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Why are my students so different now? Why is there a disconnect between my efforts to make English meaningful to them and their “whatever” attitude? Is it me? Is it them? Is it the books?

Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

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More often than we expect, there is a disconnect between our well-meaning efforts to make English classes meaningful to students and their “whatever” attitude. Is it us? Is it them? Is it the books? We will review the application of key concepts from demographics and sociolinguistics as simple research tools, and their application along with ELT strategies. As teachers, we can develop skills to replicate our students’ subcultures and urban tribes, so that they can contextualize English as a relevant aspect of their lives, in ways conducive to their really speaking and writing.

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Page 1: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Why are my students so different now?

Why is there a disconnect between my efforts to make English meaningful

to them and their “whatever” attitude?

Is it me? Is it them? Is it the books?

Page 2: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Informing ELT, engaging students!

SUBCULTURES

IN THE

CLASSROOM:

From a workshop at VenTESOL 2011 and an infographic at:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/542050505123455708/

Page 3: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Coping with Changing Demographics,

or “Why Are My Students So Different

Now?”

• Analyzing population trends, as well as economic and social

patterns, is becoming crucial for educators.

• School authorities often must reacquaint themselves with

their institutions’ students, as well as find ways to address

their social, physical, and educational needs.

• Across the world, people are facing the challenge of living

in changing societies.

• Low-income, two-income, single-parent, and homeless

families are all on the rise.

• Drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, and teenage

dropout rates challenge schools.

• These conditions spell an increase in students designated as

"at risk”.

Klauke, 1989

“My students

are beyond

recognition!”

“What’s going

on in their

lives?”

Page 4: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Urban Tribes, or “What Are Our

Students’ Worlds?”

“Urban tribes are microgroups of people who share common interests in

metropolitan areas. The members of these relatively small groups tend to have

similar worldviews, dress styles and behavioral patterns. Their social interactions

are largely informal and emotionally laden […]”

“Urban tribes are groups of never-marrieds between the ages of 25 and 45 who

gather in common-interest groups and enjoy an urban lifestyle, which offers an

alternative to traditional family structures.”

“Members of a subculture often signal their membership through a

distinctive and symbolic use of style, which includes fashions, mannerisms, and

argot.”

Maffesoli, 1988

Watters, 2003

Hebdige, 1981

Page 5: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Music Stars Meet The Press:

• The original project in book proposes a business-as-usual,

same-old-thing poster on music festivals.

• Teacher resets it to students as celebrity chit-chat, and offers

them three delivery options; students choose press conferences,

and consequently sort musical genres among teams.

• After doing some research, team members cast themselves as:

One celebrity performer of the genre assigned

Four reporters from cable music or showbiz channels

• Students rehearse and then play their roles.

For analysis matrix of this activity, see next chart.

Celebrities! (Lesson slides redacted for copyright reasons,

procedure provided instead)

Page 6: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Analysis Matrix. Teens

Event organization (music festivals), PR for celebrities,

and interviews, in the context of interviewing roleplays as

preparation and presentation of a classroom project

Contextualization

for Relevance

Urban, Clubbers, Emos Urban Tribes /

Subcultures

• Learn: Organizing Web search results

• Cooperate: Teamwork for roleplays and performances Life Skills

Reading for fact finding, listening to questions, talking at

interviews, taking notes

Language

Skills

Concert-related vocabulary, (dis)likes with love / (dis)like

/ don’t mind / can’t stand, ability with good / bad at Language

Systems

• Performers’ songs teens dance to at parties

• Teen mags, video channels

• Websites with content fot teens, social networks

Observation

Sources

Page 7: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

What is the difference between observing and

participating?

In the first, you remain an “outsider” and simply observe and document

the event or behavior being studied. In the second, you take part in the

activity while also documenting your observations.

Mack et al, 2005

Qualitative Research, or “How to

Get into Our Students’ Worlds?”

What is participant observation?

Participant observation is a qualitative method with roots in traditional

ethnographic research, whose objective is to help researchers learn the

perspectives held by study populations. As qualitative researchers, we

presume that there will be multiple perspectives within any given

community. We are interested both in knowing what those diverse

perspectives are and in understanding the interplay among them.

Page 8: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Identification of people who receive a lot of attention

from others

People who

stand out

People who enter, leave, and spend time at the observ-

ation site Human traffic

How close people stand to one another Personal space

What people do, who does what, who interacts with

whom, who is not interacting Physical behavior

and gestures

Who speaks to whom and for how long; who initiates

interaction; languages or dialects spoken; tone of voice

Verbal behavior

and interactions

Clothing, age, gender, physical appearance Appearance

What to Observe during

Participant Observation

Mack et al, 2005

Page 9: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Kids’ Style Expo:

• Each team chooses an urban tribe, and makes a

poster with pics and slogans.

• They talk about themselves and their lifestyles as

part of that tribe; their motto: “Represent!!”

Values in Our Lives:

• Children remember friends from other

countries / urban tribes, and say

something they appreciate about them.

Values & Kids’ Style Expo (Lesson slides redacted for copyright reasons ,

procedure provided instead)

For analysis matrix of this activity, see next chart.

Page 10: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Profiles of lifestyles and presentation skills, as a way to

identify the moral / instill the value of a story at an expo

Sport players, movie and music fans, cybergeeks

• Think: Identifying a value in different examples

• Act: Respecting different lifestyles

Talking about friends not like themselves to infer value and

find differences, talking about kids’ styles, making posters

Adjectives, There is / are, present progressive for

descriptions of art, attire, and personality

• Kids at the Mall

• Disney, Nick, Cartoon Network

• Channels’ sites, video games for different consoles

Contextualization

for Relevance

Urban Tribes /

Subcultures

Life Skills

Language

Skills

Language

Systems

Observation

Sources

Analysis Matrix. Kids

Page 11: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

R&D for Editorial Projects,

or “How Do ELT Resources Bridge Both

The Students and Teachers’ Worlds?”

• Needs analysis

• Aims

• Target demography (age, region, mother tongues, socio-economic & socio-

cultural profiles)

• Comparative analysis of existing resources for such target

• Methodological framework and its didactic, SLA, linguistic, etc. support

• Team of editor(s), author(s), ELT / didactic and other ad-hoc consultants,

illustrators, and media & digital producers / developers

• Field research with focus groups, polls, qualitative research (participant

observation), or other instruments, subsequent results analysis

• Manuscript, proof-reading, piloting of chapters in actual classrooms

• Revising, editing, upgrading of manuscript

• Devising of promotional & academic support

• Print runs & release

• Reader feedback for upgrades

Page 12: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Contextualization.

Fields of activity,

or “How to Make Our Students’

Worlds Part of An ELT Class?”

Production: Where “new” knowledge is constructed and positioned.

Contextualization: Where discourses from the field

of production become ‘educational’ knowledge.

Reproduction: Where pedagogic practice takes place.

Bernstein, 1990 (1971)

Page 13: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Distribution of a society’s worthwhile knowledge.

Transformation into a pedagogic discourse

(suitable for pedagogic transmission) = Recontextualizing.

Transformation of pedagogic discourse

into a criteria / standards to be attained.

Bernstein, 1990 (1971)

The Knowledge to Teach,

or “How to Make Our Students’

Worlds Part of An ELT Class?”

Page 14: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Make it Viral!

• Teacher introduces topic unit by having students share info

on hobbies and leasurely activities.

• Class learns lifestyle adjectives.

• Students think of / log in to their social network profiles,

and find where to use the words learned.

• Learners share their publicly available profile data in

English with someone else in class, and talk about those

received on their cell phones / tablets in teams.

For analysis matrix of this activity, see next chart.

Lifestyles and Web Profiles (Lesson slides redacted for copyright reasons,

procedure provided instead)

Page 15: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Current affairs ranging from night life and leisure to

environment

Cybergeeks, cyberfriends, active and laid-back people

• Me: One’s preferences and habits, personal action plans

• Act: Recycling

Asking and answering about lifestyles, reading and

writing personal profiles

Adjectives for lifestyles, simple present tense to talk

about preferences and habits

Learners’ outings and use of mobile devices

Speed, Lifestyle TV, FTV, ESPN, TruTV

MSN Messenger, Facebook, and Twitter

Contextualization

for Relevance

Urban Tribes /

Subcultures

Life Skills

Language

Skills

Language

Systems

Observation

Sources

Analysis Matrix. Adults

Page 16: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Now, we understand what produces the disconnect between our well-meaning

efforts to make English classes meaningful to students and their “whatever”

attitude, and how to prevent it.

We have reviewed the application of qualitative analysis and participant

observation, from demographics, as well as (re)contextualization of

knowledge for (re)production, from sociolinguistics, as simple research tools.

We have also applied them along with ELT strategies.

As teachers, we can continue to develop skills that replicate our students’

subcultures and urban tribes, so that they can contextualize English as a relevant

aspect of their lives, in ways conducive to their really speaking and writing. Let’s

enter our learners’ world and bring it into the classroom, to trigger their interest and

contribute to their building of authentic discourse.

YES, WE CAN KEEP ENGLISH

REAL, IN RELEVANT

CONTEXTS!!

Page 17: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Sources

Bernstein, Basil. Class, codes and control. Vol. IV. The structuring of pedagogic

discourse. Routledge, London, 1990 (1971)

Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning Of Style. Routledge, London, 1981

Klauke, Amy. Coping with Changing Demographics. ERIC Clearinghouse on

Educational Management, Eugene. 1989

Mack et al. Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, FHI (Family

Health International), Durham, 2005

Maffesoli, Michel. Le temps des tribus: le déclin de l'individualisme dans les sociétés

postmodernes. Meridiens Klincksieck, Paris, 1988

Ramos, Andrés. (2011, May 28) Keeping it real with learners: Contextualization for

relevance. Workshop conducted at the VenTESOL Nt’l Convention, Maracaibo, Venezuela.

Watters, Ethan. Urban Tribes: A Generation Redefines Friendship, Family, and

Commitment. Bloomsbury USA, New York

Page 18: Subcultures in The Classroom: Informing ELT, engaging students!

Informing ELT, engaging students!

SUBCULTURES

IN THE

CLASSROOM:

From a workshop at VenTESOL 2011 and an infographic at:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/542050505123455708/