How can English teachers abroad incorporate the work of local writers? Adam Beeson explains how teachers can harness the power of music as a means for exploring identity, culture and linguistic hegemony
More than ever, international schools recognize the need to ensure the identities of the young people they serve are represented in the curriculum. In the language and literature classroom, we see a renewed call for texts that embody what Rudine Sims Bishop termed “windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors.” That is, texts in which learners not only see and step into the realities of others, but also narratives that reflect the readers themselves and the richness of their own identities.
This call for decentering colonial narratives in international schools comes at a time when the market is rapidly changing. Once niche institutions largely serving the children of western expatriate professionals, the number of international schools has grown dramatically over the past twenty years, with a significant increase in the enrollment of local students.
How do we ensure representation of local voices in our classrooms when there is a dearth of local authors writing in English?
Fourth Culture kids
Schools wishing to reimagine the western interpretation of cosmopolitanism historically promoted in international education have a responsibility to their students to embrace the local cultures they inhabit, rather than distancing themselves from them. Not doing so can have significant and lasting effects on student identity, a “double-consciousness” of looking at oneself through the eyes of others, as described by Danau Tanu in her book Growing Up In Transit: The Politics and Belonging at an International School.
Similarly, in her conversation with Sadie Hollins in the WISEducation Podcast, Kathy Wallace, Head of IB Language and Literature at UWCSEA (East), Singapore, summarized findings from her research on student identity in which a number of local students considered themselves “Fourth Culture Kids”; that is, they were “local students attending an international school, but they had no connection with their home culture, that really they were being brought up to have an identity that they weren’t sure was theirs.”
The obligation to provide experiences for young people to see themselves reflected in the curriculum is an important factor for identity development, but it raises particular challenges for English language and literature teachers working in non-English speaking countries.
How do we ensure representation of local voices in our classrooms when there is a dearth of local authors writing in English?
In addition to studying works in translation and contextualizing literary concepts - standard practices in the international school English classroom - international educators can turn to music as one tool for incorporating local writers into the curriculum, while at the same time raising important conversations around the cultural influence of the English language as well as the divisions and inequalities that can arise from linguistic hegemony.
Music, power and the English language
As the rhythmic patterns of Un Rojo Reggae Band reverberated from the classroom speakers, singers harmonizing the words “It’s not easy,” I began playing the guessing game with my English language and literature students: where is this band from?
The earliest guesses were predictable - Jamaica, the United States, the UK - followed by a host of Caribbean island nations and countries on the African continent. It was not until the backup singers switched to Spanish that students guessed correctly that the band was from Costa Rica, the passport country of nearly every student in the class and current home to all of us in the room.
My next question was a bit more pointed: why would local musicians choose to create art in a language that only about 10% of the adult population in Costa Rica speaks?
These discussions inevitably lead to students reflecting on their own reasons for studying in an international school setting
Simple exercises such as this one can lead to inquiry that results in powerful questions and conversations around language, cultural identity and power. Here are three factors to consider when introducing music as a method to represent local voices in the English language and literature classroom:
Open inquiry leads to a more complete body of work. It is nice to introduce the work of local artists to kick off the conversation, but more often than not, students will be able to introduce you to a slew of local musicians writing and performing in English. Allowing students to find and collect songs that they are already familiar with results in a larger and more personalized body of work to study.
Close examination leads to cultural connections. Analyzing the lyrics of songs written in English can reveal the depth at which students connect to the words on a personal level, the extent to which local culture is reflected, or omitted, from the music, and the roles the English language plays in the local culture. An analysis of Un Rojo Reggae Band, for example, may lead students to investigate the roots of Limonese, an English-based creole language developed from Jamaican Patois and spoken in Costa Rica’s Limón Province. Asking open-ended questions such as: “To what extent do the lyrics of this song reflect your cultural identity?” can result in compelling student-led discussions around their own multilingual lives and transnational identities.
Critical analysis of language leads to important conversations around diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ). Questioning the reasons why a local artist might write songs in English is an opportunity to introduce concepts such as cultural capital, linguistic imperialism and language hegemony, and for students to reflect on the “English Divide” in local and global contexts. These discussions inevitably lead to students reflecting on their own reasons for studying in an international school setting, along with the way language and education influence their identities.
English language and literature teachers aiming to nurture identity formation among international school students and introduce DEIJ concepts related to language will inevitably face challenges.
Turning to the work of local musicians who write and perform songs in English is one way to represent the local cultures and offer opportunities for students to develop their own identities while reflecting on the power of language.
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