15 Sept 2003, Issue 3

In Today's Email:

• What are "Universal Values"?
• Upcoming Event - TESOL Forum, submitted by Laura Bryant, TESOL  Inc., Virginia, Alexandria, USA
• Al Jazeera Launches its English Language Website - 5 September, 2003
• Newswatch:
  - American English: The Biggest Casualty in the US Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (AlJazeerah.info, 5 September, 2003)
  - Citizenship and Identity are Two Separate Issues (1942.0rg, 3 September 2003)
• ESL Material Resources
  - Dos and Don'ts in ESL Material Design
  - "A is for Allah" (by Yusuf Islam -aka Cat Stevens) adapted for ESL purposes

What are "Universal Values"?

Sesame Street is no longer simply an innocent happy-go-lucky children's TV show according to Ryan Dilley of BBC News in an article published earlier this week. The world's most famous children's TV show is now sponsored by the US Army, writes Dilley, and is part of a carefully designed strategy to win hearts and minds of Muslim children worldwide. The renewed opportunities the TV show presents for exporting North American values are unmistakable. Dilley writes:

Charlotte Beers, the former ad executive made undersecretary of State for public diplomacy said she was "dazzled" by a co-production of Sesame Street broadcast in Egypt since 2000. "The children are glued to the set. They are learning English, they are learning about American values." The government's Agency for International Development (USAID) is now giving $6.26m for Sesame Street to produce a show for viewers in Bangladesh - a nation with a considerable Muslim population.

[Ryan Dilley, BBC News, 3 September, 2003]

In its defence, Beatrice Chow, spokeswoman of Sesame Street Foreign Co-Productions, argues that Sesame Street 'is not an exporter of American values but universal values such as caring, sharing, respect and understanding'. Dilley is unconvinced and is right to question the nebulous notion of 'universal values'. 

Indeed, can there really be such a thing as 'universal values' or are we simply talking about dominant global values? Is not the idea that all cultures essentially share the same commonsensical view of the world a deliberate marginalisation of 'other' less prominent yet equally important cultural values? These ought to be crucial questions for all ESL teachers and materials writers. It is fair to say that much too often a lot of what goes on in mainstream TESOL activity is too easily passed off as being 'culturally neutral' or at best having a universal appeal. The facile lumping together of culturally diverse values creates an artificial blandness; it promotes certain dominant values and ultimately serves to divert attention away from a genuine interest in the richness of alternative cultural formations. Surely these ought to be strong ethical reasons for teachers to review critically the whole question of values in TESOL.

How do you feel about this issue? Please share your views now on the TI discussion forum.

Related Articles:

Is Elmo Bush's Secret Weapon?
BBC News
3 September, 2003

Upcoming Event: "Teachers Building a Culture of Peace: Classroom Responses to War and Terrorism"

Submitted by Laura Bryant, Teaching English to Speakers of Languages, (TESOL) Inc., Virginia, Alexandria, USA

Washington, DC (October 2003)—Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), with American University, will host a professional development forum entitled Teachers Building a Culture of Peace: Classroom Responses to War and Terrorism at American University in Washington, DC, October 17, 2003, from 8:30 am to 3:15 pm.

This forum offers interactive workshops focused on circular activities and teaching methodologies that respond to the effects of recent global events on classrooms worldwide. Speakers from United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the U.S. Institute for Peace, and the American Red Cross, among others, will facilitate workshops that introduce K–12 and adult education teachers and administrators to innovative classroom activities.

Presentation and workshop topics include:

• The Role of Teachers in Promoting a Culture of Peace
• Engaging ESL Students in Global Learning
• Toward a More Balanced View of Arabs and Muslims
• What is a ‘Culture of Peace’ - And How Do We Get There?

The management of intercultural understanding in the post 9/11 discourse serves as the forum’s major objective.

For more detailed information and the registration form visit TESOL’s Web site at www.tesol.org  and click on professional development. For additional information contact Laura Bryant:

Laura Bryant, Member Relations Coordinator
Email: lbryant@tesol.org
Tel. (703) 518-2511
Fax (703) 836-7864

The following related materials can also be downloaded directly from the TESOL Islamia website:

TESOL Forum Ad: http://www.tesolislamia.org/tin/peace_forum_ad.pdf
Programme Agenda/Description: http://www.tesolislamia.org/tin/peace_forum_agenda.pdf
Forum Registration Form: http://www.tesolislamia.org/tin/peace_forum_reg.pdf

[To download right click on the link and select 'Save Target As...']

Al-Jazeera Launches Its English Language Website:

The launching of the English language website of Al-Jazeera's satellite news channel is undoubtedly an historic event in the ongoing language wars between global media networks in their fight to win hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims not least in these difficult times. It is noteworthy that for many years now the BBC has been quietly broadcasting radio transmissions in Arabic, Urdu and Farsi. And only recently, without too much fuss, CNN has followed suit and launched its Arabic language website at CNNArabic.com.  Things, however, have not been quite as smooth for Al-Jazeera since the famous Arab news channel announced  plans to 'go English' earlier this year. In the first couple of days of launching its provisional 'Coverage of Iraq War' website, it was hacked under mysterious circumstances by a group calling themselves the 'Freedom Cyber Force Militia'. Soon afterwards the US company DataPipe announced it was ending its relationship with the company that operated the site. And in a move to complicate efforts of Al- Jazeera to get its English-language Web site running, Akamai Technologies abruptly cancelled its contract to provide web services for the site.

Could this perhaps be an example of the power of English backfiring? Is this possibly a sign of things to come? Well, much to the discomfiture of the 'Freedom Cyber Force Militia', it certainly does seem to be the case that more and more Arabic language satellite TV networks such as Iqra, Abu Dhabi TV, and Al Majd are increasingly experimenting with transmissions in the English language. This is undoubtedly an interesting development.

The following interesting extract has been taken from the 'About Al Jazeera' section of Al Jazeera's English language website:

Embracing New Horizons:
(accessed 10 September 2003)

Today, as we officially break the "language barrier" with Aljazeera.net English, our dream of bringing "people and continents together" is coming true. A new window of opportunity to see the world through is now opening.

Aljazeera.net English goes behind the scenes to provide every visitor with "the news they don’t see", daringly and boldly as Aljazeera always does.

The website promises to raise traditionally sidelined questions and issues. It upholds the same philosophy of the mother organisation: "The right to speak up". This translates into allowing everyone to express their opinion freely, encouraging debates, viewpoints and counter viewpoints.

Aljazeera.net English has been designed to attract readers from continents poles-apart. Not only does Aljazeera.net English offer a versatile content of news and information, but it also aims to be more interactive.

Our ultimate goal is to set up a more proactive relationship with our audience, where the audience is not simply a visitor at the other end of the line. They are and they will always be an integral part of the news reporting and news making process.

Our team of dedicated journalists with their multi-national education and diversified backgrounds share a common set of attributes: objectivity, accuracy, and a passion for truth.

Truth will be the force that will drive us to raise thorny issues, to seize every opportunity for exclusive reporting, to take hold of unforgettable moments in history and to rekindle the willpower within every human being who strives for truth.

Related Articles:

Al-Jazeera websites 'Hit by Hackers'
The Guardian
Wednesday March 26, 2003

Hackers Beat Up on Al-Jazeera
Wired News
27 March, 2003

Akamai Cancels a Contract For Arabic Network's Site
New York Times
April 4, 2003, Friday

Al Jazeera Shunned, Intimidated in Western Capitals
http://english.aljazeera.net
Thursday 03, April, 2003

Newswatch:

ESL Material Resources: The Dos and Don'ts of ESL Material Design