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English
and Geography: A Report on an Interdisciplinary Experience
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In Switzerland, most English teachers at
pre-university level do not limit themselves only to teaching grammar and reading
"good" literature. They also widen their scope, offering students a varied diet
of newspaper articles and other factual texts from all branches of knowledge. This article
reports how two teachers of completely different subjects joined efforts to give an
interdisciplinary course in English and geography.
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We are both friends and teachers at the same
school. J. Alean's subject is geography, U. Gerber's, English. We are both, to some
extent, experts in southern Africa. We wanted to put our knowledge to good use and thought
it would be enlightening for the pupils to see how two teachers of different subjects
(arts vs. science) approached the same topic.
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Our school is a Swiss "gymnasium" a
selective state school at which students have to take at least 11 subjects up to the final
exam, the "matura," which entitles them to study any of these 11 subjects at a
Swiss university.
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Pupils in their sixth year (i.e., fourth year of
English) not only attend their "normal" classes but have to choose one so-called
"elective course," in which performance is less intensively assessed, i.e.,
there are no tests and no marks other than a "passing grade." Courses are
usually advertised in all subjects and range from "Oedipus" in Latin and
"genetic engineering" in Biology to "sundials" in Maths and "the
Swiss political parties" in History. We offered an interdisciplinary course in
geography/English on South Africa and Namibia.
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Brief descriptions of all courses are published
and students sign up on the basis of this information. We were confident that our
programme would be attractive for three reasons:
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First, the topic as such is of common interest.
South Africa is mentioned in the press almost daily in connection with apartheid and
economic sanctions. Namibia became a prominent subject of media coverage because of its
move toward independence, which came to a successful conclusion early in 1990.
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Second, having two subjects and two teachers and
using a foreign language (English) under different circumstances offered the pupils
considerable variety.
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Third, the teachers were able to draw upon
first-hand experience and to utilize their own authentic teaching materials, i.e.,
interviews with black and white South Africans of such varied backgrounds as a university
president and a tourist guide who lives in Soweto, extensive photographic coverage,
mineral specimens and gemstones, etc. Sixteen pupils eventually signed on, which is above
the average.
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The detailed programme was as follows (roughly
in chronological order): geographical survey of both countries / what is apartheid? / a
historical overview / everyday life today and in the Stone Age (Bushmen culture) / the
Namib Desert / wildlife and its conservation / tourism / geology and gold and diamond
mining / Granny Smith (the apple) / languages spoken / economic relationship of
Switzerland with South Africa / Namibia's independence process and the role played by the
UN and Switzerland / encounters with prominent personalities (authentic interviews made
and recorded in South Africa) / political forces / perspectives for the future.
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One of our goals was to develop the students'
understanding of scientific texts of moderate difficulty. Double lessons allowed for some
intensive studies but did not excessively tax the students' stamina. Pair work (further
detailed in Figure 1) ensured that students had to actively use the foreign language
despite some unfamiliar topics. Listening comprehension, naturally, was practised when
working with the interviews. When German texts had to be used (such as press coverage of
current events), the discussions were conducted in that language also.
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Right from the start we took care to show more
than just the problem areas of life in southern Africa. There were pictures of squatters'
villages and reports of violence, but there were also many smiling faces of black and
white people alike, and hopeful developments were shown where appropriate.
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Since the material available to us was so
plentiful and varied, we tried to show some interesting connections between seemingly
unrelated facts. For example, the rock engravings and paintings found in the Namib Desert
were a clue to the preserving effect of a highly arid desert climate. (Beautiful pictures
and illuminating descriptions can be found in Woodhouse 1984.) Then we discussed how
"primitive" people were able to cope in such an extreme environment. This
naturally led to the question why anybody would choose such a hostile habitat which, in
turn, touched upon historical conflicts that have occurred between indigenous African
peoples. Bushmen art is of such high quality that animals can be studied in great detail,
and the comparison with "modern" photographs was one of the highlights of the
programme.
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Apartheid, naturally, was a major topic. A
series of slides took us into Soweto and the students realized the sharp contrast between
the housing conditions in this township and some white areas of Johannesburg.
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For one explanation of apartheid, we listened to
an interview with a black guide (Gerber 1990). He made us aware of the harsh living
conditions of Sowetans who find employment in the white man's gold mines or factories. He
also pointed out that apartheid laws had excluded them from owning property in
Johannesburg, which, in turn, meant long, expensive, and often dangerous journeys to their
jobs every day.
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Another interview with Dr. A. Treurnicht (Gerber
1990) put this topic in a wider perspective. As the leader of the South African
Conservative Party he was a staunch advocate of apartheid, and our students were able to
hear what politicians like him envision with their policies.
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The teachers' interdisciplinary experience
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When we set out on our teaching project, each of
us expected to profit from his colleague's knowledge of related but different areas of
southern Africa. (After all, we think that there is nothing wrong with teachers also
learning along with the pupils.) The geography teacher expected to make English scientific
texts including a Namibian geography school book (Mthoko et al. 1990) accessible to the
students; whereas the English teacher expected to get a more "geographical
foundation" for his discussion of today's South Africa and its problems. However,
during the course, we became more and more aware of other, equally important, benefits of
our cooperation.
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For example, each of us was impressed when he
observed how well students responded to teaching techniques used in a "foreign"
subject. The geography teacher has since experimented with "pair work"
(typically used in language teaching) in regular geography lessons. He has become more
aware of language problems that his students face, even in their mother tongue. He was
also surprised at the students' willingness to speak only English in class. Even when the
temptation would have been great to translate a difficult word, they tried to make do with
their limited English vocabulary.
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The English teacher was impressed by the way
seemingly "dry" statistical facts or climatic or geological details came to life
when they were presented in an interesting context or illustrated by captivating
photographs. He also observed how pupils were able to find relevant data through careful
reading of maps and diagrams. He became more aware of how the natural environment has
influenced peoples' lives in southern Africa.
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At the outset of the experiment, we anticipated
that our students would profit from the unorthodox use of attractive teaching materials.
However, we were most pleased to find that we as teachers benefited from this experience
too. Why had it worked so well? First, each teacher was competent and at ease with his own
subject. Second, both of us were happy to rely on each other's expertise. In addition, we
were both full of enthusiasm for the same topic and equally willing to take the
initiative. We felt that the results of our combined efforts were disproportionately
higher than expected.
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Last but not least, this interdisciplinary
experiment challenged us in new and different ways. It proved a fruitful change from our
daily routine. For once the "lonely-wolf syndrome" disappeared. Both teachers
experienced less isolation in their work, finding themselves on a par with a colleague,
sharing responsibility in the classroom.
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In the discussion at the end of the course, the
students were unanimous in their appreciation of the experience. They said that having to
find out about two new countries through the medium of English had been profitable. In
particular, the authentic visual and aural material appealed to them very much.
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All in all we warmly recommend interdisciplinary
teaching. We are convinced that the task of combining the knowledge and skills of
different subject areas should not be left to the students alone. Teachers should set an
example by adopting an interdisciplinary approach drawing upon different sources of
information and different processing strategies to understand more about any given topic.
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- Gerber, U. 1990. Unpublished interviews in Soweto and Pretoria.
- Mthoko, A., H. Noisser and W. Rebentisch. 1990. Geography of NamibiaJunior secondary
geography book. Windhoek, Namibia: Gamsberg Macmillan Publishers.
- South African Bureau for Information. 1990. South Africa 1989/90: Official yearbook of
the Republic of South Africa. Pretoria: Department of Foreign Affairs.
- Woodhouse, B. 1984. When animals were people A - Z of animals of southern Africa as the
Bushmen saw and thought them and as the camera sees them today. Melville, South Africa:
Chris van Rensburg Publications.
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Ulrich
Gerber has been teaching English at pre-university level in Switzerland for 17
years. He now teaches at the Kantonsschule Zurcher Unterland. He is interested in finding
more efficient and interesting ways of teaching English.
Jurg Alean has been teaching geography at the Kantonsschule
Zurcher Unterland since 1982. He has taught in an English-language school near Zurich, and
has done field work in both Americas, Asia, and recently, southern Africa. |
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