APPENDIX A:
INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT
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Interview Phase
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Questions
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Phase One:
Grand Tour
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SQUIN (Single Question aimed
at Inducing Narrative)
I’d like you to tell me about …
OR Could you walk me through …
OR Could you teach me about …
Start where you like. We have up to thirty minutes. I’ll listen. I won’t interrupt.
Prompts
Quizzical look
Nod head
Silence
Probes
Repeat single word or phrase in
a quizzical tone
e.g. gancho?
Could you give me an example?
What do you mean by … ?
After a probe: Thank
you, you were saying …
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Phase Two:
Probing
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You said …
Can you give me an example of …
?
Can you give me any more
examples?
Were you thinking of a
particular event?
What exactly do you mean by … ?
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Phase Three:
Follow-up (on a separate day)
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You said OR You talked about OR
You mentioned …
How typical is … ?
What happens if … ?
How would you refer to … ?
Other techniques (questions
to be worded on the field):
Request description of icons
Request mini-tours
Request illustration or further
exemplification
Deliberately misstate a segment
of meaning and elicit clarification
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APPENDIX C:
A SELECTION OF
INTERVIEW DATA
Research Question
One: What does EML mean to teachers and
learners? How do they experience EML?
AC.1
“It’s not all ‘do this, do that,’ we do projects,
we talk and learn by doing.”
“Like when I
taught elementary school, the kids learn mostly by doing their own thing,
discovering things for themselves. It’s
the same here, I don’t tell them, I get them to find out what they want to
know.”
“They learn a
lot when we do plays and sing songs.
They soak stuff up like a sponge.”
“It’s up to
them to learn. My job is to be there and
support them and ask questions to check they’re learning and not just
memorizing.”
“Being a
teacher is like being a pastor, you’re there to support and guide and help them
develop and make good choices.”
AC.2
“There’s an unwritten curriculum. […]
Art, conversation, respect for
people, how to argue, um, you know developing as a whole person.”
“Developing
people, that’s my view of education.
People who think and share and who can uh who can relate to others.”
“I teach
English, but also lots of other skills and things too, like how to be a good
citizen.”
“I think,
what’s the point of teaching them to talk English if they don’t have anything
to say? Or if they don’t understand people?”
“You can
instil confidence, not just speaking English, generally you can give them more
confidence in themselves. You can say to
them wow, look, that was real good, you’ll go far. You’re teaching me.”
AC.3
“We talk a lot
about culture. When it comes up, it
always does, […] I love to get them to explain to me what they think and how
they do it here.”
“It helps them
see, say, we aren’t all cold in England, it’s just we aren’t so demonstrative
except to a few close friends. But I
love to hear what my students think. At
the end of the day, they’re going to meet foreigners and have to deal with them
so it’s good for them to know these differences.”
“I use the
class to ask my own questions. I’m
always thinking oh I better ask the class that.
So I check with them how to barter and what way to put what I want to
say.”
“It’s great to
see them glow when they tell me about their culture and why they like it.”
“I’m Canadian
and proud of it, and they’re proud as can be to be Bolivian so we’re coming
from different places. Sometimes the
differences are clear like when I want one person to talk at a time and they
just all shout out. But we learn how
each other works. And I feel quite
Bolivian now. […] No, they don’t live
there, my students don’t feel Canadian or anything I don’t think. But they understand a bit about us.”
“I love ending
class by saying thanks for teaching me something I didn’t know.”
AC.4
“I like them
to notice things and tell me what they think.
At the end of the day it’s about them being shocked in class where we
can talk about it and not in real life where maybe they get offended by some
new missionary or something.”
“I start to
see things in my own background that I don’t really like, like we can be so
cold and business-like. And and we
constantly look at our clock.”
“The book we
use is just all holidays, hobbies, holidays, coffee, you know. My students want to ask more important things
than where are you going on your holidays.
I apologize for being so superficial (laughs) and I tell them well
that’s just us maybe, we just buy things and don’t think maybe it make us blind
about what’s happening around us.”
“Consumerism
is the big one. Students notice in the
textbook we’re always buying things and paying for meals and drinks and going
clubbing. And I tell them yeah you’re
right, there are more important things in life.”
“No soy ni más ni menos boliviana. Sigo igual.
Pero tengo algo más, otra dimensión digamos.” [I’m neither more nor less
Bolivian. I’m still the same. But I have something more, another
dimension.]
“Soy más latino.
No sabía antes, pero sí somos muy diferentes a los gringos. Eso he apredido de mi curso de inglés.” [I’m
more Latin. I didn’t know before, but
yes, we’re very different to gringos.
I’ve learnt that from my English course.]
“Sí, me doy cuenta de la gran diferencia cultural
que existe entre los gringos y nosotros el pueblo Aymará, que extistimos para
ser y vivir, no para tener.” [Yes, I realize the big difference that there is between gringos
and us, the Aymara people, that we exist to be and to live, not to have.]
AC.5
“If we leave
it to the Bolivian government, regular kids won’t learn because there are so
few resources. If we leave it to this
big TEFL industry then only the richest two per cent of kids can afford
it. I hate the way English is supposed
to be so important but most people can’t afford it because it’s usually taught
in private schools. More like companies
some of them than schools.”
“It’s an
export. Thatcher always wanted to privatise
everything and that’s just what happened to TEFL. You got to buy it. It’s like a product.”
“TEFL isn’t
really education. It can be but look at
those schools where it’s all six week courses and you know there’s no thought,
it’s all memorizing. It’s not teaching,
it’s training.”
“I think we
need to go against this capitalism sort of English thing. At the moment you got to have money to
learn. We’re teaching anybody that wants
to. And it’s not just English like wham
bam there you go, we think things through and we talk about stuff.”
“I used to
work in a private school but I quit.
It’s not real education, it’s all for exams. I remember when education was about
teaching. Remember they said a teacher
was psychologist, social worker, teacher, what else, you know everything, but
now it’s just impersonal and not very human.
In TEFL anyway I think.”
“TEFL today is
supply and demand. It’s about jobs, not
developing yourself. It’s a pity. I’m glad I don’t have no company to answer
to.”
“Yeah, there’s
a moral element to our church classes.
Isn’t that just real education?
Education isn’t just a list of facts to learn. Where’s the care and nurture in that?”
EML as an Herramienta
AC.6
“English is a
modern language with, there’s a lot of info out there that could help Bolivians
modernize too. Especially doing business
with other countries, I think they need that.”
“New medical
research, and I’m a nurse by trade you know, so the medical and nursing fields
need developed here. There’s so much sickness.”
“We have some
partners who run income-generation projects.
Like growing things instead of coca, the Americans want to eradicate
coca. So they could maybe read what
grows well and how to grow more crops than just coca.”
“There are so
many resources like sermons, commentaries, books, devotionals. And they could really help train new Bolivian
leaders but they don’t often translate them.”
“We don’t want
them to start speaking English, we should learn Spanish. But sometimes if they’re at a summit, not a
summit, like an international assembly, then it would be useful for them to
speak English.”
AC.7
“It’s about
teaching them English. They have
Bolivian teachers for other things. My
job is to get them reading English.”
“No I suppose
it isn’t very, what would you call it?
We don’t talk a lot about feelings and things. But we’re there to teach English and I have
to get that done first if I’m going to do my job well. That doesn’t mean you don’t care about the
students, I just mean we have to use the time we have as best we can.”
“A lot of
missionaries like to teach by talking and discussing and they kind of just feel
their way along but I learned on a CELTA course how to plan a lesson and teach
it and at the end I know if it was successful because I can say yes I taught
that and I saw them use it in the last activity and I know they know it.”
“I teach
grammar, vocabulary, everything. All the
component bits of English that they need to put together to speak like an
English speaker.”
“Some missionaries
think teaching is about passing the time of day. I always start with an objective or an
aim. I want to be able to say after the
lesson that they did something they couldn’t do before.”
“We focus on
reading a lot of the time because it’s authentic material and they can pick up
lots of useful language points. The
focus is really making sure they can read and understand. You can do all the touchy feely stuff you
like, but the aim of the game is, it’s, well it’s understanding what they hear
and learning how to say it themselves.”
“I keep it to the
teaching points because if my class turns into a sermon then there’s something
called the social affective filter and if that turns on because somebody feels
like I’m forcing them to hear a God-spot every lesson they aren’t going to
learn much.”
“Every lesson
is about a tense or some new words about a topic and at the end I want them to
know it so we can move on in the next class.”
“I’ve a list
of, I’ve got a syllabus of sorts, and I have to cover it. They need to get the basics.”
“They’re starting
at, well not zero, but most are false beginners. You really need to start from the very
beginning and teach every little bit.
There’s lots of repetition and drilling.”
“At the end of
the day, I’m aware that it’s a language class, not a religion class. As much as I might want to shout out
hallelujah, I don’t want to make students uncomfortable. But I still see myself as a Christian
teacher. I plan, I come prepared, I’m
fair and hard-working. And I’m doing
this for free, because I see the value in it.
But if I spend time witnessing or preaching, I’m not able to cover what
the students need to learn.”
“Of course,
I’m like anybody else, I hope to have a positive impact on my classes, but all
I can judge is whether or not they know what I taught them in a lesson.”
“I think the
teacher has to be there to guide.
Sometimes when they know you’re a missionary they think it’s all going
to be discussions and, and you know, fun, I know it should be fun, but there’s
a purpose to it. So I find I have to
keep quite tight control. It’s nice to
hear their stories and everything but it’s easy to digress and just spend the
hour chatting. And you leave and you
don’t know if anybody learned anything.”
AC.9
“I use the
teacher’s book and I plan lessons the way I learned to on my course. It’s just standard procedure, you know, I
follow the general pattern. It’s what
works best.”
“I learned to
teach English in the States and I guess it’s the way to do it round the world. I learned together with guys who wanted to go
to Europe and Asia and teach.”
“The books we use, I
think they’re used all over the world.
It’s a good way to show them real English like we speak it in
Australia. It’s good because they see a
bit what life’s like where English is actually spoken.”
“The level of
English here in Bolivia is real low.
They don’t really teach it well in schools, I think it’s compulsory but
I mean you wouldn’t think it by how little they speak. And that means there’s a lot of work to do if
they’re going to learn to speak it, not just learn grammar and all that but
really speak it. If they’re going to
read theology or whatever in English that’s a long way to go.”
“Yeah there’s a lot
of … , we know this is the best way to teach because Cambridge and Oxford they
teach people to do it that way.”
“I think
they’ve done loads of research, we can be pretty sure the methods in the
teacher’s book work. People spend a long
time learning and studying these things before they can write a textbook.”
AC.10
“Cuando hablo inglés en la clase, es un
poco como ser actriz.” [When
I speak English in class it’s a little like being an actress.]
“Hacemos cosas como el roleplay, hablamos como
personas de allá.”
[We do
things like role plays, we talk like people from there.]
“Es como ser un gringo rico. Hablamos de cosas que no tenemos acá y es
como estar en otro mundo. Sí, es como soy mas gringo yo.” [It’s
like being a rich gringo. We talk about
things we don’t have here and it’s like being in another world. Yes, it’s like I’m more gringo.]
“Sí, un
poco. He cambiado. Me he enchufado al mundo de información y de
recursos que existe, que no conocemos en Bolivia.”
[Yes, a little. I’ve changed.
I’ve plugged into the world of information and resources that exists,
which we don’t know in Bolivia.]
“No he
cambiado, pero sí a veces después de mirar tantas cosas estadounidenses sí es
como estar entre dos mundos.” [I
haven’t changed, but yes, sometimes after seeing so many things from the U.S.
yes, it’s like being between two worlds.]
“El teacher es de Estados Unidos. Me interesa saber más de su vida, su forma de
vida allá. Es bueno porque si no hay
profes de allá, sólo vemos los norteamericanos en la tele y no sé si todos son
así.” [The teacher is from the United
States. I’m interested in knowing more
about his life, his lifestyle there.
It’s good because if there are no teachers from there, we only see North
Americans on TV I don’t know if they’re all like that.]
“They want to know what
a real Am… , North American is like.
They want to know about everything so I suppose we’re like a role model
or something. As a Christian I think
it’s good to be a role model but they sort of see you as Christian and
American. But there are so many
Americans around, Bolivians I suppose they should know what we’re like and how
to deal with us.”
“They know
about Bolivian culture but they don’t know about American culture. Sometimes they don’t really get it when we
read something and I have to talk them through.
Sometimes they ask me why people don’t go to college nearer home, why
they go out so much and things like that so I explain what way things work in
the States.”
“I’m Australian and
I suppose I always will be. And they
always think I’m American or British. I
don’t know, I’m used to it now. They’re
really good (laughs), they put up with my funny ways, my punctuality and being
like being a bit, not cold, but dry maybe.
They get used to me too. I just
tell them sorry that’s what we’re like.
And if they’re going to learn English and speak it to people they better
get used to it (laughs).”
EML
as a Gancho
AC.11
“English is a
real gancho, you know what I mean? (makes hook shape with finger)It like
helps me to get to know people, there’s no need to go out advertising or
anything because they hear you’re English and they ask you to teach them.”
“It opens doors to preach the gospel.”
“It’s the
fastest way to meet other young people and get to know them.”
“Teaching English is
one thing but it’s just for this life.
The real reason is to tell them how they can be saved.”
AC.12
“Nos dijo que era evangélico y que quería
conocernos y enseñarnos a hablar inglés.
Yo quería, me dijo su amigo de él, que es boliviano que en la clase
podríamos hablar de la biblia.” [He
told us he was an Evangelical and he wanted to get to know us and teach us to
speak English. I wanted to, his friend
told me, who’s Bolivian, that in the class we could talk about the Bible.]
“All the guys
who come know the score, you know, we don’t trick people. Imagine if we trick them and lock the doors
and give a gospel presentation, that’s not the way to do it. You don’t trick people or force people.”
“I suppose
they all have different reasons why they’re learning. But for me the important thing is their
souls. […] English is just a
language. I don’t even know if we’ll
speak it in heaven. So if it open doors
for me to talk about God to these young people then that’s great.”
“We have some great
discussions. We talk about loads of
stuff like what we want in life, what’s a priority for us and well we always
end up talking about the Lord. […] I do swing discussions that way I suppose,
but it’s who I am. It’s the real reason
I’m here. […] Yeah ultimately it’s why I agreed to teach
English.”
“I’m an
evangelist but that doesn’t mean I have to stand on a street corner and bash a
Bible and shout at passers-by. These
days we talk about relational evangelism, so my job is to get alongside people. […]
I’m no language expert, believe me, but the guys at church asked me to
teach them so we thought hey what a great opportunity to get non-Christians in
too and help them and maybe share with them about the Lord.”
“I don’t think
anybody’s ever been shocked to hear me pray in class or say write up a
favourite Bible verse on the board. In
practice you know most of the guys in my class are Christians anyway, and they
bring along their friends from university or whatever. And we treat them all the same. But yeah they know we’re Christians and they
respect us and we respect them.”
“No, I’ve never felt
worried or uncomfortable or anything if that’s what you mean. I think English is useful for them and I know
they need to be saved so no, I don’t really have any major issues with it.”
“What are you
calling me a meanie, are you like saying that I trick people? (laughs) No, it’s not like that at all. […]
Obviously people will freak out if they think you tricked them. No, if we say we’re going to teach them
English we got to follow through. It
wouldn’t be a very good witness to go round telling lies. But we tell people when they ask why we can
do the class for free we say we’re Christians and we want to get to know them
and learn their language too and their culture.
And we say we’re Christians and I think they expect we’ll say something
about God to them. But we never force
them to talk about God.”
AC.13
“When I
arrived they said, “Why don’t you teach English? It’s a great way to get to know people and
build relationships.” But I thought it
would be easier, that’s why I said yes.
I always knew this was just til something else came up but it’s been
hard work. Cos I don’t know how to
answer their questions or how to talk simple enough.”
“Yeah I’m
pretty fed up. Not of talking to the
ones who come, just me teaching English.
I’m looking forward to real missionary work.”
“I wasn’t
expecting to do this, so sometimes I panic a bit and think what am I going to
do today? Yeah, if I’d of known before I
came I’d of done a course and got ready.
My background’s not in this at all, it’s really just something to help
people out while I find my feet and get ready for my ministry.”
“No, I don’t
see this as a ministry. I see it as
helpful and it’s good for me too because I can get to know Bolivians and learn
what’s important for them and stuff like that.
But no I don’t see it like it’s a ministry.”
“Hay objetivos diferentes. Puede ser un instrumento para llamar a la
gente, para agarrar a gente. Es un tipo
de gancho.” [There are different aims. It can be an instrument to attract people, to
grab people. It’s a type of hook.]
“Poco a
poco, sí, puedes hablar de doctrina evangélica en el aula. Tomas opotunidades, ¿no? Pero no obligas.” [Little
by little, yes, you can talk about evangelical doctrine in the classroom. You take opportunities, don’t you? But you don’t force it.]
“I’d hope they had
the same vision I have but I very much doubt it. A lot of them, they arrive and value other
things but teaching English is something they do because they’re asked to, but
they go along and do it. And I think to
justify it to supporters back home they try to force into their teaching a
Christian message. But those teachers,
well would you even call them teachers? They don’t last long. Because you can’t teach well and be always
forcing the language to describe the gospel.
I don’t think you can easily spell out the gospel in an English class
and still be teaching. Once you do that
you’ve stopped teaching English and you’re preaching in the language
classroom. That’s it I suppose. Preaching in the classroom is not teaching
English, but some people want it to be.
And when they can’t keep it up and they realize they aren’t really
teaching English any more, they soon give it up.”
“I had no
background in TEFL or anything like that.
But the opportunity arose and since I was just settling in I thought hey
it’s better than nothing. It was
important at that time but I always thought of it as an entretiempo till
something else came up.”
“Hmm. (Shrugs)
It can be. It helps you get to know
people when you first arrive. But
Bolivia is an open country anyway. I
think it might be different in Muslim countries. There it’s a ministry. It gives opportunities to preach the
gospel. In fact in my classes I was
criticized by some of the local brothers for not preaching in class. But I suppose teaching and preaching are two
different things. If they expect to
learn English and they just hear Christianity they feel engañado [cheated].”
“I taught in
Ayacucho Baptist Church. Most of them
were Christians, say two thirds. They
brought their non-Christian friends with them.
Non-Christians won’t go if they think you just want to convert them.”
“I have no
reservations about talking about God in class.
We’re the ones in the West with the hang-up, Bolivians’ lives seem less
compartmentalized than ours. They don’t
relegate spirituality to a Sunday morning or to a private area of their life,
they talk about everything, man, they ask why you aren’t married, they ask how
much money you got, and they seem happy to me to talk about God, so long as you
don’t force anything on them they don’t want to hear. I don’t do altar calls or lead them to repeat
prayers of salvation after me, you know (laughs) but sure, I ask who they turn
to in times of trouble and what they think happens after they die and sure
after I listen to them, I might say what I think too.”
AC.14
“No, sabes el hermano que es teacher en la
clase de nosotros no es educador,
digamos, eso ya lo sabemos, es otra cosa, es que habla inglés y podemos
practicar lo que sabemos con él, y también él nos enseña muchas cosas sobre que
hacen ustedes allá en Estados Unidos. Y
se aprende de él muchas palabras que no sabíamos. He pasado clases en la U pero te cuento no
nos enseñan a hablar, sólo leemos y estudiamos la gramática. Pero el hermano nos permite hablar. Es divertido.” [No, you know, the brother who is teacher in
our class isn’t a qualified teacher, let’s say, we know that, he’s something
else, it’s that he speaks English and we can practise what we know with him,
and also he teaches us a lot of things about what you guys do in the United
States. And you learn a lot of words
from him that we didn’t know. I’ve taken
classes at uni but you know they don’t teach us to talk, we just read and we
study grammar. But the brother lets us
talk. It’s fun.]
AC.15
“Es
divertido porque hablamos de hartas cosas.
Hablamos del Evo, de la coca, de la cultura, del cine, si de hartas
cosas diferentes. [...] Si no estoy de
acuerdo con el hermano, o mejor si el dice algo que ha malentendido sobre mi
país, claro lo corrijo. Es así en la
clase, se puede hablar con él. Y somos
así en Latinoamérica, nos encanta hablar de todas formas, de todo. Somos bien alegres y a veces el hermano tiene
que decirnos que no hablemos todos a la vez.”
[It’s fun because we talk about
loads of stuff. We talk about Evo, about
coca, about culture, about films, yeah about loads of different things. […] If
I disagree with the brother, or I mean if he says something that he’s
misunderstood about my country, I correct him.
That’s what it’s like in class, you can talk to him. And we’re like that in Latin America, we love
to talk about everything. We’re really
happy people and sometimes the brother has to tell us not to talk all at once.]
“Por ejemplo Carnavales. El hermano dijo una vez que era más o menos
como Navidad en su país de ustedes, pero se le dije yo que no es así, que no
somos así en Bolivia porque eso tiene que ver con los dioses de los Incas, con
Pachamama y todo, y no nos metemos en esas cosas los evangélicos.” [For
example Carnaval. One time the brother
said it was more or less like Christmas in your country, but I told him it’s
not like that, that we’re not like that in Bolivia because that has to do with
the gods of the Incas, Pachamama and all, and we evangelicals don’t get into
those things.]
“Es divertido, podemos discutir temas
interesantes. Pues soy latina, me
encanta hablar, somos muy sociables. Nos
gusta hablar de Bolivia y de las cosas que son importantes para nosotros. Es divertido hablar de esas cosas con el
teacher que es de Inglaterra.” [It’s fun, we can discuss
interesting topics. You see, I’m Latina,
I love to talk, we’re very sociable. We
like to talk about Bolivia and the things that are important to us. It’s fun talking about these things with the
teacher who’s from England.”
“Me gusta hablar de la vida y como es allá
en su país. Y explicarle a él como es
acá en Bolivia.” [I like to talk about life and what it’s
like there in his country. And explain
to him what it’s like here in Bolivia.]
“A veces se nota sí, como cuando nos dice
que podemos hacer tal cosa, o nos invita despues del clase a tomar un cafecito
con el, no se da cuenta de que no tenemos permiso de nuestros papas. En Bolivia, es que la familia tiene mucha
importancia, no es como en Estados Unidos. No debemos salir a tomar café sin
que lo sepan los papas. Y ademas, hay que
decirle que no siempre hay platita para tomar café. Y se lo digo y pide disculpa, dice que no lo
sabia.” [Sometimes you notice it, yes, like
when he tells us we can do something, or he invites us after class to have a
coffee with him, he doesn’t realize that we don’t have permission from our
parents. In Bolivia, the family is much
more important, it’s not like in the United States. We mustn’t go out for coffee without our
parents knowing. And anyway, you have to
tell him that we don’t always have money for coffee. And I tell him and he apologizes and says he
didn’t know.]
“Me gusta aprender por hablar de Dios,
pues eso me interesa, es mejor que en otras clases.” [I
like to learn by talking about God, because it interests me, it’s better than
in other classes.]
“Aprendo mas cosas en las clases
cristianas. Porque me interesa, es algo
que quiero discutir de veras.” [I learn more things the Christian classes. Because it interests me, it’s something that
I really want to talk about.]
“No soy evangélica como ellos, somos tres
creo que no lo somos. Pero hablamos con
los demás, hablamos de sus ideas y lo que hacen. Y ellos nos escuchan, no todos pero el
teacher sí.” [I’m not an evangelical like them, I
think there are three of us who aren’t.
But we speak with the others, we speak about their ideas and what they
do. And they listen to us, not everybody
but the teacher does.]
“No me quejo. Sí hablan siempre de Dios pero yo también
creo en Dios, soy católica. Y es mejor
que nada. Estoy feliz porque hay esta
clase y no pago nada.” [I don’t complain. Yes, they always talk about God but I believe
in God too, I’m Catholic. And it’s
better than nothing. I’m happy because
there’s this class and I don’t pay anything.”
AC.16
“Hablan siempre de la vida en las grandes
ciudades, de gente muy culta. Soy
Aymara, pienso en otras cosas tal vez, y no me gusta hablar en la clase porque
es otra forma de hablar, hasta en castellano.” [They
always talk about life in big cities, about very cultured people. I’m Aymara, maybe I think about other things,
and I don’t like to talk in class because it’s another way of talking, even in
Spanish.]
“Los metizos paceños hablan bien, saben de
esas cosas como la música y la comida gringa.
Yo no.” [The mestizos
(mixed indigenous-European race) from La Paz speak well, they know about those
things like gringo music and food. I don’t.]
“A veces me siento, ay no sé, no es que me
siento mal exactamente, pero digamos [...]
bueno, si habla de la plata, de la economía, no me gusta a veces, pues
yo soy del campo donde casi no tenemos nada y me parece que ella no sabe como
es el asunto allá. […] No, no le digo
nada. Los Aymara como yo, somos tímidos,
no somos como los peruanos.” [Sometimes I feel, oh I
don’t know, I don’t feel bad exactly, but let’s say [...] well, if she talks
about money, about the economy, sometimes I don’t like it, because I’m from the
country where we have almost nothing and it seems to me that she doesn’t
realize what it’s like there. […] No, I don’t say anything to her. Aymara people like me, we’re shy, we aren’t
like the Peruvians.”
AC.17
“Yeah, it’s a
bit weird writing people in the bulletin about teaching English when they sent
you out and they gave you money to preach and teach and all. But they understand we have to be creative
the way we share the gospel.”
“When I know
it’s time to write home, yeah maybe it’s more on my mind what I came here to
do, so I suppose I might say a bit more God stuff directly in the class.”
“To be honest
yeah, sometimes I think about why I came and I probably try to up the Christian
level of the class.”
“There’s
pressure here to teach English, and there’s pressure at home to justify your
support and be doing real missionary work.”
Research Question Two:
What dialectics are experienced in the classroom?
A Cultural Dialectic
AC. 18
“Viven solos desde muy
jovenes. No les importa la familia. No sé si
es bueno.
Son ricos pero a nivel personal son muy pobres también. Si es el futuro, no sé si me gusta.” [They
live alone from they’re very young.
Family isn’t important to them. I
don’t know if it’s good. They’re rich
but on a personal level they’re very poor too.
If it’s the future, I don’t know if I like it.]
“Sólo hablan de amigos. No pertenecen a buenas familias como las
nuestras.” [They only talk about friends. They don’t belong to good families like
ours.]
“Hay mucha independencia. No podría ser como los personajes de
Headway.” [There’s a lot of independence. I couldn’t be like the characters in
Headway.]
“Usan muchos horarios. Me parece que no disfrutan del presente,
siempre hay metas.” [They use a lot of timetables. It doesn’t seem to me that they enjoy the
present, there are always targets.]
“Es otra forma de vivir. Son ricos pero no disfrutan de ellas. No disfrutan de su familia porque trabajan y
salen.” [It’s another way of life. They’re rich but they don’t enjoy them. They don’t enjoy their family because they
work and they go out.]
“Hablan de una forma muy eficaz. Aca en Bolivia hablamos de otra forma. No puedes decir que tenemos cinco minutos
para cumplir la actividad. Si se puede,
seguimos hablando, y no solo cumplimos lo necesario.” [They
talk in a very efficient way. Here in
Bolivia we talk in another way. You
can’t say we have five minutes to complete the activity. If we can, we keep talking, and we don’t just
complete what is necessary.]
“Siempre compran. Compran y compran. Tienen muchos lujos.” [They’re
always buying. They buy and buy. They have a lot of luxuries.]
“Su comida no es buena ni su vida
familiar. Por ejemplo me parece que
cuidan mas cuando lavan su auto que cuando lavan los platos.” [Their
food isn’t good, nor their family life.
For example it seems to me that they pay more attention to washing their
car than washing the dishes.]
“Hay muchas cosas bonitas en los libros
que usamos. No hay esas cosas aca. No tengo celos pero no me gusta aprender
sobre tantas cosas que se puede comprar tampoco. Prefiero hablar de las relaciones humanas. Quiero mas bien compartir.” [There
are a lot of nice things in the books we use.
There aren’t those things here.
I’m not jealous but I don’t like learning about so many things you can
but either. I prefer to talk about human
relations. I’d rather share.]
“Se tratan bien, sus cuerpos, comen mala
comida y todo. Estan siempre de
vacaciones y salen muy a menudo. Tienen
mucha plata.” [They treat themselves well, their
bodies, they eat bad food and all.
They’re always on holidays and going out. They’ve a lot of money.]
“No tienen problemas como nosotros
aca. Tienen bastante dinero.” [They
don’t have problems like us here. They
have enough money.]
“No me gusta ver esa forma de vivir. Solo piensan en cosas muy tontas que no son
buenas. Se compran todos los caprichos.” [I
don’t like to see that lifestyle. They
just think about silly things that aren’t good.
They buy everything they fancy.]
AC.19
“The books we
use aren’t really ideal like for Bolivia.
It’s like we show them a lifestyle that they can only dream about and
they react when they see it. They think
we’re spoilt. I feel like I’m more on
their side.”
“We talk about
culture and what they don’t like and why.
And American culture seems to be spreading and lots of Bolivians want to
buy into it. So it’s relevant. But it’s not always comfortable. For me as the teacher especially.”
“They like
looking at our culture, and they don’t like it.
It arouses some pretty strong feeling.
Some of them despair if this is the future, if they get more
Americanized.”
“We talk
through these things. It’s not just
learning English but learning about people who speak it. And they don’t have to like Americans but
they have to say why, what exactly it is they don’t like.”
“They use the
class often I think to tell me why they prefer to be Bolivian and not
American.”
AC.20
“Of course we do culture sometimes,
like at Halloween and
Thanksgiving, so they know about our traditions. And food, that’s
cultural isn’t it? Sometimes
it’s hard to explain our food and they like
that.”
“El profe no habla de las diferencias
culturales. Me siento medio mal a veces
porque no me gusta la cultura norteamericana.
No sé. Hay algo que no me gusta
porque atrae a todos pero no es saludable.” [The
teacher doesn’t talk about cultural differences. I sometimes feel a bit bad because I don’t
like the North American culture. I don’t
know. There’s something I don’t like
because it attracts everybody but it’s not healthy.]
A Political
Dialectic
AC.21
“People assume you voted Bush.
Believe me I didn’t.”
“Living here
you get different perspectives. I’d say
I’m a Republican but that doesn’t mean I supported the war. But to a Bolivian you’re a Bush supporter.”
“I don’t think
I’m really a capitalist in my heart of hearts, even though that’s what people
think of gringos here. I say I’m
a Christian and that comes from the Middle East and it’s not capitalist. It’s hard when you get stereotyped.”
AC.22
“If we like it
or not the U.S. calls the shots in the Americas and speaking English can only
be a good thing.”
“Hay que hablar inglés. Si no, no se puede ingresar a la modernidad. Y Bolivia tiene que modernizarse mucho.” [You
have to speak English. If not, you can’t
become modern. And Bolivia has to
modernize a lot.]
“A veces me siento un poquito traidor,
como, ay no se. No quiero dejar mi
país. Soy orgulloso de Bolivia. No quiero cambiar mi país y no quiero ser mas
gringo. Hay gente gringa en la Zona Sur,
bolivianos pero adinerados con muchos amigos gringos. Gringolandia se llama. No quiero ser así.” [Sometimes
I feel a little like a traitor, because, oh I don’t know. I don’t want to leave my country. I’m proud of Bolivia. I don’t want to change my country and I don’t
want to be more gringo. There are gringo
people in the Zona Sur (exclusive area of La Paz), Bolivians but wealthy with a
lot of gringo friends. Gringoland they
call it. I don’t want to be like that.]
“Los que hablan inglés, me parece que
tienen más plata, digo dinero. Quiero
ganar dinero por trabajar duro y no por ser medio gringo.” [People
who speak English, it seems to me they have more dough, I mean money. I want to earn money by working hard and not
by being half gringo.]
AC.23
“I teach English because it’s what
they ask me to teach but I’m not
sure how
useful it is. Sure it might be, but I
don’t think it’s the magic answer they expect it is.”
“They don’t
say so but I think some students are hoping to go live in the States. We talk about it, about living in the U.S.
and they tell me what life must be like there, and I wonder if maybe we give
them the wrong idea. It ain’t like they
think for foreigners going to live there.”
“I hope they
get the chance to think about these things.
If they learn English good they might get jobs in multi-national
companies or as tour guides. I hope, I
really hope they think about these things.
They might not be as good as they seem.
We talk in class about them.”
An Evangelical
Dialectic
AC.24
“I don’t use the Bible a lot but most classes we might do a memory
verse. We use some Christian pamphlets
too.”
“I don’t say
so much in class, but I invite them to come along to church with me or talk to
me after class if they want to talk about anything.”
“We talk about
marriage, money, let’s see […] everything, say what happens after you die,
family, poverty, corruption. And sure
I’ll tell them my opinion as a Christian.”
AC.25
“I’m not there to preach, I’m there to
teach. But being a missionary isn’t all
saving souls, you have to invest in people a bit longer term than that. And you have to see the whole person, not
just a soul to be saved, the whole person, body, spirit, mind, soul.”
“Teachers have
a pastoral role too, I think. It’s
something we hopefully can offer that’s really important and maybe they don’t
get that pastoral side other places.”
“I’m here to
help people and some say learning English helps so here I am. I’m not here to preach but if people ask why
I came I tell them the spiritual reasons.”
“Sure, at
times I think maybe the spiritual need is greater than the need to learn
English. But I committed to teaching
English. That’s what I plan for and if
anything else happens then that’s great.”
AC.26
“Escogí esta clase porque me gusta
discutir las cosas y es interesante. El
hermano nos dice muchas cosas sobre la fe y me gusta, es más personal. Si no estoy de acuerdo, porque a veces los
misioneros de allá son menos conservadores que nosotros, se lo digo. No me da temor decirselo.” [I chose this class because I like to discuss
things and it’s interesting. The brother
tells us a lot of things about the faith and I like it, it’s more
personal. If I don’t agree, because
sometimes the missionaries from there aren’t so conservative as us, I tell
them. I’m not scared to tell them.]
“Sabemos todos que el teacher es un
hermano y hay confianza. Se puede
decirle todo lo que sentimos.” [We all know the teacher is
a brother and there’s confianza (trust, good feeling). You can tell them everything we feel.]
AC.27
“Pues soy
Aymara. Soy mas tímida creo. No puedo discutir con el profe. Quiero pero no puedo, no en la clase no.” [See,
I’m Aymara. I’m shier, I think. I can’t discuss with the teacher. I want to but I can’t, not in the class, no.]
“Si dice algo sobre Dios, si no estoy de
acuerdo, no se. El es el profe. Me callo.
Hablo mas luego con mis compañeros.” [If
he says something about God, if I don’t agree, I don’t know. He’s the teacher. I’m silent.
I speak later with my classmates.]
Research Question Three: What Critical Concerns are there of TEML?
A One-Way Flow of Knowledge
AC.28
“It’s just English.”
“I teach them the way
I’d say it.”
“They get enough
practice so they can say it the natural English way.”
“The point
of reading is they can find out what it means quickly, they don’t have to understand every
word to know what the information means.”
AC.29
“They can find out what the most up-to-date
ways are to do, methods and things in medicine and so on.”
“There’s so
much information out there that would help them if only they knew it, but it’s
in English.”
A
False Promise
AC.30
“I
don’t know. (pause) I imagine they must
do.”
“Maybe we’re still teaching, it
might be some time before they’re ready.”
“I really don’t know. No. (pause) No, sorry. I can’t think of one person I know who
learned English and found it useful except to move to the States. That’s pretty shocking, isn’t it? Maybe we should pack up our bags and go
(laughs).”
Normative ‘Critical’
Pedagogy
AC.31
“Conozco al teacher. Creo que sí, sé que opina él y qué le gusta
escuchar.” [I know the teacher. I think so, I know what he thinks and what he
likes to hear.]
“Es muy buena gente. Nos quiere decir que nuestra cultura es mejor
que la cultura norteamericana. No sé si
es cierto, nos falta mucho en Bolivia pero es, es bueno que nos diga eso.” [She’s
really nice. She wants to tell us that
our culture is better than the North American culture. I don’t know if that’s right, there’s a lot
we don’t have in Bolivia but it’s, it’s nice of her to say that.]
AC.32
“I
don’t want to make little Americans so I teach this way.”
“I just don’t
like the way English is taught a lot of the time so I do it my own way. I teach it more like I’d teach elementary
school […]”
