Teaching Global Unity

Workshop I: Understanding Global Culture through Proverbs, Metaphors, and Storytelling

This interactive workshop presents a vision and offers hands-on materials and adaptable resources for teachers to integrate global education, explore citizenship issues and values, foster intercultural communication, and build critical thinking skills while engaging learners to develop English language skills.

Participants will be engaged in values-based activities featuring international proverbs, collective metaphors, and team storytelling, as well as reflective and interactive tasks that explore facets of global education and citizenship.

The theoretical framework is drawn from Michelle LeBaron’s work on bridging worldview conflicts through the use of metaphors and the sharing of stories to engage people in creating shared meaning across cultures.

Highlights of Language Activities:

Proverbs:
Finding Humor in Proverbs
Discovering Universal Meaning in Proverbs
Playing with Heads & Tails Proverbs
Exploring Proverbs and Parts of Speech
Learning to Paraphrase Proverbs

Metaphors:
Decoding Metaphors in Proverbs
Relating to Collective Metaphors
Exploring Intuitive Connections
Writing Haiku Poetry

Storytelling:
Working with Story Props
Collaborating Stories
Linking Folktales and Proverbs
Project: A Unified World

Global Education and Citizenship
Facets of Identity
Overview of Citizenship Education
A Working Framework of Universal Identity

Offered as a 1-2 hour PD workshop or a 6-hour TESOL Diploma elective course at Vancouver Community College.

Workshop II: Perceptions of Self and Others: Evolving Visions

The vision behind this workshop is that all educators have something unique to offer the teaching profession and the global community. The workshop will initiate an exploratory process for language teachers to discover or rediscover a vision of their professional identities.

Drawing from the work of Stephen Brookfield and Jack Mezirow, participants will examine personal values, beliefs, assumptions, life themes, meaning schemes, and professional challenges, to evolve with a vision of their own unique contribution capacity as educators.

Highlights of the Exploration:

Theories:
Critical Reflection - Brookfield
Transformative Learning - Mezirow

Practice:
Identifying Life Themes: An Autobiographical Journey
A Self Paradigm: Values, Beliefs, and Assumptions
Circle of Influence: Professional Challenges

Offered as a 2 - 3 hour PD workshop.

Contact Vivian at vchu2007@hotmail.com