17-11-23: New Publication: English across the fracture lines
Published: 23 November 2017
This volume which includes a chapter by our colleagues Grazia Imperiale, Giovanna Fassetta & Nazmi Al-Masri, takes stock of contexts around the globe in which English is being used and taught as a means of alleviating conflict and promoting security, stability and peace.
This book Edited by Elizabeth J. Erling and produced by the British Council provides new insights into the various communicative needs in such situations, and shows the impact and potential of programmes promoting English as a means of reconciliation, resilience, environmental sustainability and intercultural understanding. It offers a space for reflection on how English language teaching can nurture learners’ wellbeing by equipping them with a language in which not only injustice and pain are articulated and expressed to the wider international community, but also forgiveness and empathy. In addition, it provides recommendations for how all of us involved in the English language teaching (ELT) profession can facilitate making connections and promote participation in global dialogues through English, keeping hope alive in challenging times.
The book contains a chapter written collaboratively by colleagues Grazia Imperiale, Giovanna Fassetta, Alison Phipps and Nazmi Al-Masri, our international collaborator and friend at Islamic University, Gaza.
Chapter 3
Pedagogies of hope and resistance: English language education in the context of the Gaza Strip, Palestine
This chapter explores the values and goals of English language education in the context of the Gaza Strip in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Gaza has been subject to siege for over ten years and the authors consider intercultural language education in the context of siege and forced immobility, where opportunities are severely restrained by socio-economic and political factors. English and technology offer the possibility to nurture relationships by breaking the isolation, letting the wider world know about the challenges the siege imposes. English offers a way to resist and keep hope alive. It is recommended that ELT pedagogy should nurture learners’ wellbeing by equipping them with a language in which hopes, dreams, injustice, experiences of pain and pressure are articulated and expressed to the wider international community.
This publication is free to download in pdf format on the British Council Website.
Image (C) British Council.
First published: 23 November 2017