AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY: MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

CULTURE

"The more professional insight one has about culture, the easier it is to abandon simplistic concepts of people from other cultures." Iben Jensen (2007)

Since my father was a teacher (and a wishful dreamer of a fairer world), his passion for meeting new people to hear their opinions, their voices, their way to express, and explain their own ways of seeing life, could not avoid the fact that it was only possible by traveling. And it was not enough to do so during his period of holidays, he wanted to experience living together with different people, and make up his own thoughts by observation and long talks, besides spending a great number of hours reading. He did enjoy very much, to sum up, all the old and new ideas and continuously search for answers, make new questions, and at the end apply new ways of teaching in his own classroom. But, even I spent most of my life in my birth country, I attended many different schools from different communities, and I did not spend more than 5 years in my home community. For that reason, I can say that I share some of the feelings of TKC, as well as some of the benefits and challenges, according to the classification of David Pollock (even I do not fulfill the exact requirements to belong to this definition). For example, I shared the pain of a chronic loss of relationships, but I did develop a great level of empathy. I had the opportunity of meeting many different personalities, cultures within my culture, and I learned that people can react in many different ways depending on their experiences and to listen and try to understand other's behaviors, which gave me as well great communication skills. It can be argued that my case is not comparable to TCK because I spent most of my academic period in my own country. However, I will explain as well through the following paragraphs the reasons why I think that the only difference between TCK and me, is the fact that what Pollock called home country it would be a home community in my case.

Expanded world view vs. Confused Loyalties

Benefit: Expanded World View

Most of the times, I had no contact with cultures from other countries, but there are invisible boundaries within my country that make huge differences between communities in terms of culture: forms of behavior, certain customs, traditions, festivals, laws, history, and even the active existence of other languages (and flags), some of them which origin are entirely different as the common one. The population in Spain is approximately 47.129.783 inhabitants (2007 census), and Spanish, the official language, is spoken by 99% of the population. Even though most of the Spanish population speak and understand Spanish, it is not the mother tongue of all of them, as well as it is not the one that they speak with their neighbors, family, and friends: there are another 9 recognized languages, officials within their communities, that are the ones they use to express themselves in their day today. Obviously, the country as a whole share a common official language, history, national holidays, certain customs, etc, but each community have certain traditions and customs, which are unknown to many people from the other communities, and are specific from each community. And this differences made for a long time in the history (still remaining today) to many people feel the need for the search and recognition of their own identity (which has led to a strong nationalism), strong enough to even claim their own independence from Spain. In this way, we can hear many voices claiming that they do not belong to Spain, and even feel offended when an innocent foreign call them Spanish. On the same line, each educational institution in every community where two languages coexist, gives two options to students: one option where all the subjects are taught in Spanish, and in addition there is one mandatory subject to learn the other language; and another option where all subjects are taught in the other language, except for the subject of Spanish language. Most of the parents choose the second line, as a way to preserve their identity through subsequent generations.

The reason to explain this is to make clear to my readers the context in which I grew up. In most of the places that I have lived and went to school, within my country, I was considered a foreign, and some times I was not even able to get involved in informal conversations in the street with the people of the community, as outside of the educational institutions they were using their mother tongue language between their friends and family (incomprehensible for me). In this way, as David Pollock mention in his book, I realized very soon that people have different ways to see life, philosophically and politically. In the north of Spain, where I spent 3 years of my school period, most of the people were fighting for their independence, and some people were against independentism, and both ideas involved many other factors related to politics and lifestyle. I could compare as well the difference between the view of this matter from the people directly affected (by the fact of living in the community with this conflict), and those who had an opinion about it, from other communities (often people who did not even know anyone from this community or had visited the place). In this way, I learned how many ways one issue can be seen, and which factors can affect them to choose a side.

Challenge: Confused Loyalties

It may seem strange, but if we analyze the fact that some of the communities in Spain that I have lived had a strong patriotism that did not share with each other (as they claimed independence while not feeling a part of Spain), I did not feel identify with their identity and feelings of belonging to, what they called, a different country. Since the reasons were culture (including language), but also a different way as my home community to make politics, I have always felt that the atmosphere was hostile when someone talked about political issues: it turns out that in the surveys that Media showed, my community  was one of those that had a majority of people against the independence of these communities. All this caused serious tensions between citizens, for the simple fact of belonging to one community or another. I felt that I belonged to my home community, the Valencian Community, and on one hand I was rejected sometimes for that exact reason at the other communities, calling me sometimes fascist. But on the other hand, I understood the reasons for the independentism, and I did share with them the opinion of the right to self-determination, so I was rejected as well by many people from my community, by calling me for instance unpatriotic.

Three-Dimensional View of the world vs. Painful view of reality

Benefit: Three-Dimensional View of the World

One of the most interesting things I have observed, as I mentioned above, was the way people viewed one issue, depending on the fact if they lived the dilemma in their own community or knew it only through the Media. And now I know that I would not have this experience, I would not have been able to understand, at the level I do, what people directly affected feels about it. That I am grateful for. The most striking part was that I realized very soon that the people who hated other people neither had a close relationship with one of those that they criticized and hate, nor were able to feel empathy for them or understand the root of the problem (either were open to search and listen other opinions different as the bunch of lies from Media, as I learned to do by living the experience instead as do it through the books or television).

Challenge: Painful awareness of reality

Of course, when someone lives in different countries/communities leave behind people and experiences that allow them to feel closer to the issues and incidents from these places. Specifically, in some areas of northern Spain, there were frequent terrorist attacks by an organization called ETA (which still exists). When I was not living there anymore, although I knew that the Media often used a sensational style for these events, creating much more drama than it was already the fact in itself, I was much more aware and worried these days of how people I knew felt, than the people around me. Our brain has a selective way to choose the information we will pay attention to. As many experiences we have that are relevant for us, we create what I like to call light switches which switches on a light in our brain for every relevant information around us, allowing us to the focus attention on a specific matter. When watching the news, I believe the people who have experienced to live in other countries or communities have more of this light switches that switch on every time they hear the name of this places than any other person. And this is what it happened to me or to any TCK since for us is more important to hear anything that happened over a wider territorial area, or even more able to feel the pain or loss of the others, than someone who does not feel directly connected at anyhow to these places.

Cross-cultural Enrichment vs. Ignorance of the Home Culture

Benefit: Cross-cultural enrichment

Many Spanish had difficulties in guessing which community I come from. When I was younger, that was a problem for me. I observed around me patriotism and a sense of belonging to a specific community that I did not feel completely to any of them. Nowadays I understand that my personality was built up with a sum up of experiences and, what I consider, the positive sides of each community I have been. Simultaneously, as TCK, that arouses special interest to know and pay attention to the events that occur in other parts of the world. That involves as well the fact that it can create a great motivation for children to hear with more interest in the lessons of, for instance, geography and history.

Challenge: Ignorance of home culture

I do not think that in my case that challenge would clearly apply, even I might have missed things such as: how is it prepared the horchata drink, originally from my home community, or what was exactly the main ingredient (chufas, or tiger nut, in English).  I did not get the humor either, or the feeling of crying during the Fallas, where cardboard dolls that have been carefully built by hand throughout the whole year, are on fire in the middle of the city. However, I have been always connected to my country, and I can understand that it is a different way to live this experience for TCK. Maybe their home country is actually very far away from the country they live in, and they do not really have the opportunity to get certain information if is not being talked at home at some point. And it is sometimes not even enough to talk or read about it. We can see that in the following reflection about what TCK learn when they experience living in a different country, which would be in this case in reverse: it is a sentence that Pollock wrote, from Rachel Miller Schaetti, at the beginning of chapter 6, "I am struck again and again by the fact that so much of sociology, feeling for history, geography, questions [about] others that our friends' children try to understand through textbooks, my sisters and I acquired just by living".
(Pollock 2009, p. 87-98)

MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOMS

One of the advantages that my experiences gave me now, is to make a comparison between all the schools I attended to, and I found some weaknesses that I will analyze in this paragraph, related to the theories that we just learned in class. One of the things I am more sad about my childhood is the fact that I did not have the opportunity to live the insights of a multicultural classroom. I grew up in a time where racism and xenophobia were very widespread within the society of my country. And, in general terms, that was expressed in many different ways: there were people agreeing with the expulsion of all persons "not belonging to the Spanish nationality" (I put it in quotes because what they really meant was ethnically Spanish. They meant then, "all the people who had parents born in other countries, or different skin color, even if they had a Spanish passport and were born and raised in Spain"). Based on my experience, their voices were very loud and accepted by most of the population. This way, the parties that promised to carry out their wishes, were the ones that were elected to be in the government, since most people seemed extremely concerned. There was at the time numerous debates at the television and in common conversations, becoming one of the fix-points that Iben Jensen describes in his book Introduction to cultural understanding. On the other hand, there was an opposite opinion, that was promoting a multicultural development thinking, and demand policies that promoted a multicultural understanding, as well as urgent policy measures to protect the immigrants' human rights, since most of them were being violated: including basic needs such as medical care (many were being denied at clinics and hospitals, while for the rest it was a free service offered by the government), security and protection against any discrimination and degrading treatment, and freedom of movement. In my opinion, the arguments of the first position were based on ignorance and fallacies. But as I grew up I observe something that paid my attention too: even for the people who thought that human rights were universal and it had to be applied for everyone, and were feeling for the people who had to deal with the facts happening in my country, some had a way to choose between "they" ("The others", Jensen, 2007) and "the other they". Somehow the people that were coming from África and Asia (from anywhere else but the Arab countries), were being seen as a better people, than the ones coming from the middle east or Arabic countries in África. We can argue (not justify) that this has something to do with the past experiences in the history of Spain, among other facts. And at the same time, I observed a hidden terminology within the Spanish vocabulary: different despective words to name people from specific countries or other words to say instead of the word foreign. These hidden words were being commonly used in different ways: some people were using them aware of what they wanted to express, and in racist/xenophobic jokes; some were hidden within innocent jokes, and some people that were using them simply did not realize of the respective meaning behind it. I personally had a great fight against this little holes that cave deeply into people's mind, and I insisted that it was something important to be raised to awareness, since I believed that language created our thoughts, and our thoughts created our feelings.

Coming back to my school experience, I could observe in the streets adult immigrants (mostly men) from different countries, but not children. And I had only a 2 years experience, during my High School period, with children belonging to Roma community ("gypsies"). In general terms, people had an awful multicultural experience, and this could have been avoided through a philosophy of integration and cultural understanding as part of the academic program.

At this point I would like to highlight some negative common points that I could observe between the schools I have attended in my country:

• Multicultural education was barely provided or provided unsuccessfully to the pupils. Both in theory and in practice: lake of information and activities that could promote cultural understanding and communication. 

• The teachers had not intercultural competence and had not enough knowledge about the culture that represented the minority group of the classroom. 
• The academic program had not included information related to the culture of the minority group, at the program of subjects such as history or literature, even though the minority group had been a part of the history and literature of the host country since 1470. 
• The minority group of the classroom had no knowledge about their own history, but they had to learn what they considered others' history. 
• Cultural/political issues information, where most of the times provided superficially, avoiding to go in-depth or analyze the reasons that could cause it (or encourage us to do it). 

• I barely remember one teacher who encourages us to analyze our own culture from different angles. Some of my collages and I referred to him as the special teacher, different from the mainstream, and most of the adults were labeling him as from the left hand.

• Lake of dialogue and debates. There were some, but I do not think that were enough or being carried out properly. 

As a conclusion I would say that multicultural education is extremely important since the emergent multicultural classes necessarily demand the acquisition of new skills and knowledge and an effort from the professionals to create an environment where nobody is excluded from being a part of their personal and social development.

Since my observations have shown a lack of skills of the teachers involved and a lack of an appropriate program for a bicultural environment, it has awakened in me a special interest to research and find answers for the following questions:

• In a classroom is where all children have the same cultural background: I wonder the way that multicultural education can be introduced in a classroom where there is actually not such a situation, and still be successful. Is it possible to teach multiculturality successfully in a non-multicultural environment? Will pupils get to understand to communicate between different cultures?

• In a classroom where coexist two or more different cultures: I wonder the way that multicultural education can be introduced in a classroom where there exists an environment of tension between the majority and the minority group. Which steps should be taken to promote an intercultural and interpersonal understanding?

I find very interesting the work of David Pollock about TCK, and I think that taking in consideration these aspects that characterize them, to analyze the situation in the classroom, will definitely make a difference in regard to communication, multicultural understanding, and integration. But here I realized as well how important it is to just be aware of the different situations that the country where the children come from, may be going through at the moment, no matter if they remain in the same country but moved to another community, or if they are actuals TCK. In the first case, and taking in consideration my personal experience where I did not have the opportunity to meet with children from other countries, I believe that by acquiring the necessary skills and applying them in the classroom, it may be a great resource for teachers to take advantage of the situation to put in practice a more comprehensive understanding between pupils with differences in their cultural backgrounds, that will probably help them to carry out successfully multicultural encounters in the future. 

Finally, to know about the situation of the country where the children come from also means to know about the country itself when they are not living in their home country, and that implies to dedicate some time to make a little research on the history and culture of all the pupils involved in the classroom. Eventually, I would propose to take this research into consideration as a point to be included in the planning of the content and structure of the classes. In that way, it should always include information and activities that make all of them feel a part of the institution and community they live, teaching theory that gives personal meaning to all of them, interrelating and integrating the different cultures in theory and in practice, and promoting understanding among the pupils.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY: EDC & HRE

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 26.

• Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
• Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance, and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
• Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Active, committed, and responsible participation at one's community, defense of the human rights, solidarity, empathy, interest for other's issues, multicultural understanding, the ability to analyze the world thru history, Media and other sources, self-critic, and the construction of solid arguments to defend one's opinion, are some of the skills that personally I would like to help to develop in my classroom, while giving them tools to listen and argue their points of view pacifically, and making a responsible use of the rhetoric. I have prepared a little program based on The three dimensions of EDC/HRE (Gollob 2011, p. 29 - 31) that integrates theory, practice, training, and activities. 

1)  The cognitive dimension, learning "about" democracy and HR. Definition of concepts:

POLITICS: (from the Greek word Politikos, means "of, for, or relating to citizens") it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance (organized control over the human community, particularly a state). Is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community and the interrelationship between other communities.

At some countries, the mainstream picture of the word "politics" follow the words "government", "healthcare issues" "competition between parties, where verbally attack each other" "taxes", and all other bunch of words that seem too far away for a young citizen to feel it a part of their lives. Yes, but...

...what else may be politics?

Politics may be to meet with your neighbors to pose a problem: "We would like to have a basketball court, because the closest one is too far from here, and there are enough children interested to practice this sport". Politics is to make good planning explaining why, how many people, and how and where would it be built. And to take the necessary steps to present the project to the relevant administration, which has the resources to carry out the project. This could be a simple way of explaining democracy and promote interest in change things that they might be concerned and feel close to their lives.

Politics is to observe around us and detect problems and solutions that will bring social benefits to the community, things that may or not affect us directly. What would you like to change in your community?

HUMAN RIGHTS: are individual entitlements derived from human needs and capacities. The most accepted classification is that they can be: civil, political, social, economic and cultural, and no one is more/less important than others. They are universal, which means that no one person in the whole world is excluded from this rights, and therefore all countries in the world should be responsible to apply them within their policies (regardless of their political, economic and cultural system). (Beetham 2009, p. 41 - 44) 

• Another definition: "moral principles that set out certain standards of human behavior, and are regularly protected as legal rights in national and international law. They are commonly understood as "inalienable, fundamental, universal, and egalitarian rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being"". 
• THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. It is the main source of human rights ideas in the modern world, adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on 10 December 1948.

It is important and necessary for students to know about these 3 Articles from the Universal Declaration of Human rights being as:

- They need to know that every person enjoys the right of free thought and expression, and free access to information with exceptional occasions, understanding that this particular right is indispensable for a democratic system (Article 10)

- Understand the key principle of equality and non-discrimination: women and men, rich and poor, young and old, nationals and immigrants - we all equally possess these rights (Article 14)

- Understand why liberties require a framework of laws and also carry responsibilities. Freedom of expression allows citizens to promote their interests in a pluralist society, and in such a competitive setting, there will be winners and losers. A constitution, rules, and laws must provide a framework that limits the liberties of the strong and protects the weak, without legalizing differences (Article 29).

(Gollob 2011, p. 30)

DEMOCRACY is collective decision-making. It embodies the idea that the decisions affecting the association as a whole, should be taken by all its members (the goals to be pursued, the rules to be followed, the distribution of responsibilities and benefits between members), and that each member should have an equal right to take part of such decisions. (Beetham 2009, p. 13)

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take a part in the government of his/her country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his/her country.

3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of the government; this will be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. (Beetham 2009, p. 6)

Basic principles of democracy:

In Abraham Lincoln’s famous quotation (1863), democracy is “government of the people, by the
people, for the people”; the three definitions can be understood as follows:

– “of”: power comes from the people – the people are the sovereign power that exercises power or
gives the mandate to do so, and whoever is part of authority may be held responsible by the
people;
– “by”: power is exercised either through elected representatives or direct rule by the citizens;
– “for”: power is exercised to serve the interests of the people, that is, the common good. (Gollob 2011, p. 15)

So, is it a system with absolute freedom, where everybody can do anything they want?

No. Democracy is based on the standards and principles of human rights, which recognize individual rights and liberties, inherent in being human. And these human rights itself obliged to respect the freedoms of others, which already determine some limits. Democracy processes help to set up processes that facilitate the freedom of people and set the necessary limits as well. (Gollob 2011, p. 16)

In most modern democracies, the whole body of all eligible citizens remain the sovereign power but political power is exercised indirectly through elected representatives (Indirect/representative democracy). Core elements include:

– A constitution, usually in written form, that sets the institutional framework for democracy protected in some countries by an independent, high court; human rights, usually not all, are protected as civil rights;

– human rights are referred to in the constitution and then relegated to civil rights as guaranteed constitutionally. Governments that have signed human rights conventions are obligated to uphold the range of rights they have ratified, regardless of whether they are specifically referred to in the constitution;

– the equal legal status of all citizens: all citizens are equally protected by the law through the principle of non-discrimination and are to fulfill their duties as defined by the law.

– universal suffrage: this gives adult citizens, men, and women, the right to vote for parties and/ or candidates in parliamentary elections. In addition, some systems include a referendum or plebiscite, that is, the right for citizens to make decisions on a certain issue by direct vote;

– citizens enjoy human rights that give access to a wide range of ways to participate. This includes the freedom of the media from censorship and state control, the freedom of thought, expression and peaceful assembly, and the right of minorities and the political opposition to act freely;

– pluralism and competition of interests and political objectives: individual citizens and groups may form or join parties or interest groups (lobbies), non-governmental organizations, etc. to promote their interests or political objectives. There is competition in promoting interests and unequal distribution of power and opportunities in realizing them;

- parliament: the body of elected representatives has the power of legislation, that is, to pass laws that are generally binding. The authority of parliament rests on the will of the majority of voters. If the majority in a parliamentary system shifts from one election to the next, a new government takes office. In presidential systems the head of government, the president, is elected separately by direct vote;

– majority rule: the majority decides, the minority must accept the decision. Constitutions define limits for majority rule that protect the rights and interests of minorities. The quorum for the majority may vary, depending on the issue – for example, two-thirds for amendments to the constitution;

– checks and balances: democracies combine two principles: the authority to exercise force rests with the state, amounting to a “disarmament of citizens”. However, to prevent the power of force to turn into an autocratic or dictatorial rule, all democratic systems include checks and balances. The classic model divides state powers into legislation, executive powers, and jurisdiction (horizontal dimension); many systems take further precautions: a two-chamber system for legislation, and federal or cantonal autonomy, amounting to an additional vertical dimension of checks and balances (such as in Switzerland, the USA or Germany);

– temporary authority: a further means of controlling power is by bestowing authority for a fixed period of time only. Every election has this effect, and in some cases, the total period of office may be limited, as in the case of the US president, who must step down after two four-year terms of office. In ancient Rome, consuls were appointed in tandem and left office after one year. (Gollob 2011, p. 16)

I have named the main concepts that students should understand at the end of the lesson, but it is important as well that they familiarize with concepts such as: constitution, constructive criticism, self-criticism, self-determination, referendum, solidarity, universality, universal suffrage, parliamentary proposal, absolute majority, lobby, civil rights, altruism, dictatorship, and autocracy (among others) that we can explain, for instance, while explaining the core elements of modern constitutional democracies. I would as well pay special attention to the 9 key concepts named at the book Educating for democracy: identity, diversity and pluralism, responsibility, conflict, rules and law, government and politics, equality, liberty, and Media. (Gollob 2011, p. 42)

2) The participative dimension: learning "for" democracy and HR. Activities and debates.

In this aspect, I would encourage children to dare to talk about their thoughts and opinions, teaching them to expose them politely and listen to others respectfully thru debates. Organizing activities with the objective of making them develop their empathy and see specific situations from different angles thru the exposition of real stories and activities. As well as encourage them to take part in possible resolutions for different issues.

• Activity 1: Quiz. Jeopardy could be a good source for the teacher to test whether the students have understood the concepts of the theory. It could be about matching words with the correct definitions: democracy, constitution, universal, equality, utopia, solidarity, rights, civil rights, human rights, etc. 

• Activity 2: Research. Go to the website: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ and find 3 rights for each category, according to the classification of the book Introducing democracy by David Beetham and Kevin Boyle (p. 42-44)

• Activity 3: Debate. Why are Human Rights so important? What it means that Human Rights are Universal?could be a good source as well for the teacher to test whether the students have understood the concepts of the theory. 

• Activity 4: Research. Strengths and weaknesses of democracy and possible solutions. 

• Activity 5: Research. How would you define the political system in your country and how does it technically work? Is it fear?Why/why not? Is HR being respected for everyone? If not, which ones are being violated? It requires previous research from the students. I could give them a little guidance about how to find this information. They could explain it orally to the rest of the class, and end it up with a debate, where it should be asked their opinions and ideas and close it with the question: What could we, as citizens, do to change the injustices that are being committed in other communities/countries?

• Activity 6: Analysis and Debate. Responsible Citizens, make responsible decisions.  How do decisions affect us? How does it affect others? It is about reflecting on one or more true stories and expose the different ideas that the students get from it. It is a good source to use here the stories from the book Teachers and Human Rights education by Audrey Osler, and some of his reflections about the need for human solidarity: "(...)the impact of war, conflict, and threats to human rights impact directly or indirectly on the wider global community. The forces of globalization mean that problems in one region affect others elsewhere, whether they live in relatively prosperous or developing nations, through the impact of refugees, economic migrants, trade, environmental damage and shortages of scarce resources." (Osler 2010 p. 4)

• Activity 7: Roleplay activity. "One step forward". It is a game that we have played in class, and I think that it is an excellent exercise to understand how others may feel in a situation where there is not equality. They are given a brief description of a character. The class must be unobscured, and the students line up. The teacher exposes a sentence, and only the ones that do not feel discriminated, according to their character, must take a step forward. It is a great metaphor to see how people may feel staying behind others. At the end of the activity, we could ask: Should we be tolerant? And here is a great opportunity to introduce the idea that tolerance is usually an inadequate response, particularly if it implies neutrality or indifference. (Osler 2010, p. 11-12)And the difference between tolerance and solidarity, sometimes confused. 

• Activity 8: Analysis and Debate. Analysis of Media and other sources. Choosing some videos from the Media and from the internet, we could encourage the students to analyze critically different sources of information, allowing them to be able to identify whether they have solid arguments or whether are trying to manipulate the audience, etc. It could be very useful as well, to make them choose an article that they feel interested about, from the newspaper, to comment it on the class. All this can help them to create a coherent sense of criticism and to identify and analyze in a constructive way other opinions and point of views so they can create theirs owns based on solid arguments. 

The following video could be an interesting starting for a debate in the classroom, related to How true/false it is the concept of democracy that they are suggesting, and why. It could also come up with the topic of weaknesses of democracy, and the exposition of different solutions to eradicate these problems.

Thru a video like this we could, for instance, explain that democracy should be based first of all on human rights, and therefore, nobody would ever be excluded depending on their race, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation, as this video suggests. It is very important that students understand as well the cultural dimension of human rights and which are the mechanisms of protection established by the UN and by regional human rights institutions when a state fails to uphold its human rights promises (Gollob 2011, p. 26)

All the activities and debates should be held under the three principles of the professional ethics of EDC/HRE teachers, which are:

• The principle of non-indoctrination: do not attempt to indoctrinate the students in any way to make them adopt the desired opinion. 

• The principle of controversial discussion: whatever is a controversial issue in science or politics must be presented as such in EDC/HRE classes. 

• Empowering students to promote their interests: students must be able to analyze a political situation and to identify their interest and to find ways and means to influence such a situation in favor of their interests. It may only be achieved if the two other principles are observed. (Gollob 2011, p. 40-41)

3) The cultural dimension, learning "through" democracy and HR. Learning through experience 

The school should be organized according to the values that are being taught. For example, showing that their opinions and rights are being respected, and allowing them to participate in a democratic environment. Giving them a certain freedom to take decisions and responsibilities on their own, to put up their self-esteem and give them the opportunity to show to themselves that are capable to carry out any rational idea purposed. Giving them the freedom to decide certain changes from their environment would be one of the ways where they could live and understand better these concepts and give them the courage to defend their beliefs, while we create hopefull citizens that believe that they can make a difference. As an example I will name an activity that I especially like: 

• Live role-play activity. What would you like to change in your community? It is about the creation of a political party, where they work out actual plannings to make changes at their community, to send them afterward to the city hall. It is an activity that I observed during my teaching practice in Kulsbjerg Skole, and it seemed to be a successful activity where they were actually achieving in real life some of the proposals. 

As a conclusion I would say that it is very important that EDC and HRE by its three dimensions are well integrated as a part of the academic program in the schools because the concept of democracy itself will not work without some principles (as the application of the human rights). And it may not be seen as a good political system in certain situations, or simply misunderstood. So it is important to emphasize that teaching how to be a democratic citizen must go hand by hand with the teaching of certain knowledge and values, and the encouragement of certain behaviors (as the goals of the program for EDC suggests) helping this way to create fair, responsible and committed citizens, willing to go one step forward to build every day a better society.

I also think that it is not enough to "talk and know about" democracy and human rights, the pupils should be surrounded as well by an environment where all these concepts are being applied (or at least where they are encouraged to build one).

Personally, I think that EDC and HRE are very important if we want to create a fairer world, where the application of the human rights, the altruism, and a supportive collaboration between nations/communities/interrelationships are the bases. And the best way to start it is at the schools, helping children to acquire the necessary skills to understand the world around them, to feel interested, and create what I personally like to call, constructive dreamers: positive people willing to fight against injustices, dreaming of an increasingly collaborative and caring society where the "utopian vision of the UDHR" of Audrey Osler, is not called a utopia anymore, but with the necessary skills and knowledge to be ready to conduct the defense of those values consistently. In other words: citizens with "the head in the clouds, and the feet on the ground".

MY TEACHING PRACTICE - The english classes

Kulsbjerg Skole

Skolevej 1, 4773 Stensved

Teacher and grade: Per Larsen, 8th grade
Official language taught: Danish

Subject: English

Language spoken by the class: Danish/English

Group members UCSJ: Elisabeth Joensen, Juris Kalnins, Binita Shrestha, Alba Montalbán.

THE ENGLISH CLASSES


The reason why we were only observing the english classes was that it was not an International school, and all other subjects were taught in danish. 

The english class has been divided into 3 groups, depending on their level/difficulties to learn the language. I can see how flexible is their program, and how well does it works when taking in consideration the different needs of each pupil is not only possible, but NECESSARY.

As we can see in their schedule, group number 3 is the one with a lot of difficulties in english, comparing with the other two groups, and  group number 1 was the one that had the highest level of their course.

The school used to promote the work groups as a method of study in the class for all or almost all activities according with the danish system and mentality. And therefore, that is reflected in the way in which tables and chairs are distributed, according also with the idea that teachers are not an authority figure who explains the topics as absolute truths without discussing them. 

I have not seen a teacher trusting on his/her students before. I remember all my school life having a very angry teachers, because it was unbearable the screams during class changes, before the teacher of the next subject came. And now I understand it. We were one and a half hour in silence just listening the teacher, never being allowed to talk with each other, sitting in an individual separate tables (sometimes in couples), writing notes in a little papers to talk with our friends behind the teacher's back...and in the moment the teacher went out of the door...that was the apocalypse!!
However, at Kulsbjerg Skole, the pupils sit in groups and work in groups, and they are allowed to get out of the class and sit in a corner or wherever they decide that are more comfortable, and so they vent in small doses, and usually finish the work and present it on time.

The teacher has not a table in the class, he always stands, walking around,observing his pupils (which makes him realize about things that otherwise he would not). He is always asking one by one making sure they understood the task, answering their questions. In the spanish system, while I was a student on 8th grade, it was considered rude to talk to the teacher while sitting in our chair, and the right thing to do was to stand near the table of the teacher while he/she was sitting. I do not even remember too many times where the teacher was standing, beside while was explaining something in front of the blackboard, or during the exams. Definitely, danish system is more efficient, so that might be a good way to do it. 

During my teaching practice, I have been following closely this special group I have talked about before, because I have not seen this kind of projects before in a public school, and I believe that it is a very interesting theme to observe. They came from special schools, and the teacher at the moment told me that they were sended to the normal school, because perhaps they could integrate in a normal class. If I could, I would get more involved by going every day having also the possibility to see how is the children's progression and how is the process in each case, both when they get integrate in the normal class and when they decide that it is not possible and why. They also had english, and I tried to start a conversation with them, and after hear their english, even though it was very basic, it was sounding like the teachers had been doing a great job with them!They were using tablets (interactive games) and books, and they were working individually depending on the need of each.

Some of the activities during the english classes were, for instance:  a discussion group about generation gap one of the days, talk about the origin and meaning of teenager and talk a bit about their personal feelings. Other day they were analyzing the lyrics and meaning of a song from Cat Stevens called Father and son:

So, as we could see, they were using many resources to get pupils learn dynamically, such as activities on the ipads, videos combinated with powerpoint presentations, playing known english songs, or filling missing words in copies that the teacher made taken from textbooks.

I realized that the teacher was giving feedback always right after the pupils had finished their activities. I did not see him giving negative reinforcements to the pupils, but the opposite: he was only focussing on the mistakes that he considered more important instead of correcting every single error (being always more important the basic grammar and the comprehension of a word or sentence), and he did always combine it with positive reinforcement words that encouraged them to continue learning and increased their self-esteem. In addition, I could observe how it created an environment where pupils were feeling very comfortable about asking any question or try to practise their english proficiency, as that seemed a good way to encourage communication between teacher and student. Therefore, I got to the conclusion that grammatical correctness is actually the less relevant point to focus on when trying to help a group of students who are at a level below the average. Instead, I think it is more effective to focus on the most basic grammatical mistakes, and help them to acquire confidence and fluency.

As we learned in class, we can distinguish between three theories of second language acquisition:

  

Behaviourist theory 

- Memorization/mimicking 

- Rote learning 

- When/how is it applied: 

I would say that there is not only one language acquisition theory that is employed at Kulsbjerg Skolen. They use what they think is better for each activity. They are employing the behaviourist theory when they make different activities to practise the same thing over and over, and they tell the pupils right after positive words to encourage them to keep on working on the improvement of the language (positive reinforcement). 

   

Innatist theory 

- Comprehension

- When/how is it applied:

I think they are aware of the innatist theory the when they are helping them to get to their own conclusions, follow their logic and instincts (self-learning) from some basic guidelines provided by the teacher, who plays the role of a guide who provides them the tools to comprehend why and how, instead of simply believe and follow what I say far away from being authoritarian. 

   

Sociocultural theory 

- Interaction

- When/how is it applied:

They also believe that parents, caregivers, peers and the culture at large are responsible of higher order functions. And therefore they make sure as much as possible that the communication of all these elements is fluid and they get involve together to participate in the positive way to the social and individual development of each pupil. For that, they pay attention on the environment, keep constantly in touch with the parents and frequently organize meeting together with all the teachers to expose their observations and find solutions.

MY TEACHING PRACTICE - The School

Kulsbjerg Skole

Skolevej 1, 4773 Stensved

Teacher and grade: Per Larsen, 8th grade

Official language taught: Danish

Group members UCSJ: Elisabeth Joensen, Juris Kalnins, Binita Shrestha, Alba Montalbán.

The school is located in a very nice area of Denmark, Stensved. It is a satellite town of Vordingborg in South Zealand with 1,545 inhabitants (2013). Wonderful lakes near a huge and dense forest make, from Vordingborg to Stensved, an awesome landscape. I am living 4.6 km from the school, so I was using my bike to get there, and therefore I had the great opportunity to enjoy the views, which I believe are also part of the culture of the population living here.

The school holds a total of 929 students, of which 93 belong to the 8th grade, and are divided into 4 groups (a, b, c and d): Language&culture, Body&Movement, Science&Mathematics. There is also a group called special group, which are people with different problems that make them have difficulties to fit in a normal class, so they have teachers working with them in one of the corners near the classes, with the ultimate goal of helping them to integrate. I am especially interested in that project so I will try to follow how is their progress.

I will stand out some things that really took my attention, and compared with the Spanish system, I would think that Danish system is very advanced, even though now I see it just logic and rational.

- They have a lot of flexibility on the schedule: the fact that they decide how many hours to spend in every subject, depending on the needs, raises the quality of education.

- They are constantly reviewing the situation of the class.

- They divide the students of each class into the smallest groups, and combinate the hours of every subject depending on what they need, in constant observation, both individually and collectively. The teachers are constantly having meetings and in contact with each other, allowing them to know the situation of the class and find the best solution to the potential problems.

- In the same way, they divide the students of each class into the smallest groups, depending on their level and the difficulties they have to learn a specific subject. In the end, all of them will make the same exam, but the pupils that need special help on this specific subject, they get more self-confidence in a class that they can follow, while learning keeps being funny and encourages them to get to the level of the other students, covering their specific needs.

The pupils in this school learn how important are the freedom and they experiment with its concept. They have the freedom already, for instance, to go to the toilet when they need to, without asking permission to the teacher. Is this kind of freedom what makes the students feel responsible of their decisions, and what they are actually learning is that they are capable enough to decide what they want, so it gives them confidence and self-esteem (I can trust my own criteria).
Juris prepared a very interesting activity, to check what was most valued between our students. He printed in a smalls papers 10 words, and he asked for numerate them from 1 to 10, being 1 the most important and 10 what they would consider the less important thing. Afterward, he made a graph with all the answers of the pupils, being 50 in total, and here are the results:

Personally, I think that was very relevant to understand the mentality of Danish children because I believe that this graph even represents the general beliefs and values of Danish society. The concept of family and friends is highly valued, as well as freedom and education (very well done at the schools, so children think this way). However, religion is the least important in children's lives, which, in my opinion, the normal course of the world society, according to evolving. Certainly, when we talk about freedom at schools, we talk about it in many ways:

- Physical: pupils are allowed to move around during their classes (besides the time where the teacher is explaining the activities), and to get out of the school (some of them does it to go to the canteen or somewhere else to get their lunch, which is not possible to do it indoors).

- Methodological/organizational: teachers are allowed to distribute school hours between subjects, depending on the need of students.

- Ideological: school promotes free thinking, as well as mutual respect. Thus you find pupils that respect the decision of other students, about their dress or sexual orientation (there were homosexual people not hidden from others, as it happens in my country).

Honestly, I feel that I do not have enough tools/knowledges yet to criticize the negative sides of the school, because even though there were a couple of things I did not understand (like the amount of the freedom and the trust that the teachers show to the pupils, or the flexibility to (it seems) consent all their demands) because I am used to observing other ways to teach in my country, I also can see that it seems to work! So even though I did not get yet how this process is working and why, they might be doing it pretty well, when the students are happy and passing the exams successfully.

Another highlight was all the activities that the children get involved in a lot of social activities. For instance, they made a party where they pretended to be political, and therefore, they had their own name for the party and wrote their own electoral program. That makes them aware of the needs that people have in the town, and they learn to fight for what they want while making plans and caring for others develops on their minds. Per, their English teacher, showed me, very proud, a piece of paper hanging on the wall, where they were written all the proposals coming from the party. 

Per also told me, that every Friday someone has to bring a cake for the rest of the class. I haven't seen that before either, it is so cute! I think it is a cozy way to learn to share and spend a little spare time with the other pupils, so in my opinion, it helps, together with the other extracurricular activities, to create bonding among students.

Other very interesting activities that I have been talking with the English teacher :

- They spend 30 minutes per day to read a book, a magazine, or other reading matter that they feel interested in. In this manner, the school promotes culture, as well as encourages them to acquire the good habit of reading, together with all its benefits.

 - The excursions that the school organized. Sometimes they do it to break the routine, and put into practice what the have learned in class. And sometimes they do it to show to the pupils a job so it can arouse a special interest to learn more about it. They went to an open field and to a botanical center with biology class one day, to a fur factory another day, and very often Per participates together with his pupils in competitions that organizes the runner club, being him, precisely, the webmaster of it. I have not seen a teacher so close to his pupils before, that was a great surprise. You can find the web link below:

NYRÅD LØBEKLUB - By Per Larsen

TEACHING OBSERVATION PLAN

Activity: What is your cultural identity?

Note: before joining the group going to Kulsbjerg Skole, I belonged to the group that went to Bjørns Internationale Skole, and I made the first activity together with Hasna Hussein and Annabella Efinger. Afterward, all the other activities I did together with my current group. 

Lesson Opening: Guiding Questions

-          What do you think identity means?

-          Is it your culture?

-          Is it your heritage?

-          Is it your likes and dislikes?

Step-by-Step Procedure

Warm-Up Game: Teacher Puzzle

-          Split the class into 4 groups,  assigning one number to each pupil, from 1 to 4, counting this way: 1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4…

-        Each group gets a link from the Prezy, that contains 24 objects (see PREZI - Bjørns Internationale Skole), which are the ones we have chosen previously as a representation of our identity. 

-        Each group must guess and decide which 6 objects could describe the assigned teacher’s identity. 
      18 objects should be deleted. 
      The students have 5 minutes for this activity.
      When all students have finished, the teachers will ask the groups which objects they have decided on. And finally, each teacher will present their actual identity.  

Students Activity:

The students must create their own cultural identity paddles using 5-10 objects. They should include culture, heritage, likes/dislikes, hobbies, etc.  They can use pictures, texts, videos, words, sayings, etc. They have 15-20 minutes for this activity. 
The warm-up activity implies didactic learning, when we show the pupils how to use paddles and make their own, and also before when we explain to them what culture and identity means. Therefore, all other aspects of the activity are taught to be experiential learning: 
- The activity is then taken to experiential teaching method as the students experience to talk and listen to people from other cultures (concrete experience), as well as create their own cultural representation on Prezi, in the way they want without limitations (active experimentation), see how others do it and how others act, from different cultures (reflective observation), and reflect on their own culture and others (abstract conceptualization). 

-         When all students have finished, they will present their padlets to their fellow classmates, explaining their personal cultural identity.

Learning Theories we used:

- Learn to use the program themselves, after a very short explanation, and find out other application they can also add to their subsequent presentation, it is up to them by their experience. 
- In the moment we present our identities to the rest of the class, but we don't teach them how to present. It is up on them, to choose how to do it (they can copy us, feel free to do it on their own way, or a mix of both...). It is experiential because they are free to represent their culture as they wish, they "learn by doing".

- The activity is then taken to experiential teaching method as the students experience to talk and listen to people from other cultures (concrete experience), as well as create their own cultural representation on prezi, in the way they want without limitations (active experimentation), see how others do it and how others act, from different cultures (reflective observation), and reflect about their own culture and others (abstract conceptualisation). 

- Because culture is such a broad topic, we have decided to use the didactic teaching method to guide the students into a certain direction by teaching them the concept of identity or how culture differs or resembles from one group to another.

The experiential teaching was more about understanding, reflection and acceptance of other points of view and different identities, than communicate knowledges of a specific theory. As well as getting tools to know how to explain and present their own identity, with a previous reflection. That is why, personally, this teaching method was the most successful in achieving the objectives. And the didactic method was just a tool to complete it. The experiential teaching was more about understanding, reflection and acceptance of other points of view and different identities, than communicate knowledges of a specific theory. As well as getting tools to know how to explain and present their own identity, with a previous reflection. That is why, personally, this teaching method was the most successful in achieving the objectives. And the didactic method was just a tool to complete it. According to David A. Kolb, an American educational theorist, I think we have covered what it needs to be done for an experiential teaching. He says, knowledge is continuously gained through both personal and environmental experiences. He states that in order to gain genuine knowledge from an experience, certain abilities are required:

• The learner must be willing to be actively involved in the experience.

• The learner must be able to reflect on the experience.

• The learner must possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience.

• The learner must possess decision making and problem solving skills in order to use the new ideas gained from the experience.

Kulsbjerg Skole

Skolevej 1, 4773 Stensved

Teacher and grade: Per Larsen, 8th grade

Subject: English

Official language taught: Danish

Group members UCSJ: Elisabeth Joensen, Juris Kalnins, Binita Shrestha, Alba Montalbán

Pupils schedule:

Our schedule:

• Monday: from 8 to 9:30 (hold 3) and from 9:50 to 13:50 (hold 2)

• Thursday: from 9:50 to 11:20 (hold 3)

Week 43 – 47: In total 40 lessons. The students are expected to assist and participate as much as possible.

English subject (hold 1): pupils have the level of English proficiency above the average.
English subject (hold 2): pupils have the level of English proficiency that match 7th/8th grade. 
English subject (hold 3): pupils find English quite difficult to learn.

Competences to be observe:

Didactical competence: about purpose, planning, implementation, evaluation, and development of teaching. 

Classroom management: the organisation and development of pupils' academic and social learning environment.

Relational competence: about contact and relations to pupils, colleagues, parents and the resource persons of the school.

PLANNING

1) What would be interesting to observe? 

1.1. Methodology of average Danish school teaching (mistake acknowledgement, values, reinforcement of positive behavior, teachers authority, Blooms taxonomy, teacher body language, classroom dialogue/discourse patterns, classroom language)

1.2. Classroom management, conflict management, use of physical space,

1.3. Environment of teachers, teacher communication, everyday appearance, routine.

1.4. Student/teacher relationship, Multiculturalism management – intercultural competence,

1.5. Social environment, social relationships and interaction between students, how social status effect students relationships and behavior in and out the class

How will we do that? by observing classroom week by week adding focus according to order

2) What would be interesting to ask?

• Teachers – what is the most challenging for teachers in school, teaching methods they use, what is their teaching philosophy, the overall mood of educators (recognition, salary, development.

           How will we do that? arranging a date for an interview with the English teacher on weeks 46, 47,48.

• Students – what students think about their education, what daily day-to-day challenges/joys do they experience. What is difficult in language learning, why they feel like they fail or succeed? What interests you the most and what would you change if you had a chance.

          How will we do that? by establishing a closeness with some pupils for interview them informally later.

• School – school organization, administration, power, policy on young teachers, hiring policy, numbers (stuff, pupils, size), surroundings, aims/values (written document at best), website.

          How will we do that? Arranging a meeting with the school headmaster, checking out the website, and other resources.

3) What would be interesting to reflect upon?

•     - Similarities and differences between school today and time when we went to school. Methodology, teacher/student relationships, dress code, social environment.

               - Strengths’ and weaknesses of Danish education.

·       4) Send the plan to Lonnie, contact the school, and decide on a commute.

Linguistic observation questions
Teaching Experience autumn 2013

Your questions	Classroom observations
Which is the primary language used in an English class? Are students allowed to use their native language, on what occasions, how often?	We expect teaching will be in English constantly, with maybe a few rare exceptions for explaining some specific language structure rules.
What activities are included in teaching language and how physical space is used?	We expect quizzes, role-plays, use of U-shape classroom.
Are all of the students engaged in the language teaching activities? How is the teacher checking for understanding?	We expect the teacher will work for engaging everyone into activities and check for understanding by asking check-point questions.
How often teaching is organized in group work, classroom discussion or discourse?	We expect a combination from all of these tools.
How feedback is given, how reinforcement of positive behaviour is carried out, how errors are corrected?	No expectations.
	The teacher
What language acquisition theories or perspectives supporter you are?	Probably innatist or socio-cultural perspective.
Which model (didactic or experiental) do you find more productive in language acquisition and why?	Probably they meet somewhere in the middle
How, how much and how often do you plan your lessons?	No expectations

	The pupils
Do you feel comfortable speaking English? What is the hardest part in language acquisition?	We expect students to like using English. Hardest part probably will be language structure and written grammar.
Do you understand English is a global language? How does it effect or motivate your acquisition?	We expect pupils to understand this concept and see the benefits from English acquisition.
Do you have homework? How do you feel about it?	We expect students to have some and don’t like it.