Georgia State University hosted a group of “English as a Foreign Language” teachers from across the world to equip them with media and digital literacy skills for the English language classroom.
Georgia State University hosted a “Media and Digital Literacy in the English Language Classroom” program in collaboration with FHI 360 from July 15-28th, 2024. The program was funded by the US Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to equip English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers with digital and media literacy skills. Conceived by Dr. John Bunting, Director of the Intensive English Program, and Robin Cathey, the Associate Director, the program consists of intensive workshops and collaborative activities to learn different strategies for media and digital literacy in the teaching context, and cultural excursions to explore American culture.
Sharon Santmyer, and Lisa Gonzalez, both lecturers from the Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL at Georgia State University, who have extensive experience with English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses, were the instructors for the program and led academic sessions on a variety of media and digital topics such as Definition and Significance of Media and Information/Digital Literacy (MI/DL), Misinformation, Disinformation, and Algorithms, Critical Pedagogy and Critical Media Work, Understanding Copyright/Fair Use and Practicing Academic Integrity in Research, Identifying and Addressing Cyberbullying, and Techniques for Incorporating Media and Digital Literacy into ESL Classroom.
Guest speakers were also invited to the program to share their insights and experiences with the participants. The program was designed not just for participants to passively learn from the instructors and guest speakers, but to also foster a collaborative learning environment where everyone —participants, instructors, and guest speakers —learned from each other. Sharon Santmyer, who oversaw academic sessions and cultural activities while serving as Academic Director of the MDL program, told the East-West Center, “All of these teachers (participants) have years of teaching and administrative experience. We really tried to utilize all the expertise and experiences that our participants brought into our classroom so that they could learn from each other. We learned from them as much as they learned from us. It was truly a mutual learning experience in every sense.”
25 educators from 21 countries participated in this program. The participants represented a wide range of countries in the Indo-Pacific: Mongolia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Fiji, Burma, Laos, and China as well as Taiwan. There were also participants from South America, Africa and eastern Europe.
The majority of the participants were high school teachers. However, the group also included university, middle, and elementary school teachers, along with administrators such as directors and principals, and teacher trainers. Most of the teachers were highly experienced, with 17 teachers having ten or more years in the field. Lisa Gonzalez, who was active in planning the program and designing the curriculum, shared, “Everybody came with so much enthusiasm and curiosity. They wanted to learn. They wanted to share. We're all teachers and we are all used to talking, so it wasn't at all hard to get discussions going. It was all so open and so beautiful.”
The participants had to create lesson journals whenever they had a workshop. In those lesson journals, the participants reflected on what they just learned and how they can utilize it in their own teaching context. In addition to the intensive workshops, the participants had the opportunity to exchange different cultural perspectives through fun activities such as game nights. They also visited the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Dekalb Farmers’ Market, Stone Mountain, the Beltline, Ponce City Market, and Decatur Square to explore various historical and cultural sites in the state.
Nyein Su Thaw, a participant from Myanmar (Burma), told the East-West Center that she is sharing information about media and digital literacy online by uploading short videos on YouTube, in collaboration with her peers from the program who are from Ukraine, Brazil, and Nicaragua. She also plans to provide in-person training at the educational institutions she is currently working with in Myanmar.
By bringing together educators from diverse countries, the program not only equipped participants with crucial media and digital literacy skills but also built bridges between nations. Through collaborative projects and cultural exchanges, these educators are now empowered to bring innovative teaching methods back to their home countries.
The author, a Young Professional from the East-West Center in Washington DC, spoke to Sharon Santmyer, Lisa Gonzalez who were the instructors of the program, and Nyein Su Thaw, who was a participant in the program. The author thanks them for their contributions.
Nyan is a Young Professional Intern at the East-West Center in Washington, DC. He is also a rising junior majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Parami University.