Imagine if you will, the following conversation between a teacher and a student.
S: What's "world citizenship"?
T: An easy question--being a citizen of the world.
S: What does that mean?
T: Well, you're a citizen of Japan, and a citizen of your prefecture, and a citizen of your city (hometown), right? So now think of yourself as a citizen of the world as well.
S: In Japan we think about school, family and community; and in Japanese we have "shi-min", "ken-min", and "koku-min." But "sekai-min"?
T: Well, how about "chikyu-jin"--"earth person" or "a person of the earth"?
S: What does "earth" have to do with "citizenship" or "world citizen"?
Background
Bringing a world citizenship concept into an EFL/ESL classroom in Japan (and other countries) requires first of all a clear idea of the concept, which, as the opening conversation suggests, is not as simple as it might sound. Much has been written and discussed recently regarding "internationalization," but the general emphasis has been on "me"--a form of self-gratification. Still, "global" awareness has also become more common, and distance barriers vanished, bringing diverse people into contact with each other--and their lifestyles and traditions closer to potential conflict. At the same time, the collapse of communication barriers has introduced new ideas and fashions into the lives of individuals. But how aware are people of what is happening globally? Are they aware of how the future is being reshaped? And what kind of preparations should students be receiving from foreign and second language learning for the world of their future? This case study offers some insights from one small group.
Course, Methodology, And Approach
Course: Our World Citizenship class was a fourth-year elective for university English majors consisting of two terms (April-July, October-January), with 12-13 weeks each term. There were 10-11 classes of 90 minutes each term plus two examination sessions, one oral and one written.
Operational definition: A world citizen is an individual who accepts global responsibilities or expands his or her social consciousness to include the people of other countries. These include employees of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, workers of multinational companies, members of volunteer groups, and teachers and educators. In addition, there are people whose world views are created by travel, television, e-mail, and the internet.
Methodology and grading: The main goal for this content-based course was expanding the students' skills in and knowledge of World Citizenship. It emphasized expressing oneself in English.
Class activity was divided into three parts: First, the teacher and the students went over the day's text in English with occasional word translation; second, pairs discussed the main points of the text (in English and Japanese); and third, pairs made oral reports in English. For homework students wrote a summary in English of their oral reports. Grading each term was based on 10 written summaries (50%), a take-home exam and oral report on the exam (30%), anda term project (20%).
Approach to class content: The activities of an NGO (nongovernmental organization), the Baha'i International Community (BIC), were chosen for this course because of its consultative status with ESOSOC (the UN Economic and Social Council) and UNICEF (UN Children's Fund), and working relations with other UN agencies. In line with its stated goal to promote world peace by creating the conditions in which unity emerges as the natural state of human existence, the BIC NGO gives special priority to seven objectives: (1) promotion of the oneness of humanity; (2) realization of the equality between men and women; (3) advancement of economic justice and cooperation; (4) service to the cause of universal education; (5) nurturing a sense of world citizenship; (6) fostering religious tolerance; and (7) encouraging the adoption of an international auxiliary language.
In one of its documents, World Citizenship: A Global Ethic for Sustainable Development (no date, p. 2), the BIC defines "world citizenship" as acceptance of and respect for principles, values, attitudes, and behaviors such as:
- Accepting all human beings as members of the human family.
- Considering the earth "our home."
- Feeling both patriotic and international.
- Accepting "unity" and "diversity."
- Supporting social justice and economic justice.
- Supporting cooperative and consultative decision-making.
- Achieving gender equality.
- Striving for racial, ethnic, national, and religious harmony.
- Working for the "common good."
- Encouraging human honor and dignity, understanding, friendship, cooperation, trustworthiness, caring, respect, and volunteer service.
Class content and materials were premised on world citizenship being the need for the peoples of the world to develop unity, harmony, and understanding among themselves and their nations.
Student feedback: In case studies, primary interest often lies in what is learned. How do thoughts and attitudes change from day one to the last day as learners are led through a syllabus designed to stimulate their thinking and develop their ability to express themselves? The following sample responses represent first day views, responses to the curriculum, the examination results, and course projects.
First Day Views
On the first day of class, students were asked to write answers to five questions: What is your interest in world citizenship? What is the meaning of world citizenship? Who are world citizens? How does one become a world citizen? What is your main goal for this class?
Their first thoughts about the meaning of "world citizenship" were that it means (a) all people, (b) relations between people, and (c) cooperation. This means that all the people who live on earth are considered world citizens regardless of the nation they live in. This seems to reflect a chikyu-jin point of view. Having a good relationship with people all over the world, communicating and getting along with other people, and understanding cultures and societies across borders seems to reflect an "internationalization" and a knowledge/academic world view. The third type of answer, the view of most of the group, was that world citizenship meant cooperating, doing things for others, and volunteering, perhaps reflecting experiences connected with the Hanshin earthquake (Kobe, 1995) and the rise in social consciousness resulting from that disaster.
How a person might become a world citizen consisted of four general categories: volunteering, becoming multinational in outlook, world events, and studying. Being multinational in outlook was vague. It included developing a sense of multinationalism, thinking about the world, hoping for world peace, and having an awareness of the difficulties some people have with a world citizen concept because of religion, history, and tradition. About one-third of the group felt that volunteering and helping others was the way to become a world citizen, mentioning such things as: helping or doing something for another person; volunteering for community service; joining a peace movement or group; planning events for poor or handicapped people; taking part in exchange program activities with foreigners; and having kindness for everybody.
The students' initial goals were to use English, and gain personal development and knowledge about the world. The three students who indicated that English was a goal in the course were interested in talking about world problems in English, thinking in English, and improving discussion skills. The four students who were interested in personal development hoped to increase their sense of world citizenship, be a person who can think about the world, know how to cooperate and get along with others, and overcome the idea that understanding foreign countries and people is difficult. The remaining students were mainly interested in knowing more about the world and other ways of thinking, studying about people and peace movements, learning about social and cultural differences, and understanding the meaning of "international person" and "world citizen."
Curriculum
To relate the students' orientation with the NGO approach, five modules were selected: exchange programs, world citizenship concepts, world citizen characteristics, educating world citizens, and trends in civil society.
The materials consisted of a memorial video (Bridge to Peace, 1996) of the Fulbright Exchange Program and the life of Senator Fulbright (an English version was used in class; the Japanese version was available in the library), portions of the BIC world citizenship document mentioned earlier, articles from One Country, a 16-page quarterly newsletter of the Baha'i International Community, and Herald of the South, a quarterly magazine for world citizens published in Australia/New Zealand.
Some sample pairwork guidelines were: (a) Module One: Think about world citizens, world problems, etc. Which world citizen/problem/principle do you want to discuss? Why? How is your choice related to world citizenship? How is it related to your future life/hopes for the future?; and (b) Module Five: Consider "the way...ordinary people...see themselves" is changing to more democracy, more equality, and more cooperation. What are some examples?
First Term Final Examination
The first term examination had two parts: a written take-home exam, and an oral report based on the written exam. The first part had two essay questions to choose from: "What are some basic concepts of world citizenship?" and "What is the relationship between "the rise of civil society" and the texts we have used for vocabulary and discussion?
Overall, students focussed less on "world citizenship" than on "world citizens." The main focus of the former was education, with emphasis on educational equality, world relationships, consideration for others, learning to live in harmony, and diversity in customs and traditions. The world citizen papers, on the other hand, focused on the oneness of human races and confirmation of morality.
The first day knowledge and the chikyu-jin views appeared in two papers: one focussed on knowing the history, culture, religion, habits, etc., of other countries. The other argued that whoever exists on earth can have world citizenship.
Unexpectedly, "selfishness" was described as a major problem in becoming a world citizen. Some described human beings as selfish originally, as "thinking about ourself first and wanting everyone's approval;" another pointed to problems caused "by ego in the human mind." These views were from three slightly different perspectives:
- World citizenship is not difficult for everybody because we already have minds of world citizenship. However we don't do it because of social discrimination, prejudice, appearance.
- We have thought about only our happiness and our profit and have not kept an eye on the problems in our countries or in the world for a long time.
- Some people lack the sense of international communication and broad mindedness. We tend to think and look with a narrow mind. That is, we tend to be satisfied if it is good only for ourselves.
Second Term: New Format
The second term began with class consultation about two problems: content versus the language issue, and small group versus large group discussions. Some students were frustrated with being unable to express their ideas in English and argued for discussion in Japanese so that they could develop their ideas more fully. This was agreed to by the class. The second term methodology was large group discussion in Japanese. English was used mainly for handouts and for presentation summaries. The topics of the second term were based on term projects: each student chose a world citizen organization, individual, or concept to present to the class. Twenty minutes were allotted for each presentation and discussion in Japanese, followed by a brief oral summary in English. A 500-word report in English on the term project was required at the end of the term.
Term Projects
Each category of world citizenship was represented in the term projects. The world citizens chosen were Jody Williams, the recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize for her ICBL (International Campaign for Banning Landmines) efforts, Mother Teresa, and Princess Diana, both of whom had recently died. The organizations chosen were UNICEF, NGOs, UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees), and television (as media, and as commercials). The concepts chosen were internationalization, women's equality, recycling, developed/developing nations, and education: raising children, secondary school education, and development education.
Second Term Examination
To end the course, students were asked to relate their classwork and projects to a set of world citizen characteristics published by the Herald of the South. One student's exam paper related these characteristics and the key words/phrases/concepts, as follows (the * indicates the term project):
1. Humanity is one and indivisible; each member of the human race is a trust of the whole.
- Raising children to be world citizens.
- The basic concept: To know and respect others.
- Thoughtfulness resulting form fraternal love is useful to raise humanity.
2. A world community whose borders are those of the planet and whose members are all humankind.
- *UNICEF Activities
- Overcoming hypocrisy must be based on global ways of thinking.
- *TV Commercials and Refugees
- Putting ourselves in another person's place is very important; TV commercials have a great effect on various global problems.
- *Aren't Japanese Asians?
- The first step is to give up our prejudice that the Japanese are special.
- *Internationalization in Japan (Same as above)
3. A commitment to a global ethic of justice, equality, caring, altruistic service and responsibility for the well-being of all.
- *Mother Teresa
- A model of love and thoughtfulness for everyone.
4. The future, peace and prosperity of each person is inseparable from that of all humanity.
- *Recycling
- Paying attention to the future of the earth.
- *Jody Williams and ICBL
- All people in the world should spare no effort to solve landmine problems. It is our common problem.
- *Refugee Problems
- Thinking deeply to solve world problems must raise a strong sense of justice in our minds.
5. What unites us is greater and more powerful than what divides us.
- *NGO Activities
- Interest and courage have unbelievable possibilities. We can do anything if we believe we can work things out.
6. The diversity of humanity is a source of richness and beauty.
- *Women becoming world citizens
- Recognizing individual differences is related to respecting others. We can survive if we are considerate of each other.
- *Development and Education
- Helping poor countries and poor people creates a fundamental relationship.
7. The history of humanity as one people is now beginning.
- *Secondary School and Education
- Human beings live to think and speak. Education and knowledge must enrich our lives.
Course Appraisal
Did the course teach world citizenship? If so, what did the students actually learn? Were their first-day interests realized and their goals achieved In the last class, students were asked to evaluate the course in terms of three variables: language, knowledge, and life skills. A sampling of their responses follows.
1. Language Variable
I had a lot of chances to listen to others and to talk to them. This leads us to understand each other. By this type of class, we're able to become prospective World Citizens, in my opinion.
From the teacher's point of view, vocabulary building and world citizen discourse patterns were also important parts of the course; but no one mentioned these. Only listening to others and talking to others (discussion skills) were mentioned. Some referred to the use of Japanese to express content, reflecting a basic emphasis in the educational system (e.g., the university lecture system) and the use of English as an information source rather than a means of communication.
2. Knowledge Variable
The class promoted the students' greater awareness and knowledge of world citizens.
All the themes gave me lots of knowledge about World Citizenship.
Knowledge as an abstract, academic book-learning appears to be the point of the above two comments. Conversely, knowledge as a particular value or principle that needs to be developed or sustained seems reflected in the following two comments.
My ideal "world citizenship" is that we have no prejudice.
By eliminating much discrimination, trying to become �one,� and being interested in not only good points but also bad points and accepting each other, can we say that we are world citizens? Understanding sustainable development is also important.
This last comment suggests an interest that goes beyond evaluative attitudes to participating in development programs (such as education).
3. Life Skills
Whereas the knowledge variable may relate mainly to theoretical and academic information, the life skills variable should refer to the practical use of information as part of one's lifestyle, that is, to thinking as a world citizen.
The real meaning of "world citizenship" is to open our heart and believe that we are One. To cooperate with others for "oneness" [will] lead us to be "world citizens."
The importance of realizing each [other's] value of existing in the world.
As my conclusion, to respect individuals as human beings is essential for us and for our future.
Even if I can't become a real World Citizen perfectly, to have such a consciousness is the most important thing that each of us can do.
It is important at this point to note that world citizen consciousness is not easy for everyone. One of the students pointed this out in the following way:
Almost one year I've been thinking about the meaning of world citizenship and how we should live here and how we should do something for others. It's a big topic and unclear and so hard to define. We live our days without such words as humanity, humankind, oneness, global ethic, etc. The seem like useless declarations. People don't recognize them. To "respect each other," "understand each other" is impossible--hypocrisy, without reality. What's this class for? There are countless answers and all of them are true and all of them are not. But I've found this, the most important point of this class for me is to keep thinking about the problem, and about the roots of the problem, about the minds of people, about myself.
World citizenship is an ideal and stands in contrast with much of the reality that exists in everyday life. There are many currents in world society. The destructive ones are continually publicized in the media, while constructive undercurrents receive little attention and generally escape notice--unless one knows where to look and how to recognize them. Perhaps at the present time this is what world citizenship is all about.
Final Observations
Much could be written about this case study, but one particular observation stands out. The course was very rich in content for both the students and the teacher. Each individual found time out-of-class to prepare their presentation and reports. This observer was impressed by the range of knowledge and concerns of the students, and by their interest in expressing their views when given the opportunity and suitable circumstances to do so. One major factor was probably the fact that the students made decisions for the second term, including scheduling themselves and choosing their native language to communicate with each other. It should be remembered that as a content-based course, English in and of itself was not the main goal, so the language issue was not either/or both, but rather complimentary: Japanese was used for orally expressing content; English was used for obtaining information and for consolidating what they had reported and discussed.
References
Bridge to peace: The Fulbright story.[Video].(1996). Tokyo: Japan-U.S. Visual Media Culture Foundation.
World citizenship: A global ethic for sustainable development. (Statement presented to the first session of the Commission on Sustainable Development.) New York: Baha'i International Community, n.d.
Resources
Herald of the South. P.O. Box 285, Mona Vale, NSW 2103 Australia; <bpa@bahai.org.au>.
One Country. Baha'i International Community, Suite 120, 866 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA; <1country@bic.org>; <http://www.onecountry.org>.