Thanks Stella,
I’d welcome anything you may have on religious tolerance. I’ve been working with Muslim learners for over a year now at a Muslim community centre and you wouldn’t believe the amount of prejudice they had against Christians. Basically, when I first met my classes last year, Christian was synonyms with British (the drinking, smoking, disrespectful and racist ones). Of course this has since been demystified. 
Fatima Reszczynski 

 



Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:55:25 +0000
From: <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>
Subject: Re: NATECLA LGBT Support group for London
To: <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>







Hi
 
I wholly agree with Mel. A large number of ESOL staff from my department attended this event and as result we have included the following as a teaching and learning priority within our ESOL department:
 
·          Promoting tolerance in the community (LGBT issues, Religious tolerance, etc)
 
Furthermore the new Ofsted CIF recognises the importance of ensuring that none of our  LGBT learners are disadvantaged in any way.   As Mel rightly states our somewhat outdated ESOL Skills for Life Curriculum  fails to give  our learners a realistic picture of the world outside of the classroom, we would be negligent towards our learners if we did not address this.
 
I will be happy to share any teaching materials that we produce on this subject. 
 
Kind regards
Stella
 

Stella McManus
Head of Languages and International
Barnet & Southgate College
 
t:   020 8982 5145 (Southgate Campus)
t:   020 8275 7684 (Barnet Campuses)
m: 07545 102365
www.barnetsouthgate.ac.uk
 

One college, many successes
 


From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cooke, Melanie
Sent: 13 November 2012 17:35
To: <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>
Subject: Re: NATECLA LGBT Support group for London
 

Dear Sheila, All,
 
There are several things which your post brings up. Firstly there is a question of accuracy. The original post was about setting up a support group for teachers and NOT about funded research (chance would be a fine thing!). The group is going to be voluntary and is for those of us, LGBT or not, who recognise this is an issue we'd either like support with or which we'd like to discuss. The event organised by NATECLA London was also not 'research', it was a conference which was attended by 60+ people who came together for the same reason - to explore LGBT issues from the point of view of students and teachers who either are themselves LGBT or who wish to properly include and represent all their students. This was supported by the British Council who lent NATECLA their premises and provided lunch, but was hardly a gay junket (again, chance would be a fine thing!). In fact everyone who was there went along on a Saturday morning in their free time because of their interest and commitment. So your anxiety about (public? tax-payers?) money being spent on what you clearly regard as an undeserving group, LGBT people, is unfounded. And the claims for its 'success' came from a) the attendance and b) the feedback the organisers received. For my part, it was one of the most interesting and significant discussions I have had in ESOL for a long time.
 
Secondly, there is a more interesting assumption in your post that 'issues' such as LGBT - and I am presuming others such as gender, ethnicity, disability, religious identity and social class - have no place in English language teaching. This suggests you subscribe to a naive belief that language, language learning, language teaching and education itself can somehow be divorced from the social world, and that people's everyday lives and identities have no bearing whatsoever on either their learning or their experience in the classroom. Years of classroom research and research on language acquisition have shown that this is simply a wrong view. 
 
Most LGBT people are used to feeling invisible (at best) in classroom settings as well as elsewhere. This is particularly acute in ESOL which starts on day 1 with intrusive nuclear-family oriented questions (are you married? how many children have you got?) and continues with a safe, domesticated, cosy, and completely dishonest  portrayal of the world outside the classroom. Add to this the casual discriminatory talk LGBT people are exposed in and out of the classroom, not to mention their entire invisibility in textbooks and materials and the picture becomes one of a learning environment which is less than optimum for LGBT students. By the same token, LGBT teachers face similar issues - and as we are beginning to find out, are more likely to be bullied and open to discrimination in the workplace.
 
So I would say that rather than being dismayed by the fact that an LGBT group is setting up in London you might wish to examine a) your beliefs about teaching and learning and, perhaps more pressingly, b) quite why it bothers you so much that teachers care enough about each other and about their students to wish to support each other and improve their professional and personal experience.
 
Best wishes,
 
Mel Cooke

 



______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Melanie Cooke

Room 4.12

Department of Education and Professional Studies

King's College, London

Franklin Wilkins Building

Waterloo Road

London SE1 9NH

Tel: 020 7848 3122

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http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/education/staff/mcooke.html





From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [<a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>] on behalf of Diana Tremayne [<a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>]
Sent: 13 November 2012 16:32
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Subject: Re: NATECLA LGBT Support group for London


I agree very much with Janet on this issue – I think LGBT issues are as relevant as any of the other cultural, political, religious issues which are seen to be important (and which are included in the Citizenship materials!). Equality and Diversity are part of the CIF and that includes how we portray families etc. Just as it is not appropriate to assume that all families we may show to ESOL learners are white and Christian, so it should not be appropriate to exclude whole sections of society which some teachers and learners may feel uncomfortable addressing. Any attempt to address this in a positive, supportive way, seems to me to be something to welcome.
 
 
Diana Tremayne
E2 ESOL Course Leader / Advanced Learning Practitioner
Calderdale College
Francis Street
Halifax
HX1 3UZ
Tel: 01422 357357 ext 9403
 
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From: ESOL-Research discussion forum and message board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Isserlis, Janet
Sent: 13 November 2012 16:09
To: <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>
Subject: Re: NATECLA LGBT Support group for London
 
Sheila and all,

 

With respect, many of our colleagues and students - many of us  - have experienced challenges, discrimination and worse because of sexual orientation.  Understanding its impact on our lives -  as educators, as learners, as workers - has huge relevance to our work in adult language and literacy learning and instruction.

 

Janet Isserlis

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 11:04 AM, Sheila Scott <<a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>> wrote:


I do not see any relevance whatever for ESOL in particular or any other subject. Where does this LGBT nonsense come into teaching - why waste money on this 'research'? Money which should be spent in educating immigrants and asylum speakers in English. I'm sure I'm not the only person with this view. How did you measurethe success rate of your 'conference'?

         

Sheila 
 




Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 08:28:17 +0000
From: <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>
Subject: NATECLA LGBT Support group for London
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Dear all, 

Following our successful LGBT ESOL conference, I have decided to set up a NATECLA LGBT support group for ESOL practitioners. 

Since the conference I have received numerous emails from teachers who either feel isolated within their institutions, teachers being bullied by students and are not getting support from their institutions or college needing training on the issue. 

The purpose of the group is initially 
- to offer support tutors particularly hourly paid staff who feel more at risk should they want to raise the issue 
- continue designing / sourcing teaching resources to support the integration of LGBT themes in ESOL 
- offer training and support to organisations 


The group will initially meet in London once a month and the first meeting will be on Saturday 1st December at 10.30 place to be confirmed - but it will be in London 

Please feel free to contact me should you want to disuss this more - 

 

Thank you 


Laila El-Metoui
NATECLA London Chair (volunteer) 

 
*********************************** 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 A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>
*********************************** 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 A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a> 
 
*********************************** 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 A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a> 

Calderdale College  Francis Street   Halifax   HX1 3UZ
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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 A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a> 
*********************************** 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 A quick guide to using Jiscmail lists can be found at: http://jiscmail.ac.uk/help/using/quickuser.htm To contact the list owner, send an email to <a href="/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?LOGON=A3%3Dind1211%26L%3DESOL-RESEARCH%26E%3Dquoted-printable%26P%3D2609781%26B%3D--_89f91022-0efd-40e2-9ff8-60cb4ab9c537_%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DWindows-1252%26attachment%3Dq" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a> * Barnet and Southgate College is a highly successful Further Education college with around 21,000 students of all ages from 14 years upwards. 

* The College occupies four main campuses: Grahame Park at Colindale, Southgate, Edmonton Green and the brand new town centre campus at Wood St, High Barnet. 
 
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