Philosopher's Teahouse is developed, theorized, and organized by Dr. Wendy Royal. The Philosopher’s Teahouse is the end result of Dr. Royal's research on the possibilities, practicalities and pitfalls of critical pedagogy based on a year-long investigation of how students responded to such an approach in a culturally diverse ESL class. Through dialogue and negotiation, these students not only learned practical linguistic skills, but how to challenge hegemonic relations implicit in English language education since language is a powerful tool, often used to control, persuade or exclude. She can be reached at wendy.royal@kpu.ca.
Negotiation, Agency & Transformation: Navigating the Canadian Cultural Mosaic
Hosted by English Language Studies and Sociology Students
When: Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Where: Richmond Conference Centre, Room 2550 (Side B)
Please join us for the second Philosopher’s Teahouse hosted by students from the English Language Studies and Sociology Departments. The Teahouse is modelled on the idea of the Philosopher’s Café, but blended with multicultural perspectives reflected in the Asian Teahouse in order to create a “third space” (Bhabha, 1990) or “sphere of interculturality” (Kramsch, 1993).
The event is facilitated by Dr. Wendy Royal (ELS) and Dr Fiona Whittington-Walsh (Sociology), who bring their students together to discuss topical issues, exchange ideas, learn from each other’s cultural viewpoints and identify specific actions and strategies for dealing with these issues in a relaxed, hospitable atmosphere over good food & beverages.
Out theme for the upcoming Teahouse is: Negotiation, Agency & Transformation: Navigating the Canadian Cultural Mosaic. This event is sponsored by a Coca Cola Funding Award and supported by the Centre for Global & Multicentric Education (CGME).
International Education Week: November 15, 2010
The Philosopher’s Teahouse: Rethinking the Past; Teaching for the Future
Participants: SOCIO 1125, ELST 0383; ELST 0283 (70 students)
Dr. Fiona Whittington-Walsh (Sociology) and Dr. Wendy Royal (ELS Department)
Instructors from both disciplines collaborated in preparing their classes for this activity, using relevant articles from a sociology textbook, StatsCan survey, and newspaper article. Students from both areas watched the CBC video, “How tolerant are Canadians”. The cafeteria was set up to simulate a “Philosopher’s Café” and students were grouped with students from the other discipline in order to discuss the following questions.
POSTER: Royal_Whittington-Walsh_Poster