Mr
Hurst´s lecture called Cultural Content and FL Teaching was very
engaging and funny. From now on I will always bear in mind the rule
of triple “A”. A good coursebook should be
Authentic
– teaching real language in real situations,
Appropriate
to students´age and cultural background
and
should contain Accurate facts and social references.
Even
though I am usually leery of any political correctness stuff, I
really enjoyed this lecture. Mainly because it was a real eye-opener
for me.
When
my school attendance started in the early nineties, it was shortly after
The Velvet Revolution. I remember that my first textbooks were full
of virtuous comrades and trips to prospering Soviet Union. I have
never inclined to the political left despite all of that, therefore I
was little bit sceptical about any crucial influence of textbooks on
one´s life. Similarly my English coursebooks were stuffed with photos of
successful men in suits, there were only policemen and firemen
and women worked only as nurses or teachers. I thought I was immune
against such nonsense. I always thought that I could become whoever I
want to but after Mr Hurst´s lecture I realised … wait a minute …
I am aspiring to become a teacher myself; I was probably subconsciously brainwashed. So thank you, authors of gender
biased coursebooks, for ruining my life :-)
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