In his post,  Saturday, October 31, 2009 4:41:38 AM, Steve  Kauffman  writes: "If I am learning a language I will decide what to read and how to interpret it."

When you learn language on your own, it it definitely only your choice what you prefer to read and how to interpret.  However, when our students place themselves in GED programs, for example,  they do it mostly because they do need our assistance in subject areas, including Language. You would agree with me that it is our job to help students to use certain materials which would help with the directed approach, for example, with learning specific terminology. Any professional interpreter (I provide this example because this is the profession which requires critical thinking skills on a larger scale) will agree that it is essential to understand how the choice of vocabulary may change reading and writing, for example, "The accident happened due to the naked conductor running through the carriage" . Depending on the experience and approach, the reader will see the naked body or the non-insulated wiring. It is the teachers job to address these differences.  Or political cartoons ..Trying to infer the connection  between  Enron, President, and a pretzel in one cartoon is impossible without understanding certain political events. If your students already have these skills, most probably, they really can learn language on their own. Those would be the ones who pass the GED test without attending prep classes. 
 
Tatyana Exum
Lake City Correctional Facility 
Spec. Ed Instructor

Translator/Interpterer 






 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Janet Isserlis 
To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov 
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 6:45 AM
Subject: [PD 4089] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

Steve

No.  Every poster is not promoting the position that teachers should teach learners to challenge society.

really.

that is not the case.




From: Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>
Reply-To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:04:28 -0700
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Subject: [PD 4087] Re: Swinging the Sword of Literacy in Iraq

It appears that almost every poster here is in favour of the position that language and literacy teachers should teach their students to think critically, and to challenge society. 

I believe that teaching "critical thinking" is impossible, and that any attempt to do so is merely an effort to impose one's own values on others. I also think that it is arrogant to assume that one's own thinking process is more "critical" or objective than that of the learner, when in fact most of our positions are arrived at based on our own experience and feelings that accumulated over time. I believe that literacy teaching should focus on helping people read better so that they can form their own opinions by being able to read from many different sources. The way to get there is to allow learners to read what interests them and interpret it however they want.

I accept that mine is a minority position here. However, every campaign for literacy that I have seen, especially fund raising activities focus on reading, not on critical thinking and social change. If the majority of literacy practitioners are into social change and teaching critical thinking, then I think it would only be honest to say so up front in the fund raising and advocacy campaigns. To not do so is dishonest in my opinion.


Steve Kaufmann
604-922-8551
 <http://www.lingq.com/?referral=steve>  <http://www.lingq.com/?referral=steve> 


--- @ WiseStamp Signature <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install> . Get it now <http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install> 


On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 5:50 AM, Janet Isserlis <Janet_Isserlis at brown.edu> wrote:
Re: comments about Art's post, education in Iraq and the whole notion of political literacy.

Just looked up the word politics, but the definition kept using the word "political"
so then I looked that up:

po·liti·cal (pə lit′i kəl)

adjective

of or concerned with government, the state, or politics
having a definite governmental organization
engaged in or taking sides in politics political parties
of or characteristic of political parties or politicians political pressure

http://www.yourdictionary.com/political


so now, to reply, simply, to those who believe we shouldn't impose a particular set of political beliefs:
NO ONE here has said we should.  Art has spoken eloquently to addressing the skills, knowledge and strategies needed to understand how government works and to enable adults to make choices  (and/or support them in making choices) that best suit their own interests and beliefs.  NO ONE is advocating for any one system, or set of beliefs.  No one is using the adult learning center as a soap box.  Good educators are listening to learners, living in shared communities, discussing what goes on and using language and learning skills, critical thinking, healthy debate, use of media and other resources, to enable everyone to get on as well as they can in the communities in which they live.

Janet Isserlis 

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-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com <http://www.lingq.com> 
604-922-8514 





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-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
604-922-8514
 		 	   		  
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