Presupuesto y Finanzas del Proyecto

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In other words, many of the learning stages mentioned in this drawing involve articulating and formalising thought. Perhaps articulating thought is more evidently realised in the discussion stage in which students verbalise their thoughts. Formalising thought seems to involve a more careful recorded account of developed thought. Examples of this as shown in the drawing are the students’ written reports and their oral presentations. What is important to say is that both involve drafting and re-drafting and perhaps in the course of the programme students have time to get feedback on several drafts of one report. Regarding the students’ poster presentations, they can be considered final drafts if there is no further discussion of those ideas later on in class; or in-progress, bits of formalisations of thought, if these will continue being developed into more refined versions that take comments and questions from the presentation into account. Langan (1966) argues that any formalisation of thought, regardless of its potential for refinement into more accurate and complete versions, is important in that it is men’s legacy on earth. Being able to access the work done in the future opens up possibilities for developing these ideas further. Perhaps this is the reason why I consistently ask my students to articulate and formalise their thoughts.

The following excerpt from a student’s reflective writing shows the importance she attributed to verbalising and articulating her thoughts. She highlights having opportunities to think, share and develop their own ideas as gains from this learning experience. She further expresses the value of articulating and verbalising thought in phrases such as, ‘discussions in class’, ‘developing my oral skills and elaborative faculty’, ‘opportunities to think and speak’, and ‘expressing my views and sharing them with others’:

Extract 54

Actually, in my school we do not need to do that, we just listen and remember, and there is no discussion in class. However in this week, l think l learned a lot and developed my oral language ability and my elaborative faculty. Although my major is English education in my school, but l have few opportunities to speak and think, just to remember and understand, so l feel novel and maybe a bit uncomfortable, but the learning method makes me feel very free, l can express my views, and share them with others. (Fatima, week 1)

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The excerpt below is an exchange between a student and I, the lecturer, in which I ask him to express what work he was doing in group, what he would say about the topic and what aspect of it he would choose to share with the rest of the class. Going around the groups and asking them to verbalise what work they have planned to do, how they are going to do it and an evaluation of its quality (Dam, 1995) characterises this teaching practise and has emerged as a recurrent theme. Not only are the students practising their speaking skills in the target language, but they are also developing their understanding as they verbalise their ideas:

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I: Can I ask you individually what you are going to do? Julian: I’m going to discuss British politeness.

I: Interesting! Why have you decided on that?

Julian: Because my coming here, wherever I go, I find that British people are very, very polite such as, if I’m getting off the bus, British people have to say ‘thank you’ to the bus driver; and also if there are people behind you and you want to go, you have to say ‘excuse me’, or ‘sorry’, or some polite word.

I: So, what is it that you are going to do in connection with politeness? Are you going to write your ideas? Or…

Julian: Yes, write some phrases they always share, and then some behaviour they always have, and then maybe I will compare it with the Chinese politeness

I: Aw interesting!

Julian: I think they are totally different from each other I: That’d be great. Are you going to use two different colours? Julian: Yes

I: Thank you Julian: Thank you

5.2.6. Theme 6: Enlarging, expanding understanding of both the self and others This emergent theme is concerned with expanding one’s understanding of both the self and others. More specifically, this refers to critiquing and questioning what is presented as a fact (Freire, 2011), developing one’s own voice, seeking ‘deep’ understanding, presenting one’s views in a nuanced way, considering opposing views, and being cautious. In other words, all of the above are ways of opening up possibilities (Martin and White, 2005) in order to reach a more thorough

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understanding not only of what they are investigating but also of themselves and others.

In her first-week reflective writing, Estela refers to this expansion of understanding by listening to and being inspired by the views of others:

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After exchanging and sharing, we got new inspiration from other groups and expanded our knowledge about this topic. (Estela’s reflective writing on week 1)

In her first-week reflective writing, Lauren reflects on taking the best from both this experience and what she has learned in her own context. In other words, she reminds us of the value of expanding our knowledge by adding the new learning to the old one. She speaks of the integration of positive aspects from different educational practices:

Extract 57

The most important thing is that in the future pedagogy activities I will integrate the advantages of Western and Eastern teaching methods to achieve some innovation in education. (Lauren’s reflective writing on week 1)

In her reflective writing on the second week, Estela reflects on the dangers of comparing aspects of two cultures without discussing the criteria for comparison. In other words, her identifying the need to consider a criteria for comparison is a step towards advancing understanding by being more specific, more nuanced, less generic and more accurate about their comparative work:

Extract 58

Sometimes we are inclined to compare things from a limited perspective, which means we cannot find a proper standard. Therefore, I think more time should be spent on the perspectives of the comparison. Meanwhile, variety and diversity must be shown in our comparison. Repetition should be avoided as much as possible. (Estela’s reflective writing on week 2)

In her visual reflection reproduced below Ramona refers to the work she had done and learnt and what she expects to learn next. Regarding the former, she highlights

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group work, discussions, sharing, reflections, and getting information and practising her English via an interview to a guest speaker. Regarding the latter, she highlights wishing to continuing having interesting activities and deep discussions. Deep discussions are conducive to thorough and better understanding as they involve the consideration of various perspectives and voices. Deep discussions enlarge understanding.