Transcript What are our texts? - IELP-PSU Classes * Barbara Pijan, instructor

Using Realia &
Environmental Assets:
EFL for Himalayan Buddhist
Nuns
Where in the World
Are these Nuns?
Why English?
H.H. Dalai Lama
says
“It’s All Good”:
– Refugee Survival
– Sacred
Teachings
– Global Justice
Int’l English Opens
the Way to:

Handicraft Sales: jewelry,
weavings, etc.
Tourism $$
 Int’l volunteers
 Int’l donation $$
 World Buddhist network

ESP Targets for Nuns
Tourism
 School Teacher
 Handicrafts
 Nurse-Midwife
 Political Action

Where the Convents Are:
No Next-Day Deliveries 

In Spiti,
Himachal
Pradesh (India)
Ladakh
Nepal
Near Mt.
Everest
 Lovely in
summerautumn
 FREEZING in
winter!

Pema Cho Ling – Summer-time
Deboche-Tengboche
Winter-time
Himal = Snow
 Laya = Land

(Nepal)
Jungle Monasteries
India, Bhutan
Hot & Steamy
 Built in Caves
 Snakes, Spiders,
Scorpions

Books Crumble
 Ink Runs
 Chalk Dissolves

Himalayan Realia
& Environmental Assets

No classroom –
– Where is the space?

No paper or pens –
– How to write?

No books –
– What texts?

No materials –
– What to talk about?
Where is the learning space?
Monastery Grounds

Space is
cramped
inside


Most EFL
happens
outside
Teacher
keeps
this
space
centered
How to write?
On the hillside, in the courtyard
ABC’s
In dirt, with
sticks
 In mud, with
fingers
 In snow, with
sticks
 On riverbank,
with pebbles

What are our texts?
The Teacher’s Memory
Fairy Tales!
Cinderella
 Snow White
 Hansel & Gretel
 Your Childhood
Favorites

What are our texts?
The Teacher’s Memory
Songs with
Movement!
Farmer in the
Dell
 Hokey Pokey
 Your Childhood
Favorites

What are our texts?
The Teacher’s Memory
Poems with
Rhythm
One Fish Two Fish
 A.A. Milne
 Limericks
 Your Childhood
Favorites

What are our texts?
The Students’ Memories
Folktales – can be
acted out in simple
words
 Himalayan students
know DOZENS of
folktales!

What are our texts?
Oral Tradition – Memorized Stories
What are our texts?
The Students’ Memories
 Songs!
– Students sing
one in Tibetan
– Teacher sings
one in English

Learn to Sing
Each Others’
Songs!
Class Materials?
Realia: Khukuri’s
Knives & scythes
 Talk about:
– Cutting animal feed
– Cooking
– Harvesting grains
– Carpentry
– House-building
– Shearing yak & sheep
Class Materials?
Realia: Butter-Churn Chang

Talk about how to
make:
– Salt-Butter tea
– Barley Beer
– Rice Beer
– Wheat Beer
– How Girls Learn
to Cook
Class Materials?
Realia: In the Gompa

Talk about:
– Colors
– Room parts:
floor, ceiling,
wall
– Furniture:
shelves,
tables
Class Materials?
Current Events = New Vocabulary
“Eye Camp” 3
days away
 Talk about:

– Eyes
– Cataracts
– Blindness
– Doctors
– Surgery
– Health-care
Class Materials?
Current Events = New Vocabulary
“Mani Rimdu”
morality play
 Talk about:

– Demons
– Protectors
– Big Lamas
– Guru Rinpoche
– Sherpa Stories
Materials to Talk About?
Realia: They Walk thru Town
Yak & Sheep
 Talk about:

– Where to graze
– What they eat
– Dairy milk, butter,
cheese
– How to shear their wool
– How to tame a wild yak
Class Materials?
Realia: Hitched Out Front
Pack
Animals
 Talk
about:

– Load
size?
– What
altitude?
Class Materials?
Assessment: Find A Tourist
A fun test to do in the
Village:

Waylay a Tourist
– Teacher requests Tourist to
ask a polite English
question:
– “Where can I drink tea?”
– See if students can answer
in English!
– (or if they get scared & run
away!)
Will this
Tourist help
set up our
Test?
Will this
Tourist help
set up our
Test?
How about
this one?
Well OK –
Just ask
this one!
Tashi Delek!
Resources:

www.tnp.org
- Seattle & Dharamsala

www.jamyang.org
- San Diego & Zanskar / Spiti (Ladakh)
Om Mani Peme Hung