Who makes the rules? Who chooses the rulers? Can citizens peacefully replace ineffective, unpopular leaders?
Yes, we can!
In the United States of America, voters enjoyed their opportunity to hire and fire their President. People voted, machines counted the votes, and millions of people around the nation smiled, laughed, and felt hopeful again. Senator Obama, as so often, captured the power and beauty of the peaceful transfer of power in his eloquent speech Tuesday.
“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. “
Barack Hussein Obama (1961- ), President-elect of the United States
What a patriotic quotation celebrating freedom! Cara Fulton, at www.maestrousa.com and ESL maven, suggests adding Obama’s quote to the list of great quotes and next edition of Compelling Conversations. Cara, who helps students develop the full spectrum of English language skills, sees the power of Obama’s election as a celebration of America. Reka, another friend and ESL teacher is addingexcerpts from Obama’s speech to her oral skills course for international students. (Note: Reka watch the two times – back to back – on election night.) Americans, across the country, felt united in a shared moment of hope and pride.Our system, the democratic system, still works! Voting counts.
We are coming back – to our ideals, our citizens, and our best traditions! The United States, the first nation explicitly created on enlightenment ideals, will become an inspiring 21st century nation.
This surprising election seems like a very teachable moment. Immigrants and international students can rest assured that they made the right decision to come to the United States. English language learners around the world should feel the enlarged possibilities that come with our strange tongue. European sceptics and Arab critics should candidly reassess their prejudices about Americans and the American government. After all, Obama – the son of an international African student and an adventurous Midwestern scholar – has just won the Presidency of the United States. Where else could that happen?
ESL teachers, especially in the United States, can and should celebrate this democratic tradition in our classrooms. Immigrants, refugees, and international students – in the United States and other western democratic countries – often understand the power of democracy on a deeper level than many jaded Americans. The passion of students for good government, justice, and voting will lead to an engaging discussions. Let’s give students a chance to speak up in our classes, and marvel at the election of Obama.
ESL students, international visitors, and many American citizens often express shock, dismay, and outrage over television programs. How can the news show people struggling on a rooftop, a criminal cursing the police, or a comedian mocking a vice-presidential candidate – or the sitting United States president? What about those pseudo-pornographic junk shows and awful words that children should never hear? Or that crazy commentator stirring up trouble with lies and hateful generalizations?
Free speech does not mean polite, wise, or smart speech – even on television and the radio. Gossip, pseudo-news, and sensationalism also sells. While television is regulated, cable shows remain a free speech zone. Is this smart? Yes!
“The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with a great deal of rubbish.”
Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), U.S. Supreme Court Justice
“Own only what you can always carry with you; know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Russian writer and Nobel Prize winner
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, an exceptional writer of rare courage, died today. English teachers, lovers of literature, and people of conscience will find his long obituary in the International Herald Tribune worth reading. Solzhenitsyn, like so many other intellectual and artistic figures, found refuge in the United States when he was exiled from his homeland for his writings. ESL, especially EL/Civics students, will also find his biography of considerable interest.
While far too many western leftists preferred to close their eyes to the nature and brutality of the Soviet slave labor system, Solzhenitsyn wrote novels that detailed the misery and repression created by the communists. His writings also made it impossible for even the most naïve leftist intellectuals to deny Stalin’s gulags – and how millions looked away. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, but the Soviet authorities naturally prevented him from accepting his award. He spent 20 years in prison camps for his writings.
Do you have English language students from Russia? Do you know immigrants and refugees who spent their youth under the Soviet system? How did living under a communist dictatorship distort human relationships? Solzhenitsyn’s writings, once censored, may help you better understand some of the historical and cultural factors that have influenced your students and their worldviews.
Personally, I found working with Russian refugees and immigrants a very eye-opening experience. The more you learn about the old Soviet system, the more you appreciate the American tradition of individual rights and political freedom. Solzhenitsyn wrote in his 1967 novel, The Cancer Ward, about the consequences of silent conformity with Stalin’s crimes. “Suddenly all the professors and engineers turned out to be saboteurs — and they believed it? … Or all of Lenin’s old guard were vile renegades — and they believed it? Suddenly all their friends and acquaintances were enemies of the people — and they believed it?” Everyone, as in Nazi Germany, knew and didn’t want to know.
Free speech and free press remain under siege – in the United States, often from self-righteous idealists. Solzhenitsyn’s writings serve as a powerful rebuke to coercive utopians, and illuminate the power of personal choices under the most severe stress. ESL teachers, especially EL/Civics teachers in adult education, need to emphasize the beauty, rarity, and wisdom of the first amendment guaranteeing free speech and a free press.
English language learners might also find Solzhenitsyn’s strong nationalism of interest. He didn’t believe that western democracy worked everywhere, considered many parts of American culture to be corrupt, and advocated rebuilding a distinct Russian society. The tensions between universalism in American Bill of Rights and some versions of multiculturalism can and should be openly discussed in our English classrooms.
I chose Solzhenitsyn’s quote for the dedication page of Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics to remind myself – and others – to look beyond material possessions. We need to stay awake and remain sane – even if our society begins to sprout social cancers and asking simple questions becomes dangerous. Solzhenitsyn provides a model of courage and resistance to tyranny.
Americans love to create, read, and discuss top ten lists. Newspapers and magazines use the simple format to summarize large chunks of information in a friendly manner. Year end issues often expand the technique to create “100 best” or the year’s “ten best”, “top ten”, or “ten smartest” lists. Naturally, many English teachers use this format in their classrooms to express ideas and create discussions.
Sometimes, however, students will simply create a list and avoid providing clear reasons. In order to emphasize the need to share information and exchange insights, I often ask for a “top ten tips” to doing something. This twist also invites a wider range of topics from the practical to more philosophical, and shows respect for students knowledge and interests.
You can ask students for their top ten tips for:
choosing a school?
saving money?
staying healthy and happy?
making and keeping friends?
avoiding boredom and finding satisfaction?
getting good grades?
learning English?
traveling to a new city/country?
Break students into groups of 3-4. Give them 20 minutes to come up their top ten tips on a given topic. Ask them to provide at least one reason and/or example for each answer, and agree on a final order. During the discussions, students will use common phrases like “this is better”, “I disagree”, or “what do you think?”
What does the teacher do? Circle around, listen in, and pass out different colors of chalk for each group. I ask more questions than I answer at this stage. Have each group select a student to write their “top ten tips” on the board.
The instructor goes through the list, asking questions – both soft and hard, and engages student groups. Finally, after the instructor lead discussion, the entire class votes on the top ten tips. This democratic element takes only a few minutes, and encourages more student participation.
This flexible, communicative activity can be constantly used to create engaging, lively classroom conversations. Students enjoy sharing information, telling stories, and helping each other make sense of an often strange land where people speak a strange language. By giving students a chance to offer advice, you also get to learn as you teach!
Ask more. Know more. Share more. Create Compelling Conversations. Visit www.compellingconversations.com
Many English teachers have asked if I plan a “culturally sensitive” version so Compelling Conversations can be used in more countries.
For instance, China censors not only their classrooms, but has created a great electronic fallwall so its citizens can not find information on Tibet, Taiwan, democracy, or free speech. China’s educational leaders, perhaps the most important market for many English language programs and books, simply wants “harmonious communication”, not discord, goes the argument. Likewise, Saudi Arabia – where women are banned from driving, Islam reigns as the one and only religious faith, and free speech is forbidden – wants books where relations between men and women go unasked. Why not accommodate the local rulers and pander to the prejudices of the powers to be? Sales will surely increase.
No doubt, sales would increase. Yet I prefer not to censor myself or support local tyrants. Consider me a “live and let live, speak and let speak” teacher. As Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence declared, “resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” Asking simple questions and sharing personal experiences, without worrying about what some government official might think, seems reasonable. Freedom is still a good idea.
Originally written for immigrants and refugees coming into the United States, Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics allows students to share, candidly, their personal stories. Some fled to avoid persecution, some escaped civil wars and economic poverty, and some sought more free to just be themselves and create a new, usually better life.
I’m even a bit flattered that my tiny little website is blocked by a few governments addicted to censorship and trying to stop their citizens from asking questions. My book simply asks over 1400 questions, shares a few hundred proverbs, and demonstrates how brilliant women and men have disagreed on many issues through out history.
Conversation matters, especially during times of war and hysteria. I’m trying to help English language learners develop their conversation skills, reflect on their experiences, and exchange insights with other fellow human beings. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes powerful people abuse their authority. Sometimes little people suffer because of the mistakes and decisions of the more powerful. If some government or authority feels that these questions are too dangerous, uncomfortable, or impolite, than so be it.
Asking questions and simple conversation help us clarify and understand our world. I’m perfectly comfortable with every question that is asked in this book, and emphasize many times that students can just decline to respond if they feel less comfortable. (Learning how to say “no” is also a good conversation skill to master!) Yet it’s a very different situation for a student – an individual – to choose to pass over a question and for a censor to block a website, ban a book, or prohibit a question. I prefer to treat all adults as adults.
Sorry for the long rant, but that’s why I have declined to create a “censor’s version” that would eliminate questions of elections, corruption, women’s rights, or double standards. Freedom, including the freedom to ask simple questions, still seems like a good idea to me.
