Part V: Preparing to Teach for Global Citizenship

Teachers must be able to cross borders in classrooms, and provide essential links in the community that eroded with time or have been forgotten because of incremental complexities in our institutions. To transform ESL students (and the receiving community?) into global citizens, teachers must actively work to have a better understanding of their own, and their students’ culture, and that of a new global culture.

The following is a list of items for ESL teachers and all teachers to consider while preparing to Teach for Global Citizenship:

Phase I: Teachers, please take inventory of your own Global Citizenship education:

1.Explore different facets, define and learn to appreciate your own ideas of your culture (Ziegahn, 2000, p.323). Be prepared to define and express to students in your classroom setting your philosophies of culture, education and global citizenry.
2.Know with a balanced view the positives and negatives of immigration policies (as an ESL teacher you cannot remain uninformed in this important societal issue).
3.Educate yourself on at least one global environmental issues, determine how you can be personally engaged. Learn how this global issues is interconnected with other issues
4.Become skilled at introducing, and facilitating discussions on controversial topics comfortably and safely
5.Build up materials and resources using current topics on local issues that have global implications.
6.Ask your students about their interests (toward global change)
7.Raise awareness with peers and administrators (encourage a whole school approach)
8.Gather contacts and resources to promote inter-agency/inter-departmental/inter-industry communication (don’t be shy of working across disciplines, linking horizontally and vertically)
9.Educate yourself on non-profit agencies that connect your students to resources
a.World Education Services - connection to World Wide education accreditation services (www.wes.org/)
b.Upwardly Global - helps professionals get work in their field of study (www.UpwardlyGlobal.org)
10.Slowly try out and integrate a new set of questions into your regular curriculum. (see sample lesson).
11.Study and discover newer/less traditional aspects of societal networking (e-communities, citizen’s groups, non-profit organizations and grant opportunities, micro lending organizations, social entrepreneurship, social justice, green communities)
12.Be a transformationlist on your campus or community

After you’ve taken inventory and started to explore Global Citizenship ideas, you’re ready to start in the classroom. Be receptive and expect some discomfort. If you don’t know something, don’t worry you can learn it with your students. Or just be honest and say you don’t know. Your students will teach you many things. Sometimes teachers will be “equal with the students” but they will use their “greater knowledge of the nature of communication to help [students] interpret what is happening in the specialist course or training” (Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998, p. 150).

Teaching basic concepts of Global Citizenship increases the possibility that these messages will go global yet stay local. Here are some suggestions for the kinds of thinking, learning and teaching an instructor must consider in his or her mission to internationalize their content and instill a global citizenry ideal in their students. But anything that enhances their experience, offers opportunity, removes barriers, or encourages leadership should be considered.