Dealing with sensitive topics in EFL classrooms

I was teaching a class of 18 Italian-speaking teenagers earlier in the morning. Today's lesson was part of a week-long English immersion course at a local high school in outer Milan.

As the main topic was 'diversity, inclusion and equity', I had already foreseen some common issues that would possibly come up in this three-hour lesson. Little did I know there would be an outspoken seventeen-year-old making awkward comments on race and ethnicity. Without repeating his unsavoury words, 'genes' was mentioned multiple times, a question about whether one is '100%' of a nationality was directed at another student, and a view that represents virtually no difference to the one held by a controversial Italian politician, Matteo (surname withheld), was expressed.

While an adult's instant reaction might be one that rightly dismisses the student's ideas, I used a more empathetic approach in this instance. Rather than put the student in the spotlight and dictate how that student should think, I neither invalidated his experience nor approved of his ideas. I didn't say his ideas were completely wrong or mine were correct. What I did was simply introduce a different perspective that lies beyond his current frame of reference. I also asked guiding questions that made him question his own beliefs.

When first-language English speakers aren't understood abroad

It was a mild late August morning, a welcoming break from the heatwave earlier in the week which saw temperatures going up to 32 in Berlin. I decided to stop by the main railway station, Berlin Hbf, on my way to catch a flight from Brandenburg Airport. For those of you who aren't familiar with this station, it's essentially a shopping mall with perpendicular sets of platforms at both the lowest and the highest levels. There are plenty of eateries to choose from too, which is a stark contrast with monotonous train stations in Italy.

Now came the embarrassing part: instead of saying ich hätte gern Falafel Wrap und eine Tasse Tee (German: I'd like falafel wrap and a cup of tea), I ordered my lunch in English. The poor German-speaking lady at the till heard 'cuppa tea', which is the way people usually say it in the UK. Little did I know she actually got confused and made me a cappucino!

I double checked with her, but she responded in English: 'sorry, we don't have "cuppa tea" here.' I instantly regretted it - why didn't I just speak in German and, what's more, I should have said 'tea' or 'cup - of - tea'!

Communication is all about understanding what others say and getting yourself understood by others. Some of my students (and I suspect many more to-be learners out there) say they want to speak with a 'British' or 'American' accent. Firstly, which British accent would they really like to learn? There are some 50 different British-type accents on top of the non-geographical RP. Secondly, if students mostly use English in a lingua franca environment, and they rarely need to communicate with first-language speakers, what's the point of winding up your interlocutors with a traditional but incomprehensible accent? I'm not suggesting that teachers should deny language learners of the opportunity of adopting a traditional English accent, but the realistic goal should be intelligibility regardless of which accent students choose to be their model.

Lexis: connotations and culture

 A brief snapshot of yesterday's lesson with Teens FCE Preparation:

... we were grouping some adjectives of personality by connotation. The two groups are 'usually positive' or 'usually negative'.

The word emotional came up. My two students, who are first-language Italian speakers, immediately said it's 'usually positive'. Then I asked them this question - 'If someone is emotional, does that person often over-react? Is he or she stable emotionally?'

We concluded that most people use emotional in the negative sense to criticise others, not in the sense of describing the state of being filled with emotions, e.g. 'I'm getting emotional.'

Reflections:

I've questioned why I associated emotional immediately to a negative connotation. Was this one of my numerous British moments? After all, we've inherited some traits of Victorian England, one of which says you shouldn't be expressing your own emotions too outwardly. In other words, it's the famous 'British/English stiff upper-lip'.

Maybe being emotional is considered acceptable in Italian societies, whereas in the UK such behaviour is usually frowned upon and would be regarded as aggressive. Cultural differences.