Hi Pelin,
First of all thank you for bringing up the subject of rape. It is a sensitive one and is often omitted from classes for fear of offending. I am assuming that you are working within ESOL in the UK?
It would be interesting to know what gender the trainees refusing to bring the topic were and also what gender the African and middle eastern students are, along with other info about the students such as age , level of ESOL, etc ...
I agree with Julie, it should be taught sensitively and the gender of your students is also to be taken into consideration.
Maybe one way around it could be for them to write about it , rather than discuss. If they have sufficient literacy skills , then you can gauge how sensitive the topic is and identify whether you wish to bring it up as a conversation topic.
As someone who includes sexual orientation and gender identity on every course I teach (subject btw which is still unfortunately considered 'taboo' by some in the UK in 2015!)
I use this as the opportunity to develop my students linguistic ability , elicit the difference between accept and agree, elicit the difference between an insult and an opinion, etc. I have been including this topic since section 28 was repealed in the UK, and feel now equipped with enough answers to respond to teacher trainees / ESOL students when questions / concerns / discriminatory behaviour arise on issues such as religion and homosexuality, what if students have learning difficulties or questions around trans* people.
So what I am trying to say is that it was hard and outside my comfort zone initially but has now become easier with experience.
To go back to the subject of rape. I also agree with Julie, to anticipate support needed and ensure that students can access relevant support if needed
(counselling for all gender, women's refuge etc)
I have a women only ESOL class (with half of them being being muslims) in the morning and I have found discussing issues a lot easier as they feel more comfortable opening up, when there are no men. One of my Iranian female student was married at 14 to a man who was 35 at the time, the topic of weddings , brought up tears and wedding night was a sore topic, it was however cathartic to realise that other women from other cultures had similar experiences. It helps me identify any DV (domestic violence) or DA (domestic abuse) issues so that I can refer to the relevant support needed. It actually led to one of my student taking me to the side and letting me know she was being sexually harassed by her boss at work. To cut a long story short, the police got involved, it got satisfactorily resolved.
The identity pizza is a good activity to get to know your students and my pedagogical approach is based on Reflect ESOL http://www.reflect-action.org/reflectesol which puts the students at the centre of the decision making process when it comes to deciding what their linguistic needs are. It's a negotiating process which works for us. I feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea of the teacher being the 'I know what's best for my students' kind of attitude. I am not the only one to have the power to decide , we all have. I am a strong advocate of the learner centered approach and strongly encourage my students to not only take responsibility for their own learning, but also its content.
Finally there is a time and a place for breaking the rape taboo, and it is in the UK important to break that taboo. As it is break other stigmas and taboos , such as having mental health issues, etc. It is important to give victims and attackers support, it is important to me to give everyone a voice.
Hope that helps and looking forward to hearing what others have to say.
Thank you
Laila El-Metoui
Follow me on twitter @lelmeducation
LGBT Consultant & Teacher Educator www.lelmeducation.moonfruit.com
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On 22 Mar 2015, at 22:53, "Julie Douglas" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi, I thought it would be useful to respond to this. I teach in South Africa - mostly refugees from politically troubled and unimaginably violent places. In such a situation I would suggest the theme of crime and punishment is risky. Some students are severely traumatised - some women have been raped. Some men and women have literally run for their lives. We try to provide a safe space for students to learn and socialise. If a student needs help, advice or counselling we try to arrange that. It seems better to avoid triggering painful PTSD, particularly in a mixed class situation, when in fact we're trying to give English language skills.
>
> I believe a teacher should be sensitive, empathetic and discreet with students. Culture, religion, taboo and life experience must be respected. It seems quite insensitive and arrogant to impose subject matter that might be crass, offensive or cause pain. We are very careful when teaching language around families too as we have had students who lost all theirs and parents who do not know where their children are. I asked one student last week how many children she had. She could not answer and was visibly upset. Another student took me to one side and told me she had been raped by soldiers and had to run. She has her baby with her. She does not know what happened to her other 3 children. I'm not saying that lesson material should be completely sanitized but I can't understand the point of using themes that risk offending or hurting. We teach adults, and many know far more about violence, punishment, crime and rape than we can ever imagine, though they may not appear worldly or sophisticated. Why should we think we need to teach them to think critically?
>
> This is my opinion and relates to a specific context but I know it's shared by my colleagues. I hope it's helpful.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Julie
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Pelin Altan McLaren
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2015 9:51 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: I need your advice on this: Teaching "taboo" subjects
>
> Quick poll. I need your advice on this. I am an ESOL teacher and a teacher trainer. I work with refugees and immigrants and teach them English and train people who would like to become English teachers. My students are mostly from the Middle East and Africa. And here's where the dilemma is:
>
> There is this material in an activity book (700 Classroom Activities by David Seymour and Maria Popova and published by MacMillan) where students are supposed to be discussing crime and punishment. I asked my trainee teachers last Friday to teach the material (they teach my class every Friday and we hold a teaching practice session afterwards and discuss their experience and get prepared for the following Teaching Practice session) and we were discussing how we could tackle it. Two of my trainees bluntly refused to teach the material or discuss one of the crimes listed in the activity in the classroom. The crime they don't want to include in the activity is rape. If I summarise crudely, their reasons were: "Some students in the class are from the Middle East, they are Muslim, it's a taboo, they don't talk about such matters publicly and openly, we might offend them, what if someone was raped, it could go wrong". The other two trainee teachers were, like me, quite open to include the crime and tackle the situation. Their reasons: "If it's a taboo we should break it and talk about it, this is probably the only place they can express their opinions and feelings so we should give our students opportunities to express themselves, they would find out about different opinions and compare their opinions about the matter, so it's critical thinking so it's a good practice".
>
> As the two trainees were not comfortable with the idea, I just had to rule rape out at the end with regret. I should have been a bit forceful perhaps, after all they will have to deal with some so-called "offensive" and "taboo" material later in their career over and over again. So they should have gone for it and tried it to see if they were right in their initial judgment and if so, what they could do next time to mend the situation. I guess I was worried that they would crumble under pressure or create a mess due to their lack of experience....
>
> But what do you think? What would you do if you were me? Is it OK to include "taboo" subjects in your teaching? Or is it better to rule them out?
>
> I desperately need your opinions. The trainees have three weeks to get prepared and teach the material; so if you think they should teach the material, I will go ahead and include rape in the activity.
>
> Thank you.
>
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> ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
> To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
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ESOL-Research is a forum for researchers and practitioners with an interest in research into teaching and learning ESOL. ESOL-Research is managed by James Simpson at the Centre for Language Education Research, School of Education, University of Leeds.
To join or leave ESOL-Research, visit
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ESOL-RESEARCH.html
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