July 10th, 2020.
Education
ENGLISH TEACHING AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT: AN EXTENTION PROJECT AT EDHUCCA
by Prof. Dra. Raquel Silvano de Almeida, Inaiê da S. Federissis, Ana C. G. Piacentini, Ricardo N. N. Apolinario
The national and regional educational documents for modern foreign language teaching (PCN, 2000; OCEM, 2006; DCLEM, PARANÁ, 2008) point out that learning a new language contributes to the critical education and transforming action of the student into an active citizen in society. The English language, given its current status as a “globalizing” language, and therefore, an object of inclusion (or exclusion) of the individual in the global society, is relevant in the socialization of communities which are in the borderline of social exclusion or in situations of life vulnerability.
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Within these notions, we have carried out the extension project entilted “Oficina Linguístico-Cultural na EDHUCCA – Escola de Desenvolvimento Humano Casa do Caminho”, since 2018, due to a partnership between EDHUCCA and UNESPAR. We understand that the university, as a public social institution, has the aim of identifying social problems and seeking alternatives to decrease them.
EDHUCCA is a philanthropic institution based in Apucarana which has different demands, and also, seeks the support and participation of other local agencies and institutions to conduct family and educational assistance activities. in order to comply with article #4 of the so-called Brazilian legislation document “ Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA) (2017)”, in which it is said: “It is the duty of the family, the community, the whole society and the public authorities to ensure, with absolute priority, the fulfillment of the rights related to life, health, food, education, sport, leisure, professionalization, culture, dignity, respect, freedom, and family and community life”[1].
Our English language project is part of the weekly schedule of social and youth activities developed by EDHUCCA. They provide reinforcement and complementation in different areas and contents. The English classes take place every Friday, from 1 to 2 pm, at EDHUCCA’s school, located in the central region of Apucarana. These classes give support to the learning of some grammatical knowledge, reading development, writing and speaking/listening of the English language (pronunciation) by the students. They study in state middle and high schools, in the morning shift, in Apucarana. These are adolescents from low-income families or who face some social and economic trouble.
The English language classes are regularly taught by undergraduates from Letras Inglês, attending the 2nd, 3rd and 4th years. The project takes place 2 hours a week: a 1 hour-meeting for reading texts, discussion of relevant topics - ECA, indiscipline, socialization of adolescents and linguistic and cultural contents of the English language - and for lesson planning; 1 hour for the English language class at EDHUCCA.
Therefore, offering English language classes to this institution was the way we found to contribute to the linguistic and cultural development of adolescents in socially vulnerable situations that are assisted there. The English language teaching/learning methodologies are grounded on the Historical and Critical perspective (GASPARIN, 2012) and on the transversality (cross-cutting) of social themes, with the purpose of making the linguistic and cultural knowledge appropriate to the students in a way that this project responds to their needs and to the socio-cultural reality as a whole. Gasparin (2012) points out five steps to transpose contents didactically in the classroom, such as,
initial social practice, problematization, instrumentalization, catharsis and final social practice.
Furthermore, the classes have been based on the National Curriculum Parameters (PCN, 1998), which introduce and establish teaching through cross-cutting themes - Ethics, Environment, Cultural Plurality, Health, Sexual Orientation, Work and Consumption. In the English language classes, we arise “urgent questions that question human life, the reality that is being built and that require macro-social transformations and also personal attitudes” (PCN, 1998, p. 24)[1]. So, we address themes that enable students to interpersonal relationships (socialization) through equality of rights, recognition of the dignity of the human person, protagonism and collective responsibility of social life.
Below are two posters (Image 1) that have been produced by two students during the implementation of these methodological procedures in a class at Edhucca in 2019:
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Image 1: Students’ posters design on Global Warming during the English language classes at EDHUCCA in 2019.
Image 2: Teachers Ana Carolina and Emily talking about feelings and emotions. In this class the teachers gave flashcards to students with different faces and explored the emotions introducing the vocabulary in English. After that, they practiced the question “How are you today?”. Then, the students had to ask the question to their classmates and answer with the flashcard they had on their hands.
Image 3: First interaction of the students with the 2019’s Fulbrighters. Katie de Araújo and Megan Latta, both from the USA, were selected by the Fulbright program to live in Apucarana for 1 year and work as English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) at Unespar. They were invited by Professor Raquel to participate in some cultural classes at EDHUCCA. In this class, the students had to mime verbs (previously introduced by the teachers) and interact with the ETAs using these verbs.
Image 4: Teachers Bianca, Inaiê, Sarah and Ricardo’s introductory class, 2019. The main objective of the class was the interaction between students, teachers and the English language, using questions about their cultural background (music genres, movies, books and TV series).
Image 5: Teachers Sarah and Ricardo’s class about posters and climate changes. After classes about animals, the effect of climate change and global warming, students created digital posters to raise awareness of our actions and the consequences on Earth.
Image 6: Professor Raquel and student-teachers Inaiê, Sarah and Ricardo during the II EAIC event at Unespar in Campo Mourão in 2019. In this event, we made held an oral presentation about our project at Edhucca in a talk session.
Image 7: Project members in 2019 Bianca, Inaiê, Sarah and Ricardo, during an oral presentation at XIX EPLE 2019. “Encontro de Professores de Línguas Estrangeiras do Paraná” took place at UTFPR in Pato Branco, Paraná, from August 28th to 30th.
Image 8: Students of the English course of EDHUCCA, ETA Katie and the film crew during the filming of the video that was shown at the school's annual event (2019). The students acted in the video with speeches and scripts constructed collaboratively during the classes.
Finally, we consider that the partnership between UNESPAR and EDHUCCA, through this extension project of the English language classes with adolescents, is of such relevance to the benefited community (as well as to the academic community) as it provides a transformative interaction between both institutions.
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The socialization and empowerment of the adolescents that take part during/from the project are generated during the English language classes, since the dialogical and interactional aspects which are intrinsic to the language and culture emerge in the proposed activities and lead the participants to (re) build feelings of appreciation, respect, dialogue and belonging. As for the undergraduates involved in the project, future English language teachers, the strengthening of human and pedagogical education is evident, since it makes them become critical and reflective professionals in the diverse contexts of language teaching and learning.
From an academic-scientific viewpoint, we consider that the project gives rise to teaching, research and extension, since the English classes become a significant research locus that opens spaces for constant theorizing, discussion, reflection and the production of new knowledge about language teaching and learning.
References:
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BRASIL. Estatuto da criança e do adolescente. – Brasília: Senado Federal, Coordenação de Edições Técnicas, 2017. 115 p.
BRASIL. Ministério da Educação. Secretaria da Educação Básica. Orientações Curriculares para o Ensino Médio: linguagens, códigos e suas tecnologias. Brasília, DF, 2006.
BRASIL. Ministério da Educação. Secretaria da Educação Básica. Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais para o Ensino Médio. Brasília, DF, 2000.
BRASIL. Ministério da Educação. Secretaria da Educação Básica. Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Temas Transversais. Brasília, DF, 1998.
GASPARIN, J.L. Uma didática para a pedagogia histórico-crítica. 5. Ed. Revisada. Campinas, SP: Autores Associados, 2012.
PARANÁ. Secretaria de Estado da Educação. Superintendência de Educação. Departamento de Educação Básica. Diretrizes Curriculares da Educação Básica: Língua Estrangeira Moderna. Curitiba, PR, SEED, 2008.