Controversy in the Classroom: Juxtaposition
I for one love controversial topics in the classroom and I love dealing with social issues in Turkey. These topics are always very relevant to the students’ lives, spark discussion, and they go beyond the classroom and English in terms of importance. Things like domestic violence, environmentalism, workers’ rights, conspiracy theories, ethnic minorities, politics, and religion are all topics I personally enjoy teaching and that are very engaging and productive.
One of the things I have the biggest trouble with is safely introducing these topics into the Turkish classroom. As my wife constantly tells me, it’s okay for criticism to come from within Turkey, but it’s forbidden for foreigners to say anything that could even remotely be taken as disrespectful. This is also exacerbated by the fact that I’m American. Most students here have a strong distrust of America and a very large number of students and Turks I’ve met on my travels have supposed I’m an undercover agent of some kind. According to many Turks, America monitors the online activity of Turks on anything from Facebook to YouTube to Twitter. These internalized suspicions make it difficult to broach a controversial issue without the students assuming you are spying on them and reporting back to some all-knowing American intelligence agency.
On top of this is the issue of fierce Turkish pride. Any attempt to bring in something of social importance that is related to Turkey can very often be met with anger and resentment. A feeling of inferiority over and against old imperial powers, western domination, and America’s current hegemonic global policies can create strong reactions against topics that may make Turkey look bad. Image is incredibly incredibly important here. It’s tied to honor.
With these problems in mind, how do you introduce very relevant and provoking topics into the classroom in a constructive and sensitive way? I think the most important thing to do is to develop a strong rapport with your students and to remain as neutral as possible in the classroom. If you’ve developed a lot of trust with your students and try very hard not to offend anyone and to give everyone’s opinions equal weight, your students will be much more willing to engage you on controversial issues.
Other than that, one of the ways I try to do introduce these topics is by juxtaposing a text/discussion/listening/video of the topic regarding my own country with one regarding theirs. If you show that you are just as willing to address the issue in your own country back home, it puts the topic on equal footing with addressing the topic in their country. The method tends to allay suspicions and prevent against wounded pride better than if you had done the topic on only the students’ country.
Basically just choose your topic and either make sure to bring in material from your own country or discuss the issue in your own country before bringing up the issue in Turkey. I’ll post my lesson on workers’ rights as an example. I start off with the famous Triangle Fire from American history and then I move onto the terrible working conditions present in the Tuzla shipyards not more than 40 minutes from Istanbul. Other issues that could be brought up are miners in Zonguldak, child labor, and May Day protests.
Turks being as zealously nationalistic as they are, I still have had a few students here or there that are upset when these issues are brought into the classroom, but I have never had an incident and the vast majority of students find it interesting and relevant. They are often nervous talking about such issues, but, at the same time, they think they are very important and think they should be discussed. And, believe me, your English classroom may be the only place the students ever get a chance to discuss some of these issues.
Most schools in Turkey have a policy about not bringing up controversial, political, or religious issues. What do you think? Do you use controversial topics in class? Has it ever come back to bite you? Do you find them more productive that other more mundane topics?
Lesson plan: Part 1 - The Triangle Fire, Part 2 – The Tuzla Shipyards, Part 3 – An Evil Corporation (by courtesy of Chris Westargaard)
Tags: Classroom Management, Controversy
Classroom Management, Lesson Ideas | turklis1 | 
November 1, 2009 7:41 pm
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By Anita Kwiatkowska, November 2, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
I’m very glad someone finally uttered that. There are so many things we, as foreigners, are told not to talk about with the students.
I would say that good rapport and distancing yourself are the key.
On the other hand, I find it extremely difficult to talk about some controversial issues even with my Turkish friends. It seems like either a) they are not able to analyze facts and think logically or b) they don’t want to say anything negative about their own country.
It really puzzles me.
Have you tried talking about the Armenian genocide with Turks? (not students of course) Just wondering.
By turklis1, November 2, 2009 @ 9:18 pm
Sadly, this is often the case with many Turks I know. They are never taught how to analyze or look at things logically (in the Western sense) and argument is so culturally discouraged that they just don’t have the skills. You really need to build it up in class and I’ve had some students that are quite articulate and capable.
They also don’t know how to react in these situations because they don’t happen outside your class so you really need to define the boundaries and make sure you keep things balanced.
I’ve found Turks are quite willing to speak negatively about Turkey, but generally not with foreigners. It also depends on the issue. Certain topics such as genocide, the Kurds, and Ataturk I stay pretty far away from. I’ve seen too many fights, friendships broken, and people getting in very serious trouble with the police for it to be worth it.
Anyway, this would be a conversation to continue by email as I don’t want the government shutting down my site in Turkey.
I’ll continue to post a bit more on this topic over the next two weeks.
By Alex Case, November 3, 2009 @ 7:13 am
Again, my question would be whether the fact that they don’t talk about something outside the classroom doesn’t mean that the language that comes up is likely to be less than useful. Not sure about Turkey as it was very early in my career when I had no idea what I was doing, but here in East Asia the students are quite happy to talk about themselves all lesson if you set it up right, so unless they are doing IELTS or CAE or approaching that level, doing something controversial is just for an occasional break for me
By turklis1, November 3, 2009 @ 8:09 am
Alex, I think we can only talk about ourselves so much before we get bored although I certainly agree that non-controversial lessons are just as great and can be just as interesting.
I think Westerners kind of like controversy, so this is Western culture coming into the classroom. 95% of my students wouldn’t bring it up otherwise. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere though, this info and language is very useful and common. Just from my wife, friends, and students I have, I know that this language often comes up in their work life and social life when they are dealing with foreigners.
Also, following on one of Darren’s points, we need to teach much more than just English in the classroom. The ability to argue, to debate, to defend your opinion,to justify it, etc. are all very important skills that come up all over the place in language, not just for controversial issues.
If these activities are done right, the students get a lot out of them and it really peaks interest in my classes, which is why I like them. The students are highly motivated to speak and often continue the debate outside the class. W?th Turkish students, you can’t always get too close to home, but you can work around a topic and it will be just as successful.
By Sandy Mac, November 3, 2009 @ 5:42 pm
Yeh, I got canned by my students one day for even mentioning the ‘Kurdish problem’ in class. even worse, when the topic of cinema and films came up, I made a major error by referring to ‘Midnight Express’, which is, according to my students of back then, an extremely anti-Turkish film full of lies and degradations of their beloved homeland.
Of course…
By admin, November 3, 2009 @ 7:36 pm
Hey Sandy, yeah, so many similar stories round here. This is not the land of free speech by a long shot.
That’s funny about the Midnight Express. I only bring it up if they bring up Kurtlar Vadisi Irak.
By Darren Elliott, November 4, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
“it’s okay for criticism to come from within Turkey, but it’s forbidden for foreigners to say anything that could even remotely be taken as disrespectful.”
Isn’t this generally the case? I know that if a foreigner walked into a room and started laying into me an my fellow Englishmen, I’d probably bridle a little…even if I agreed with them. And you might argue with your mother, but I bet you’d stick up for her if a bloke in the street starting saying the same things.
It is possible, but I absolutely agree that you mustn’t hammer them over the head and you must be balanced. For example, I found a couple of short readings about racism, took all the names out and had the learners try to guess the contexts. Of course, one was an African-American in Osaka, the other a Japanese woman in New Zealand. The topic of racism in Japan is raised, but not in a confrontational way.
By admin, November 5, 2009 @ 8:58 am
As an American I hear nothing but criticism about America from every single country I go to. To say I’m used to it is an understatement. Maybe things will change with Obama, but definitely not right away. While often unbalanced, most of this criticism is justified.
I can’t say I feel the same way as you. When students raise this issue in class I, and I find other American teachers as well, are often the first to agree. Of course, most Americans traveling abroad tend to lean much more towards the liberal end of the spectrum. I often find that American teachers in class are interested in bringing criticism of America into the class. The same goes for the mother comment. Perhaps that’s more my personality than a cultural trait though. Admittedly the constant criticism does get aggravating over time. I have become more defensive of America while living abroad just in reaction to all the negativity. I was much more critical of America before I left the country. Any other Americans out there have an opinion on this or am I off base?
Personally, I see a critical engagement with the good and the bad of America by Americans and openness to criticism, at least in the ESL community. This is not something found in Turkey to anywhere near the same degree. Of course, go to a number of places in America and you will find a mentality very similar to the one expressed in Turkey when it comes to criticism of the homeland. It’s something patriotic Turks and Americans have very much in common. Perhaps this has more to do with the difference between those who are willing to travel and open to other cultures and those who stay home and are more closed. It’s not necessarily a cultural issue as it is a personal one. Still, controversy challenges students in more ways than one and it is a useful tool in the classroom if done right.
Regardless, your point is well taken Darren. Most people will bristle at criticism and, even if you or your fellow countrymen don’t bristle to the same degree, it doesn’t mean your students won’t and we need to take the students’ opinions and attitudes into account first. We are after all living in their country, not the other way around. These are sensitive issues and we have to work with them carefully, which is why I’m trying to offer a few ways of doing that. I like your idea on racism. It goes along with what I said about mixing in your country with the students’.
By turklis1, November 5, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
You know Darren, thinking more about your comment, I think the best way to introduce a controversial topic related to the students’ country is for the students to bring it up themselves. A good teacher can design a lesson that focuses on a particular skill, grammar point, or vocabulary. Of course, we can do this for topics as well. I think if we start with a controversial topic from our home countries, the students will naturally move the conversation to their own. If they don’t’ well I’ll have more to say on that in post 3 of this series.