Page 24 - ELG1707 Jul Issue 449

RESOURCES .

Developing

21st century

citizens

A husband and wife team explain how and why they developed a new EAP

course which helps students recognise their role as global citizens

ELT ‘golden couple’ Peter Levrai and Averil teachers to draw on and students to explore.
Bolster have been working together in ELT for Tips for course One of the things we’re proudest of about
22 years and recently won an ELTon award for development the course is its flexibility and adaptability. We
innovation in learner resources for Develop made a decision to use the classroom booklet
EAP, an English for Academic Purposes to introduce the SDGs and the academic
course. Here, they explain how and why they Start out with a clear skills the students needed. More in-depth
produced the programme, which is focused 1 idea of what you want to topic awareness development took place
around the United Nations Sustainable achieve and the course through videos and texts linked via Moodle,
Development Goals. objectives you are aiming and included quizzes and discussion forums.
Peter Levrai and Averil Bolster write: for This allows for a level of sustainability, where
the classroom booklet can remain relatively
the qualifying English course – the one that 2 Find a topic that inspires unchanged while the resources in Moodle
When we were working at the University of
Macau (UM) we had the chance to redevelop
can be updated regularly. Furthermore, the
you
all students have to pass to graduate from course was written for an English for General
their degree programme. Our main aim was 3 Academic Purposes context but could easily
to develop a course which would equip the Pilot, pilot, pilot be adapted for use with single discipline classes
students with the language and academic skills where students could do more focused analysis
they would need to succeed in their degree of the SDGs through the lens of their field
studies and beyond. 4 Be aware a course is never of study. It could also productively be used
The first two years of course development finished – be open to on pre-sessional, in-sessional and foundation
and piloting were really about clarifying the feedback and ready for courses. Given the focus on academic skills, it
objectives and assessments, particularly how change could also be of value to native speakers.
to structure and assess collaborative essays, an Last academic year we piloted the course
important innovation of the course. 5 Look out for the at the University of Macau and it was well
After running the course for two years, unexpected – important received by teachers and students, who
though, we still had concerns about the outcomes may came out with some genuinely interesting
topics, which were too focused on the emerge from piloting and thoughtful work. We also presented the
humanities. In Macau we had mixed- a course which can be course at the Iatefl and Baleap conferences
discipline classes and wanted a topic which incorporated into a later in April, and it generated a lot of interest and
was relevant and accessible to students from version positive feedback. Develop EAP offers teachers
any degree programme. We also wanted a http://developeap.weebly.com/ a really relevant course that can help students
topic with longevity that could be revisited recognise their role as 21st century citizens and
over subsequent cohorts and kept up to date also think about some of the global challenges
without major redevelopment. Once we had started designing our course they will face throughout their lifetimes.
Averil came up with the great idea of using and materials, we realised that there were a
the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals lot of resources available for schools based on Teachers Peter Levrai and
(SDGs) set out by the UN. They cover a range the SDGs but there was a relative lack of SDG Averil Bolster have worked
of urgent global issues – from poverty to gender resources suitable for university-level students. in universities around the
equality, climate action to strong institutions. Even though they are global goals, they can be world. They are currently
This means that within the SDGs there is truly approached on a regional, local and individual based at the University of
something to capture anyone’s imagination, level. More importantly, there are constantly Eastern Finland delivering a
and it is a rich topic for multidisciplinary study. new resources and articles about the SDGs for course to Saudi educators.
24 July 2017

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