‘The nice white lady’
Having taught international students for the last 20 years I have learnt much from the opportunities I have had teaching in London as well as in Italy and Brazil. Meeting and speaking to people from all over the world from many faiths, races and some with disabilities has been an enriching experience. I have often been humbled by the tenacity, warmth, humour and knowledge of my students. I have often found there is so much to learn through them as much as I am here to teach them.
Through the years as someone who likes to see myself as an empathetic, open person I have continuously been reminded of how much I have to learn as the ‘nice white lady’. By this I mean my naivety in what it means to be afforded the privilege of someone who has gone through life without facing adversity or prejudice or questioned about who I am, what I want and why within my position in society. In fact the more I have learnt about how people from European and other western white countries through history have dominated the world through centuries of imperialism and colonisation means I intend to continue learning and support the causes that look for change. Of course that is not to say that through history humans from all cultures, races and faiths have always been the good guys, yet the irony of teaching English as another language coming from centuries of this imperialist domination is also not lost on me! How can I change this not only as a teacher but as a human being?
Perhaps by being as much of an ally as possible. Going to marches is something I already actively do, whilst I am not a member of any one particular group I take pictures to post on social media as a way of participating and to have solidarity. I read books and articles that inform me. I have conversations with people about how I see the world. I try to be the ‘nice white lady’ without being the ‘nice white lady’, if that even makes senses! I hope to never stop being curious by listening and learning to people’s stories.
Pre Tasks for Session 1
The main task that had an impact for me was where we were asked to complete profiles based on a photograph. immediately I thought, ‘Well, this is going to test my unconscious bias! And, I’m ok with that’. I actually didn’t mind it and discovering in the seminar that many found it uncomfortable was a slight surprise yet understandable. As humans we all judge by appearance, accent, dress sense and so on. I think knowing some of the faces helped and as we are in a university setting it wasn’t that challenging to hazard a guess at some of unknown faces. In fact it is often something I am challenged with most weeks with students , despite there being a commonality in the student cohort there are also vast often unseen differences and one can never assume or judge when students come from all races, backgrounds and cultures.