4 The Guardian Weekly 21.05.10 Learning English Coursebooks and the curse of celebrity

Opinion Lindsay Clandfi eld

When we teach English as an inter- national language, what are we also teaching? As language teachers we are in a curious and unique position. We do not have a fi xed subject in the same way that the history teacher teaches history or the geography teacher teaches geography. The language teacher teaches grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, speak- ing and listening skills, but these are all “how”. They are not “what”. Language teachers are cursed with no content, but also blessed because everything can be our content. Is the “what” we teach culture? Language and cultural studies used to be seen as inseparable. If you learnt English you learned about British people, their way of life, their literature and cultural history. If you were studying American English then you would learn about the US . However, with the rise and recogni- tion of English as an international language, we are faced with the reality that English is no longer the Lindsay who? Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan attracts photographers’ attention, but for how long? Chris Polk/AP property of the British or the Ameri- cans . Some have even gone as far as look at major international course- that well known. I’ve met many educators’ ideas of what education is to suggest that international English books published in the early 1990s. teachers from diff erent countries about. It’s what gets English course- has no culture. So, what content do The average number of celebrities who complain that they, or their books criticised for being vapid and, we use to present new language in was two. I counted the number of students, d o not know who some of as one fellow teacher remarked to context? celebrities in three or four interna- these people are. For them it was just me once , “so light that if I don’t hold I believe that two kinds of content tional coursebooks from the latter another pretty face smiling up from on tightly it will just fl oat away”. One have risen to fi ll the gap that was part of th is decade. The number had the page. could argue that the mere presence once provided by cultural content risen to an average of 28. Celebrity can date quickly. One of celebrities and happy, comfortable from Britain or the US, and despite In a way this is not surprising. used to be able to depend on famous people in our materials makes them claims that international English Modern materials will try to refl ect people looking more or less the same part of a dissemination of global ce- could be devoid of culture, I think modern life. Teachers want to feel for a couple of years, but now they lebrity culture, a culture that off ers both are cultural. The fi rst is a sort up to date. Authors and publishers change their look every fortnight. us, in the words of Ellis Cashmore, of international culture populated want material that will sell books. If they aren’t changing their physi- professor of culture and media at by invented people all travelling And boy, does celebrity sell in other cal appearance they are most likely Staff ordshire University, England, around, going to conferences, having fi elds. Celebrity sells perfumes, getting into some kind of trouble. “a distinctive vision, a beguiling one fun at weekends, checking in and clothing labels, popular magazines, As a coursebook writer, this point too: one in which there are few lim- out of hotels, going to restaurants newspapers and television shows. was brought home to me in 2005, its, an expanding range of opportuni- with international menus and having Today’s celebrities are international, the year that Brad Pitt and Jennifer ties and inexhaustible hope”. middle-class worries. This content is they are everywhere and they lead Anniston got divorced. I wasn’t per- I’m not saying that this kind of safe, it’s not confrontational and it’s eye-catching lives. Some of them sonally distressed at the break-up content can’t make for interesting almost unbearably bland. also do good acts, such as support- of such a nice-looking Hollywood lessons. It can. I’m not saying it can’t The second kind of content is that ing charities and raising awareness couple, nor was I caught up in the be motivational. Again, it can. But if of the world of celebrity. Smiling about important issues . Don’t they whole Angelina Jolie angle. No, this we believe that education is about faces of actors such as Brad Pitt or make recognisable and motivating event was of signifi cance to me as a learning, discovering and becom- Tom Cruise leap off the page. We material for lessons? writer because that very same year ing interested in new things that we teach the vocabulary of nationalities Despite what we may think in the a coursebook of mine was coming didn’t know about before, then this via their most photogenic stars UK or North America, many “inter- out that used Brad and Jennifer as subject matter short-change s us. If (for example, “Maria Sharapova is national” celebrities are not actually an example of “a married couple”. we believe that education is about Russian. She is from Russia”). We Everything had to be changed and it thinking critically about the world present the grammar of the present I’ve met many was very stressful. we live in and making more sense of perfect by reading about the life and The fact that celebrities may not it then this, it’s time to get a bit more works of a contemporary musician teachers who do not be known and can date quickly are serious and move on. Let’s wise up, or fi lm director. This kind of content two practical reasons against their not dumb down. has been on the rise over the last know who some inclusion in international materials. 20 years. of these people are There is also a more ideological rea- Lindsay Clandfi eld is the main author Or at least it seems to be, judging son, and it’s simply that this kind of of Global, Macmillan’s new course for by what is in our materials. I took a material does not conform to many adults .