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KEY NOTE SPEAKERS
Lydia
Stack |
Donald Freeman |
Gloria Salazar
Title: Do we teach thinking when
we teach (a new) language?
PLENARY ABSTRACT:
Anthropology argues that each language carries a particular
--and unique-- world view, and thus shapes the thinking of
those who use it. It has thus been an article-of-faith in
education that teaching a new language involves students in
new ways of thinking about, and seeing, the world. However
this anthropological argument misses the central fact that
new languages are taught in schools, so most new language
learning which happens through formal instruction, takes place
in classrooms. The problem is that as social contexts, classrooms
can powerfully and subtly (re)shape the content that is taught
in them—particularly language— and how that content
is (or is not) learned. In this talk, I want to re-examine
the premise that ‘teaching language is teaching thinking’
by framing arguments about it, both pro and con. My intent
is to raise serious questions about how teaching new languages
and teaching thinking intersect, and to suggest ways that
teachers and students can perhaps work within (and sabotage)
the powerful social context of the classroom in order to use
new language to think seriously.
WORKSHOP TITLE: Learning from experience
in teacher education
WORKSHOP ABSTRACT:
In this workshop, participants will meet and have the opportunity
to work with a set of design principles for teacher training
and professional development. These principles focus on the
how teachers can draw from their experiences in and out of
the classroom to develop reflective practices and to build
knowledge and professional communities. Examples from various
teacher development projects around the world will be included.
The workshop is open to all; however, it will be of most interest
to those who are involved in planning and/or delivering teacher
training and professional development.
Bio for donald freeman
Donald Freeman is Director of Teacher
Education and Professor of Education at the School of Education,
University of Michigan, where he directs undergraduate and
post-graduate teacher preparation in all subjects K-12. Previously
he was on the graduate faculty and a senior administrator
at the School of International Training, where he founded
and directed the Center for Teacher Education, Training, and
Research, a research and development unit that designed and
implemented teacher education projects around the world. Dr.
Freeman has published several books on teacher education,
as well as over 50 articles and chapters. He is author of
Doing teacher-research (Heinle-Cengage) and editor of the
TeacherSource professional development series (Heinle-Cengage),
and has written student and teacher material (ICON-MCGraw-Hill).
He works regularly with teachers in various settings around
the world to interrelate teacher development, school change
and student learning. Dr Freeman is a past president of TESOL,
chair of the Board of the International Research Foundation
for English Language Teaching (TIRF), and the International
Advisory Council for the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations
(formerly UCLES). He has his doctorate from Harvard University
and his MAT from the School for International Training.
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