Today I had an online speaking class with my students. We had wonderful conversations about social justice issues. We discussed and generated ideas on many social justice issues.
- The students shared the stories in the narrative essays they wrote in the previous session.
- We had question-and-answer sessions after each story.
- We also shared our general ideas at the end of the lesson.
It was a very productive lesson. The students were very happy because they shared their essay topics and learned about each other's essays. It was so great leaving the stage to them and watching them lead the discussions.
Session 3 Lesson Plan
My students have started to write their first essays today. Let me give some background about the writing process:
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I suggested them some social justice topics and asked them find a real-life event about one of the topics they prefer.
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They found great pieces of news around the world and prepared an outline of the event.
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They shared their outline with me through our shared Google Drive folder, and I gave feedback on the outlines.
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They revised their outlines and brought them to the class.
As you see, they are working hard to write an essay based on their outlines. I am very excited for them. They have chosen really effective social justice topics and I believe they will have a very useful writing process on them.
Session #2 Lesson Plan
We had our first session today. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we managed to come together and have our first session. It was great to meet my project students. 🤗
Session #1 Lesson Plan
We had a very fruitful session on social justice language teaching in the writing class. We had various various activities and tasks. My students loved the "I have a dream." talk by Martin Luther King Jr.
Jan 23, 2021
I have finished my pre-interviews and had great conversations with my students. We are ready for the teaching phase!!! 🎉
Jan 22, 2021
My project is continuing with the pre-interviews. My students have really awesome ideas and talents. I am looking forward to the teaching phase. 🥳
Jan 21, 2021 !!!
A thrilling moment for me! I have started the implementation phase of my project with my pre-interviews.
I have had my first interview with a high-school student who is one of the participants in my project. He has really strong ideas about the concept of “social justice”. I am sure all my participants will enjoy this project a lot.
In the beginning of the first unit called as Friendship, there is a song which is about friendship and its importance indiscriminatingly. It generally says that it doesn't matter that you are short or tall, black or white, boy or girl because we are friends and you are always there. This is really good beginning for a book. It gives educatory message about social justice ,and besides, it is related with the topic.
Also there is a picture below the song. It includes people who have different appearances such as blond girl and boy, white and black people or people who have headscarf. They are all together and happy, this is the message that writers wanted to give to students.
There are many pages and pictures that includes messages about diversity. Generally, the book has pictures which include people from different countries and have different appearances. Also, there is not any gender apartheid or bias. For example, people generally think that women should cook and men go to work, but in the picture below a man is cooking. 
Also there is not any gender apartheid in the picture below which shows some jobs. 
Moreover the book includes some activities which may increase students' social responsibility awareness. For example there are some pictures below and people are helping others, cleaning environment and planting trees. 
Actually, when I examine the whole book, I have realized that there is not any information or awareness raising activity about animal rights. It gives effective messages about gender equality, environmental issues, or diversty, however; it falls behind about animal rights.
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 Hello! My name is Gizem Balta and I am 23. I was born on 1 April, 1997 in Sivas where I live by this time. I am the third child in a family of four. I have two sisters and one brother, but I live together with my teenager sister and my parents. My father is retired and my mother is a housewife. I had graduated from Yıldızeli Pamukpınar Teacher Training Anatolian High School in Sivas. I chose a language class in high school because of my interest in language and other cultures. Working hard on this interest, I got into the department of English Language Teaching. Thanks to this, I have been studying at Sivas Cumhuriyet University in English Language Teaching Department as a fourth grade student now.
During my university years, I have been both a participant and a founder in many social clubs. In my first year of college, I wanted to do something for the theater, which I enjoyed being a part of in high school.That's why I became a member of a theater club established under the roof of Cumhuriyet University and studied there for about 3-4 months. On the other hand, Global Culture Community is one of the clubs that I am one of the founders. In this community, we have organized many events in terms of English such as movie days, speaking groups, organizations and conferences. I had the chance to meet and spend time with Erasmus students in these events, so I got to know many cultures. Getting to know different cultures motivated me more, so I constantly make foreign friends and discover new places. Also I live in my hometown for years and I love living in here. Sivas was home to many cultures so that it has many historical structures, and also natural beauties. You can see some fotographs from Sivas.
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