teacher people
Of course, our behaviour as a teacher won’t represent every aspect of ourselves, any more than our behaviour as a lover, friend or parent can. Each role is an expression of the whole: we reveal and explore different facets of ourselves in each, but the more authentically related to the whole these facets are, the happier (and the more convincing!) we tend to be.
The way we express ourselves in a second language is an important aspect of that whole identity and should be cherished, whether we are learning or teaching. If Dogme foregrounds the authentic voice of the learner, it must also foreground the authentic voice of the teacher.
Of course, teaching is a complex activity and our relationship with teaching – and thus with our own identity as teachers – shifts according to time, experience and circumstance. A NNEST may have a complex relationship with their own English (which, as Cecilia points out, can be used to help learners), but this is not the whole story: all teachers have complex and shifting relationships with their knowledge of the subject; with their teaching experience and how it relates to new challenges; with their confidence in class. And, as Richard indicates, variations in UK dialect alone are considerable: NESTs may even find themselves tempering their own dialect when they teach!
Ultimately, Dogme offers a positive lens through which to view Challenge #6. If as suggested in Teaching Unplugged we see each lesson not as a performance, but as an experience, it is our role as teachers and facilitators – and not as exemplars of a language ‘ideal’ – that really counts.
In fact, understood in the context of the sociocultural cognitive model that underpins it, Dogme – far from representing an unattainable ideal for NNESTs – has the potential to make teaching a less tense and more whole-hearted experience.
To scaffold learning we need to know more than the person we're teaching (Bruner's notion of the 'better other'). Instead of constantly straining for the syllabus ideal, unplugged learning unfolds closer to the ground in the zone of proximal development (ZPD).
I like to imagine the ZPD as a shared space somewhere above the learners' current ability (but overlapping with it, because emerging from it), and somewhere below the teacher's technical mastery and knowledge of the target language (but overlapping with it, because drawing on that expertise).
Exploring the ZPD with learners involves two key qualities that I’ve always believed are required in the Dogme classroom: an interest in language, and an interest in people. Provided you’re interested, your expertise at the interface between the two will grow. As Sabrina says: ‘It all comes down to passion.’ Or, as Rick argues: ‘The big difference isn’t whether or not one is a NEST or a NNEST, but whether or not one is or isn’t a teacher.’
It’s interesting that three out of the four responses to Karenne’s sixth challenge to date (at time of writing - see more links, below) have come from NNEST teachers. I’ve met Rick, Cecilia and Sabrina (and Richard) via Twitter, and I feel we’re getting to know each other – or at least the facets of ourselves that we share on Twitter! – quite well. Do I think of Rick, Cecilia and Sabrina as ‘non-native English-speaking teachers’? No, I think of them as people. As people who teach. As teachers.
Words in grey appear in The Index.
Read on... other responses to Dogme Challenge #6:
NESTs vs NNESTs – What is the Big Difference? by Henrick Oprea
Nothing More... Nothing Less... by Cecilia Coelho
It all comes down to PASSION by Sabrina de Vita
Are Native Speaker Models So Important? by Richard Whiteside
Do you need to be Italian to be able to make pasta? by Mike Harrison
A staffroom conversation by David Dodgson
And the Challenge:
Dogme Blog Challenge #6 Exploding the Myths 1 "NNESTS can't do dogme" by Karenne Sylvester
As always, the best place for background:
Z is for ZPD on Scott Thornbury's A-Z of ELT
And an earlier look at this from my online Guardian column:
