminar in the summer term 2019 for his presentation assignment, because he is very interested in political solutions for global challenges. He subsequently wrote an article on this topic in our series “Language Education & Global Citizenship.
His interest in Lao P.D.R. and its history increased due to the interesting discussions he had with three Lao Erasmus+ exchange partners from Savannakhet University in our seminar, Mr Napha Khothphouthone, Ms Viengilaiphone Botthoulath, and Mr Thaithanawanh Keokaisone. As a consequence of this newly raised interest in Indochinese politics and history, in 2020 he decided to write his Bachelor thesis about “The Relevance of the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Second Indochina War“, which is published on the Research page under Full-texts.
Jonas Hoffmann has a strong interest in political conflicts all over the world and combines his two subjects English and politics whenever possible. His interest in political measures regarding sustainability has further led to an article about the “Minneapolis 2040 Plan“, published in the monthly geographical journal “Praxis Geographie” together with his father Hon.Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann.1 He will continue his studies with a 4-month internship in Ireland and is planning to write his Master thesis on the US American “War on Terror” with a special focus on Afghanistan.

Readers will remember from a previous post by Johannes Zeck how Laos was drawn into the conflict – although it never formally entered the war – because the Trail used routes through Laos. Jasmin Unterweger (Team VII) travelled through one such affected area and reported on some of the consequences, as “the US dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos, which makes it the most heavily-bombed country in history relative to its polulation” (cf. Unterweger, Note 3). This meant 9,000 air raids per day over nine years, contaminating the countryside along the Lao-Vietnamese border.

The “Secret War” is therefore the Lao name for the “American War“, as the Vietnamese call it in their language, or the “Vietnam War“, as the Americans call it in English. It was secret from the Lao perspective because media coverage of the Second Indochina War focused almost exclusively on Vietnam. The strong and severe impacts on Lao people and nature in form of dropped ordnances and spraying of Agent Orange was not globally acknowledged. To this day, unexploded bombs (UXO) kill two Lao citizens per week on average (at least 20,000 since the war ended) while barely 1 million of the estimated 80 million unexploded ordnance has been cleared.  

 

 

The relevance of the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Second Indochina War

The withdrawal of US American Military Forces from Afghanistan – a repeating trauma

Due to the recent departure of international military forces, especially of the US military, the situation in Afghanistan can be interpreted as yet another failure of a US American mission. Only a few hours after major general Chris Donahue, the last US soldier in Afghanistan, had left the country on 31 August 2021, Taliban representatives posed for a triumphant image in the office of former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in Kabul, the recently conquered capital city of Afghanistan. Since the US government declared the withdrawal of US American troops from the country, the media has been full of images and videos of Afghans who desperately tried to get hold of one of the rare seats on one of the military planes leaving the country.

These images remind us of desperate Vietnamese citizens trying to escape from Saigon in 1975 after Communist forces had conquered the capital city of South Vietnam. Similarly to the situation in Kabul in August 2021, the withdrawal of the last US troops caused chaos and despair for the people of South Vietnam because they found themselves exposed to oppressing forces after their former protectors had left the country. The same terrible situation can be observed now – despite 20 years of attempted “nation-building” in Afghanistan.

Compare the striking visual similarities in this video and here.

 

David Versus Goliath     

No other conflict since World War II has played such an important role on the global scale and especially for the United States like the Second Indochina War. It was the first war which was made visible to households all around the world through the media. Therefore, the American politicians who were responsible for the war – especially Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon – had to face mass protests worldwide.

As the Second Indochina War emerged together with the Cold War, it can be interpreted as a proxy war between the two major ideological ideas of the world at that time: Democratic capitalism versus autocratic Communism. As the conflict was a proxy war, the two ideologically opposing parts of Vietnam, the North and the South, received financial and military aid from China and the Soviet Union on the one side and the United States on the other side. Both sides aimed to push through their ideologies. The military aid coming from the opposing camps was transported within Vietnam via hidden routes in the jungle which had existed for many centuries, but which were extended and improved within the 20th century and had reached a length of about 10,000 miles – at sea, on land, and above ground and below, during the Second Indochina War.

Dealing with foreign oppression was nothing new for the Vietnamese. Throughout the centuries, numerous forces had tried to invade the small Southeast Asian country, i.e. the Chinese, the Mongolians, the French, and the Americans. As the oppressing countries were economically and militarily superior to Vietnam, these conflicts can be described as “David-versus-Goliath” scenarios, where a very small opponent faces a giant adversary. Although Vietnam had been under Chinese rule for approximately 1,000 years and the French had colonialized the country for approximately 70 years, the Vietnamese were able to regain independence each time. Considering this long history of successfully overthrowing foreign oppressors, it is not surprising that the Vietnamese were able to resist the Americans as well. Vietnam became the first nation which defeated the United States in a war.

The reason for this impressive and successful resistance is that the Vietnamese forces used guerilla warfare in order to defeat the economically and militarily superior enemies. This strategy of warfare enabled Vietnamese forces to avoid open battles, which they probably would have lost due to their inferiority regarding financial capacity, amount of soldiers, and firepower. Instead, they took advantage of their natural environment – hardly accessible mountainous jungle – where they could hide and through which they could also supply their troops. Over the centuries, this kind of warfare and the resulting infrastructure in the jungle had grown.

While the Second Indochina War was evolving, the network of supply routes was named after the most important North Vietnamese political leading figure: Ho Chi Minh. Until today, the Ho Chi Minh Trail needs to be mentioned when discussing the events of the Second Indochina War, due to its important strategic value.

But was the Ho Chi Minh Trail so important that it played the decisive role in winning this war?

 

The thesis examines the events of both Indochina wars and their aftermaths while taking diverse national perspectives into account. The Ho Chi Minh Trail is of special interest regarding this matter, as it enabled the guerrilla tactics of the Vietnamese armed forces, which eventually led to victory. Although Laos was severely affected by the war and both its people and nature suffered – and is still suffering – enormous damage, the focus of media coverage worldwide remained on Vietnam.

Therefore, the thesis always balances the perspectives of the Western powers, Vietnam, and the Laotian perspective. In this way, the “secret war” is uncovered, at least to a certain extent.

 

Text by J. Hoffmann

 

 

Note

Editor’s note: Thanks to Jonas, the son, I was made aware of Thomas, the father, one of the leading German experts on education for sustainable development.  He is a regular guest-speaker now in my seminar and shows our students ways forward; his contributions to our work will be detailed in another post.

 

Illustrations

Burning Hut in Vietnam during the Second Indochina War.  Pixabay Free Images. URL: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/krieg-flammenwerfer-soldat-bazooka-67524/

US American soldiers in Afghanistan. Pixabay Free Images. URL: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/afghanistan-marinesoldaten-milit%c3%a4r-108885/ 

North Vietnamese soldiers on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Stewart, Richd W. Public Domain. URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ho_chi_minh_trail.jpg 

“Language Education & Global Citizenship” (13) – From Intercultural to Global Education in the EFL Context (by N. Eckardt)

Editor’s note: Mr Nico Eckardt completed his studies of English and music at the PH Karlsruhe in the Secondary School Degree in January 2020 and took part in my Global English(es): Teaching English in Asia class in the summer term of 2018. As he got quite interested in concepts of education for the 21st century and “Future Skills”, he turned his interest into a Bachelor thesis in 2019. His thesisFrom Intercultural to Global Education in the EFL Context” is summarized in this article and uploaded on the Research/Full-texts page.
In his Master Degree, he enrolled in
my “Postcolonial Theory and Short Fiction” class last semester and then wrote his Master thesis about “Raising Awareness for Global Citizenship“. A summary of this thesis will follow here later; the full text is already uploaded.
It is most rewarding to support students on their way to becoming engaged professionals, especially when their interests are harnessed to the subject of responsibility towards future generations and sustainability. The Corona-year 2020 only intensified the single-mindedness of individuals in our “Professional Learning Community” (PLC), who actively work towards raising awareness for prime 21st century goals such as “Global Citizenship Education” and “Decolonization”, for example by becoming educators (multipliers) and by becoming authors (for example on this blog) who address an international readership.
As we have readers from 219 countries, this author can hopefully raise awareness of Global Citizenship in society in general and spark interest in Global Citizenship Education in classrooms in particular.

 

Introduction

Our world is dynamic and constantly changing. People experience changes that are affected by globalization. Humans are able to experience globalization in various areas of life in the 21st century. Nowadays, intercultural encounters have become omnipresent in the Western world. As a result, numerous approaches deal with the interaction of cultures, such as multiculturality, interculturality, cross-culturality and transculturality (for a definition of terms and comparison of concepts cf. C. Seeger’s article on this blog on Transculturality). These approaches pose challenges and involve discussions of how people can or should become global citizens.

Globalization and interaction throughout diverse cultures will affect future pupils more and more. Therefore, education has to be adapted.1 In German school curricula, especially the ones for “English as a Foreign Language” (EFL) classroom, the teaching of intercultural communicative competence is already an integral part. This becomes apparent in the latest curriculum of the federal state Baden-Wuerttemberg of 2016. However, how can schools and education in Germany now get from educating pupils in interculturality to mentoring pupils in becoming global citizens? This article is dedicated to the question of how intercultural learning has to adapt to Global Citizenship Education in the German EFL classroom in the future.

First, there will be a discussion of globalization and the diverse approaches to culture over the last years, as well as the question how those approaches are “translated” into the classroom. Second, the gap between intercultural and global education will be explained, so as to be able to answer the question of where intercultural education ends and where global education starts.
Then, Global Citizenship will be examined in more detail: What is Global Citizenship and how can future pupils become Global Citizens?
The last chapter will take a look at teachers and the conditions under which they can become competent global educators.

 

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Cultural education and globalization

2.1 Development of cultural education

2.2 Culture and globalization for the secondary German EFL classroom in the curriculum of Baden-Wuerttemberg

3. The gap between intercultural competence and global education

4. Future students as global citizens

4.1 Global citizenship

4.2 Global citizenship on a local level

5. Teacher qualification for global education

5.1 Knowledge of teachers as global educators

5.2 The role of teachers in global education

6. Conclusion

 

2.  Cultural education and globalization

As globalization took root in the modern world, everything grew increasingly interconnected: Technology changed, and trade is now possible throughout the world (cf. Soriano 2015, vii). Globalization consists of “financial, industrial and commercial capital, new international relations and the emergence of transnational companies” (cf. Soriano 2015, 41). Through increasing possibilities of transportation, the world has shrunk and crossing borders became easier (cf. Soriano 2015, vii). Therefore, migration turned into one of the biggest motors of globalization (cf. Soriano 2015, viii). Consequently, not only products are exported, but also capital, which leads to effects on the environment, cultures, political systems, economies, and prosperity (cf. Soriano 2015, 41). Now different cultures can spread easily all over the world. 

Globalization can be described as the interaction of

  1. increasing internationalization of financial markets, product markets, and labour markets;
  2. location competition of nation states;
  3. rapid developments of new information and communication technologies;
  4. the increase in the importance of globally connected markets (cf. Blossfeld 2005, quoted in: Aktionsrat Bildung 2017, 26).

These four fields have been developing since the early 1990s (Aktionsrat Bildung 2017, 25). Now the question is asked how the acceptance of globalization could be enhanced through education (Aktionsrat Bildung 2017, 33). In addition, the question comes up whether or how globalization itself can or should be questioned through education. 

“Globalization is the meta-context (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) for schooling in the 21st century” (Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco 2009, 62). In our case, we have a great variety of immigrant and refugee pupils in Europe, which leads to diverse challenges for the education systems. Some immigrant children have well-educated parents, while other children are illiterate. Some pupils were excellently schooled in their home countries, while others could not go to school at all (cf. Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco 2009, 64). Furthermore, there are cases where immigrant pupils attended schools in their new countries which were segregated from other schools. In these new schools the problem of “triple segregation” arises, which involves “race, poverty, and linguistic isolation” (Orfield & Lee 2006, quoted in: Suárez-Orozco &  Suárez-Orozco 2009, 64).

Humans have always migrated. Reasons for migratory movements differ. On the one hand, some people move because of new opportunities. On the other hand, there are people who leave their home countries because of poverty, war, hunger, or oppression (cf. Soriano 2015, 42). Schools in Europe and the US have many pupils with migrational backgrounds now (cf. Soriano 2015, viii). For instance, in 2018 2.4 million immigrants entered the 27 states of the European Union (cf. eurostat). Consequently, schools need to develop the ability to understand the world and its problems and instill a sense of responsibility and cooperation, to enhance the resolution of the great problems that humanity is suffering from: Poverty, interethnic conflicts, wars, energy supply, environment, climate change, pandemics  (cf. Soriano 2015, viii).2 This is done ultimately to end causes for migration.

In order to understand what is meant by “intercultural competence” one has to understand some other related terms first. These are “identity“, “culture“, “intercultural encounter”, and “competence” (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 13). Identity is a “person’s sense of who they are and the self-descriptions to which they attribute significance and value” (Huber & Reynolds 2014, 13). There are different identities for every person, a personal and a social identity. Those two dimensions of identity come into play when a person bases their identity on “personal attributes” or when participating in a social group (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 13). Social identity, again, could be split up into different parts, with one aspect being the cultural identity, which is affected by a specific a cultural group that a person is a member of and participates in (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 13), and the other being civic, i.e. belonging to a certain ethnic group or nation. There are other theories about identity which also consider a sphere of cultural identity to enhance the scope.

Every culture or cultural group in itself can be heterogeneous. Material culture, social culture, and subjective culture together affect a cultural group (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 13-14). There is no determination of the size of a group to form a culture, and every person is able to belong to more than one cultural group at the same time (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 14). The boundaries of cultures become vague because the aspects which they are defined by are always changeable (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 14-15) as long as the cultural group does not isolate itself from the rest of the world. Intercultural encounters can take place either face-to-face or virtually (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 16).

The Culture Wheel by Andrea Fonte Weaver (Fonte Weaver 2018)

 

“Competence” is understood as having the skills and ability to do something successfully (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 16). Meanwhile, “intercultural competence” consists of the components of attitudes, knowledge, understanding, and skills. These components help a person to understand, respect, and communicate appropriately and respectfully establish relationships with people of different cultural backgrounds (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 23).

“Culture is conceptualized as a dynamic and complex process of construction; its invisible and implicit characteristics are emphasized” (Banks 2010, 1). In older theories, this complex construction is exemplified by the iceberg model. The tip of the iceberg shows the visible part of cultures in public spheres (e.g. clothing), while the part under water represents the complexity which is not visible at first sight (e.g. attitudes).3

Iceberg Model (Systems Innovation 2020)


Through the statement of Banks, there is the understanding that teaching about culture could be more difficult and certainly more diverse than it might seem.4

However, there is the need to educate students in an intercultural manner, since working together within a group of diverse cultures will be the only way to solve problems such as global warming, the HIV/AIDS or Covid-19 epidemics, poverty, racism, sexism, terrorism, international conflict, and war. Examples are conflicts between the Western and Arab nations, North Korea and its neighbors, and Israel and Palestine (cf. Banks 2010, 5). Nevertheless, global exchange has to start with one culture connecting with another (any other) one to experiment working together, learning to deal with difficulties and hurdles, taking advantage of new possibilities and then generating and spreading new ideas. This way, this first intercultural exchange can lead to ideas and possibilities for the next cultural group and then start cascading.

 

2.1 Development of cultural education

Multicultural education started out in the United States after the Civil Rights Movement (cf. Banks 2009, 13). The US Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s fought for ending racial segregation and bringing forward human rights throughout the country, with activists like Martin Luther King Jr. at the forefront. “Multicultural education is an approach to school reform designed to actualize educational equality for students from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, social-class, and linguistic groups” (Banks 2009, 13). The introduction of this concept was used to promote democracy as well as social justice and has the main goal of giving every student equal opportunity in academic studies (cf. Bank 2009, 13). The reason for multiculturalism was about eliminating problems in education for specific ethnic groups in order to introduce equality for all participating students (cf. Banks 2009, 13). Up until then some ethnic groups were not able to succeed in school or university, which led to further social issues following the pupils’ time in education by not having the same opportunities in the working world.

Arguments came up that this change would not be sufficient and structural changes for education would be needed (cf. Banks 2009, 13). Aspects that had to change would be the teachers’ attitudes, their expectations, their testing, assessment, language and the norms and values of the schools (cf. Banks 2009, 14). As a result, the students should be educated in skills, knowledge, cultural capital, and attitudes which would be needed in a multicultural environment (cf. Banks 2009, 14).

Multicultural education originated in the United States, and Western Europe then also installed intercultural education into their school curricula. Educators argued that multicultural education would leave out the analysis of the institutional structures, such as racism, capitalism, and power (cf. Banks 2009, 14). For instance, institutionalized racism occurs when marks of pupils with migrational backgrounds are generally lower than pupils in their home country. Research has shown institutionalized racism as a problem that can be hard to track and prove. Nevertheless, there is a growing awareness of the importance of this topic and we have more awareness of institutionalized racism now.

Above all, when there are encounters between two persons, each person evaluates the behavior of the opposite by their own cultural assumptions, which have been imprinted throughout their whole lives (cf. Göbel 2011, 192). Therefore, every pupil has to be educated in intercultural competence. Intercultural competence is the ability to perceive influential conditions and factors on one’s own judgment, as well as to think about them, re-evaluate them, empathize with one’s counterpart, and take action. This ability needs to be acted out by the individual by always trying to take other perspectives of other people who have different cultural backgrounds. Afterward, these perspectivizing abilities need to be reflected, valued, respected, and used in a productive context (cf. Thomas, Kinast & Schroll-Machl 2000, quoted in: Göbel 2011, 193). In everyday contexts, pupils need to be aware of intercultural encounters and take these opportunities as learning experiences to grow in their own behavior for future encounters.

In 1999 Jacques Demorgon described a basic challenge in intercultural learning. Demorgon drew on earlier studies on culture-boundedness and applied them to the new question of intercultural learning. This difficulty lies in the fact that a person’s behavior, their expressions and language, and their ways of thinking are deeply imprinted by their cultural assumptions, which are consolidated through everyday life (cf. Demorgon 1999, 83). A person is rarely conscious of this imprint (cf. Demorgon 1999, 83).

James A. Banks (2004) formulated five “Dimensions of Multicultural Education”:

Dimensions of multicultural education by Joanna Rose Saculo (Saculo 2014)

 

First, there is “content integration”. This content has to be directly related to a specific topic of cultural encounters and cultural behavior in order to show examples of various different cultures (cf. Banks 2009, 15f). For instance, specific cultural identities and lifestyles can be observed and reflected.
Second, there is “the knowledge construction process”, which is about teaching activities that would help the pupils to understand the influence of the construction of knowledge (cf. Banks 2009, 16). Here, intercultural encounters can be reflected. Knowledge about cultures is used to explore different ways of behavior. Before intercultural encounters can be used, there has to be a creation of knowledge of aspects of cultures.
Third, there is “prejudice reduction” to “help students to develop democratic racial attitudes” (Banks 2009, 16). Prejudice and stereotypes has to be overcome in order to form democratic attitudes in democratic ways to represent equality to everyone.
Fourth, there is “an equity pedagogy” that helps with the facilitation of academic achievement in an equal way for all pupils (cf. Banks 2009, 16). Democratic racial attitudes can be used to live out equity directly in classroom situations. These attitudes have to be practiced, reflected and challenged in an ongoing way.
Last, there is “an empowering school culture”, which is about “restructuring the culture and organization of the school so that students from diverse groups experience equality” (Banks 2009, 17) during their everyday life. Schools have to facilitate intercultural experiences and place emphasis on the reflection and learning opportunities within these experiences.

To sum it up: If teachers make their pupils aware of the five dimensions, they can practice their own behaviors and encounters with different cultures.

So far, the terms multiculturalism and interculturalism were used. But what is the difference between multiculturalism and interculturalism? Adjacent to multiculturalism, which started in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, first discussions about interculturalism came up in the 1980s (cf. Dietz 2009, 3). These discussions came up in the discourse of pedagogical and sociopolitical stances. (For more detail and background, please read the article by C.V. Seeger.)

“Interculturality” and “interculturalism” denote diverse cultures existing together at the same time and in the same place, but with the newly added factor of interacting with each other in a positive manner (cf. Dietz & Cortés 2008, in: Dietz 2009, 8). While multiculturalism acknowledges diversity in culture and religion, interculturalism stresses the intersection of culture and religion.  Furthermore, in multiculturalism minorities are empowered through education. In interculturalism, minorities and majorities are brought together on the same level (cf. Dietz 2009, 8).

The following table illustrates the difference between multiculturalism and interculturality as the level of cultural encounters which is currently lived out in public cultural spheres. Meanwhile, multiculturalism and interculturalism are the normative levels which are based on the discourses of culture in pedagogy, sociopolitics, and ethics.

 

Diversity in Multicultural and Intercultural Discourses 1 ...

Diversity in Multicultural and Intercultural Discourses  (Dietz & Cortés 2008, in: Dietz 2009, 8)

 

Michael Byram (1989), Professor Emeritus at Durham University (a former school teacher) postulated: “Let it be said immediately that the young people who need to come to terms with otherness in their own society are not just ‘the majority’, but also those who are ‘the minorities’” (Byram 1989, 25). This statement shows how in interculturalism, minorities have to adapt culturally in the same way as the majorities do. Everyone is affected, albeit in different ways.

Communication is a key factor for pupils in global education, and teachers should enhance students’ abilities to communicate with people who have different languages and cultural backgrounds. Pupils in many countries can experience these differences in their everyday lives simply by attending school. For communication, a common or international language is needed: “Language has a privileged role within intercultural encounters” (Huber & Reynolds 2014, 23). Since language is the most effective way of communication between people, it should be used in situations of experiencing different cultural backgrounds. In Germany, the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom is the relevant place for pupils to use and practice such a language.

Most countries do not yet have curricula that are geared towards globalization (cf. Soriano 2015, viii). This lack calls for addressing the need for language education and keeping intercultural communication in mind when planning lessons. Anyway, especially when learning about cultures that are different from one’s own, language becomes increasingly important. Language works as a link (or a hurdle) when it comes to communication between different cultures. Consequently, “communication between different cultures needs to be addressed, also because individuals are now being deemed responsible for their own ‘self-capitalising’ over their lifetimes” (Lingard 2009, 18, quoted in: Ball 2012, 2). This means that individuals need to put their own selves into the center of their growth. Due to this change, there is an urgent need for pupils to be prepared for the changing world, which means learning an international language to start with.

 

2.2 Culture and globalization for the secondary German EFL classroom in the curriculum of Baden-Wuerttemberg

In 2016 the new Federal Curriculum for the German EFL classroom in Baden-Wuerttemberg was introduced. Globalization prompted the change of the curriculum because by 2013 40% of people in Germany who were under 20 years had some sort of migrational background (cf. Bildungsplaene Baden-Wuerttemberg). The core themes of the 2016 Curriculum are democracy education, peace education, and cultural education (ibid.). Baden-Wuerttemberg shares these goals with those of other federal states in Germany.

The curriculum is led by six guiding principles. One of these guiding principles is “education for tolerance and acceptance of variety” (“Erziehung zur Toleranz und Akzeptanz von Vielfalt”, cf. Bildungsplaene Baden-Wuerttemberg).5 This guiding principle promotes intercultural and interreligious dialogue (ibid.). Therefore, pupils need to develop respect and appreciation of “otherness” on the basis of human dignity, the Christian view of human life (and tolerance),6 and the German Constitution (ibid.). Consequently, the school has to be a place of tolerance and cosmopolitanism (ibid.).

Furthermore, pupils need to be enabled to find their own identities without discrimination (ibid.). In order to find out about their identity (or identities), pupils should deal with different personalities of other students so as to be able to gain experiences which are about difference and intercultural encounters. These experiences can be used to challenge their own identities and thereby to evolve as a person. Due to the diversity of the German society (ibid.), they then can learn to empathize with one another (ibid.). “Education for tolerance and acceptance of variety” can be enhanced by active participation in this society.

As mentioned above, the EFL classroom is a good place for pupils to learn about cultural and historical differences (ibid.). Here, pupils participate in shaping situations of intercultural communication, and they use specific cultural forms, for example politeness (ibid.). Meanwhile, all materials and media which are used in the classroom should be understood and used for the enhancement of intercultural contexts so that they become meaningful to the pupils (ibid.).

As was also already mentioned, the superordinate goal of EFL teaching in Baden-Wuerttemberg is intercultural communicative competence (ibid.). Language awareness, text and media competence, language-learning competence, and sociocultural knowledge build the framework which helps compound intercultural communicative competence (ibid.).

Now the challenge of global education in the curriculum in Baden-Wuerttemberg lies in the fact that only cultural aspects of the target language are addressed. For instance, in the EFL classroom, teachers and pupils can discuss cultural aspects of India (or “India”) and then compare them to culture in “the Western world”. Then, cultural experiences may become more intense for students and learning outcomes can increase. 

Intercultural competence and multilingualism are essential in every German curriculum. Nevertheless, there is the need for a political brief, in order to achieve a common approach for global education (cf. Maurič 2016, 46). One example of a successful political brief can be observed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A common approach needs to combine and concentrate the contents to align education in a global manner (cf. Wintersteiner et al. 2014, quoted in: Maurič 2016, 57). The SDGs provide a platform of goals which have to be addressed and tackled on a global level. These goals were set up with a global perspective in mind, instead of just considering the Western point of view (as the Millenium Goals did before). 

 

3. The gap between intercultural competence and global education

Creating Multicultural Education through Content by Jessica Fonseca (Fonseca 2019)

 

In Developing intercultural competence through education, the authors come to the conclusion that developing intercultural competence would offer a foundation for pupils to become future global citizens (cf. Huber & Reynolds 2014, 21). In addition, Soriano (2015) agrees by stating that intercultural education would be a foundation of global education (cf. Soriano 2015, 44).

In the 1990s, multiculturalism became accepted as an educational concept or way of life by people who experience intercultural encounters. Nevertheless, post-9/11 there are “ongoing ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious differences”7 which are not tolerable, and this is the reason why often the role of education is in the center of discussion (cf. May 2009, 33-34). Education often works as a point of introduction for individuals into society. Therefore, education is at the center of bringing multicultural backgrounds together. Stephen May talks about a “post-multicultural environment” that we live in now (cf. May 2009, 34). The challenges are:

  • the ongoing critique of multiculturalism from the Right;
  • the tendency of multiculturalism to concentrate on culture at the expense of structural concerns such as racism and socioeconomic inequality;
  • the challenges that postmodernist understandings of identity present for multiculturalism;
  • the urgent need to develop a multiculturalist paradigm that effectively addresses – and, where necessary, redresses – all of the above (Torres 1998, quoted in: May 2009, 34).

The intercultural competence of children needs to be enhanced (cf. Soriano 2015, 44). Pupils need to develop cultural identities that bring opportunities for living successfully with different cultures and learn to live their lives as global citizens (cf. Soriano 2015, 44). Therefore, they need to be educated in universal values (cf. Soriano 2015, 44), rather than values that are only applicable to one specific culture.8

There are challenges when developing interculturality, one being cultural identity and the other being the global dimension of citizenship (cf. Soriano 2015, 44). The life of every person is determined by the thinking, feeling, and acting of the world into which they were born, and “another world perceived through the media” (cf. Soriano 2015, 44f). Therefore, cultural identity can change easily and has to adapt in increasingly digital communication. With digitalization, new problems come up which challenge an individual’s cultural identity. On the one hand, through digital communication physical distance disappears. On the other hand, social surroundings do not disappear (cf. Soriano 2015, 45).

Furthermore, citizenship skills need to be taught because “it is urgent to cover the growing deficit of humanity of the current societies and put people in the center of political concerns” (Cassen 1998, quoted in: Soriano 2015, 49). This deficit is about not having people of different cultural backgrounds in the center of politics. As a result, culture needs to be “understood as part of the discourse of power and inequality” (May 2009, 40). This is not the case yet, which leads to the problem that minority ethnic groups are “being contained within their culture(s) and the discursive practices associated with them (Hoffman 1996, quoted in: May 2009, 43). Teachers have to open up the social worlds of pupils by confronting them with other cultures and beliefs in their everyday lives.

Above all, intercultural education has the goal of bringing together majorities and minorities (cf. Dietz 2009, 9). Nowadays pupils in Europe are increasingly heterogeneous, which makes socio-cultural relations more complex. This shifting dynamic leads to the point that the society of the majority is not able to meet the diversity of societies because this shift happens fast and majorities are not trained in dealing with heterogeneity (cf. Gogolin et al. 1997, quoted in: Dietz 2009, 8). Nevertheless, while multicultural and intercultural education could possibly face the challenges and problems that diversity brings with it, there are hardly any empirical studies yet about processes and relations that take place interculturally in school (cf. Dietz 2009, 102).

According to Escámez, universal values should be taught in regions that suffer from poverty, inequity, and violence (cf. Escámez 2013, quoted in: Soriano 2015, 51) as well as in regions that do not have to deal with these factors. Therefore, “there is a moral obligation to educate students to be citizens to transform that situation if we would like to live in a fair society and fair world” (Boni 2011, quoted in: Soriano 2015, 51).

Under the auspices of the Council of Europe, guidelines were set up in 2008 for values which should be taught through global education. Those values are:

  1. Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect, and respect for others;
  2. social responsibility;
  3. responsibility for the environment;
  4. mindfulness;
  5. visionary attitude, in the sense of building future visions about how a better world should be developed;
  6. active participation in the community;
  7. solidarity (Carvalho et al. 2008, quoted in: Soriano 2015, 52).

These guidelines were set up because “students are aware of the need to live with values that guide their lives” (Soriano 2015, 52). Values need to be applicable for the individual as well as for a society (cf. Soriano 2015, 52). The goal is to build a global culture of peace through the promotion of values, attitudes, and behavior which enable the realization of development and human rights (Osler 2005, 6, quoted in: Hillyard 2008, 17). School has to embed global education into the classroom in order to educate the students about values, attitudes, and behavior (cf. Hillyard 2008, 17).

In addition, global learning can be divided into five domains. These five domains show how global learning is a journey, rather than something that just can be acquired through a single experience (cf. Sobania 2015, 23). These domains are global knowledge, global challenges, global systems and organizations, global civic engagement, and global identities (cf. Sobania 2015, 23).

For global knowledge students have to learn about history, experiences, power structures, and world views (cf. Sobania 2015, 23). After gaining knowledge, pupils can address global challenges (cf. Sobania 2015, 23). Furthermore, pupils have to be able to apply this new knowledge to global systems and organizations (cf. Sobania 2015, 23).
Global civic engagement means that pupils should actively engage with people who have different cultural backgrounds (cf. Sobania 2015, 23). In order to form global identities, students need to draw the line between their personal identity and the complex social and civic problems of the world (cf. Sobania 2015, 23). This can be achieved through global citizenship education.

Ursula Maurič described global citizenship education as a concept (cf. chapter 2.2). This concept combines

  • peace education,
  • democracy education,
  • political education,
  • global learning,
  • intercultural learning and
  • skillful interaction with multilingualism (cf. Maurič 2016, 18). 

Therefore, pupils should be empowered as individuals in self-competence, social competence, and system competence (cf. Maurič 2016, 18).

Peace education calls for political education about shortages, conflicts and power, especially with goods. There are shortages of goods in parts of the world, then there are conflicts because of the distribution of those goods, and finally, the shortage and distribution are controlled through power and establishment (cf. Pelinka 1999, quoted in: Maurič 2016, 28).

Next, there is democracy education, which has been one of the main focuses of the Council of Europe since the mid-1990s (cf. Maurič 2016, 29). The Council of Europe says:

‘Education for democratic citizenship’ means education, training, awareness-raising, information, practices and activities which aim, by equipping learners with knowledge, skills and understanding and developing their attitudes and behavior, to empower them to exercise and defend their democratic rights and responsibilities and society, to value and to play an active part in democratic life, with a view to the promotion and protection of democracy and the rule of law. (Council of Europe, quoted in Maurič 2016, 29)

Therefore, democracy education or political education is one of the key aspects of global education in the western world.

Then, global learning starts. Global learning familiarizes students with the complex connections of worldwide developments and their own roles within world affairs. The goal is to individually make judgments and show possible actions through the reflection of politics, social issues, economics, culture, religion, as well as human rights. This should not happen in an unbiased manner, but rather through the lens of human rights (cf. Maurič 2016, 31).

Intercultural learning is also featured in global citizenship education (cf. chapter 2.2). Interculturality, migration and multilingualism are often discussed together which leads to problems with the concepts of the single aspects (cf. Maurič 2016, 34). These problems will be discussed in the following paragraph.

Multilingualism is highly controversial throughout western society and education. This is because multilingualism could be used to work as a link between educational tasks and topics of racism, discrimination, social issues, and unequal academic achievements (cf. Maurič 2016, 35). These aspects have to be discussed in direct relation to multilingualism. The controversy brings up the questions of whether there is an appreciation of different languages in the Western world and whether some languages are more empowered in specific contexts (cf. Maurič 2016, 35). For instance, English is a language with a lot of power. Therefore, could this empowerment of languages lead to a situation where people who speak other languages are less appreciated, subordinated, or exploited?

To come back to the start: For Maurič, peace education is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and combines political education and global learning. Pupils need to learn about other cultures with values of non-violence (cf. Maurič 2016, 35). The participation of social actors who work with the children outside of their school life is important for peace education (cf. Maurič 2016, 36) and could bring the personal values of a student to the next level, to enhance intercultural encounters. 

Maurič explains ways to enhance the lives of pupils with and for their intercultural encounters in their everyday lives. In the middle of these encounters pupils always act as individuals. Therefore, all aspects should be taught through empowering the pupils as individuals. Every individual person is influenced by groups. Those groups are made up of their nationality, race, and ethnicity, religion, exceptionality and non-exceptionality, social class, and genders (cf. Banks 2010, 14). Therefore, self-competence, social competence and system competence should be understood as interdisciplinary competencies which are embedded in an inclusive setting and a holistic image of what it means to be human (cf. Maurič 2016, 37).

 

4.   Future students as global citizens

“Global citizenship has become one of the most important issues for English language teachers around the world, as we witness the growing importance of language in the international scenario and its incorporation as part of the discourse of socio-economic inclusion” (Gimenez & Sheehan 2008, 4).

As a result, teachers face new challenges. This is a research field that has yet to be explored (cf. Gimenez & Sheehan 2008, 4): “The next generation, immigrant and native alike, will need a new set of skills, competencies, and sensibilities to be fully engaged citizens in the economies and societies of the 21st century” (Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco 2009, 62).

Nowadays Western education is technocratic, preparing pupils “for the harsh realities of the competitive labor market” rather than “preparing young people to lead intellectually and spiritually meaningful lives” (Aviram 2015, 4). Yet, the educational goal should be to teach in a “student-centric” way and to show students how they can live “meaningful lives” (cf. Aviram 2015, 19) and become global citizens. The EFL classroom is a pre-destined place for this goal. Globalization and the English language are “deeply intertwined” (cf. Gimenez 2008, 48). Therefore, the EFL classroom can help spread global citizenship.

“Citizenship education should help students to develop an identity and attachment to the global community and a human connection to people around the world. Global identities, attachments, and commitments constitute cosmopolitanism” (Nussbaum 2002, cited in Banks 2009, 312).

Future pupils need to be educated in cosmopolitanism to make decisions and take actions that are about global interests and also benefit humankind (cf. Banks 2009, 312). Consequently, pupils would have to realize that “no local loyalty can ever justify forgetting that each human being has responsibilities to every other” (Appiah 2009, xvi, cited in Banks 2009, 313).

 

4.1 Global citizenship

Citizenship is the status of a person in a nation-state. Meanwhile, “a citizen is an individual who lives in a nation-state and has certain rights and privileges, as well as duties to the state, such as allegiance to the government” (Lagassé 2000, quoted in Banks 2009, 303). Therefore, citizenship education should include cultural rights for citizens from diverse racial, cultural, ethnic, and language groups (cf. Fraser 2000 & Young 1989, quoted in Banks 2009, 303). Through worldwide immigration, nationalism, and globalization, citizenship and citizenship education have caused controversy in various ways. In order to become a full citizen in a civic community of a nation-state, a person has to give up their own cultural identity, which is embedded in assimilationist, liberal, and universal conceptions of citizenship (cf. Gordon 1964 & Young 1989, 2000, cited in Banks 2009, 304). Nevertheless, there are nationalists as well as assimilationists who worry “that if citizens are allowed to retain identifications with their cultural communities they will not acquire sufficiently strong attachments to their nation-states” (Banks 2009, 310).

There are millions of people who have citizenship somewhere in the world but live in another nation, and there are people who are stateless, for example refugees, who do not have certain citizenship (cf. Benhabib 2004, quoted in Banks 2009, 308). Consequently, there is diverse citizenship everywhere. This is why pupils need to be educated for a global society (cf. Banks 2009, 308).

In order to become global citizens, children need to learn certain skills. Those skills “are defined as the set of cognitive, emotional, and communicative skills, knowledge and attitudes that, linked together, make it possible for the citizen to act constructively in society” (Mockus 2004 & Soriano 2006, quoted in: Soriano 2015, 50). Therefore, with those skills, knowledge and attitudes, pupils will have a “basis for decision making and participation in a world characterized by cultural pluralism, interconnectedness, and international economic competition” and can “understand the complexity of globalization and develop skills in cross-cultural interaction if they are to become effective citizens in a pluralistic and interdependent world” (Merryfield 1995). Consequently, technology, ecology, economy, as well as social and political issues are no longer addressed to single nations but become a system for the whole world (cf. Merryfield 1995), which have to be dealt with by people who are global citizens.

There is an urgent need for future pupils to become global citizens rather than local citizens since there is a risk involved when human actions are only considered at a local level (cf. Jiménez 2008, 32). A deeper cultural understanding is required which goes beyond the one own culture of an individual.

 

4.2 Global citizenship on a local level

Global citizenship manifests in many ways by Joaquin Gonzalez Dorao (Rinne 2019)

Students are increasingly confronted with the interaction of increasingly diverse communities. They will therefore need to talk, understand, relate and work with diverse cultures (cf. Sobania 2015, 1). Differences which students will be confronted with relate to politics, socio-economics, race,9 ethnicity, and religion (cf. Sobania 2015, 1). As a result, studies abroad for students became a prevalent feature in their education. Yet, for Europeans, studying abroad within Europe only gives them the chance to interact with people who have a similar cultural and socio-economic backgrounds that can be experienced at home as well (cf. Sobania 2015, 1). Therefore, the question arises whether differences can only be experienced by going overseas (cf. Sobania 2015, 1) or whether there are other possibilities to experience diversity at a local level.

Experiences made in off-campus studies which take place on a local level can have the same outcomes as programs which take place overseas (cf. Sobania 2015, 2). In general, different cultures can be experienced anywhere, locally or globally, and location does not matter, as long as there is learning involved (cf. Sobania 2015, 2f). In this situation, it is important to be “globally minded and locally focused” (Sobania 2015, 3) in order to be educated on a global level while staying local. Furthermore, students can learn globally while being in school by dealing with pupils who are international, multicultural, or multilingual (cf. Sobania 2015, 17). This would be helped by teachers who would create learning opportunities around this fact.

 

5. Teacher qualification for global education

Firstly, teachers need to be qualified to teach global education in order to be able to teach future pupils to become global citizens. If we want teachers who are able to take on with enough effectiveness the challenges that await them in the classrooms of this expectant century, we should try to encourage them to check the possible benefits of having teaching experience in a global world. The success of their work will also depend on how they hitch onto the ways of a new cultural literacy (Rego & Moledo 2015, 77).

Above all, there should be an effort for teacher education to encourage future teachers to gain experience with diverse populations in face-to-face situations (cf. Merryfield 2000, 430). Since the meaning of those experiences will only come to the surface afterwards, such an experience always needs to be interpreted by the future teacher (cf. Merryfield 2000, 431). [Editor’s note: A doctoral dissertation on this later realization and nascent professionalization in our project is being prepared by Philipp Reul.]
Afterwards, the lived experience, which occurred through travel or longer stays abroad in internships, will help open up new perspectives on cultural differences, stereotypes, and generalizations (cf. Merryfield 2000, 434). Teachers who spent time abroad stated that this experience helped them to reflect on their own world into which they were born (cf. Merryfield 2000, 435). Nevertheless, “experiences alone do not make a person a multicultural or global educator” (Merryfield 2000, 440). In order to work as a global educator for future students, the teachers must bring together their own identity and their lived experience (cf. Merryfield 2000, 441). This can only happen when the lived experience is reflected.

Experiences with various cultures are different from experiences with one’s own culture and are substantial for future teachers (cf. Merryfield 1995). These experiences need to be integrated into programs for teacher education and could occur in different forms such as study tours, exchanges, semesters abroad, contact with international students or teaching in other countries, as in the Laos project, which sparked a great deal of future-oriented learning and research. Such experiences could take place either at home on a local level or abroad (cf. Merryfield 1995).

On the one hand, having spent time abroad as a student can be relevant when it comes to getting employed as a teacher at a school (cf.  Maurič 2016, 138). On the other hand, spending time abroad is about gaining personal experience. Likewise, similar experiences could be gained with buddy programs  (cf. Maurič 2016, 138). In buddy programs, future teachers help exchange students to arrive in the country in which they spend their time abroad. Those programs are common at universities, also at ours.

As an example, the country of Colombia is interesting to consider. Colombia faced a challenge in the 1980s, which was due to democratization and modernization of the state, which led to a new constitution in 1991. Therefore, education in schools had to move from being local to being multilingual and multicultural (cf. Jiménez 2008, 29). Consequently, the challenge arose that the universities were late and unprepared for the change of training teachers in citizenship competencies, although they were willing to participate (cf. Jiménez 2008, 30). As a result, the curriculum of the universities had to be enhanced by themes that take citizenship education into account, which are about “human rights, co-existence and peace, participation and democratic responsibility and identity, plurality and diversity” (Jiménez 2008, 30) – without having had the cultural or political experience to back this up. Education in Colombia was able to delocalize and become globally relevant in education, at least in the syllabus.

Furthermore, globalization will cause universities all over the world to shift their focus towards globalization due to “the shift in economic balance” (van der Zwaan 2017, 121). This change requires high investments into universities (cf. van der Zwaan 2017, 116), which have to be provided by goverments. For instance, China and India have multiplied the number of their universities and colleges by a hundred in order to meet the demand for higher education (cf. van der Zwaan 2017, 116). 

Esperanza Revelo Jiménez looks at two different ways to approach the training of teachers. First, there is “the Teaching for Understanding approach”, which was developed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (cf. Jiménez 2018, 33). Here, the student’s needs can be taken into account and supporting topics can be interconnected easily (cf. Jiménez 2008, 33). Second, there is an approach which was developed by “the Facing History and Ourselves team” (Jiménez 2008, 33). The goal of this approach is “humane and informed citizenry” (Jiménez 2008, 33). The diverse backgrounds of the students and historical events can be used to examine “racism, prejudice and anti-semitism” (Jiménez 2008, 33).

The OSDE, which stands for “Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry“, is an international project that deals with the education for global issues. Educators, academics, and civil society actors from eight countries take part in this project, which was initially funded by the British government (cf. Andreotti 2008, 40). The OSDE deals with the following objectives:

  • to explore the links between people living in the “developed” countries of the North with those of the “developing” South, enabling people to understand the links between their own lives and those of people throughout the world;10
  • to increase understanding of the economic, social, political, and environmental forces that shape our lives;
  • to develop the skills, attitudes, and values that enable people to work together to take action to bring about change and take control of their own lives;
  • to work towards achieving a more just and a more sustainable world in which power and resources are more equitably shared (Andreotti 2008, 40).

The goal of OSDE is to get students to “analyse and experiment with other forms of seeing/thinking and being/relating to one another” (Andreotti 2008, 42) by creating “a safe space for dialogue and enquiry” (Andreotti 2008, 43).

 

5.1 Knowledge of teachers as global educators

Chiefly, the education of teachers needs to be enhanced in order to be able to teach children and adolescents about global citizenship. Therefore, teacher education should focus on skills, competencies, and awareness (cf. Reimers 2009, quoted in: Soriano 2015, 70). Skills are about critical thinking, communication, language, collaboration, and technology (cf. Rego & Moledo 2015, 70).  Students have to face an increasingly diverse and inequitable world. As a result, teachers need to have knowledge of equity, diversity, and global interconnectedness (cf. Merryfield 2000, 429). The knowledge will help future teachers to reflect their own identities (cf. Merryfield 200, 435), and thus they will be able to teach their pupils to reflect as well.

The English language has a high status in the world. Therefore, in times of globalization, human rights need to be prioritized in the EFL classroom from a Western point of view (cf. Khuram 2008, 35). The teachers need training in human rights in order to design a framework for the education regarding this topic (cf. Khuram 2008, 37). This framework would need to be made relevant for the EFL classroom. The teaching material would give different views on specific topics. For example, a comparison of the views on the “war on terror” by both British and Pakistani students can be interesting for future students (cf. Khuram 2008, 37). As a result of globalization, children need to know that issues can be common throughout different cultures all around the world, even when the issues seem to be local at first (cf. Khuram 2008, 38).

In general, for global citizenship education, the supporting pillars are expertise in the subjects, such as in the EFL classroom, and didactics, classroom management, diagnostic analysis and social competence (cf.  Maurič 2016, 93). Those supporting pillars have to be understood as equally important for educating the students in global citizenship education (cf.  Maurič 2016, 93).  Therefore, continuing teacher training after studying at a university are crucial and needs to have a consistent picture of teachers in mind who are globally minded (cf.  Maurič 2016, 93). For instance, in Austria teachers have to take part in intercultural learning training, which includes work with intercultural parents, handling of conflicts, inter-religious matters, as well as language learning (cf.  Maurič 2016, 32+33). Therefore, the teachers are confronted with the need to increase their own global citizenship all the time.

For teacher training in global citizenship education, there is the need to get all the resources of a university together to achieve this goal (cf.  Maurič 2016, 164). Future teachers need to be encouraged to permanently reflect on personal convictions and actions (cf.  Maurič 2016, 164). This reflection should keep the global society in mind – in aspects of freedom, human rights, solidarity, participation and democracy (cf.  Maurič 2016, 164). Nevertheless, democracy is a Western ideal.

 

5.2 The role of teachers in global education

(Erasmus+)

International cooperation of universities as well as funding programs by the European Union, for instance Erasmus+, are essential for the internationalization of teachers and the universities themselves (cf. Maurič 2016, 68). Since complex international relationships, which are in place worldwide, cannot be explained from the viewpoint of a single nation-state, there is an urgent need for teachers to get out of their citizen position and become a global citizen (cf. Maurič 2016, 89). In order to educate students in global citizenship, the teachers need to be able to convey, empower, as well as exemplify democratic values for a global society (cf. Maurič 2016, 90). Because of this conveyance, empowerment and exemplification, participation and taking action in a global society is a key factor (cf. Maurič 2016, 90). Thus, being connected internationally or spending time abroad could be a step in the right direction.

As global citizenship educators, the role of teachers would change into the role of mentors. As mentors, there would be various areas to cover. Environmental conditions should be maintained, individuals must be encouraged to enhance self-confidence and self-esteem, and pupils need to be enabled to reflect in a focused and systematical way (cf. Aviram 2015, 25). The Sustainable Development Goals help here. They will serve as a foundation for students towards open-mindedness (cf. Hillyard 2008, 15). Vanessa Andreotti describes this mentor role as the role of a facilitator who has the task of “modeling behaviour, opening, holding and closing the time/space, guiding […] and not trying to impose his or her perspective” (Andreotti 2008, 44f).

In addition, the role of teaching is changing because the world has become more powerfully connected through media. Media offers pupils the ability to access knowledge and information easily (cf. Soriano 2015, 43). Therefore, “the school is no longer a stable institution of socialization because it is competing with other media” (Soriano 2015, 44). Consequently, pupils can participate “in global economics, politics, technology and environmental protection” (Soriano 2015, 54). As a result, teachers also have to be confident with media and need to keep up with the flow of information and knowledge their pupils are gaining. Then media could be an advantage rather than a challenge for teaching.

The globally connected world of today allows pupils to affect other people around the world. Therefore, teachers need to educate pupils about decision-making (cf. Merryfield 1995), because every decision that is made public through new media could reach people from all parts of the world. Adjacent to decision-making, teachers have to bind global knowledge and subject-specific knowledge together in order to show the connectedness of different subjects (cf. Merryfield 1995). For example, pupils can learn about different cultures from world literatures (cf. Merryfield 1995).

Moreover, children can be motivated when educated about the world which surrounds them (cf. Teaching English). This way of motivating could work easily in classes that are already characterized by mixed ethnicities, but also in single-nationality classes (cf. British Council). Teachers need to motivate their pupils “to do better and better”, especially regarding their responsibility to the communities in which they live and to the people around them (cf. British Council). Topics and ideas for the classroom could be:

1. Refugee crisis:

  1. Imagine and talk about what it might be like to have no home;
  2. reading articles, case studies, etc. on stories of immigrants;
  3. looking at and reflecting on award winning photographs documenting the refugee crisis;
  4. writing a proposal to a community leader on how to manage the large flow of immigrants into a country;
  5. researching and understanding how refugee crises come to be.

2. Climate change

  1. Project work to understand how climate change occurs;
  2. creating a presentation on ways to tackle climate change, one person at a time;
  3. creating a petition for the protection of wildlife from climate change;
  4. presenting a case to raise funds for a wildlife / an earth cause.

3. Hate Crimes

  1. Reading newspaper articles covering hate crime stories;
  2. including poems about love (e.g. “The Language of Love” by Poet Ali), diversity (e.g. “The Crayon Box that Talked” by Shane De Rolf), and tolerance. Pupils can listen to them, explore themes in them, or use them for inspiration to create their own and then present them.

4. Food and Health

  1. Sharing recipes from one’s culture;
  2. watching famous chefs cook their native recipes;
  3. exploring strange delicacies from around the world;
  4. learning about persecuted minority cultures through their food;
  5. create a class recipe book with recipes from around the globe.

5. Art and Music

  1. Looking at revolutionary artwork (e.g. Banksy);
  2. listening to music that tells a story (e.g. John Legend’s Glory);
  3. creating artwork that represents oneself and one’s culture;
  4. looking at paintings that present a way of life (cf. Teaching English).

As mentioned before, teachers need to be able to empower their pupils as individuals (cf. Maurič 2016, 37). Consequently, teachers themselves need to be empowered individuals as well. Thus, teachers need to be able to consciously approach their personal identity or identies. This should be an integral part of the lifelong process of professionalizing as a teacher (cf. Maurič 2016, 37). 

 

6. Conclusion

The subject of cultural education and global education is immense. While researching and writing this thesis, I faced the problem of what to take into account and what to leave out, due to the vast academic output on this topic and all the discussions which have gone on for decades. Additionally, I was surprised by how early the call for citizenship and global citizenship education arose. Cultures and globalization are dynamic and the process of their change is ongoing. Therefore, education has to keep up with those dynamics.

In general, is there a gap between intercultural and global education at all? No, there is no gap. Intercultural education and competence are an integral part of global citizenship education. However, there seems to be a gap in taking steps in order to set up global citizenship education in German schools. Globalization changes the world fast, and the education system is challenged to keep up with this tempo. It is a common observation that while the world moves on, government policies and school administration invariably lag behind. However, individual teachers can make use of their freedom in planning lessons to compensate this in a small way where it matters to them – in their own classrooms.

During my research, I noticed that in the literature there is confusion about the separation of approaches, concepts, and ideas. Therefore, the goal of this thesis was to bring more clarity into the discourse by introducing those concepts, ideas, and approaches, and then by contrasting them.

Chiefly, for successfully educating our future pupils as global citizens, we need to see, understand, and educate them as individuals. When boundaries of cultures are made to fade or disappear because we foreground global connectedness in our classrooms, our pupils can start their journeys towards becoming global citizens. Before this can happen, our own teacher education needs enhancing by global citizenship education, since, above all, we (future) teachers need to become global citizens ourselves before we can educate our future pupils in this manner.

Spending time abroad is substantial for future teachers, as well as for future students. As this can be a financial (or a cultural or political) hurdle for many teachers and students in many countries, the potential of local approaches for becoming global citizens needs exploring further. When we find ways to become global citizens at a local level, the goal of more people being global citizens can be reached more easily. The potential of this for a future change of globalization will be interesting. How will globalization change in the future once there are more global citizens? And how will this cascade and affect more people? Research on this may well find that future education and syllabi will have to change to accommodate global citizenship education.

 

Text by N. Eckardt

Editor’s notes by I. Martin

 

Notes

1 Editor’s note: Where this topic is not yet embedded in the curriculum, educators could include it themselves in their course offering. In linguistics, this would be multilingualism, in cultural studies multiculturalism, in literary studies postcolonial or world literatures, and in language-teaching Global English(es).
The 12 previous posts in this series (“Language Education and Global Citizenship“), for example, grew out of my seminar “Global English(es), Global Citizenship Education and Global TEFL“, which originally grew out of our “Bi-directional learning and teaching in Laos” project and then underwent a steady metamorphosis over the last 4 years (“global educators need to become globally competent themselves first in order to teach […]”). As a University of Education, we have the privilege of educating the first generation of future teachers at this time who will be able – and hopefully obliged by the next curriculum – to make Global Citizenship Education a major topic, process, and goal in their EFL lessons.
As I write this, teacher education itself is being foregrounded and upgraded in the conference (22-23 November 2021) “Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung” (“quality initiative teacher education”), a nation-wide programme for professionalising teacher education to prepare for cross-sectional challenges such as digitalization, inclusion, diversity, and sustainablity. According to the panel, teacher education is no longer just an “important feature”, but “existential for society”.

2 Editor’s note: This is why the initial sessions in the seminar mentioned in note1 introduce “The Sustainable Development Goals” and “Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals“. Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffman, a member of the ESD Expert Net, also comes in as a guest speaker to show positive solutions and ways forward in Education for Sustainable Development.

3 The iceberg model is one of the earlier examples to explain cultures. There are numerous other models which attempt to explain this complex phenomenon, e.g. the onion model or models like the Dension Culture Model or the Deal & Kennedy Culture Model.

4 Editor’s note: The concepts of culture taught in different countries would depend on their prevalent beliefs, ideologies, or discourse-control – ultimately their positionality – to begin with, and then on their exposure to modern and postmodern theories of culture and decoloniality. A broad spectrum of lessons “teaching culture” can be witnessed across university classrooms in both Germany and Laos, for example, stretching from knowledge-instruction about foreign customs (e.g. festivals, family structures) to discussions about cultural norms (e.g. “universal values vs. cultural relativism), “Othering”, or cultural theories.

5 The guiding perspectives are:

6 The Christian view on human life evolved out of the religion of Christianity. This view is based on the teachings and beliefs of Jesus Christ. The significance here is that in the Western world, tolerance of otherness is a core feature cemented in the Christian faith.

7 After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the Western world experienced a political swing to the right, with rising scepticism towards migration from the east and certain religious beliefs, especially the Muslim faith, resulting in counter-extremism and more violence.

8 Editor’s note: The tenet of “universal values” is itself challenged by theories of “cultural relativism“. This conflict is unresolved in education and will be addressed in a future article.

9 Editor’s note: The term “race” as a way of pseudo-categorizing human populations should not be used anymore. Immigration slips handed out by airlines continue to baffle our Laos-interns when they enter Asia because there is a line in which their “race” needs to be stated, which they – being Whites – do not know. We therefore tell them in one of the preparatory workshops that they are “Caucasian”, which they then need to google. This goes to show how unracialised their entire existence has been up to this point.

10 “Developed” is a difficult term since it is written from a Western point of view. The term implicates that it is decided which countries are developed and which are not.
Editor’s note: “The common usage of the word developed implies that there is a gold-standard for ‘development’ overall, with a desirable (refined, superior) state of development at one end of the scale and an undesirable (‘raw’, unrefined, primitive, inferior) one at the other. The binary of ‘developed countries’ and ‘undeveloped’ or ‘underdeveloped countries’ is a value statement rooted in eurocentricism and colonialism; the criteria by which a country is deemed developed are chosen by those who deem themselves to be developed” [superior] (note 1 by the same editor in a previous article on this blog).

 

Illustrations

Creating Multicultural Education through Content:
Fonseca, Jessica (2019). “Creating Multicultural Education through Content. ” https://licensewithmosaiq.com/multicultural-education-content/ (last accessed 7 January 2021).

Dimensions of multicultural education: Saculo, Joanna Rose (2014). “Dimensions of multicultural education.” https://www.slideshare.net/jho_anne/dimensions-of-multicultural-education (last accessed 27 January 2021).

Erasmus+: Eramus+. https://www.erasmusplus.de (last accessed 7 January 2021).

Global citizenship manifests in many ways: Rinne, April (2019). “10 Resources to Cultivate & Inspire Global Citizenship” https://medium.com/@aprilrinne/10-resources-to-cultivate-inspire-global-citizenship-a077d2e351df (last accessed 7 January 2021).

Iceberg Model: Systems Innovation (2020). “Iceberg Model.” https://de.systemsinnovation.io/post/iceberg-model (last accessed 20 Januar 2021).

The Culture Wheel: Fonte Weaver, Andrea (2018). “Celebrating Our Culture: A New How-To-Guide” https://www.bridgestogether.org/celebrating-our-culture-a-new-how-to-guide/ (last accessed 7 January 2021).

 

References

Aktionsrat Bildung (2017). Bildung 2030 – veränderte Welt. Fragen an die Bildungspolitik. Münster: Waxmann.

Ball, Stephen J. (2012). Global Education Inc.: New policy networks and the neo-liberal imaginary. New York: Routledge.

Banks, James A. (ed.) (2009). The Routledge International Companion to Multicultural Education. New York: Routledge.

Banks, James A. & McGee Banks, Cherry A. (eds.) (2010). Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives. New Jersey: Wiley.

Bildungspläne Baden-Württemberg. “Bildung für Toleranz und Akzeptanz von Vielfalt (BTV)” http://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/Startseite/BP2016BW_ALLG/BP2016BW_ALLG_LP_BTV (last accessed 22 February 2019).

Bildungspläne Baden-Württemberg. “Einführung in den Bildungsplan 2016” http://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/EINFUEHRUNG (last accessed 22 February 2019).

Bildungspläne Baden-Württemberg. “Leitgedanken zum Kompetenzerwerb” http://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/SEK1/E1/LG (last accessed 22 February 2019).

Bildungspläne Baden-Württemberg. “Sprachbewusstheit” http://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/SEK1/E1/PK/01 (last accessed 22 February 2019).

Byram, Michael (1989). Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education. Clevedon/Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters.

Demorgon, Jacques (1999). Interkulturelle Erkundungen. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer internationatel Pädagogik. Frankfurt/ New York: Campus.

Dietz, Gunther (2009). Multiculturalism, Interculturality and Diversity in Education. An Anthropological Approach. Münster: Waxmann.

eurostat Statistics explained. “Migration and migrant population statistics.” https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics (last accessed 20 January 2021).

Gimenez, Telma & Susan Sheehan (ed.) (2008). Global citizenship in the English language classroom. British Council.

Gorbunova, Lydmyla. http://pedagogika-filozoficzna.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/47-58-gorbunowa.pdf (last accessed 26 February 2019).

Göbel, Kerstin (2011). “Interkulturelle Kompetenz und Englischunterricht.” In: Allemann-Ghionda, Cristina & Wolf-Dietrich Bukow (eds.). Orte der Diversität. Formate, Arrangements und Inszenierung, 191-208. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

Huber, Josef (ed.) (2014). Developing intercultural competence through education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publ.

Hunter, Sallie McNett (2013). “So What is Hyperculture? An Attempt to Define It.” https://deepfriedscifi.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/so-what-is-hyperculture-an-attempt-to-define-it/ (last accessed 26 February 2019).

Jo, Jo-Yeon O (2012). “Cross-Cultural Education.” https://www.academia.edu/7845998/Cross-cultural_Education (last accessed 26 February 2019).

Maurič, Ursula (2016). Global Citizenship Education als Chance für die Lehrerbildung: Bestehende Praxis, Potenzial und Perspektiven am Beispiel der Pädagogischen Hochschule Wien. Münster: Waxmann.

Merryfield, Merry (1995). “Teacher Education in Global and International Education.” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED384601.pdf (last accessed 15 January 2019).

Merryfield, Merry M. (2000). “Why aren’t teachers being prepared to teach for diversity, equity, and global interconnectedness? A study of lived experiences in the making of multicultural and global educators.” Teaching and Teacher Education 16 (4): 429-443.

Sobania, Neal W. (ed.) (2015), Putting the Local in Global Education. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus.

Soriano, Encarnación (ed.) (2015). Rethinking Education For a Global, Transcultural World. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Teaching English. “Global Citizens.” https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/zahrazuhair/global-citizens (last accessed 25 February 2019).

Tully, James (ed.) (2014). On Global Citizenship: James Tully in Dialogue. London: Bloomsbury.

Van der Zwaan, Bert (2017). Higher Education in 2040: A Global Approach. Amsterdam: AUP.

Health and education: First steps in medical awareness concerning health issues in Lao schools

Editor’s note: Ms Shirin Ud-Din finished her Master’s Degree for teaching English and biology at secondary school in January 2020 and went started her 18-month teacher traineeship in February 2021. She concluded her studies during Covid-19 and therefore chose to write her Master thesis about “Emergency Remote Teaching: Challenges and benefits for German lower secondary schools in the region of Karlsruhe during the digital school term 2020“, which was published and announced as a full-text on our “Research” page in March 2021.
Ms Ud-Din was a member of Team VI and worked at Ban Phang Heng Lower Secondary School in the spring of 2018. In autumn 2018 she accompanied Team VII for two weeks to help them settle into their Lao work and routines, and she has written several articles about  her work and experiences in Lao P.D.R. since.
Back in Germany, she joined a “Model United Nationsgroup locally, then nationally, and, one year later, internationally, and for this received financial support by the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft  (Foundation of German Business). She was elected as Head Delegate of a team of 15 students who represented Lao P.D.R. in the National Model United Nations in the United Nations Assembly Hall in New York for one week in April 2019. To help prepare the group, the new Lao Ambassador to Berlin, His Excellency Mr Phomma Boudthavong, invited the delegation to his Embassy for a preparatory conference and Lao dinner. We celebrated their reunion at our 6th Lao-German Friendship Feast in Karlsruhe on 10 July 2020, and you will be able to listen to Ms Ud-Din’s screencast report about their NMUN work in New York in a new post soon.
Presently, she is co-editing a book on the challenges of digitization related to society as a whole in the context of schools. 

This article is a summary of Ms Ud-Din’s Bachelor thesis “Health and education: First steps in medical awareness concerning health issues in Lao schools“, also posted on our Research/ full-texts page. As a student of English and biology, she became strongly interested in health education and medical awareness during her internship in Ban Phang Heng and found many ways to explore and research the subject on-site. Her new tandem-teaching contacts in Laos helped her gather data for her thesis – something that more and more volunteers and their tandem-partners started doing over the subsequent years – as you can see on the Research full-text page.  

 

First steps in medical awareness concerning health issues in Lao schools

1 Lao health system: Not a country-wide system

1.1 Health insurances

1.2 Health institutions

1.3 Hospitals

2 Countryside vs. town

3 Modern medicine vs. Lao traditional medicine

4 External support

4.1 Medical awareness teaching through international influence in Lao schools

5 Current situation: Covid-19 in Laos

 

When I applied for the “Bi-directional teaching and learning” project as a volunteer in Team VI in 2017, I was also in my last semester of my Bachelor degree. The final milestone of my Bachelor’s programme for pre-service secondary school teachers was the Bachelor’s thesis. The more time I spent preparing for my stay in Laos, the more interested I became in the country. After many interesting discussions with Prof. Isabel Martin, it was clear to me that I definitely wanted to write my final thesis about this country.
Since I studied biology as well as English, I wanted to combine both subjects. On the one hand, the topic needed to be related to school, or education, and on the other hand, I also wanted to take a look at the medical system in a “developing” country.This is how I came to take a closer look at the health system in Laos, which was repeatedly brought to light in “our” three Lao schools through preventive measures. I wanted to find out how the pupils in Laos are educated in terms of health and hygiene in their schools and which measures were implemented by the state.
It is important to mention that the schools that are supported by the Angels for Children Foundation (AfC) are much better equipped than regular state schools in Laos because of the funding of the AfC Foundation over many years. (Ban Sikeud Primary School was awarded the prize of “Best primary school in the country”.) Other schools in Laos, especially in rural areas, look completely different, and also work differently.
There is little scientific literature in this field. This, however, did not matter as I did not only want to do pure literature research anyway. I wanted to do scientific work myself. For this purpose I decided to do qualitative research,  in which I conducted expert interviews with Lao people and German expats2 living in Laos to obtain detailed information. It is worth mentioning that this thesis was written in 2018, before the Corona pandemic. However, in the last paragraph I will provide information about the situation in Laos during the pandemic in terms of health.

 

1 Lao health system: Not a country-wide system

Public health services were free of charge from 1975 until the mid-1990s. Since 1996, every Lao person who wants to get access to public health services must pay a user fee. In 1999, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare introduced a social security scheme (SSO) to regulate costs for health care for workers in the formal private sector. Employers had to come up with five percent of the costs and on the other side their employees with 4.5 % of their salaries (Camara, Zhang, and Policy 2013, 4).

Health services for the public sector have been available since 1993. They are financed by the civil servants’ contribution of 6% of their salary and, if necessary, increased by the state treasury. The public sector and the formal private sector can consider outpatient treatments as well as in-patient care. One last group, the informal sector, could not and cannot benefit from these schemes although this group would need it the most. Looking back in 2000, the average that the Lao government spent for health care per citizen each year was US$ 11.50. Compared to the neighboring country Cambodia with US$ 19 per person, the expenditure was very low. This means that it was not possible to provide good health care services for the whole population (ibid.).3

It is also interesting to know that half of the governmental spending was for the salary of health care staff as well as the building of new facilities. As the costs for hospitals are very high due to material and surgeries, it happens that they charge patients with high service fees and high prices for medicine. For the informal sector it was and still is impossible to consider going to a doctor because of the lack of money. The consultation of a doctor in case of illness often means financial ruin for a family. Because of this reason many Laotians tend to not visit a doctor (ibid.).

1.1 Health insurances

Universal health coverage is the first step towards an effective health system. There are various forms of health insurances in Laos, but not many Laotians can afford to pay for them. In most cases, Laotians are not willing to pay for an insurance on a regular basis if, firstly, they are not ill, and, secondly, as they would have to face constant expenses. Average Laotian citizens cannot afford to invest in their health. As a result, they face high costs in the event of illness, some of which they cannot bear on their own. Help from relatives and the village is often necessary (World Health Organization 2014, 44).

The following figure gives an overview of the support which health insurances get through funds, donors, ministries, and organizations.

Another problem is the centralization of health institutions, most of which can be found in larger cities. This means that people from rural areas, some of whom have no access to roads or need to take cover long distances, have few opportunities to receive treatment for health issues at all. Although there are health centers in rural areas, they are most of the time insufficiently equipped with qualified health workers. In addition, these workers are not regularly available. The reasons for this are low salaries, poor education training, and the unattractiveness of working in the countryside (Camara, Zhang, and Policy 2013, 7). The average salary of a Laotian amounts to 160 $ (lowest income) per month. Visiting a doctor can cost the same amount of money of an average salary, or even more, depending on what treatment is given, said one of my interview partners.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is currently estimated that 93% of the population can reach a health facility in less than 90 minutes. It is still a long way to go, especially when a person is seriously ill. However, the very high cost for medical services deter most and thus risk serious illnesses that remain untreated and cause death (World Health Organization 2015, 20).

1.2 Health institutions

The health institutions which are provided in Laos are pharmacies, doctors’ practices, hospitals either governmental or private, foreign hospitals, and health centers. All of them maintain medical help for patients. In the capital Vientiane, one will find four general hospitals and three hospitals with specializations (four of them are foreign hospitals).  Next to that, hospitals in regional and provincial areas can be tracked down to 16 in total and 130 in district areas. In total, there are 860 health centers in Laos. 
The figure below lists the organisational structure of the Ministry of Health with its different health institutions in Laos (Camara, Zhang, and Policy 2013, 12).

 

1.3 Hospitals

There are different types of hospitals in Laos, but first and foremost one can say that they are not few. In addition to governmental hospitals, there are also private clinics or hospitals and foreign hospitals. There are eight central hospitals in Vientiane and four regional hospitals in the provinces. Besides that, there are also countless private clinics, which have higher standards and are therefore more expensive.

The eight hospitals consist of the Mahosot Hospital, Friendship Hospital, Mother & Child Hospital, Traditional Medicine Hospital, Rehabilitation Centre, Eye Treatment Centre, Dermatology Centre,  and the Tubercolosis Centre. All facilities are located in the capital Vientiane. Not many of the above-mentioned hospitals have an internet website (Camara, Zhang, and Policy 2013, 6).

Governmental hospitals are usually well equipped with good material and equipment. Also important is the staff, which sometimes includes specialists. Most of these hospitals are over-crowded and there are long waiting times as well as a small number of beds for inpatient treatment. There are only 0.8 hospital beds per 1.000 inhabitants available (World Health Organization 2014, 82).This shows the small number of possible inpatient treatments. In addition, there are also high treatment costs that patients have to pay if they do not have an insurance, especially if they have to stay in hospital.

Private hospitals were established during the change to a market economy in the 1980’s. According to the latest WHO numbers, there are 222 private clinics throughout Laos. There is no difference between a “clinic” and a “hospital”. Most private hospitals can be found in the capital, but there are also several in other the provinces. The difference to governmental hospitals lies firstly in the costs that patients have to bear by themselves and the better service they receive (World Health Organization 2014, 81).

Secondly, private hospitals do not receive any governmental help, which makes the treatment expensive in contrast to governmental hospitals. Private clinics were created by the poor situation of hospitals run by the governmentwhich are often overcrowded, coupled with poor service. They made it their mission to offer a much better, more professional and quicker service from what governmental hospitals offer. Only people with higher income (20 % of the population) can afford this option of treatment, while people with lower income (80 % of the population) have to be satisfied with the most necessary treatment at governmental hospitals. As mentioned before, private clinics are paid by the patients on their own, either by out-of-pocket payment or by reimbursement in case the patient has a private insurance (ibid.).

Besides the governmental and private hospitals, there are many foreign hospitals, mostly located in the capital Vientiane. Those are mostly private, which means that patients are confronted with out-of-pocket payments. The treatment, service, and quality of material are of a higher standard than in governmental hospitals. The Alliance International Medical Centre is the newest and is part of the Wattana Hospital Group of Thailand. The hospital offers services for various medical fields such as diabetology, cardiology, pediatrics, and gynecology (J&C Services).
The French Embassy Medical Centre offers consultations, dentistry, laboratory analysis, physiotherapy, and psychotherapy. It is open around the clock and the physicians also offer home visits to the patients. The Australian Embassy Clinic (which closed after I wrote this thesis)offered consultations only during their opening hours. With its English-speaking staff and good medical equipment, all of them are often visited by foreign immigrants or travelers. Not only English is spoken: They advertise their hospitals with staff that speaks Thai, Russian, or French (ibid.).

A small number of Laotians take advantage of hospitals in Thailand, which are not far from Vientiane or Savannakhet, for example. The higher qualifications of some of the doctors as well as the better service attract more and more Laotians with high income to take treatment in their neighboring country. Especially more serious diseases are treated in Thailand, such as cancer, heart diseases, or oral surgeries. This result was conducted when I interviewed German author Mr Michael Schultze, a Laos-expert who has lived in the country for 30 years.

 

 

2 Countryside vs. town

In contrast to larger towns such as Vientiane with its large number of hospitals, there is hardly any possibility to get medical treatment in many mountainous areas. As already mentioned, this is due to decentralisation.4 Nevertheless, not only the long distance to the hospital in mountainous regions is a big problem for many Laotians. Usually there is also a lack of hygiene, lack of qualified staff, and uncaring service.  While most hospitals in the capital city are well equipped, for example with a computerised tomography (CT) device or an X-ray machine, rural facilities do may not have bandages to adequately treat the injured patients. The general problem is the lack of technical equipment. Surgeries can hardly be performed in such areas, most of the patients have to go to larger hospitals. It is not uncommon that medicines that should always be on site are not available and are then difficult to obtain. This topic becomes particularly important when it comes to the Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). Laos is the most heavily bombed nation per capita (2 million tons of bombs were dropped on Lao P.D.R. in the Second Indochina War). To this day, (too) many unexploded bombs remain scattered across the country, endangering the lives of many people working in agriculture in particular, and still killing dozens every year.

 

3 Modern medicine vs. Lao traditional medicine

A great barrier to medical progress is the religious faith in connection with Lao traditional medicine. Lao traditional medicine is made from herbs, flowers, bark and wood, and has a long history. Especially in rural areas, traditional medicine is often used, on the one hand for religious reasons in which the traditional medicine has a strong connection to their belief, and on the other hand, due to the distrust in modern medicine, which is reinforced by a lack of biological knowledge (Johnson 2002, 126). This is not denigrate traditional medicine at all – however, exclusive trust in herbs evidently blocks the use of conventional medicine.

The history of Lao traditional medicine goes back to the twelfth century, whereas pharmaceutical drugs were first introduced during the French colonization in 1893. To this day, Lao traditional medicine is a type of treatment that is widespread, whether in the city or in rural areas (World Health Organization 2001, 159).

As it belongs to the cultural heritage of Lao P.D.R., it was and still is of great importance for the country to preserve this. Therefore, the Traditional Institute of Traditional Medicine was opened. The institute focuses on carrying out studies on plants and their effects. In addition, various plants belong to the inventory of the institute, which are also tested for species protection and medical production (Sydara et al. 2014, 1263).

Conventional medicine is expensive, traditional medicine on the other hand is not. Due to the affordable prices and centuries of experience, people like to use this type of medicine. They assume that allopathic medicine only suppresses the symptoms of a disease and does not cure them – while traditional medicine does. Lao traditional medicine is a good alternative to allopathic medicine for Lao people. Also the use of sauna, massage, and acupuncture have a place in this treatment (ibid.).

On the streets along the Morning Market in Vientiane or Luang Prabang, one will find many Hmong women who sell dried fruits, wood, bark, and roots. On the market,  nearly every traditional medicine can be found for every disease. According to the leaflet of the Hmong saleswoman (name unknown) in the Luang Prabang Morning Market, for example (cf. image below), most products on offer are for  the prevention of cancer.

In addition, old people who suffer from pains in the legs often consult her for help. Most products need to be boiled in water for a while and then drunk hot afterwards. This saleswoman recommends using the products until the customers feel better, but she also recommends not only to use them when they are ill, but also for prevention. The clientele are mostly Lao, but Chinese and other foreigners passing by also buy products from her stand. (If you want to find out more about Hmong medicine culture, try reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of  Two Cultures, written by Anne Fadiman).

 

4 External Support

As an “LDC” (“Least Developed Country”, a status Laos aims to leave behind by 2026)  with little expenditure for health, Laos receives a lot of support from foreign aid organizations. These organizations try to improve the life situation especially of children and help people in need, i.e. the poor in rural areas, where there is a lack of education and health care. With the support of external organizations, it was possible to implement hygiene rules so the country folk could protect themselves from communicable diseases. With international support and volunteers, Laos made great medical progress in recent years. Organizations that support the country  are The Swiss Red Cross, UNICEF and the GIZ. The German-Lao Friendship Society also works closely together with the Lao Red Cross.

 

4.1 Teaching medical awareness through international cooperation in Lao schools

The support installed at schools leads to new daily habits that accompany pupils throughout their lives. Not only the pupils benefit from this, but also their family members and villagers. Healthy lifestyles can be passed on through the children in order to prevent preventable diseases. It is also important that children visit school regularly so that they can follow the lessons. Through common illnesses in Laos such as diarrhea it is evident that many pupils cannot attend important lessons at school (and teenage girls may have to stay at home during their menstruation, for lack of sanitary pads). Therefore, the goal of the organizations  is to keep the children healthy, support access to clean water and the use of clean sanitary facilities. Thus, the pupils learn about new thematic fields such as hygiene, cleaning rituals, and infectious diseases, which are also interesting for them and are arranged as group activities.  An important example ist the Global Handwashing Day (Global Handwashing 2017).

On every 15th of October, Global Handwashing Day is celebrated by more than 200 million people in over 100 countries. As handwashing is nowadays a ritual in over 400 Lao schools that pupils follow every day, celebrating it is fun for them and teaches them at the same time the importance of it. Since 2008, Global Handwashing Day is celebrated in Laos and is a reason for many schools in the country to organize big parties. UNICEF, Unilever, the World Bank, and many other organizations initiated this day to raise awareness of infectious transmitted diseases and show the advantages of handwashing (ibid.).

 

Another notable initiative is the tooth-brushing project at Ban Sikeud Primary School, which was initiated by Madame Gerlinde Engel. Shortly after the founding of the Angels for Children Foundation, she asked around to find out if the people in the village brushed their teeth. It turned out that not even one pupil owned a toothbrush. She saw that many pupils had toothaches and caries and brought them to a dentist, or rather brought a dentist to them. Tooth decay is a very common issue in Laos. Her personal encounter with so many children with rotting teeth led to the decision to build up a water supply pipe on the schoolyard, in order to start a new tooth-brushing ritual at school, at 10 a.m. every day.

A memorable moment for Madame Engel was when she asked graduates if they would continue brushing their teeth even if after leaving school: They said, “Madame, we brushed our teeth these last five years, now we will keep on brushing our teeth!” This clearly shows the positive results of her project, which became an official “Model School” in Laos.

In summary, it can be seen that many medical facilities have already been established in Laos to take care of people in need of treatments. The biggest challenge is their decentralization. Access to the health system is still difficult for the majority of citizens due to lack of money or because they live in remote villages. With the help of foreign partners such as the Swiss Red Cross, the GIZ, or the Angels for Children Foundation, free programmes have been facilitated and integrated.

Teachers are doing their best to teach pupils about hygiene and health. However, the health system and its availability to all citizens is still in need of further work, effort, and funds. After all, the majority of the schools in Laos are located in rural areas:

From my perspective, and judging from the results of this research, the challenge begins with health insurance: There is no statutory health insurance in Lao P.D.R. in place (yet). In Germany, by contrast, every citizen has to have a health insurance  (and can have one) while in Laos it is subject to everyone’s one responsibility or means. As mentioned above, according to the WHO, so far only 20 % of the population have covered their health with an insurance. The Ministry of Health aims to achieve to reach all citizens by 2025. Therefore they established the National Health Insurance in 2019, which makes a visit in a health institution more inexpensive. Still, Laotians have to pay a certain amount for their visit, but the costs are definitely lower than before (heath center: USD 0,55, district hospitals: USD 1,10, central hospitals: USD: 2,20, provincial and regional hospitals: USD 1,60). To promote the new scheme, TV advertisements are broadcast.

During my research, I also experienced that the belief in Lao traditional medicine is deep-rooted and very strong. Laotians tend to take traditional medicine first before using pharmaceuticals anyway. It remains to be seen whether this would change once everyone was able to access insurance. It was interesting to learn about the differences between Laos and European countries and the respective attitudes to medicine, but from my Western perspective it was difficult to comprehend at first.

What became clear to me, however, while conducting my expert interviews in Laos was that the people in this country are very happy with their lives, with or without a good healthcare system, and probably much more so than citizens in western countries with excellent healthcare.

 

5 Current situation: Covid-19 in Laos

Lao P.D.R. reacted fast to the Covid-19 pandemic by shutting the down country when the virus broke out in March 2020 – meaning lockdowns, travel bans, and home quarantine. Until April 2021 the country counted 49 cases since the breakout. This number got crashed because of a infection in a karaoke bar in Vientiane during the Lao New Year celebrations, evidently caused by illegal border crossings of infected citizens. Since then, the number of cases rose to 17,555 (as of 14th September 2021). Until the 11th of September 2021, 37 % of the Lao population received at least the first shot of the vaccination, which is an important step for the country (especially Japan and the U.S. donated millions of doses of vaccines to Lao P.D.R.).
For schools, there was a general closure until September 2020. When the pupils returned to the schools they were faced with hygiene measurements as we know them from the western part of the globe. Face masks, keeping distance of 1,5 m, and handwashing became part of the regular school day. Thus, the pupils did not share their desks anymore. However, the reopening of schools scheduled for 1 October has just been postponed until further notice, due to rising infections numbers following the return of migrant Lao workers from Thailand over the summer.

My wish for the country is that every citizen gets free health insurance and access to medical aid, so that they firstly get good treatment in case of illness and, secondly, do not have to face high costs just for preserving their health.

 

Text by S. Ud-Din
Photos by V. Botthoulath, I. Martin, S. Ud-Din & J. Zeck

 

Notes

1 The term “developing country” comes from technical and everyday language. As Prof. Martin already described in a note to a previous article, the terms “developing” and “undeveloped” are created by the ones who see themselves as “developed”, meaning “privileged”: “The binary of “developed countries” and “undeveloped” or “underdeveloped countries” is a value statement rooted in eurocentricism and colonialism; the criteria by which a country is deemed developed are chosen by those who deem themselves to be developed.”
A “developing” (“underprivileged”) country is thus characterised by malnutrition of the population, poor health status of the population, high unemployment, above-average population growth and inadequate state infrastructure. These are more often than not linked to the after-effects of Colonialism. At a time when decolonisation is increasingly being discussed, this term should therefore be replaced or at least considered sensitively – it is no way used in this article to degrade the country of Lao P.D.R.

The term “expat” (Engl. “expatriate”, from lat. “ex patria”, “out of country”) describes a person who lives outside their native country.

3 The abbreviation “ibid.” (lat. “ibidum”, Engl. “just there”) represents a reference that was cited in the reference before.

The term “decentralisation” in a geographical sense means that institutions that are important for everyday life are located in the centre (i.e. big cities)  and not in isolated places.

 

References 

Camara, B. O., Y. L. Zhang, and Lee K. Y. S. o. P. Policy (2013). Extending Healthcare to the Informal Sector in Laos. Case studies in public policy and public administration: Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. https://​books.google.de​/​books?id=j9tEnQAACAAJ

Fadiman, Anne (1997). The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of  Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

World Health Organization (2014). Lao People’s Democratic Republic Health System Review. Lao P.D.R.: Ministry of Public Health Thailand.

Johnson, Sharon K. (2002). “Hmong Health Beliefs and Experiences in the Western Health Care System”. Journal of Transcultural Nursing 13, no. 2: 126–32. 10.1177/104365960201300205.

 World Health Organization (2001). “Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/ Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review”. http://​apps.who.int​/​medicinedocs/​pdf/​h2943e/​h2943e.pdf.

 Sydara, K., Xayvue, M., Souliya, O., Elkington, B.G., & Soejarto, D.D. (2014). “Inventory of medicinal plants of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic: A mini review”. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, 8(43): 1262–74.

 

Websites

Global Handwashing (2017). “GIZ celebrates Global Handwashing Day 2017 in Lao PDR”. https://​globalhandwashing.org​/​global-handwashing-day/​get-involved/​submit-events/​view-events/​giz-celebrates-global-handwashing-day-2017-in-lao-pdr/​ (last accessed 23 July 2018)

J&C Services. “Energy and Mines Growth Boost Laos”. http://​jclao.com​/​energy-and-mines-growth-boost-laos/​ (last accessed 31 January 2021)

World Health Organization Western Pacific Region. “Immunization”. http://​www.wpro.who.int​/​laos/​topics/​immunization/​en/​ (last accessed 31 January 2021)

“Language Education & Global Citizenship” (12) – Global Citizenship Education (1) (by J. Weigelmann)

Editor’s note: Jessica Weigelmann is a student of English and Art in the Bachelor’s Degree for secondary school and currently in her 6th semester at the University of Education Karlsruhe. She enrolled in my seminar “Global English(es,) Global TEFL & Global Citizenship Education” in the digital winter semester 2020/21 and signed up for the topic “Global Citizenship Education” because this topic has gained  promincence in teacher education recently. It moved more sharply into focus this summer following the drastic effects of climate change all around the world. Striving to meet the goals of the Agenda 2030 will require a generation that abandons nation-state perspectives for global citizenship practices. My course and this article are supposed to contribute to this development.
Ms Weigelmann’s article is Part I of a tandem-article authored jointly with Leya Hoenicke, who chose the same topic in my course one year before. The two of them started discussing this in June 2021.
Ms Weigelmann has traveled through Central and South America, Europe, and parts of Asia. She lived in Portugal for a year and taught English and German in Morocco. I hope to meet her in person next semester when we resume campus life and (hopefully) get back to live classrooms.

 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Why Global Citizenship?

2.3 What is a Global Citizen?

2.2 Conceptions of Global Citizenship defined by Light and Streitwieser

3. What is Global Citizenship Education?

3.1 Definition by Osler and Vincent

3.2 Goals of GCE

3.3 Key Learning Outcomes by UNESCO

3.4 Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship

4. Two different Approaches to GCE: The Soft Approach vs. the Critical Approach by Andreotti

4.1 What is the Soft Approach?

4.2 What is the Critical Approach?

5. Global Citizenship Education in the EFl Classroom

5.1 Opportunities in the EFL Classroom

5.2 Concrete Implementations

6. Conclusion

 

1. Introduction

This article presents an overview of how the “English as a Foreign Language” (EFL) classroom can contribute to the development of Global Citizenship (GC). I chose the topic due to its importance in the context of teacher education, especially for foreign language teachers. As English is mainly used for international communication as one of the results of globalization processes, users of English need to be aware of how to cope and communicate with different cultures. This is especially important for students because the trend towards an increased international work enviroment will influence their later careers. Additionally, having a mixed heritage or experiencing life in a new environment as a migrant is common in today’s globalized world – so future teachers have to learn to deal with students with diverse cultural backgrounds.

My personal interest in this field stems from my own experience of a mixed cultural background, because my parents were born in Kazakhstan and moved to Germany 30 years ago. Unfortunately, they experienced racist behavior towards them by some Western citizens because of the perceptions and stereotypes of Eastern cultures.

Being unaware of contemporary problems such as the spread of racial ideas through right-wing parties, which focus mainly on a national dimension, and the increasing economic and political inequality among countries might exacerbate those severe issues. Education for Global Citizenship tries to tackle such issues on a global dimension instead of focusing only on a nation-bound solution.

The reader will be introduced to the concept of Global Citizenship and its different conceptions. The article will continue with examining the term Global Citizenship Education (GCE), its goals, key learning outcomes, and its function in the Sustainable Development Goals. The third section will discuss two different approaches to GCE, namely the soft approach and the critical approach. The main point will be covered in the last section, which focuses on the EFL classroom and its opportunities to establish GC. It will also provide a concrete implementation method for teachers.

 

2. Why Global Citizenship?

Globalization has affected contemporary cultures tremendously. The 21st century is undoubtedly characterized by a “dramatic expansion of airline travel and telecommunications technologies, tourism and student exchanges, immigration policies and trade agreements” (Slimbach 2005, p. 205). Even though globalization is affecting today’s societies in many positive manners, it also leads to a major crisis of increasing economic inequality. Consequently, this problem needs to be addressed through solutions that focus on a global dimension, as the increasing economic division partly derives from urbanization processes, hence migratory processes (cf. Slimbach 2005). Therefore, GC aims to solve problems caused by globalization.

Gaudelli understands “[…] global citizenship as part of the logical progression” (Gaudelli 2016, p. 17) of urbanization processes. Particularly world cities are crowded with diverse people having different cultural backgrounds, “[…] they are no longer ‘out there’ but nestled together ‘right here’ in all the world’s urban areas” (McGrew 2000 cited in Shultz 2007, p. 249). Nation-states with world cities like London, Hong Kong or New York City must face the difficult challenge to unite diverse people, no matter which community or culture they belong to. Additionally, it is essential to reduce the economic imbalance between them to prevent an increasing socially divided society (cf. Slimbach 2005). This political as well as economic challenge can only be faced

“[…] through persons and policies that recognize that our destinies are intertwined, and that choices to harm our neighbor actually end up harming ourselves. Transcultural learners […] [need] clarified identifications, not only as members of particular cultural and national communities, but also as global citizens who understand that their neighbor is everyone alive” (Slimbach 2005, p. 218).

The concept of global citizenship replaces the traditional understanding of citizenship bounded to a certain nation-state with the more contemporary notion of fluid citizenship beyond national borders (cf. UNESCO 2014 in Suša 2019). Therefore, the following sub-chapters will examine the term Global Citizen and different conceptions of GC.

 

2.1 What is a Global Citizen?

Against this background, the term “global citizen” holds a vastly different meaning for educators. While the general global citizen definitions have overarching themes in common, they differ in some aspects. For instance, the non-governmental organization Oxfam defines a global citizen as “someone who is aware of and understands the wider world– and their place in it. [A global citizen] take[s] an active role in their community and work[s] with others to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable and fairer” (Oxfam 2020, 1).
By comparison, UNESCO states in their self-developed program of GCE that “Global citizenship is marked by an understanding of global interconnectedness and a commitment to the collective good” (Torres 2014 cited in UNESCO 2014, 14). For Gaudelli, a global citizen can be characterized by “being aware of diversity in your community, learning to live at peace with one’s neighbors and to appreciate the diversity that exists with people around you and being concerned about the biosphere and the way in which we interact with the earth and its resources coupled with an awareness of how power operates on the planet” (Gaudelli 2018 in Bosio 2018, 00:00- 1:30).

 

2.2 Conceptions of Global Citizenship defined by Light and Streitwieser

Streitwieser and Light distinguished between hierarchical stages or categories of global citizenship, reaching from the lowest possible category defined as global openness to the highest one characterized by global commitment (see Table 1). To keep it brief, those stages or categories build upon each other and represent distinguished conceptions of GC.

Conceptions of GCE (Domain of Northwestern University)

 

Firstly, “Global Existence” (type 1) is related to the assumption that “[…] because we are all born as human being on this earth, we are all by default Global Citizens” (Light & Streitwieser 2009, 12). For the second type, “Global Citizenship as Global Acquaintance”, “[…] what matters is that the student [or person] can claim a connection with one or more other countries” (Light & Streitwieser 2009, p. 13).
The third stage, “Global Citizenship as Global Openness”, supports the idea that a person is willing to be open-minded towards learning from others, especially from different nations and cultures. Here, the world is understood as a “functioning unit.” However, to adopt a more radical sense of GC, “Global Participation” (type 4) includes the notion of “active engagement with the cultural practices of people in […] other countries” (Light & Streitwieser 2009, p. 14).
As the final and most radical conception of GC, “Global Commitment” (type 5) makes the crucial distinction between the sense of simply being open-minded and feeling committed to take action to enable societies to adequately face today’s challenges such as climate change. Here, type 5 emphasizes feeling the responsibility and commitment to action (cf. Light & Streitwieser 2009).

 

3. What is Global Citizenship Education?

Several nations include a global orientation in their curricular content, often under the umbrella terms of “global citizenship education”, “global education”, or “global learning”. Those concepts are often synonymously used because they share most of their themes and methods (cf. Suša 2019). While dealing with the topic of GC, one question that indeed arises is why contemporary societies and individuals require global citizenship education. The following quote expressed by Hayden explains this issue precisely:

“Even for those school-age students today who will never in adulthood leave their native shores, the future is certain to be heavily influenced by international developments and their lives within national boundaries so affected by factors emanating from outside those boundaries that they will be hugely disadvantaged by an education that has not raised their awareness of, sensitivity to and facility with issues arising from beyond a national ‘home’ context” (Hayden 2011 cited in Gaudelli 2016, 31).

Considering this issue, the trend towards increased international developments is one of the main characteristics of the 21st Century. Present-day civilizations must adapt somehow to that notion; otherwise, they will be disadvantaged in terms of, e.g., international trade ties.

Therefore, GCE is often viewed as a reaction by education systems to the globally connected workforce or social changes caused by globalization. Multiple educators of the formal and non-formal sectors such as Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) nowadays focus on GCE (cf. Shultz 2007).  The following section will closely examine the term GCE and its goals, key learning outcomes as well as its function within the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

3.1 Definition by Osler and Vincent

Osler and Vincent also understand the term “global education” as a reaction to the trend towards an increased interdependent world; they define it as follows:

“Global education encompasses the strategies, policies and plans that prepare young people and adults for living together in an interdependent world. It is based on the principles of co-operation, non-violence, respect for human rights and cultural diversity, democracy and tolerance. It is characterized by pedagogical approaches based on human rights and a concern for social justice which encourage critical thinking and responsible participation. Learners are encouraged to make links between local, regional and world wide issues and to address inequality” (Osler& Vincent 2002, p. 2).

Here, Osler and Vincent illustrate the basic principles of Global Education, such as non-violence, democracy and cultural diversity. They stress responsible participation as a fundamental aspect of Global Education in order to adress inequality. However, when it comes to educating for GC, educators and organizations have different goals and intentions in mind. For instance, communist states who also have global education do not include democracy as a principle of GCE. Compared to democratic political systems, communist political systems are based on other ideological principles than democracy.

 

3.2 Goals of GCE

Due to the distinguished conceptions of GCE, this sub-chapter will focus on the goals of GCE as expressed by Oxfam, UNESCO, and The Maastrich Global Education Declaration. Oxfam, an NGO, has been one of the outspoken advocates in the field of global learning for more than two decades. Its goals include empowering communities to help themselves, eradicating poverty, civic engagement, saving lives in emergencies, promoting food security and economic justice, increasing funding for basic services, and equal rights for women (cf. Oxfam 2015 cited in Gaudelli 2016).

The popular organization UNESCO aims to empower students to actively engage in global and local challenges, to take a proactive role and hence to contribute to a “[…] more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world” (UNESCO 2018 cited in Suša 2019, 6). The Maastricht Declaration served as a basis for developing the European policy framework in GE (cf. Symeonidis 2015). According to Gaudelli, The Maastricht Global Education Declaration focuses on “eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, providing universal primary education, promoting gender quality, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health” (The Maastricht Global Education Declaration 2015 cited in Gaudelli 2016, 44).

 

3.3 Key Learning Outcomes by UNESCO

In 2014, UNESCO defined several key learning outcomes of GCE, which the organization separated into the categories of cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral outcomes. Regarding the cognitive key learning outcomes, UNESCO expects students to have knowledge and understanding of local, national, and global issues. Furthermore, they should recognize the interconnectedness and interdependency of nations and develop critical thinking and analysis skills. However, the development of critical thinking skills is not part of the syllabus of Communist states, and I am aware that this is a Western goal.

Given the socio-emotional key learning outcomes, students are asked to increase their awareness of belonging to common humanity while sharing values that are based on human rights. Here, students should extend their ability to understand the feelings of others, act in solidarity, and respect differences and diversity. On the behavioral level, UNESCO expects students to act responsibly at any level, whether it be local, national, or global, to create a more peaceful and sustainable world. Motivation and willingness to change preexisting conditions are – among other key learning aspects – the most important ones (cf. UNESCO 2014).

 

3.4 Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship

In 2015, all members of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to accomplish a sustainable future for all human beings. Luckily, we had the opportunity to listen to Hon.Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann’s talk in our seminar “Global English(es), Global TEFL & Global Citizenship Education”. He is a member of the “SGG Expert Net“, co-author of the brochure “Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals“, and a teacher educator in Karlsruhe. He explained the Sustainable Development Goals to us in fascinating detail. (I would suggest reading the blog post of J. Hoffmann if you are interested in finding out more about this.)

In essence, those goals address global challenges such as “poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice” (United Nations 2015, 1). The fourth goal fosters worldwide quality education in order to reduce poverty and injustice, especially in terms of gender equality. Target 4.7 focuses on Global Citizenship Education which promotes “skills, values and knowledge to empower them as global citizens through the practice and promotion of tolerance, human rights, social justice and acceptance of diversity, allows people to co-exist within diverse spaces and [seek] to fulfill their individual and cultural interest and [achieve] their inalienable rights” (Scwab 2017 cited Bridge 47 2019, 7).

 

4. Two different Approaches to GCE: The Soft Approach vs. the Critical Approach by Andreotti

Due to the various discourses concerning GCE, different approaches to GCE have emerged. The following chapter will analyze the main approaches. Marshall (2009) highlights “key tension between the two dominant agendas: equipping pupils for work and life in a global society (arguably a neoliberal agenda) and developing commitment to a fairer and more sustainable world (arguably a socially-democratic agenda)” (Huckle 2015, p. 80). Johnson (2010) illustrates another conception of GC. She differentiates between eight types of global citizenship, the “political, moral, economic, cultural-aesthetic, critical, positional, environmental and spiritual” (Johnson 2010 cited in Symeonidis 2015, 24).

The first four mentioned here refer to “soft approaches” and the last four display rather “critical approaches” of GCE (cf. Symeonidis 2015). Andreotti (2006) draws a distinction between soft and critical versions of GCE. Her paper conceptualizing these two approaches has been cited by more than hundreds of scholars and gained overall recognition among different stakeholders of GCE. Taking that into account, the next two sub-chapters will analyze those two approaches in more detail.

 

4.1 What is the Soft Approach?

Many countries apply soft approaches to GCE to such an extent that the question arises whether soft versions seem justifiable in view of increasing economic inequality. Soft versions of GCE “generally characterize international GCE discourses” (Symeonidis 2015, 45). According to Niens and Reilly (2012), most schools do not include critical reflections but rather apply soft approaches, which supports students to adopt “universal” humanitarian values. However, engaging sufficiently with the context and critically reflecting on it is neglected (cf. Symeonidis 2015).
This unintentionally leads to widening income inequality. More precisely, it “reflects a humanitarian/moral framework for understanding our relationship to others, empowering individuals to act, raising awareness of global issues and promoting campaign” (Symeonidis 2015, 23).

However, soft versions do not tackle the “root causes of current global issues” (Suša 2019, 10). Promoting tolerance implies the assumption of an existing hierarchical structure “between the tolerant ones and those being tolerated” (Suša 2019, 7). Instead, those acts often reproduce unjust power relations by taking it for granted that the “global”, as discussed in political discourses, mirrors everyone’s interests alike (cf. Andreotti 2006).

In fact, it only represents a local interest “which has been globalized through the scope of its reach” (Shiva 1998 Andreotti 2006, 3). Hence, global culture is predominately defined by Western nations, which some scholars interpret as a type of cultural imperialism (cf. Carter 2015, 9).

Soft versions of GCE do not consider globalization as “an asymmetrical process” and thus that power is unequally distributed among nations (Dobson 2005 cited in Andreotti 2006, 3). Therefore, this approach encourages students to assume that Western nations are superior because of their economic wealth. This economic inequality recreates colonial structures (cf. Bhabha 2006).
It completely ignores history, particularly colonialism, which has led to the West’s economic wealth and thus its global influence (cf. Andreotti 2006). Indeed, it is not sufficient to cultivate moral values such as “tolerance and common humanity”, but discussions must “include critical reflection and discourse on local identities” (Symeonidis 2015, 75). Otherwise, it exacerbates the problem “that it is trying to resolve” (Suša 2019, 10).

 

4.2 What is the Critical Approach?

Critical versions of GCE adapt a post-colonial lens to acknowledge globalization as an uneven distribution of power among the Global South and Western nations. Here, a global citizen is aware of hegemonic practices and takes the initiative to challenge existing structures (cf. Shultz 2007).
The main foci are to approach inequality and oppression by comprehending knowledge production and the cultivation of “hyper-self-reflexivity”. Additionally, students should develop skills that enable them to master paradoxical and complex situations, which Andreotti names “dissensus” (cf. Goren & Yemini 2016).

Compared to the soft approach, the critical approach does not campaign for universal values. It supports learners to critically deal with the context before acting upon it instead of adopting a preconceived opinion. This approach of GCE strives for liberating GCE from “ethnocentrism and absolute relativism” (Andreotti 2011 in Symeonidis 2015, 22). It intends to increase awareness of students’ own cultural backgrounds and contexts by closely reflecting on them (cf. Pashby 2013 cited in Symeonidis 2015).

Todd (2009) states that the critical approach advocates open attitudes towards cultural differences, to negotiation of meaning and a doubtful view on “universal” values that might ignore opinions of minority groups (cf. Todd 2009 cited in Andreotti 2010). Here, the aim of GCE is not to establish universal outcomes, but rather to find the “appropriate lens” for each specific context (Andreotti 2010, 244). According to Lapayese, dominant ideologies, power structures and contemporary curricula, need to be questioned through critical approaches to GCE.

However, this approach does not neglect a person’s responsibility for their own action as an essential aspect of GCE (cf. Lapayese 2003). It emphazies that “knowledge, learning, reality and identities [are] […] socially constructed, fluid, open to negotiation and provisional” (Andreotti 2010, 239). As shown in Table 2, critical GCE (cf. Critical Approach) highlights causes instead of symptoms, such as complex structures and power relations instead of poverty or lack of development. It views meanings as not fixed, but rather as fluid and changeable when applied to various and diverse contexts (cf. Huckle 2015).

 

5. Global Citizenship Education in the EFl Classroom

Global Citizenship has become a central topic for language educators, as the development of linguistic skills is not the only goal of teaching English in schools (cf. Andreotti 2008). There are several reasons why the EFL classroom is an ideal space for education for GC. This chapter will provide an analysis of those reasons and will proceed with a concrete implementation method.

 

5.1 Opportunities in the EFL Classroom

Especially the “English as a Foreign Language” classroom holds many great opportunities for educators, which will be now be detailed. Just as a note, ideally, one would call it Global language instead of “Foreign” language due to the problem of Othering.

Firstly, Fisher (1990) points out that in order to become an open-minded and critically thinking person, these foundational thinking skills have to be established early in life during the formative years. Secondly, language classrooms in schools should be marked by a non-threatening atmosphere. Here, students can discuss issues without getting judged due to their opinion. This language classroom covers a variety of topics, including, for instance, human rights and gender equality, which raises students’ social awareness (cf. Green et al. 2005).

Thirdly, at the latest since the linguistic turn appeared in Western philosophy, most people agree that language does not only describe reality, but it shapes the representations one constructs of oneself and the world (cf. Gimenez 2008). Additionally, as Fogaça and Jordão argue, if “language is discourse [and] discourse constructs our meanings, then we may consider the foreign language classroom in our schools as the ideal space for discussing the procedures for ascribing meanings to the world” (Fogaça & Jordão 2008, p. 20).

Finally, due to globalization processes, the importance of the English language has drastically increased. Its spread is highly intertwined with globalization and thus has an important role in the global context. Learning English can help to cope with international issues, master international communication, and hence the development of GC (cf. Gimenez 2008).

 

5.2 Concrete Implementations

As examined in the prior sub-chapters, critical global citizenship education enables students to think critically, encounter meaningful experiences, and act responsibly. In turn, learners are equipped with the skills needed to understand power structures and relations. Moreover, it opens a space that welcomes diverse pupils and contexts without forcing them to act in a predefined way (cf. Lapayese 2003).

In this sense, the language classroom provides space for open dialogue, as explained by Andreotti. Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry (OSDE) is an educational methodology that attempts to change preexisting structures. However, this method does not support learners to adopt a specific mode of action or opinion but rather provides space where students feel safe to observe other world views and understand how they are related to one another (cf. Andreotti 2008).
It encourages students to engage and act critically. Here, the word “critical” stands for tracing origins and implications regarding historical and cultural productions of power and knowledge. Students develop specific thinking skills that enable them to make well-informed decisions. Basic principles of OSDE include the notion that everybody’s knowledge is legitimate and valid in their context, that knowledge is always fragmentary and hence needs to be questioned.

A reading technique within OSDE supporting those principles is critical literacy, in which students “engage with [their] own and other perspectives to learn and transform our views/identities/relationships – to think otherwise” (Andreotti 2008, p. 43). The fundamental idea behind this is that language shapes reality, and students need to be aware of that language use.
Therefore, critical literacy demands students to critically scrutinize assumptions behind statements and the author’s understanding of the world. Moreover, it focuses questions like “who decides what ‘being somebody’ means, in whose name, for whose benefit then, and now, how do we come to think about the ways we do, who makes choices about understandings of reality, whose interests are represented in these choices, who benefits or loses with them, what choices are forgotten, how do people in different contexts understand the idea of ‘being somebody’?” (Andreotti 2014, p. 13). Furthermore, students should become conscious about blind spots occurring in certain texts and analyze them carefully (cf. Andreotti 2011).

 

6. Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that GCE aims to form a world community.

Nevertheless, the different conceptions of GCE expose distinct visions of the world community and thus how to create it. Therefore, different approaches to GCE have developed. Soft approaches to GCE envision this world community following a Western model preferably. From my point of view, this is dangerous because it neglects the opinions of others, namely the ones who are most affected by contemporary problems. Personally speaking, I would even claim that it lays a nourishing ground for internalizing racist beliefs under the mask of a certain kind of cosmopolitism, which leads to the exclusion of others.

I think that young people – especially young Western citizens – need to be aware of the fact that the social inequality on our planet does not derive from “underdevelopment” but rather because of the colonial past.

As a teacher, one is partly responsible for forming society through education. Hence, it is essential to reflect one’s owns belief systems to make well-informed choices in terms of educational issues. Compared to soft approches of GCE, critical versions of GCE center on the need for critical thinking skills and avoid uniformization.

Concerning my initial research question, the EFL classroom is an ideal space for educating pupils and students towards GC. It offers many opportunities to critically analyze and discuss language, discourse, and thus power relations. One among other implementation methods of GCE is OSDE, which supports developing the ability to see through other eyes.

 

Text by J. Weigelmann

 

References

1. Images/ Tables

World Citizen Flag: World Service Authority from Wikipedia Commons.
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Global Citizenship Education: Nattha from Rawpixel.
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UNESCO logo: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2015) from Wikipedia Commons.
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Different Conceptions of GCE: Bernhard Streitwieser & Greg Light (2009) from Northwestern University.
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Soft vs. Critical Approach based on Andreotti (2006): https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-3/soft-versus-critical-global-citizenship-education (last accessed 16 August 2021)

Classrom Setting: Author: Audi from Rawpixel.
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2. Printed Sources

Andreotti, Vanessa (2011). “Relativizing Western Knowledge Production in Spaces of Dissensus: The OSDE Methodology.” In: Andreotti, Vanessa. Actionable Postcolonial Theory in Education. Postcolonial Studies in Education, 191-215. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Andreotti, Vanessa (2008). “Innovative methodologies in global citizenship education: the OSDE initiative” In: Andreotti, Vanessa. Global citizenship in the English language classroom, 40-47. London: The British Council.

Carter, April (2001). The Political Theory of Global Citizenship. London: Routledge

Fisher, Robert (1990). Teaching Children to Think. Oxford: Blackwell.

Fogaça, Francisco C. & Clarissa Jordão (2008). “EFL teaching, critical literacy and citizenship: a happy love triangle?” In: Gimenez; Telma & Susan Sheehan. Global citizenship in the English language classroom, 20-29. London: The British Council.

Gaudelli, William (2016). Global Citizenship Education: Everyday Transcendence. London: Routledge.

Gimenez, Telma (2008). “Global citizenship and critical awareness of discourse.” In: Gimenez; Telma & Susan Sheehan. Global citizenship in the English language classroom, 48-53. London: The British Council.

Green, David, Audrey Osler, Hugh Starkey (2005). Citizenship and Language Learning: International Perspectives. London: Trentham Books.

Marshall, Harriet (2009). “Educating the European citizen in the global age: engaging with the post-national and identifying a research agenda.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 41 (2): 247-67.

Osler, Audrey & Kerry Vincent (2002). Citizenship and the Challenge of Global Education. London: Trentham Books.

 

3. Online Sources

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Andreotti, Vanessa (2014). “Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices in Development Education”, Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, 14 https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-19/critical-literacy-theories-and-practices-development-education (last accessed on [16 August] 2021)

Goren, Heela & Miri Yemini (2017). “Global citizenship education redefined – A systematic review of empirical studies on global citizenship education.” International Journal of Educational Research, 82 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035516308163 (last accessed on [17 April] 2021)

Huckle, John (2015). “Putting global citizenship at the heart of global learning: A critical approach.” Geography (Sheffield, England), 100 (2) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286667764_Putting_global_citizenship_at_the_hea rt_of_global_learning_A_critical_approach (last accessed on [14 April] 2021)

Hoffmann, Thomas (2018): “Teaching the sustainable development goals. Geschichten des Wandels”. ZEP :
Zeitschrift für internationale Bildungsforschung und Entwicklungspädagogik, 41 (2) https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2020/18958/pdf/ZEP_2_2018_Hoffmann_Teaching_the_sustainable_development.pdf (last accessed on [16 August] 2021)

Lapayese, Yvette V. (2003). “Toward a Critical Global Citizenship Education.” Comparative Education Review 47, 4 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/379495?seq=1 (last accessed on [18 April] 2021)

Light, Greg & Bernhard Streitwieser (2009). “Study Abroad and the Easy Promise of Global Citizenship: Student Conceptions of a Contested.” Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) https://www.northwestern.edu/searle/research/docs/study-abroad-global-citizenship.pdf (last accessed on [24 November] 2020)

Shultz, Lynette (2007). “Educating for global citizenship: Conflicting agendas and understandings.” The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 53 (1) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292444037_Educating_for_global_citizenship_Conf licting_agendas_and_understandings (last accessed on [20 April] 2021)

Slimbach, Richard (2005). “The Transcultural Journey.” The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 11 (1) https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v11i1.159 (last accessed on [1 May] 2021)

Symeonidis, Vasileios (2015). Towards global citizenship education. Stockholm: Stockholm University https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305947018_Towards_Global_Citizenship_Educatio n_A_comparative_case_study_of_primary_school_policy_and_practice_between_Greece_a nd_Sweden (last accessed on [2 May] 2021)

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Bhabha, Homi K. (2006). Boundaries. Differences. Passages.
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Dr. Emiliano Bosio (2018, Feb 7). Prof. William Gaudelli Global Citizenship Education – Interview Series Dr. Emiliano Bosio. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuiAEL45fDw 00:00- 01:30 (last accessed on [5 February] 2021).

Oxfam (2020). What is Global Citizenship. Oxford: Oxfam. https://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/who-we-are/what-is-global-citizenship/ (last accessed on [28 November] 2020).

Suša, Rene (2019). Global Citizenship Education (GCE) for Unknown Futures: Mapping Past and Current Experiments and Debates. A Report for the Bridge 47 Project. Helsinki: Bridge 47. https://www.bridge47.org/ sites/default/files/2019- 04/gce_for_unknown_futures_by_rene_suza.pdf. (last accessed on [20 April] 2021)

UNESCO (2014). Global Citizenship Education Preparing learners for the challenges of the 21st century. Paris: UNESCO. http://www.eunec.eu/sites/www.eunec.eu/files/attachment/files/global_citizenship_education_ report..pdf (last accessed on [21 November] 2020)

United Nations (2015). Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals. New York City: United Nations.                            https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ (last accessed on [1 May] 2021)

“Language Learning & Global Citizenship” (11) – Pronunciation issues for L2 speakers of English (by F. Diligu)

Editor’s note: Ms Francesca Diligu is studying the English teaching degree for secondary schools at the University of Education Karlsruhe as an international student and speaks several languages, Italian being her L1, German her L2, and English her L3. She took part in my “Global English(es), Global TEFL & Global Citizenship Education” seminar in the summer of 2019 and researched her interests and experiences in learning English by working on a presentation on the difficulties of English pronunciation for L2/L3 learners. She followed up this work in a research paper, which is published on the Research page of this blog.

The series “Language Learning & Global Citizenship” features 10 summary articles so far by researchers and student-researchers of the University of Education Karlsruhe. Ms Diligu’s summary of her paper is the 11th article, with new contributions by other student-authors to follow. For the last year-and-a-half, Covid-19 made extra tasks like these impossible, but as a long good summer in Germany is drawing to a close, we are ready to tie up somethe loose ends.

Pronunciation issues in English of speakers with different L1s

Some learners’ opinion is that one can “catch (like a cold) good pronunciation from input alone” (Levis 2015, A-52). If this were the case, after a certain period of time and practice, everyone would be able to speak with a pronunciation like that of the native speakers. However, some students seem to have better pronunciation than others; some make faster progress and some learners, even after years of living in the country of the language they want to learn, do not make improvements and speak with strong foreign accents.

According to Honey (1991), pronunciation is made up of two important elements which are accent and intonation (cf. Honey 1991, 5). This means that the Standard varieties of English, such as RP (Received Pronunciation) or AE (General American English), also have accents (cf. ibid.). Their speakers always have an accent that, being peculiar and exemplary of a specific part of a country (cf. Yule 2017, 269), reveals where they come from.

On the other hand, intonation is “the ‘tune’ of a sentence” (Honey 1991, 5), which makes a statement distinguishable from a question or an order (cf. ibid). When teaching English or learning it as an autodidact, the choice of which accent one wants to acquire traditionally falls on either British English or on American pronunciation (cf. Dauer 2005, 544).1 However, this should not be such an easy decision, because pronunciation is not only a matter of accent. It reveals, of course, where the speaker comes from, but it is also influenced by many other factors such as the age of the student, the motivation he or she has to learn the new language, how similar the L1 and the L2 are, how often the second or foreign language is used, and so forth.

Depending on the reasons why the students want to learn a language, there are teaching priorities to be set in order to improve their pronunciation. Nowadays, not only native speakers make use of English. Indeed, this language is studied around the globe by both children and adults with the consequence that, through the decades, it has become a global language (cf. Crystal 2003). Consequently, many learners of English want to be able to use it as a lingua franca. A lingua franca, or “common language”, is any language used to communicate between people who do not share the first language (cf. Britannica). For example, if two girls, one from Italy (me) and the other from Bulgaria (my friend), speak in German to communicate, German is their lingua franca.

However, there are still students who aim to achieve a pronunciation like that of native speakers. In such a case – if the teacher sets the focus on teaching English as a lingua franca while the students wish to speak like a native speaker – they might lose the motivation to learn, and they will think that the teacher does not take into consideration the learners’ needs and wishes.

Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that – even if the pronunciation can be improved, through speaking activities for example – a native speaker level can never be fully achieved even if some learners may come very close (“near-native”). Cook (1999) explains that non-native speakers, by definition, can “never become native speakers without being reborn” (Cook 1999, 187). Besides, if the main purpose of learning a new language is to communicate (cf. Yule 2017, 21), the language spoken must only be intelligible – and to be understood, it is not necessary to have a (near-) British or (near-) American English pronunciation.2

Jenkins (2000) researched and developed the Lingua Franca Core (LFC) for those who do not wish to imitate the native speaker model, and also to counteract pronunciation problems (cf. Dauer 2005, 544). The LFC presents itself as a valid model and variety of English to teach and learn (cf. ibid.). The intention of the LFC is not to replace other varieties of English, but it is proposed as a starting-point, as another option for those who do not want or need to “imitate” a specific native accent (cf. ibid.).

The more your L1 differs from the L2 you want to learn, the more difficult it will be to learn it.3 As an example, the differences between English and Japanese will be examined, so I will point out which difficulties Japanese students may have in pronouncing English sounds.

Comparing the consonant sounds of both English and Japanese, the first differences become evident in Table 1 and Table 2 below. They show that there are more consonant sounds in the English language than in Japanese. Only the twelve distinct consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /s/, /h/ /z/, /r/, /m/ and /n/ are present in both consonant systems.

Table 1: English table of consonants according to place and manner of articulation (cf. Yule 2017, 33)

 

Table 2: Japanese table of consonants according to place and manner of articulation (cf. Ohata 1994, 6)

 

These differences invite linguistic interference (“negative transfer”): In Japanese, the fricatives /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ do not exist. The affricatives /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are also present only in the English consonant system. However, even if /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are not part of the Japanese language, when /s/, /z/, /t/ and /d/ occur before /I/ and /ʊ/, they are articulated /ʃ/, /ʒ/ and /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ (cf. Ohata 1994, 13). For example, words like “sip”, “see” or “tease” become “ship”, “she” and “cheese” (cf. ibid.).

Even if Japanese has the liquid /r/, this does not correspond exactly to the English liquids and it is therefore problematic for Japanese speakers to reproduce /l/ and /r/ in English (cf. ibid., 14). Words like “light” and “arrive” might be perceived respectively as “right” and “alive” (cf. ibid.). Moreover, because of the fact that in Japanese the sound /v/ does not exist, this is replaced with the bilabial stop /b/, so that “very” may sound like “berry” (cf. ibid.).

Figure 1 and Figure 2 below show that – as in the case of the consonant sounds – English has more vowel sounds than Japanese (cf. Ohata 1994, 4). The Japanese language only features the high front /i/, the high back /u/, the mid-front /e/, the mid-back /o/ and the low central /a/.

Furthermore, English distinguishes between tense vowels, which are pronounced energetically, and lax vowels which are articulated with less breath force (cf. Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 37, 38). Japanese, however, does not make a distinction between lax and tense vowels, so that “sleep”, “taste” and “stewed” are pronounced “slip”, “test”, “stood” (cf. Ohata 1994, 5, 12).
Then, the vowel sounds /ʌ/ and /æ/ are also problematic and Japanese leaners may make no difference between, for example, “hut” and “hat” (ibid., 13). In the following, the vowel systems of English and Japanese are represented respectively (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 ):

Figure 1: English RP (Received Pronunciation)

 

Figure 2: Standard Japanese vowel system vowel system

 

Another area in which Japanese speakers may have pronunciation difficulties is represented by the English consonant clusters. While English allows both open syllables (CV [ConsonantVowel]) and closed syllables (e.g. CVC, CCVC, CCCVCC), in the Japanese language only open syllables (e.g. CVCVCV) are allowed, so that each consonant must be followed by a vowel (cf. Ohata 1994, 7, 8). The consonant clusters are therefore usually unconsciously avoided by Japanese speakers by placing a vowel between the consonants of the cluster (cf. ibid., 14, 15).

Also, English and Russian, for example, are stress-timed languages, but Japanese and other languages such as French and Spanish are syllable-timed languages (cf. Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 87, 88; Ohata 1994, 15). In stress-timed languages, the time needed to say something depends on the number of syllables that receive the stress. In syllable-timed languages, the time it takes to say something depends on the number of syllables present in the sentence. Moreover, in English, stressed syllables are produced by pronouncing vowel sounds louder and longer (cf. Ohata 1994, 10). In Japanese, syllable stress is pronounced with pitch variation (cf. ibid.).
Finally, Japanese allows less pitch variation than English (cf. ibid., 11). So when a Japanese speaker wants to say something as a statement, this can be interpreted as a question (cf. ibid., 16).

In conclusion it can be said that English is mostly spoken by non-native speakers who use it especially as a lingua franca (cf. Jenkins 1998, 119). Those learners usually have no interest in becoming part of the L2 culture, nor in achieving a pronunciation like that of the native speakers.

Moreover, the more the L1 differs from the L2, the more difficult it will be to improve one’s pronunciation. Every speaker with an L1 that is not English has different difficulties in pronouncing English words and sentences, in particular in reproducing sounds that do not exist in their first language, as I demonstrated by the example of the differences between Japanese and English.

Furthermore, Jenkins’ Lingua Franca Core (LFC) (cf. Jenkins 1998) represents a valid option for those who – for whichever reasons – do not want to refer to a specific model. In fact, “if learners are enrolled in a class with the intent to learn English for international communication, traditional [native speaker] norms for pronunciation may be less relevant, as the goal is to quickly reach communicative competence rather than to mimic a [native speaker] accent” (Davis 2012, 9).

It is absolutely legitimate to want to aspire to a native-speaker accent. However, why should non-native speakers want to learn a standard variety like RP (BE) which is not even spoken by the majority of them but only by a maximum of 3-4 percent (cf. Skandera & Burleigh 2005, 6)?

 

Text by F. Diligu

 

 

Editor’s notes

The fact that English became the most widely spoken language in the world over centuries of colonialism and imperialism lies beneath the notion of the (superior) “native speaker model”. This notion has been decolonised by “World Englishes” models over the last decades, notably by Schneider, Strevens, Goerlach, McArthur, Modiano, and Ayto, and we will examine what this means for teachers of English in one of the next posts in this series, “Global English(es)”. For an easy start, you could listen to David Crystal on utube: “Which English?” (2009).

2 When I started working with partners in Lao P.D.R., the teachers who had learnt (some) English said that it was easy to understand me, but that they had trouble understanding the English of the native speakers who travelled or worked in the country (mostly Australians and Americans). My own accent was modelled on British English when I started learning the language at the age of 10, and I did like the sound of this variety. When I got my first teaching post at university, I taught “Pronunciation” and “Corrective Phonetics” classes amongst others, and I started speaking even more clearly, distinctly, and somewhat more slowly: “Teacherese”. After a while, native speakers I met abroad kept saying that they could not “place” me, or tell from my accent “where I was from” – and I was quite happy to remain in that non-space in between, especially so when I noticed in Laos that it helped communication.

3 As Lao and English are maximally different languages, English is most hard to learn for Lao people (cf. Martin, 2018). “English as a distant language”.

 

Illustrations

Table 1: English table of consonants according to place and manner of articulation (cf. Yule 2017, 33)

Table 2: Japanese table of consonants according to place and manner of articulation (cf. Ohata 1994, 6)

Figure 1: English RP (Received Pronunciation) of public domain from Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3329213

Figure 2: Standard Japanese vowel system vowel system of public domain from Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=180079

 

References

Cook, V. (1999). “Going beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching”. TESOL Quarterly (33/2), 185-209.

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dauer, Rebecca M. (2005). The Lingua Franca Core: A New Model for Pronunciation Instruction?. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 3, 543-550.

Davis, Glenn M. (2012). The Implications of the Lingua Franca Core for Pronunciation in the Japanese ELT Context. OTB Forum, 5(1), 7-10.

Honey, J. (1991). Does accent matter?: the Pygmalion factor. London: Faber and Faber.

Jenkins, Jennifer (1998). Which pronunciation norms and models for English as an International Language?. ELT Journal, 52, 119-126.

Jenkins, Jennifer (2000). The phonology of English as an International Language: New Models, New Norms, New Goals. Oxford University Press.

Levis, J. M. (2015). “Learners´ view of social issues in pronunciation learning”. Journal of Academic Language & Learning (9/1), A42-A55.

Martin, I. (2018). “English as a ‘distant’ language.” Conference paper: Des langues étrangères pour tous: didactique et méthodologie. First international conference of the L’Association en didactique des langues étrangères en Suisse (ADLES). Lausanne, Switzerland, 6-7 September 2018 (article in preparation).

Ohata, K. (1994). “Phonological Differences between Japanese and English: Several Potentially Problematic Areas of Pronunciation for Japanese ESL/EFL Learners”. Asian EFL Journal, 1-19.

Skandera, P. & P. Burleigh (2005). A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.

Yule, G. (2017). The study of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

Online

Britannica. “Lingua franca”. https://www.britannica.com/topic/lingua-franca (last accessed 8 September 2021)

Crystal, D. (24 December 2009). “Which English? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XT04EO5RSU (last accessed 8 September 2021)

New Master theses on “Global Citizenship” and “Digital Teaching” & general news on forthcoming publications

Quiet time on this blog (May to July 2021)

The pandemic has prevented tandem-teaching for our Lao and German project participants since March 2020, with one notable exception: Leya Hoenicke from Team XI.5 made it over to Vientiane in March 2021 (and wrote a nerve-wracking report on that experience), then did online teaching with her tandem-partner Ms Moukdala Keomixai, and held workshops on “How to organize your digital classroom” for the other staff members of the Lao-German Technical College. She will also report later on her work and lockdown experience.

In mid-late April of this year, Covid-19 infected Lao people in 4-digit numbers, following illegal border-drossings during the New Year celebrations. The subsequent severe lockdown then stopped our five new Erasmus+ Mobilities between the University of Education Karlsruhe (PH Karlsruhe) and Savannakhet University (SKU) short in their tracks. Three staff from SKU – Ms Phetsavanh Somsivilay (English), Ms Somsanouk Xayyavong (IT), and Mr Sitsanou Phouthavong (physics) – and two PH Karlsruhe doctoral candidates, Rebecca Dengler and Miaoxing Ye, were ready to go, with cases packed… and the next day they were not able to travel. The Savannakhet partners were not allowed to leave town to get to their first plane in Vientiane, and Ms Rebecca and Ms Miaoxing were stranded because our partners could not get the last official immigration stamp for them on that last Monday before their flight was due, because they could not get to the Ministry’s office anymore and the offices were closed anyway.

Apart from the disappointment (and the loss of considerable project funds and energy and time invested…), we also experienced new gains. We now communicate easily online, some partners visited each others’ online classes during the summer term, and my German students used our own (second and third) lockdown for intensive academic work, with a strong new interest and focus on “Education for Sustainable Development & Global Citizenship” as well as “Digital Teaching” in my classes “Global English(es), Global TEFL & Global Citizenship” and “Postcolonial Theory & Short Fiction”. We concentrated on our work at home and dealt with whatever new challenges digital teaching and the next lockdown held in store for us.

 

Ready for new posts again

Summer term is over now. After our last lockdown, infection numbers are comparatively low right now in Germany, with at least 60% of the population double-vaccined.

Reboot: (carefully) meet people again, go out to restaurants, enjoy a movie in the cinema or a visit to a museum or go to the gym or swimming-pool again. Photos from vacations abroad are arriving on Instagram, and we can recover our senses and many of our former liberties. At the same time, as Head of Department of English, I just finished planning two teaching scenarios for the winter term, one hybrid, one live with digital exceptions, and it remains to be seen which one will take place, and what the Delta variant will dictate before too long. I only hope that I will not have to write a third, fully digital teaching scenario, again.

Today please take note of two new Master theses written in the winter semester 2020/21, which are now published on the “Research” page under “Full-texts“:

1. Ud-Din, Shirin (2020). Emergency Remote Teaching: Challenges and Benefits […] during the Digital School Term 2020. 92 pp., Appendix with interviews 29 pp.

“The pencil metaphor” by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (found on e-learn.nl weblog by Willem van Valkenburg).

The Pencil Metaphor represents the different attitudes teachers can take to the new challenge of digital teaching: Are you a leader, a sharp one, part of the wood, a hanger-on, a ferrule, or an eraser?

 

2. Eckardt, Nico (2021). Raising Awareness for Global Citizenship80 pp.

Table by N. Eckardt: Comparison of “Conceptions of Global Citizenship” (Streitwieser & Light 2009, 12) and “Characteristics of citizenship” (Hirata 2016, 101 ff.)

This thesis explores the theoretical basis of why raising awareness of Global Citizenship in the classroom is something every teacher should incorporate in their teaching henceforward.
(It also happens to explain in theory what we have been doing in practice in our Lao-German tandem-teaching and research projects since 2015.)

 

More to come

Forthcoming theses:

Leona Kemmer (2021). From Intercultural differences in ESL teaching to transcultural understanding through encounters and communication: Creating an e-book with Lao teachers in tandem-teaching.

Marina Capek (2021). Developing and testing a Digital Teaching Sequence focused on decolonization in museum contexts for the primary language classroom.

 

Forthcoming papers:

Some students are preparing course papers on topics relating to our project’s areas of interest, i.e. “Intercultural Competence in Digital Teaching” and “Decolonization of English Language Teaching”.

 

Forthcoming conference papers:

Martin, Isabel (23.9.2021). “Bilateral decolonisation in Applied Linguistics and Research in Foreign Languages: A Case Study”. Online conference Relocating Research in Applied Linguistics: 29th Conference for Applied Linguistics. German Foreign Languages Association, University of Duisburg-Essen 22-24 September 2021.

Dengler, Rebecca (23.9.2021). “Intercultural barriers in ‘international’ English course books at Savannakhet University, Laos”. Online conference Relocating Research in Applied Linguistics: 29th Conference for Applied Linguistics. German Foreign Languages Association, University of Duisburg-Essen 22-24 September 2021.

Ye, Miaoxing (23.9.2021). “Decolonisation of foreign language teaching in China and Laos: Similarities and differences of Chinese and Lao EFL leaners’ misplacements of English stress focused on their L1 tone influence”. Online conference Relocating Research in Applied Linguistics: 29th Conference for Applied Linguistics. German Foreign Languages Association, University of Duisburg-Essen 22-24 September 2021.

 

Last, but not least:

Following our joint International Symposium of SKU and PH Karlsruhe of October 2019 on “Sustainable Development and Internationalization in Higher Educational Institutions”, the proceedings are going to be published later this year. This is when I will also publish several posts on the Symposium itself, as our cooperation reboots with our second project, this time on “Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship”.

 

Text by I. Martin

Illustration by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; Table by N. Eckardt

Call for Applications for “Bi-directional learning and teaching” volunteer programme in Laos for October to January 2021 and/or February-March 2022

“Call for Applications“ for students and graduates of ALL subjects (not only English): Team XII (October – January 2021/22) and Team XIII ( February – March 2022, or longer)

Laos, like many other countries, has learnt to live with Covid-19 by now. There are now a clear set of rules in place controlling infections, local “red zone lockdowns”, the immigration of foreigners, and prolonged quarantines for infected returnee migrant workers.
Students who are interested in applying should now write to isabel.martin@ph-karlsruhe.de and/or julia.friedl@vw.karlsruhe.de as soon as possible to announce their interest in a place, preferrably before the end of August. We will write back to you immediately and then proceed with interviews and the immigration/visa formalities.

Team XII and XIII will do tandem-work in the subject of English with one Lao partner per volunteer, with possible explorations of tandem-work in your second subject if the partner institution offers this. (In the past this has been biology, physics, chemistry, maths, food science and weaving (AuG).)

Students of the University of Karlsruhe are given preference as this is a programme of the PH Karlsruhe. However, students from other universities may also apply and have been given places in past years when we could not fill all places with our own students.

You can read reports by previous volunteers here: http://www.thelaosexperience.com/final-reports-of-volunteers/

If anybody is interested in applying or has questions, please feel free to contact the project organisers or the former volunteers Ms Chelsea Hog (Team X) at chelseahog@live.de or Ms Celine Victoria Seeger (Team X) at celine.seeger@stud.ph-karlsruhe.de or Ms Leya Hoenicke (Team XI) at leya.hoenicke@stud.ph-karlsruhe.de or Rebecca Dengler (Team IV, Team V, and Savannakhet volunteer) at beccy.dengler@web.de

There is an official immigration protocol, and flights are available. Details would be given in the interviews, or in an online consultation once you write us an email.

The living costs in Laos are low by comparison with other programmes or countries, as our partners offer free accommodation, WIFI, and some of them also offer free lunches, and all provide other amenities (e.g. bicycles) plus individual support: everyone there helps with absolutely everything you need.

In order to cover the cost of the flights, PH Karlsruhe students can apply for a scholarship (“PROMOS Reisekostenzuschuss” or DAAD “Lehramt.International”), or apply to the AAA (International Office) for a travel grant (there will be one more Call for Applications for this). For more detailed information please contact the International Office of PHKA.
We also have the continued support of both the Lao Embassy in Berlin and the German Embassy in Laos for the immigration procedure.

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Our current partners are Sunshine School, the Lao-German Technical College, the Vocational Education Development Institute, and Savannakhet University. You can find reports on previous volunteers’ work at these institutions on this blog. Just enter the name of the institution in the search window or select the tag from the “Tag list” under the tab “Blog”.

There are two places available at our partner institution Savannakhet University – these are preferably for graduates who completed their 2nd state exam, but potentially also eligible for anyone well-experienced in teaching or tutoring with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.
Partners are welcome here and can be found volunteer work, too, if they wish.
The next places are for the academic year 2021/22. (Shorter stays would need to be negotiated – the minimum duration is 1 term.)

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PH Karlsruhe students can write Bachelor and Master theses within this project.
Research results are published on the blog in the “Language Education and Global Citizenship” series and also under “Research” (“Full-texts“).
Two new series on “Decolonise your mind, your language, and your teaching” and “Education for Sustainable Education & Global Justice” will follow this autumn and winter.

Note to students who have not yet taken any classes in didactics: Please apply at a later stage in your studies when you have gained more experience in and knowledge about teaching. It is also helpful to have done the ISP (Integrated Semester Practicum), but you are similarly qualified if you gained significant teaching experience in other areas, e.g. as a sports coach for children or teacher of German or another language for refugees.

To answer your questions and help you decide on your application or potential partner institution, please feel free to contact the International Office on StudIP/BBB (Julia Friedl) or Prof. Martin or one of the former volunteers by email.

Within this project, PH Karlsruhe students can also earn credit points in the Bachelor and Master programmes.

If you want internship credit, you need to
a) visit Dr Wagner in his office hour and
b) submit the necessary forms before departure.

EuLA students can also earn credit for their 20 teaching/working weeks abroad (in their 3rd, 4th, or 5th semester).

It helps to have visited Prof. Martin’s seminar “Global English(es), Global TEFL & Global Citizenship Education” for first orientation in teaching internationally and interculturally, decolonisation, and questions of global justice.

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Places in Vientiane (October 2021 – January 2022, or February-March 2022):

Places in Savannakhet (October 2021 – June/July 2022 or until January):

 

Details about our more recent partners:

Sunshine School
Private school (Vientiane) and kindergarten (village in the jungle) with focus on ecology and yoga/meditation

– 1-2 places as from October at the private pre-, primary and secondary Sunshine School, Vientiane, accommodation & vegetarian lunches covered – read the report of our 2 volunteers who taught there in 2016/17 and check out Sunshine school on Facebook

University of Savannakhet
PH cooperation with the SKU
: the “PH KA volunteer programme” is funded by SKU and runs for 5-10 months each year (Sept-Jan, Feb-July).
Requirement for applications: Previous experience as an intern in the “Teaching English in Laos” project or otherwise professional experience, e.g. Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree or 2nd State Exam. SKU are also interested in teachers who teach English AND German, as they are planning to instal a new German Department. Check out previous volunteers’ reports on the blog by David Schrep and/or Rebecca Dengler.

 

For more general information on Laos visit the websites of the Auswaertiges Amt and the German Embassy in Vientiane or the English newspaper Vientiane Times.

Important note: Interns need to register for their stay in Laos within the Elefand System (Elektronische Erfassung von Deutschen im Ausland), as requested by the German Federal Foreign Office.

 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Prof. Dr. I. Martin (English Department) & J. Friedl (International Office), University of Education Karlsruhe

9 August 2021