"Let’s talk about hope, for a moment, because a lot of days recently hope feels like the only thing that matters. It’s easy to let it slip away from us." – M. Killjoy, 2020 in her blog "birdsbeforethestorm"
It is one of the most central conundrums of global education efforts to balance the severity of the situation with an appreciation of the beauty and aesthetics of the world. However, in the face of the increasing urgency of global issues, such as pandemics, wars, and the looming threat of extinction (both due to the climate crisis and the rise of AI), numerous educational efforts have taken on a 'doom and gloom' approach to learning. In this context, this seminar offers spaces to explore hopeful approaches to language education to counter or move beyond 'doom and gloom' approaches.
We will focus on the learners' roles in hopeful language education, but also discuss hope with regards to the educators' roles and well-being, and in the context of materials and classroom methodology.
We will work with various texts and materials, both as primary and secondary sources, such as solarpunk/hopepunk (young adult) fiction, works of art, short films and documentaries, etc.
We will discuss questions such as: What is hope and what is its place in language education? // What do hopeful approaches to language education entail with regards to cultures, literatures, and languages? // How do hopeful pedagogies relate to other educational concepts, theories, and approaches in the language classroom, such as critical pedagogy, pedagogy of discomfort, and sustainability education? // How can learning environments be created which allow students to learn and practice languages of hope rather than languages of despair?
All materials and texts will be accessible via Learnweb.
The first session of this seminar takes place on 16th October.
- Lehrende/r: Ricardo Römhild