IP&SENSIG: LGBTQ identity and representation: inclusive materials in the EL classroom

Brief summary of the SIG event

Join Inclusive Practices & Special Educational Needs SIG and Giovanni Licata for this drop-in session.
 

Materials in ELT are no exception to the taboo placed on LGBT+ identities in the classroom. PARSNIP topics (politics-alcohol-religion-sex-nudity/narcotics-isms-pork) are taboo in mainstream materials and predictably include an ‘S’ for sex. However, what is included under the S for Sex is a lot less clear and predictable. We can easily think of coursebook pages on famous male-female couples (e.g. Victoria & David Beckham), but are there coursebook pages on Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi? Every English language and literature class in Italy will read excerpts from Romeo and Juliet or Pride and Prejudice. Yet. Oscar Wilde’s love and disillusionment letter to his lover Alfred Douglas, the De Profundis, is certainly not as widespread in national curricula. Would Ellen and Alfred come under the “s” for sex unlike Rome and Juliet? 

During this drop-in session we will address the challenges experienced by teachers who wish to facilitate the inclusion of all identities in the EL classroom through the use of inclusive materials and pedagogies. Whatever the context and the individual teacher’s beliefs, Morgan (2004: 176) reminds us that “there are no neutral spaces in schooling, no ways to insulate oneself from the social consequences of one’s activities”.

Morgan, B. (2004) Teacher identity as pedagogy: Towards a filed-internal conceptualization in bilingual and second-language education. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7 (2&3): 172-188.


Giovanni Licata is a teacher and teacher trainer at IH-Accademia Britannica in Rome. Having worked in schools across Europe, Asia and the US, he has developed an interest in sociolinguistics as well as teacher and learner identities in the ELT classroom.

This session will take place on Zoom but no pre-registration is required.

Click here to join and then use passcode 953082


 

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When
21st April, 2021 5:00 PM
SIG Events
Which SIGs are involved in this event? Inclusive Practices & SEN
Fee Details For Website
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