It's that time of the year, summer vacation, graduation, the light at the end of the tunnel after 2 jam-packed semesters. In between grammar units I use their ESL magazines for a change of pace. Their June and July issues have tons of summer related material.
I have made some observations from three years teaching junior high, compared with five years teaching kindy. First, boys far outweigh the composition of my junior high classes. There are just more boys than girls in a private school’s junior high English program. It seemed more equal when they were 4 and 5 years old. However, in my higher level (A classes), the boys and girls are almost 50/50 in number.
Even so, the girls are often much quieter and lack confidence in participating.
It’s easy for a few boys to completely take over the discussion or monopolize the answering
of my questions. But being a feminist and a mother of a daughter
I feel like I am aware or at last trying to improve my awareness of how my
interactions and body language may encourage or discourage the girls’ participation.
At the same time, I value equal discipline between the sexes (I don’t think its ok for
girls to hit boys for example), and no boy has accused me of favoritism or being
biased. Then there’s the whole cultural difference between thousands of years of Chinese Confucianism which is sexist, and modern (Western) feminism. I do believe Taiwanese culture values gender equality just as much, if not more so than American culture.
The research on girls’ social development has shown, that for decades the majority
of girls stop taking risks in early adolescence. For example, they feel uncomfortable
raising their hands, participating in sports and extracurricular activities and stepping into leadership roles, even if they had no problem asserting themselves as younger students. They stop believing in themselves. Even if girls are uncomfortable attracting public classroom attention to themselves, educators still have to find ways to cultivate equal participation and empower girls’ voice.
Good gender equality in the classroom is having good classroom management. Great gender equality in the ESL classroom is not only competent classroom management but the understanding that the English language is sexist and how to unpackage all that. Finally, the school management has to be on board with the necessary changes and perhaps communicate such changes to the parents who might not be up to date with recent findings in education.
3 Factors That Contribute To Gender Inequality In The Classroom Contributing Factor #1: Teachers Pay More Attention to Boys
Contributing Factor #2: Interactions with Boys are More Public.
Contributing Factor #3: Praise & Criticism Differ Between Boys & Girls.
Ways to Improve Gender Equality in the ESL Classroom
Addressing gender issues head on
More Group Work: Collaborative and task-based learning approaches do promote female production.
Integrate more ICT in language activities: Electronic discussion comprehension enhances all student participation, but it is more gender equitable than the classroom. Girls liked the discussion more than boys because they appreciated having time to think before responding without negative comments from males in the class.
Invite Peer Observation from other teachers
Make a chart of gender interactions and participation
Make a mindful seating chart promoting girls’ participation
Use gender-neutral language
Empowerment also happens outside the class, by getting the girls comfortable and confident in their bodies preferably together like in group sports, and movement (dance, yoga, running). I have seen my own 204 girls dance group directing and leading their class English Play, and it was awesome.
What The School Can Do:
Schedule in more computer lab time for the ESL classes
Add more physical, movement options for girls, like yoga, tai chi, and weight-lifting
Add more peer observation and meetings for positive feedback
