Teaching About Prejudice?

Transitions Abroad is an excellent resource for those who pine about travel, work or study in foreign places. The English Teaching section is especially useful for general advice on job-hunting as well as country-specific advice, links and resources.

One article recently caught my eye because it is not about getting a job – but rather about a topic which may be relevant once you have a job: Teaching About Prejudice. A former social worker who now teaches in the Czech Republic describes how he’s approached the topic and shares what his experience has been with the lesson. Take a look at his “-isms” activity and tell me: would you have a go at this in class?

Would I?

I don’t think so.

I think it could be a useful structure to keep in mind if the topic comes up and seems unavoidable…but as a teacher of adults, I think I would be overstepping my bounds to initiate it. While I certainly think that issues like racism and prejudice are important ones, an English teacher’s job is not to teach adults what they should think about these issues.

It’s probably clear from some of my past posts that issues like these do enter my mind; from time to time I’ve also used this logue as a platform to air my views on issue that are important to me, which, although they might not directly be related to EFL, are generally connected in some way. However, unlike a class, readers can choose which posts they read and can leave me an angry comment if they feel I am an obnoxious idiot…all without worrying about receiving a failing grade.