Welcome to my blog!
Hello, my name is Sidney! I am so exciting to be blogging with all of you! I am a fourth year Arts student majoring in Asian studies and minoring in the Education of language learning and teaching. I am graduating this May and after I graduate I hope to teach English as an additional language in Vancouver.
Why did I choose this course? & My expectations for this course.
The reason why I chose this course is because I believe that this course is able to support me as a aspiring English teacher. As an English teacher who wants to teach English in Vancouver I believe it is my job to not only teach my students English but also to teach my students about Canadian culture, traditions, and history. I feel that the best way to teach the English language and Canadian culture is by getting my students to read different types Canadian literature. I hope that ENGL 372 will introduce me to different types of Canadian literature and teach me how to properly understand and analyze it as this would allow me to be able to make informed decisions when picking Canadian literature to teach to my future students. I also hope that this course introduces Indigenous narratives as I would like to become more familiar with this topic and become acquainted with materials that I can use to teach this topic. When immigrants and international students first come to Canada they may not know that Canada was colonized and that the land of the indigenous people was stolen by settlers and I think it is partially my job to teach them about this part of Canada’s history and good way to teach this is through Canadian literature.
The Danger of Teaching English
Another reason why I wanted to take this course is because this course involves reading the narratives of Indigenous people and through these narratives I want to become more aware of the dangers of teaching English. I first learned about the dangers of teaching English in LLED 489A. LLED 489A is not a class that you would expect to learn this kind of lesson as LLED 489A is an English grammar class. However, during one of the classes our professor decided to take the class to the UBC long house to watch a film based on an indigenous story. At first I was confused why the professor wanted to ‘waste’ a day of class to go watch this film, I thought to myself “what does this film have to do with me becoming an English teacher?”. But after watching the film I learned a really important lesson about teaching English. This lesson was that teaching English can be dangerous as English is a predator language and can kill other languages. The film that I watched Edge of Knife (Siff) taught me this as I learned that the film was made “for the purpose of revitalizing the Indigenous Haida Gwaii language, as their language had become endangered due to the fact that most people in the Indigenous community grew up only learning English” (Scharf, 2019). In Canadian society English is more accepted and economically valued and this is what causes the death of Indigenous languages (Scharf, 2019). But the film Edge of the Knife is fighting to keep the Haida Gwaii language alive as the film is “performed entirely in the Haida language” (TIFF Trailers) and most of the young actors who were of Haida Gwaii background were taught the Haida language for the film. Before the film there were “less than 20 fluent speakers” (TIFF Trailers) and now after the film there is much more. I recommend everyone to watch the film Edge of Knife as I can promise you that you have never watched a film like this before. The movie is based on an indigenous oral story and it paints a beautiful yet haunting and dark story about a man who turns into a beast “and spirals into insanity after accidentally killing his best friend’s son” (Siff).This movie is not only filmed beautifully but also the making of the film itself represents something special as it represents the push back against the predator language English and the revival of the Haida Gwaii language (CBC Docs).
Brief description of ENGL 372
My understanding is that in this course we are going to be reading and analyzing different types of European and Indigenous literature. By reading this literature we can further learn about social dynamics and the lives of different people throughout Canadian history. And by closely analyzing the literature we can learn how to think critically about the events that have happened in the past and how these events may now even have a huge impact on our present and future.
Works cited
CBC Docs. Youtube, “Making the world’s first Haida-language feature film”. 4 Sep. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WwICs7S-AQ
Haig-Brown, Helen and Gwaai Edenshaw, directors. Edge of the Knife. Haida Gwaii, Niijang Xyaalas Productions, 1 Sept. 2018.
Scharf, Sidney. “Metaphor of Language: Language as a predator” 2019.
“Sgaawaay K’uuna (Edge of the Knife).” SIFF, https://www.siff.net/festival/sgaawaay-kuuna-(edge-of-the-knife).
TIFF Trailers. “SGAAWAAY K’UUNA (EDGE OF THE KNIFE) TRAILER”. YouTube, 5 Dec. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnbOw5Nuq2U.
Hi Sidney!
I really appreciate how thoughtful and organized your introduction is! I was curious as to what inspired you to pursue teaching English as an additional language? I assume that means not in the sector of public elementary/secondary education? I’m also thinking of pursuing a similar path! I would also love to know further as to how that LLED course has impacted your view of the English language or teaching English. I’m also curious if you or the class has come to any conclusions as to how to mitigate teaching English while preserving/valuing other languages? I’m curious if your decision to pursue language learning was at all impacted due to your studies in Asian studies? I took ENGL 371 (Asian Canadian/Asian transnational literature) last term and it’s definitely been one of my favourite courses. It definitely made me think more about how to preservation of culture and identity while in a transnational state. I would love some more insight as to how the courses you’ve taken will define how you teach!
Thank you!
Hello Lisa, thanks so much for the comment! I was first inspired to teach English when I myself became interested in learning Asian languages. I started learning Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese and I became really curious about what it takes to learn a language. Therefore, I thought that I would try and dive deeper into language learning by becoming a language teacher. Yes, the LLED course I took did impact me a lot as I became aware that as an English teacher I could potentially cause harm by spreading a “predator” language. But my LLED classes have taught me ways to teach English in a healthy way where I am not putting down other languages. I will be teaching a lot of children who have immigrated to Canada and as an English teacher I feel that it is my job to help students develop not only their English but also their home language. And even though I do not speak every single language in the world I can give my students the tools that they need to further themselves in their home language. I can teach them how to analyze texts and how to think critically and develop arguments and these skills that I teach them can be used to better themselves in their home language. Lots of English classes have a rule that they are only aloud to speak English and if they speak their native language they are punished. I think this is very toxic and in my classroom I will validate my students native language and will allow my students to communicate in multiple languages (this is the translanguaging pedagogy). Sometimes I will get my students to do homework using English and their home language for example there is this app called Scribjab where students can make bilingual comic books, I would get my students to write a story in English and then translate it into their native language and then they can read it to their parents or grandparents at home. I even might get my students to do a project where they teach their native language to the class in English, this gets the students speaking English and speaking their home language. In my opinion LLED program has really progressed as it teaches teachers the importance of validating and using the students first language in the classroom.
Hi Sidney!
I’m glad that there is another student in this course who is aspiring to become an English teacher! I think I can understand why you felt that Edge of Knife was unrelated to your course at hand, and I can relate to your experience similarly with students, which I am currently helping. For them, they do not find the context or history behind literature they are analyzing or synthesizing relevant or important. I find it saddening and troubling. In our society, where culture is continuously changing and interlocking, it can be a common occurrence where an aspect of culture can be easily forgotten or altered. In your opinion, is the predatory nature of English the result of our progression towards global unity, and can the preservation of all languages be possible? By global unity, I am referring to the connection we have (both socially and culturally) between culture and communication.
Cheers,
Aran Chang
Hey Aran! I feel the predatory nature of English is due to the fact of colonialism as it was spread to many countries and when this happened many people were forced to speak it because it is became more socially and economically valued than other languages. For instance in Canada in order to get a job you need to be able to speak one of the colonial languages English or French or it will be really hard get hired. Therefore, the Indigenous people were forced to become fluent in colonial languages because if they did not they would struggle finding a job and would struggle being accepted socially by the rest of society. I feel society values English more than other languages and this is actually causing the downfall of our society as languages are dying off and this causes people to loose ties to their cultural identity and this is really sad. But in my opnion preservation of languages is possible and it all starts with the teacher. As English teachers I feel it is our duty to not only develop our students English but also teach our students tools to use to develop their native language. Also we should stress to our students that their native language is important and valued and therefore in my classes I will not stop my students from speaking their native language and will actually encourage it (this is called translanguaging). This is because I will be teaching many students who have recently immigrated to Canada and as an English teacher I want them to learn English but not at expense to their home language. Overall, I think that English being a predator language and being more valued in society causes the death of other languages and therefore this will not result in global unity as I feel that it will result in a lot of hurt people who have been forced into cutting ties with their own culture and their language. *disclaimer I am not against teaching English as a second language, I just feel we that we should teach English in a way that is not decreasing the value of other peoples languages.
Hi Sidney,
I found it quite interesting how you described English as a “predator language” that over time, kills other languages. This really resonated with me as I have some experience with the preservation of a language, albeit on a smaller scale. My family is originally from Fujian, China, and has been living in the Philippines, which is where I grew up, for a few generations now. Fortunately, my family has done well to preserve the ability to speak our dialect (“Hokkien”) and I am able to speak it. However, close to three-quarters of my Chinese-Filipino friends are completely incapable of speaking this language and can merely understand bits and pieces of sentences. My teenage brother is like my friends and it is striking to me how big a difference a few years can make. Perhaps he has made an effort to learn more “economically valuable” languages, as you described it, such as English and Mandarin. This to me is no surprise, given the increased globalization in recent years which surely has raised the value of languages, like English, that are more prominent in economically powerful countries.
Having said all that (apologies if I got off track), I am curious as to how your experience watching “Edge of the Knife” impacted your long-term goal of teaching English, if at all. Has it made you less inclined to teach English in the future or are you even more determined to become an English teacher in order to apply techniques that would result in your students’ learning while still preserving their ability and desire to speak their native language?
Cheers!
Chino
Hello Chino! Thank you so much for sharing your story with me I found it very insightful. I feel that “Edge of the Knife” has had a huge impact on me as it was the first time I really realized that teaching English could actually be dangerous and after watching it I had to do a lot of thinking. And I actually became very motivated to try and teach English in a way that is not harming the student’s native language. For example in my future classroom I want to validate my students home language and I want them to feel that their home language is valuable and therefore I will allow for students to speak their native language in class and use their native language in English class as a tool for metacognitive thinking (this is called translanguaging). I also will work to help develop my students first language as I may assign homework that requires them to use English and their home language for example there is this app called scribjab where students can make multilingual comic books, the student can then read their comic book to the class in English and their home language and maybe they will even take it home and read it to their parents. I also plan on teaching my students language learning tools and methods that they can use to develop not only their English but also their native language. Thinking about all the things I can do to encourage language growth has really excited me and I am so excited to learn more and I believe that as an English teacher I am in a position where I am able to make a difference and maybe change peoples ideas about how we should be teaching English.