Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h26J2GP17046; Thu, 6 Mar 2003 14:02:16 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 14:02:16 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <Pine.GSO.4.21.0303062055090.25870-100000@hamlin.cc.boun.edu.tr> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Meral Kara <karamera@boun.edu.tr> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8754] RE: NIFL's Policy X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=X-UNKNOWN Status: O Content-Length: 1973 Lines: 43 Amen Ujwala -------------------------------- On Thu, 6 Mar 2003, Ujwala Samant wrote: > >>Is your sense of proportion a bit skewed here? Are your priorities > straight, given all that is going on in the world right now? > > I ask that you moderate and lead discussions and stop censoring the list. > It's that simple. Also, you might all be a bit more honest about what > happened instead of dumping on one person who became upset (he didn't use > words like 'asinine' or 'troublemaker', two others did). The individual > became upset at the whining, upset at the dishonesty, and upset about the > censorship. At least that is what he said in a post offlist. << > > I am inclined to agree with you. I think the censorship and banning has been > arbitrarily done. All the initial exchanges seemed inflammatory from one > direction, and the responses were always polite. Then came the arrogant, > rude replies which went unchecked. That unfortunately seems to be the tone > of any debate that includes politics, on or off line. > > How people can imagine that all they do is teach a language without the > context of politics, given our population, is either an expression of > naiveté or an expression of their ostrichlike tendencies. We talk Freire and > do something entirely different in our practice. We critique academics for > not being in touch with reality, and then turn around and do exactly the > same thing. We are not teaching high school students English as a subject, > as one does Spanish or French. We're teaching adults to speak the language > of power, the language that will help them negotiate this new culture, which > especially in today's world, is rife with political innuendo. Or are we > teaching discrete, isolated skills sans context? Language teaching is not > some sanitised K-12 scenario where we teach grammar, history in sequences, > with no connection to the reality of learners' lives. > > regards > Ujwala Samant > > > > >
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