Topic:
Value added English learning is learning that seeks to fill additional purposes that students see as important to their lives and to the world they live in. I will give examples of the personal goals of well-being that nearly everyone has (using songs, play, and health issues), the social-activist goals that students can become more aware of (with video excerpts from students and NGOs), and of the global-phylogenetic goals that deal with sustainability and altruism that we all need to become more aware of. We will playfully, briefly, and selectively look at the anthropological history of humanity (only the last six million years!) and combine that with some views on our agency, social capital, and altruism, which I hold are primary values in education and lend themselves easily to cultivation in language classes in which “all subjects are ours” (Rivers, 1975, p. 96). “I think the human spirit always wants to make a contribution. And I don’t think there are enough invitations” (Angeles Arrien in Briskin, Erickson, Ott, and Callanan, 2009, p. 156). “So let’s make more invitations.” (Tim, Oct 29th, 2011).
A paper on this topic: [http://ld-sig.org/LL/19two/murphey.pdf]
Dipartimento di Lingue dell'Università Cattolica
Via Necchi 9, aula 329 3° piano g. c.
ore 15.30 - 17
Speaker:Dr Tim Murphey, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan Tim Murphey (PhD Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland) TESOL’s Professional Development in Language Education series editor, co-author with Zoltan Dörnyei of Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom, researches Vygotskian socio cultural theory (SCT) with a transdisciplinary emphasis on community, play, and music at Kanda University of International Studies, Japan. His novel on the entrance exam system in Japan (The Tale that Wags, 2010) has been translated into Italian (Facoltà di esame - Il prof non passa inglese) and Japanese (Ure Ugoku Shippo). His most recent books are Teaching in Pursuit of Wow! (Abax 2012) and soon to be out Meaningful Action – Earl Stevick’s Influence on Language Teaching (CUP 2013), co-edited with Jane Arnold.
