TESOL Scotland 22nd Annual Conference

Saturday, 13th November 2004
9.00 am - 3.45 pm

Glasgow Caledonian University
70 Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow

"Multiple Identities in Scotland"

Morning: Plenary - DR. CHRIS KEARNEY

FROM COLLISION TO COLLUSION
MONOLINGUAL TEACHERS AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE CLASSROOMS

Teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms is an extremely complex business. Research has demonstrated that it is most effective if teachers build upon the cultural and linguistic experiences which children bring to school; what Luis Moll refers to as “funds of knowledge”. However, it is also clear that the vast majority of teachers in the UK are monolingual. So how do teachers gain a clear picture of what these funds of knowledge are in their specific contexts? What does it mean in practice?

Drawing on my own research on the complex identities of six academically successful bilingual adults I examine ways in which teachers can support bilingual children and trace my own complicated journey, as a monolingual teacher, from collision to collusion.

Dr Chris Kearney is a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths College, London. He taught for 18 years in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms in the London Boroughs of Hackney and Tottenham. His recent book 'The Monkey's Mask', which was published by Trentham Books in 2003, examines the life histories of six academically successful adults and explores the complex ways in which they construct their identities.

Morning: Film - Director BETH ARMSTRONG

WELCOME TO DOVER (2000), 27 mins

Filmed in Dover over a period of 3 months, Welcome to Dover follows a family of Kosovan refugees struggling to survive in British society as they watch their home town of Pristina burn.

Beth Armstrong studied for a post-graduate diploma in documentary direction in The National Film & TV School from 1996-1999: Welcome to Dover was her graduation film.

For the last 5 years she has been making and teaching film in the community, working with excluded groups and young people. She is currently studying Community Education at post-graduate level at Strathclyde University, and is a project leader for Shooters, a community film project run by the humanitarian children's charity, SpiritAid.

Shooters aims to bring together young people in the Glasgow area to make films and recently has worked with asylum seekers and indigenous young people from Sighthill, and brought together young people with territorial issues from Possil, Milton and Balornock to make some short films for the fire brigade.

Afternoon: Plenary - JOANNA MCPAKE

COMMUNITY LANGUAGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY
NEW POLICIES: NEW OPPORTUNITIES

With the new century, a shift in educational and cultural policy relating to language learning is evident, both in Scotland and in Europe. While earlier policies can be characterised as 'monolinguist' in intent, new policies strive to be 'plurilinguist' in scope. These policies create new spaces for those who seek to see existing provision for community language learning valued and enhanced. Ongoing research into community languages provision across the UK and in Europe aims to identify opportunities and challenges in the light of these developments.

Joanna McPake is deputy director of the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research at the University of Stirling. She began her career as a teacher of English as an Additional Language in London and Edinburgh, and then worked as an educational researcher on issues to do with languages and with social justice, among others. Recent work includes a study of the languages of Edinburgh school children and a review of interpreting, translating and communication support services in Scotland. She is currently conducting a series of studies to map provision for community language learning in the UK and across Europe.

TESOL Scotland is an Affiliate of TESOL and an Associate of IATEFL