Bringing EcoEnglish to Manizales, Colombia

From September 30th through October 11th, Allegra and Susan offered on-site training in EcoEnglish at the Centro Colombo Americano in Manizales, Colombia. This beautiful binational center (BNC) hosted us as we worked with Access alumni, students of Luis Amigó University, and English teachers. Our focus was on raising awareness of the damage that microplastics cause the environment and human health. This experience is captured in this multimedia presentation.

GPW AND ECOENGLISH by EcoEnglish

Cultivating Ecological Perception in the English Language Classroom

The following guest post has been contributed by ELT trainer Wendy Coulson.

Defining Ecological Perception

What do we mean by ecological perception, and why is the English-language classroom a good place to cultivate it? Ecopsychologist Laura Sewall (1995), described ecological perception as the practice of learning to pay attention to one’s environment and to perceive relationships in the world. Ecological perception also involves seeing patterns, is meaning-based, and uses imagination over time. The word ‘ecology’ comes from the Greek oikos, meaning both 'house' and 'family'. To help children learn to appreciate and take care of their global home, teachers can implement school routines and activities that cultivate ecological perception in learners.

Since English is an international language and our ecological crisis is global, the English language classroom is a good place to cultivate ecological perception. Secondly, UNESCO (2020) recommends that schools take an interdisciplinary or holistic approach to teaching about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. English language teaching is about communication and relationships, so infusing our lessons with varied ecological perspectives and appreciation of nature is justified. Thirdly, traditional folktales are often part of English programs that impart ecological wisdom through indigenous knowledge. Ways to incorporate ecological perspectives into English language education follow.

Classroom Routines

If you work at a school where there are few natural spaces, have a strict textbook-based curriculum to follow, or are unable to take the children outside there there is still a little extra space in even the strictest textbook lessons to develop ecological perspectives. My experience in international teacher training has shown me that most of these opening or beginning classroom routines can be adapted for youth of different ages and stages of English language development:

• Open a lesson with circle time. Remember that humans are part of nature, and part of ecological perception involves understanding our relationships with each other. Acknowledge everyone present, and if possible, recognize people students would like to remember, such as grandparents or special people in their lives with a pause for a silent reflection. Mention what made these people so special. Then, begin the day’s lesson.  

• Begin a lesson with songs and poems about nature. Songs and poems that teach the value of nature are a good way to start circle time. Remember that children love to sing and recite favorite songs and verses again and again. As students learn songs and poems, they can add their own verses.

Photo credit: Nicole James-Parham

• Start a nature table. If you can’t go out into nature, bring nature into the classroom. Ask the students to bring in interesting objects from nature to place on a seasonal table. Teach vocabulary, build word walls, and conduct sorting activities that encourage students to observe and reflect on the gifts of nature.

• Play a guessing game. This activity is a bit more advanced. Teach words to describe the items on the nature table and model how to make a nature riddle. For example: "I grow in the dark, yet I can bloom without the sun. What am I?“ (A mushroom.) As part of the opening lesson routine, ask the students to describe something for the others to guess. This can also be a short and easy communicative writing exercise.

• Play the Mystery Bag. After singing a song and reciting a poem, the students can play a guessing game called the Mystery Bag. Every day have one child bring in a secret item either from or representing nature– an item they only show to the teacher. Have the student put the item in the Mystery Bag. Then, the other students will take turns asking yes/no questions. For example: "Is it green?" The students then guess the identity of the object. 

• Build up students’ nature vocabulary every day by posting and referring to word walls.

• Tell a folktale that reflects nature or has a sustainability theme after circle time. The Earth Stories Collection is a great resource. By telling instead of reading, you can adjust the grammar and vocabulary for your students’ level.  

• End class by reciting a verse from a folktale about valuing nature. Opening and closing lessons with a verse help build the classroom community, which is part of ecological thinking.

Our experiences shape worldviews. Youth learn basic values of care and interconnectedness from what ‘we train their eyes upon.’ If we hope to make a shift towards ecological sustainability, it starts in our classrooms, where cultivating ecological perception through a global language is an excellent place to start.

How Diffit Supports Resource Development

Hello! This is Susan, one of the founders of the EcoEnglish website, In project-based language learning, like EcoEnglish, teachers often want to create their own materials. In countries where little media is available in English, EFL and ESP contexts pose challenges for teachers who want to teach about sustainability topics. This is especially important for place-based projects, where students explore local issues with a global reach. For example in 2021, while working with English teachers in the Galápagos, I struggled to find suitable materials for high school students learning about the avian vampire fly, an invasive, parasitic insect. Most resources were too scientific for their needs. I eventually located a news article in Spanish, translated it into English using DeepL, and adapted the resource for classroom use. This process was time-consuming but provided the teachers with appropriate materials for their interdisciplinary project.

Fast forward to 2024 where there’s a whole host of AI tools for teachers. My favorite material-creation tool of the moment is Diffit, an AI tool that helps teachers create and adapt texts, including transcripts of YouTube videos. Because of Diffit’s flexibility in materials development and the app’s accountability in citing source texts, it is no wonder that the American Association of School Librarians has named Diffit one of its Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning for 2024.

Teachers have several options to prepare materials. They can input their own text, link to texts on the Internet, or ask Diffit to generate a text based on a prompt or keywords that the teacher supplies. Diffit includes the source citation for information. Teachers can maintain the original text or select a grade level to adjust the reading level. Diffit can also translate articles, and the translations in English and Spanish seem to be accurate. Based on the title or query, Diffit suggests images to accompany a text, or teachers can upload their own images. Diffit generates a short glossary of key words, comprehension questions, and open-ended discussion questions. All of these features, from text-generation to questions, can be edited by teachers. But that’s not all. Diffit also offers templates for reading, writing, and oral communication activities, which can be shared to Google Classroom, exported to Google Docs or Slides, or downloaded as PDFs, Word, or PowerPoint documents. Resources can easily be incorporated into communicative activities in the second language classroom. The time saved in developing quality materials can be applied to lesson planning.

In October 2024, Allegra Troiano and I will be working with English educators and students at the Binational Center in Manizales, Colombia on English education projects to address the problems with plastics. One of our workshop sessions will showcase how to develop materials with Diffit. I will demonstrate a model lesson based on the TED-Ed video, What really happens to the plastic you throw away? by Emma Bryce. This 4-minute video follows the life story of three different plastic bottles. Two bottles end up as part of the pollution problem, while the third is recycled for reuse. For this video, I used Diffit to generate a text, comprehension and open-ended questions, and a short vocabulary list based on the video transcript. I also generated a vocabulary choice board activity. In reviewing the vocabulary list, I rewrote sample sentences to focus on the video topic.

The objective of the model lesson is to generate interest in the problems caused by single-use plastics. After focusing on key vocabulary, the teachers will watch the video with the sound off. The video will stop each minute for teachers to discuss and generate sentences on what they observe. Next, they will engage in a jigsaw reading activity based on the video narration which focuses on the life of each bottle. In their expert groups, where the teachers will all read the same portion of the text, they will complete comprehension questions before sharing what they have learned with members of their home group. They will then watch the four-minute video with the sound on before discussing the ideas in the video. The lesson will wrap with a reflective activity from the vocabulary choice board, where the teachers will apply new vocabulary in an activity that captures what they have learned and evokes new ideas.

I am looking forward to hearing what the English educators in Manizales think of using Diffit for customizing materials focused on climate sustainability and English language instruction.

Training Generation Plastic Warriors in Manizales, Colombia

Welcome to the first posting to the EcoEnglish Community blog! I am Allegra Troiano, one of the founders along with Susan Huss-Lederman, of the EcoEnglish website. As English language educators and trainers, we are now concentrating on education for climate sustainability. Certainly, there are many pressing global problems that affect sustainability. So you may wonder, Why are we focusing on plastics when there are so many pressing issues to address related to our ailing environment?

While researching appropriate environmental links related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on our website, EcoEnglish, the dangers of plastics kept popping up. After much discussion, Susan and I realized that plastics are so pervasive that they are affecting our health, our ecosystems, and wildlife across the globe.

First and foremost, the US has tripled its use of plastics since the 1980s. Statista claims that just in 2019, the US generated an estimated 73 million metric tons of plastic waste, equivalent to 22 kilos per inhabitant, and roughly 5 times more than the global average per capita. Another frightening statistic is that upwards of 10 million tons of plastics are dumped in our oceans every year. (1)

Plastics are derived from fossil fuels and contribute to resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions from production to disposal. They have been found in places as deep as the Mariana Trench and as high as Mount Everest. They are in our air, our land, our water. My own travels through La Guajira, Colombia, in 2022 made me even more aware of how ubiquitous plastics are as single-use plastic bags hung from cacti like light bulbs on Christmas trees. Since plastic doesn’t biodegrade easily, those bags are destined to hang around in our environment, break into much smaller particles, microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPLs), for hundreds and possibly thousands of years. How they affect us is only now coming to light. (1)

Plastics, which contribute significantly to environmental pollution, harm marine life through ingestion and entanglement, enter our food chain, and according to research, impact human health, from placentas to the blood, the brain, and all major organs. (2)

 

Image courtesy of Plastic Oceans International

So that’s why Susan Huss-Lederman and I decided to focus on plastic reduction and elimination when we applied and were awarded a 2024 Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund grant through Global Ties, supported by the US Department of State to train English language teachers and youth at the Centro Colombo Americano in Manizales, Colombia. We figured that in the short time we would be in Colombia, we could increase awareness about the effects of plastics and engage in project-based training on plastics because they are visible everywhere, polluting our environment and invading all parts of our bodies, including the brain. By training teachers and youth (aka Generation Plastic Warriors) on the effects of plastics on the environment and on their health, they could develop their knowledge and skills to train new generations about the scourge of plastics and how to reduce and eliminate their use where possible. In fact, plastics are such a big problem that the Colombian government enacted Law 2232, which legislated making single-use plastics reusable, compostable, or recyclable by 2030. (3, 4)

In addition, training youth and teachers on plastics helps raise awareness among the public and policymakers about the environmental consequences of plastic pollution, fostering a broader commitment to sustainable practices. Training on plastics also empowers future environmentalists to confront plastics and offers them opportunities to create meaningful change through advocacy, innovation, and collective action. Effective advocacy and policy change can regulate plastic use, promote recycling, and incentivize industries to adopt more sustainable practices.

Tackling plastic pollution now will ensure a cleaner and healthier environment for future generations while protecting natural resources and biodiversity. Not doing anything about plastics is a formula for more distress and damage to our water, our land, and our bodies.

1. Statista, Plastic Waste Facts US
2 . Plastic Oceans International, Plastic Oceans Facts
3. Colombian Law 2232 in English
4. Colombian Law 2232 in Spanish