Embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Early Years, Primary and Secondary General English Classes

Viktor Carrasquero, Eduardo Farias and James Sample presented on 'Embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Early Years, Primary and Secondary General English Classes' at the 7th online Future of English Language Teaching Conference.

See the video recording below:

Abstract

Ensuring that equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are values that permeate everything we do in society is an ongoing task. As we gain a better understanding of human rights, we need to constantly renew our commitment to guaranteeing people from all backgrounds, characteristics and needs are included, empowered and given access to opportunities of all kinds. In the TEFL world, this great work has begun, but the journey is still mostly ahead. In this presentation, we will report the approach followed by a grassroots group of teachers of English, at British Council Hong Kong, to embed EDI into our young learner classes. We will also comment on internal (teachers) and external (learners, parents) customer feedback, and the results of the project so far.

In this talk, we will outline the steps we followed to structure an EDI materials-design project, in order to produce single activities or whole lesson plans that our colleagues could readily use in their Early Years, Primary and Secondary classes. In coming up with this project, we had to tackle two central questions: 1) how do we go about designing activities and whole lessons based on EDI values, in a way that is fully integrated into our institutional syllabus and demands?; and 2) how do we gain buy-in from our fellow teachers, to enhance their engagement in materials-production?

This talk will be of interest to teachers, academic managers and materials writers who are looking for practical ways of promoting EDI in their classes and teaching centres. While our ultimate goal has been raising our learners’ awareness of people’s great diversity, and of the importance of seeing this as a value, we will also report on how the project has gained momentum among our colleagues in Hong Kong and beyond.

About the presenters

Viktor Carrasquero

Viktor Carrasquero teaches English at British Council Hong Kong, which specialises in teaching Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Adult learners. He co-set up an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Special Interest Group in his teaching centre, where he has engaged management and fellow teachers in the task of designing and implementing activities and materials that highlight the vast diversity of people.

Eduardo Farias

Eduardo Farias teaches English at British Council Hong Kong, which specialises in teaching Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Adult learners. He co-set up an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Special Interest Group in his teaching centre, where he has engaged management and fellow teachers in the task of designing and implementing activities and materials that highlight the vast diversity of people.

James Sample

James Sample teaches English at British Council Hong Kong, which specialises in teaching Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Adult learners. He co-set up an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Special Interest Group in his teaching centre, where he has engaged management and fellow teachers in the task of designing and implementing activities and materials that highlight the vast diversity of people.