DEFINITION

What is global advocacy? Global advocacy is defined here as supporting, embracing, and sponsoring an environmental, political, or social issue that has worldwide appeal. The topics have great interest for our English-language-learning students because they can be controversial, which means that, as firmly expressed in the preface of Citizenship and Language Learning: International Perspectives (Osler & Starkey, 2005), learning will occur in our classrooms at a faster rate.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

In the past, this topic has not been widely addressed with regard to teaching English around the world; however, the concern has gradually begun to spread throughout academia. In 2005 Chris Palmer from the British Council held a conference in New York entitled “Global Citizenship and Language Learning: Education in a Multilingual World” at which educators discussed political and ethical issues of teaching English around the world. This was a follow-up to a seminar held in 2003 titled “Citizenship and Language Teaching,” which focused on issues of social concern for English language students. Some of the issues included were human rights, social justice, and local, national, and global identities. The 2003 one-week seminar attracted 70 participants (Carmona, 2010) and the concept of “global citizenship” was reestablished during the 2005 seminar with almost 200 attendees. There, language development and social awareness were fully examined.

Since the publication of the conference proceedings, two books have emerged dealing to a certain extent with “global citizens.” Stearns’ (2009) book, Educating Global Citizens in Colleges and Universities: Challenges and Opportunities, offers glimpses of global education analyzing best practices at institutions and focusing on international students, study abroad, curriculum, collaborations, and management concerns. Higher Education in a Global Society (2010), on the other hand, centers on the challenges to higher education in shaping “world citizens” and on internationalizing the curriculum.

REQUIRED SKILLS

Instructor

The instructor needs to know how to use the computer and the Internet and have access to a laboratory if a computer is not available in the classroom. It is best for the instructor to research and be familiar with a few environmental, social, or political issues. Familiarity with these issues helps the students decide on a topic and understand how to complete their assignments.

It is also useful for instructors to join Care2 and start familiarizing themselves with the nuances of the Web site; at the same time, they can learn about different issues and also participate in activities on the Web site themselves. More on how to use Care2 is included below. Joining the TESOLers for Social Responsibility Interest Section at TESOL is another way to gain familiarity with diverse issues. In addition, the selected list of organizations in the appendix has exceptional resources for global advocacy.

Students

The students must be able to navigate the Internet and know how to open an account and create a profile. Most students today know how to do this through Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace; however, lower-level English-language-learning students may require help creating their profiles. If they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary when completing their profiles, a lesson on how to use a dictionary fits well here.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

Care2

The simplest way to engage English-language-learning students in global advocacy is by having them create a profile on Care2.com at www.care2.com. This is an excellent site where students can sign petitions, write letters, click-to-save, and volunteer. Students can also choose environmental, social, and/or political issues to work with. Lower-level English-language-learning students can benefit in various ways:

• It is extremely easy to create a profile in Care2.
• The “Click-to-Save” area contains very little to read about each issue, and it takes only one click for each category the student selects. Alternatively, the student can simply click on every category, including the special click of the day.
• Petitions are already prepared, and all a student needs to do is to sign her or his name to it.
• Even though letter writing is more complicated, many letters are already initiated and sometimes an entire model is presented.
• Each Web site member has a very straightforward home site to edit as he or she wishes.
• A student can volunteer locally through the numerous events that members sponsor around the United States.

In addition, higher-level students can develop their own petitions and submit them to the members for signatures. If they find an international issue or an issue in the news that has not received proper attention, higher-level students on Care2 can write their own petitions asking for a precise number of signatures. It is fun for students to see how the number of signatures surpass the goal before they send it to the proper group, association, or foreign government entities.

Sierra Club and Oil Drilling

Oil drilling in the ocean is as controversial today as it has been since the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in 1989. The topic works well with students, especially when they come from different parts of the world, including some whose governments participate in the oil industry. Therefore, this issue can elicit stimulating and passionate debates in the classroom.

The Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org) is a noteworthy organization that has fought and is still fighting oil drilling off the coasts of the United States. Some sites that have been proposed for drilling are Florida and Alaska; pro-drilling groups and governmental officials have proposed that drilling 50 miles off the coast is safe. The 2010 British Petroleum (BP) Oil spill has created much controversy with any future ocean drilling off the coast of the United States.

It is simple to integrate information about oil spills in the curriculum, especially when it comes to writing assignments and debates. After researching the BP oil spill on the Internet, students can compare and contrast with the Exxon-Valdez spill of 1989. How were they similar or different? Which was worse and why? Higher-level students can look at the causes and effects of each oil spill. What was the cause of each oil spill? What effects did they have on the affected natural environment? How can we stop future oil spills? Should we feel safe drilling off the coast of Florida or in Alaska, for example? Why or why not? This last question can elicit political issues as well.

Furthermore, a classroom debate from different points of view can be fruitful. For instance, the two sides can be environmentalists versus one of the oil spill companies (Exxon or BP), the U.S. government versus BP, or a pro-drilling group versus another that is against drilling for future oil near U.S. coasts. A debate should be done in an orderly fashion in which each group presents a side, and research should have been undertaken before the day of the debate.

Animal Protection Project

Many organizations help protect animals in the wild and others advocate for abused pets. The Humane Society of the United States (www.hsus.org), for example, embarked in a crusade to eradicate puppy mills in 2010. (Puppy mills are larger companies that breed dogs for the sake of breeding and are not concerned if they are inbred or housed in appalling conditions; the main goal is to produce as many puppies as they can to sell at pet shops.)

A puppy mill project is easy to arrange for a class. First, a trip to the local Humane Society is an awakening for English-language-learning students. Following project-based learning principles, students need to be completely involved in carrying out a project. Therefore, all parts of the activity, from making the first phone call to the local Humane Society to arranging transportation from the institution to taking notes, should be executed by the students in the class. It is best that small jobs be divided among the students, or pairs of students if it is a large class. Two students doing a particular job are more effective for lower-level ESL classes because they can help each other with the use of the target language. Following are some suggested steps for the instructor and students or pairs to accomplish:

1. Have a student or two direct the process (make sure things get done on time, etc.).
2. Make initial contact with the local Humane Society or animal shelter to arrange a visit and tour.
3. Contact another instructor to get certified to drive a van in case two vans are needed for transporting students. Each institution has its own way of certifying drivers.
4. Arrange for college transportation, usually a van or two.
5. Copy and distribute copies of articles about puppy mills from the Humane Society of the United States as background reading before taking the trip, or students can read them online at www.hsus.org.
6. Take time during class to develop questions to ask personnel at the Humane Society. (The entire class participates in this part of the project.)
7. Prepare students to handle what they may encounter there. Sometimes it can be very traumatic to see the large number of animals waiting to be adopted.
8. Ask two students to be the note-takers during the excursion. This way there are check and balances with the knowledge gained from the visit.
9. Have both students present their notes to the class upon return or at the following class meeting.
10. Conduct a debriefing class the next time the group convenes or upon arrival back at the institution. This is especially necessary for students who were saddened by their experience. This should be done after reviewing the note-takers’ observations.

Once the visit has been accomplished, it is time for the students to conduct research on a similar topic to be presented to the class. The assignment topic may be something like this: “Research and prepare a presentation on an animal advocacy issue in your home country.” If a student prefers to research an issue from the United States instead, that is also acceptable. Examples are killing of wolves in Alaska, Colorado, and Utah in 2009-2010, the fur industry in China, the slaughter of baby seals in Canada, killing of the whales and dolphins by the Japanese, extinction of the jaguar in Mexico, and poaching of elephants and rhinos in Africa. Many similar topics can be found on Care2.com. These topics can be controversial for students, but the learning experiences behind the projects surpass that of a typical classroom lesson.

Following their research projects, the class can decide as a group on what global advocacy activity they want to engage in. Should they write letters to the Chinese government to stop skinning dogs alive for their coats? Should they hold a fund-raising event to help dogs in shelters in Puerto Rico? Should they instead write letters to the Canadian government to stop the baby seal slaughters or to consumers of the baby seal skin? How about a fund-raising event to help one of these worldwide causes? The number of activities is inexhaustible.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTED RESEARCH

There are many other activities not mentioned above in which English-language-learning students can participate to present their research or discuss their projects. For example, students can do PowerPoint presentations, group debates, reading and writing assignments, and community activities with an international appeal. PowerPoint presentations are very popular with English-language-learning students; the students tend to be very creative utilizing graphs, charts, pictures, and figures with their presentations to display their researched information.

Project themes can also range from human rights issues to effects of cutting down the rainforest and from women’s issues around the world to overpopulation and hunger. As mentioned earlier, the organizations listed in the appendix are fine resources where students can begin searching for the issues closest to their hearts.

The concepts of global citizenship and global advocacy are very new to the ESL/EFL field and there is still much to investigate. How effective as a teaching tool is working with global issues across the diverse cultures that comprise our classrooms? Do certain cultures find certain themes more effective for learning than others? What issues work better with specific ethnic groups? Which projects are most beneficial to the learning process? These and many other questions need to be explored further to infuse our classrooms with worthy topics that induce learning.

REFERENCES

Carmona, J. (2010). World citizens: Engaging ESL students in global advocacy. In J. Carmona (Ed), Language teaching and learning in ESL Education: Current issues, collaborations and practice, 39-49. Charlotte, NC: Kona Publishing and Media Group.

Osler, A., & Starkey, H. (2005). Citizenship and language learning: International perspectives. Stoke on Trent, England: Trentham Books.

Stearns, P. N. (2009). Educating global citizens in colleges and universities: Challenges and opportunities. New York, NY: Routledge.

APPENDIX

A Selective List of Resources

These are organizations where students can participate in global advocacy. They do not have to become members to participate; by signing up to receive their online or e-newsletters electronically, students will find countless advocacy opportunities.

ASPCA www.aspca.org

Care2 www.care2.com

Center for Biological Diversity www.biologicaldiversity.org

Change.org www.change.org

Credo Action www.credoaction.org

Defenders of Wildlife www.defenders.org

Environmental Defense Fund www.edf.org

Facing the Future www.facingthefuture.org

Feeding America www.feedingamerica.org

Global Issues www.globalissues.org

Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org/usa/

Humane Society of the United States www.hsus.org

Oceana www.oceana.org

National Resources Defense Council www.nrdc.org

National Wildlife Federation www.nwf.org

North Shore Animal League www.nsalamerica.org

Pacific Environment www.pacificenvironment.org

Sierra Club www.sierraclub.org

The Wilderness Society www.wilderness.org

UNICEF www.unicef.org

Jose A. Carmona, joseacarmona@gmail.com, is currently teaching in the EAP program at the Hillsborough Community College Ybor City Campus in Tampa, Florida. He is also the cofounder of Global Educational Institute, Inc., in Daytona Beach, Florida. For 25 years, he has taught English as a second language and Spanish classes; chaired departments of languages and adult ESOL and intensive ESL programs; and has been an educational consultant. He has MAs in Spanish and bilingual education and in education, both from Columbia University/Teachers College. His latest book, Language Teaching and Learning in ESL Education: Current Issues, Collaborations and Practice, is forthcoming.