4 The Guardian Weekly 21.05.

10

Learning English

Coursebooks and the curse of celebrity

Opinion
Lindsay Clandfield

When we teach English as an inter-

national language, what are we also
teaching? As language teachers we
are in a curious and unique position.
We do not have a fixed subject in the
same way that the history teacher
teaches history or the geography
teacher teaches geography. The
language teacher teaches grammar,
vocabulary, reading, writing, speak-
ing and listening skills, but these
are all “how”. They are not “what”.
Language teachers are cursed with
no content, but also blessed because
everything can be our content.
Is the “what” we teach culture?
Language and cultural studies used
to be seen as inseparable. If you
learnt English you learned about
British people, their way of life, their
literature and cultural history. If you
were studying American English
then you would learn about the US.
However, with the rise and recogni-
tion of English as an international
language, we are faced with the
reality that English is no longer the Lindsay who? Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan attracts photographers’ attention, but for how long? Chris Polk/AP
property of the British or the Ameri-
cans. Some have even gone as far as look at major international course- that well known. I’ve met many educators’ ideas of what education is
to suggest that international English books published in the early 1990s. teachers from different countries about. It’s what gets English course-
has no culture. So, what content do The average number of celebrities who complain that they, or their books criticised for being vapid and,
we use to present new language in was two. I counted the number of students, do not know who some of as one fellow teacher remarked to
context? celebrities in three or four interna- these people are. For them it was just me once, “so light that if I don’t hold
I believe that two kinds of content tional coursebooks from the latter another pretty face smiling up from on tightly it will just float away”. One
have risen to fill the gap that was part of this decade. The number had the page. could argue that the mere presence
once provided by cultural content risen to an average of 28. Celebrity can date quickly. One of celebrities and happy, comfortable
from Britain or the US, and despite In a way this is not surprising. used to be able to depend on famous people in our materials makes them
claims that international English Modern materials will try to reflect people looking more or less the same part of a dissemination of global ce-
could be devoid of culture, I think modern life. Teachers want to feel for a couple of years, but now they lebrity culture, a culture that offers
both are cultural. The first is a sort up to date. Authors and publishers change their look every fortnight. us, in the words of Ellis Cashmore,
of international culture populated want material that will sell books. If they aren’t changing their physi- professor of culture and media at
by invented people all travelling And boy, does celebrity sell in other cal appearance they are most likely Staffordshire University, England,
around, going to conferences, having fields. Celebrity sells perfumes, getting into some kind of trouble. “a distinctive vision, a beguiling one
fun at weekends, checking in and clothing labels, popular magazines, As a coursebook writer, this point too: one in which there are few lim-
out of hotels, going to restaurants newspapers and television shows. was brought home to me in 2005, its, an expanding range of opportuni-
with international menus and having Today’s celebrities are international, the year that Brad Pitt and Jennifer ties and inexhaustible hope”.
middle-class worries. This content is they are everywhere and they lead Anniston got divorced. I wasn’t per- I’m not saying that this kind of
safe, it’s not confrontational and it’s eye-catching lives. Some of them sonally distressed at the break-up content can’t make for interesting
almost unbearably bland. also do good acts, such as support- of such a nice-looking Hollywood lessons. It can. I’m not saying it can’t
The second kind of content is that ing charities and raising awareness couple, nor was I caught up in the be motivational. Again, it can. But if
of the world of celebrity. Smiling about important issues. Don’t they whole Angelina Jolie angle. No, this we believe that education is about
faces of actors such as Brad Pitt or make recognisable and motivating event was of significance to me as a learning, discovering and becom-
Tom Cruise leap off the page. We material for lessons? writer because that very same year ing interested in new things that we
teach the vocabulary of nationalities Despite what we may think in the a coursebook of mine was coming didn’t know about before, then this
via their most photogenic stars UK or North America, many “inter- out that used Brad and Jennifer as subject matter short-changes us. If
(for example, “Maria Sharapova is national” celebrities are not actually an example of “a married couple”. we believe that education is about
Russian. She is from Russia”). We Everything had to be changed and it thinking critically about the world
present the grammar of the present
perfect by reading about the life and
I’ve met many was very stressful.
The fact that celebrities may not
we live in and making more sense of
it then this, it’s time to get a bit more
works of a contemporary musician
or film director. This kind of content
teachers who do not be known and can date quickly are
two practical reasons against their
serious and move on. Let’s wise up,
not dumb down.
has been on the rise over the last know who some inclusion in international materials.
20 years. There is also a more ideological rea- Lindsay Clandfield is the main author
Or at least it seems to be, judging of these people are son, and it’s simply that this kind of of Global, Macmillan’s new course for
by what is in our materials. I took a material does not conform to many adults.