In this webinar, we will explore how presenting language and global issues in supportive contexts can transform potentially ‘taboo’ topics into opportunities for developing learners’ voices, reflective learning and teacher development. Inclusive, intersectional news-based resources help construct these safe environments. We’ll consider these opportunities as critical incidents which value students’ lives, classroom and wider diversity, and teacher emotions in professional development, with example resources from Sensations English. Challenges constructing safe classroom environments for the important task of developing learners’ own voices can lead to negative experiences and teachers avoiding issue-based content. Recognising and valuing both positive and negative experiences as critical incidents provides powerful, personal insights to scaffold teacher development and reflective classroom learning, especially when this includes exploring helpful and unhelpful teacher emotions as practitioners consider these situations. Reflecting on our emotional labour as teachers is essential to facilitating learning with contexts and resources which are based on real-world concerns and lived experience, where learners may have diverse viewpoints. We’ll explore how to navigate risks characterised in van Deurzen’s compass of emotion as “threats” and “loss”. These can result in teachers avoiding learning topics and resources despite their value for learner-centred, meaningful, personalised language, skills and life skills development. We’ll also explore how materials that sensitively approach such issues, and which reflect helpful teacher emotions and values, are positive scaffolding around which this reflective learning and teacher development can thrive. In these safe surroundings, we’ll see how inclusive resources create authentic, personal and shared language development and space for teachers’ reflections on (positive) critical incidents and teacher emotions.
June 2024 – Exploring learner voices, teacher emotions and authentic materials in ELT critical incidents
Adam has extensive experience as a teacher trainer, teacher, materials writer and editor. His wide-ranging interests include teacher development, language development, identity and inclusion, classroom research, inclusive phonology and global issues. He’s passionate about developing inclusive, high-quality, evidence-based approaches and learning materials and is joint coordinator of IATEFL PronSIG and the Education Director at Sensations English.
Adam Scott
Sensations English lesson resources are great for today’s learners.
Sensations English was a finalist in the 2021 British Council ELTons award for Innovation in Learner Resources and won two British Council ELTons commendations! The first, for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, recognised the global and social range of our English learning content, covering contemporary issues and giving learners access to a wide range of issues and global English voices.
How Sensations English works
Our lesson resources make equality, diversity and inclusion and sustainability a central element of language learning. We recognise learners as multi-competent speakers and multicultural citizens who are eager to share their ideas and engage with others on important topics in their lives.
The high-quality, global, news-based study resources take a person-centred approach, representing diverse cultures and identities across our seven learning themes. The wide range of video and article news reports includes interactive games and study tools that connect the issues with students’ language learning.
As all resources are graded at five levels (A2-C1), they make sometimes complex topics accessible to all learners. With Sensations English, it’s easy to explore language features and improve sub-skills using inclusive resources which also help to connect lessons to learners’ own situations and experiences. This helps learners to think about their own contexts and develop their own voices.
Click here to find out more about Sensations English Teacher’s Edition