Online: “Why Can’t They Just Learn English?”

Update: this panel is now online. Please register to receive the Zoom meeting link.

“Why can’t they just learn English?” The Politics of the Hypercentral Language

English has become the “hypercentral” language (deSwaan, 2013) that is now dominant in social, economic, political, military, and cultural arenas. The increasing pressure to learn English for material success couples with a decreasing need for monolingual English speakers to learn other languages. This panel will discuss the practical implications of the role of English in the world and what this means for social justice for speakers of all languages.

The panel is moderated by  Leo Schmitt, Assistant Professor of English Language Studies in MA TESOL.

Panelists:

• Kim Edmunds is the Curriculum Specialist for the Tools for Clear Speech program at Baruch College, CUNY. She holds an MA in TESOL, and her interests include pronunciation and grammar pedagogy, the ethics of listening in multilingual contexts, and the applications of descriptive linguistics principles in grammar teaching. She is also an instructor of pedagogical grammar in the Hunter College MA TESOL program and The New School’s Certificate in Teaching English.

• JPB Gerald is a doctoral student at CUNY – Hunter College. His research focuses on the intersection of racial and linguistic discrimination, particularly the construction of whiteness among educators. He hosts a podcast on these topics called Unstandardized English, and you can find his #hottakes on Twitter @JPBGerald. He has a wife and an infant son and as such hasn’t slept in a while.

• Yanire Montañez is an MATESOL graduate student at The New School and holds a MSEd in early childhood.She has spent the last 27 years in youth development and recently has returned to early childhood setting to provide ESL services children in K-1. She is married and has 2 daughters.

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