Received: from sccdmail.sccd.ctc.edu (sccdex01.sccd.ctc.edu [168.156.84.44]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id h1OMshP29860 for <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov>; Mon, 24 Feb 2003 17:54:43 -0500 (EST) Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft Exchange V6.0.6249.0 Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8593] RE: War as a cross-cultural issue Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 14:32:45 -0800 Message-ID: <4B73F518F0F98A4EA67DDAA3DB84941A2B0F1E@SCCDMAIL.SCCD.CTC.EDU> X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: [NIFL-ESL:8579] War as a cross-cultural issue thread-index: AcLbPbfOgiFGNJhCRSOhQU/ElUprLQBFUV8w From: "French, Allan" <afrench@sccd.ctc.edu> To: <nifl-esl@nifl.gov>, "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by literacy.nifl.gov id h1OMshP29860 Status: O Content-Length: 2886 Lines: 46 While I have strong opinions on many national issures, I don't feel comfortable being an advocate for one stand or another in the classroom. As educators in (or from) a democratic system, I feel that we have the professional obligation to inform our students of (or show them how to find out about):(1) the basic facts of the case, (2) what the American president does as well as his reasons for doing so, also (3)to inform our students of the criticisms of the president's policies, then (4) let the students discuss and decide for themselves, and to possibly reflect on their own nations' past policies. As an ESL instructor, my priority is always to take advantage of the content to lead them to improved English literacy and communication. This latter is more important to me than the content itself. How well they learn and discuss is more important than whether they end up agreeing with me or not. If they initiate the inquiry, then I try to draw their own perceptions and understanding out as clearly as their level of English can make it. If anything, I play devil's advocate against any side, just to get them to better describe or explain their own understanding and positions. Allan French ESL Instructor South Seattle Community College afrench@sccd.ctc.edu -----Original Message----- From: Charles Jannuzi [mailto:jannuzi@edu00.f-edu.fukui-u.ac.jp] Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2003 12:17 AM To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8579] War as a cross-cultural issue Well here I am, an American in Fukui, Japan, and I have EFL students asking me, Why does the US attack everyone all the time? Why has war become almost an annual event? What do I say? My country right or wrong? That American's unsurpassed power somehow gives it the moral right to decide who lives and who dies? Do I get indignant and tell my students they are talking 'crap'? My students right here in Fukui City can go ask their grandparents if they want to hear real memories of what war actually means. The entire city was incinerated, and the forested hill in the center became one giant charnel. I walk there every week among the trees and look at the thousands upon thousands of gravestones that show life after life barely lived and then snuffed out. Indignation is cheap. I don't think of their questions as attacks. I tell them what my views are, and they actually appear thankful that not all Americans think like the current administration does. I suggest some Americans I know review what freedom of speech means. They might start with the recent articles of John Pilger, an Australian. Written in a plain English that most federal emergency management bureaucrats can't touch. You might also ask why is it that such blunt journalism makes up less than 1% of what is published and almost none of it in the mainstream press in the US. Charles Jannuzi Fukui, Japan
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