Steve,
No one (to my knowledge) adressed "imposing" one's values in the classroom. Cannot cultural awareness be done with questioning: did you notice this? why do you think that this may or may not be important? what woud you do if...?  how would doing that thing be different in French or Ameircian culture? We read our environments all the time and I can only assume that reading means decoding, interpreting that is tested by experience.Bonnie Odiorne, Ph.D. Director, Writing Center Adjunct Professor of English, French, First Year Transitions, Day Division and ADP
Post University, Waterbury, CT 




________________________________
From: Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:52:09 AM
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4639] Re: computers for families programs+learnerempowerment

The brain learns from experience and massive input of information. It seeks to create patterns from this anarchy of stimulus using comparisons and metaphors. The brain is neither precise nor logical in organizing this information. The Thai student will form her own ideas from a variety of input, so will the student of French. I think that the role of the language teacher is to allow the student to learn the language from content of interest to him or her. It is not to impose ways of thinking. 

Each teacher's approach to critical thinking will be individual to him or her.  As long as the teacher's ideas were presented in the language I was learning, and to the extent that I found them of interest, I would listen. I would not just accept them. If I found these views uninteresting it would turn me off. Especially if I felt the teacher was preaching at me or trying to tell me how to interpret what I read.




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