Context-Bound Workshops: Revealing el learners' understandings of their communities at a language institute

Abstract

Language teaching practices beyond the instructional and linguistic perspectives are challenges that teachers face with the purpose of accompanying the holistic process of social beings with the capacities to critically reflect on their realities and work for them. This internship report had a two-fold purpose: On the one hand, it attempted to strengthen EL learners' communication through context-bound workshops. These workshops were designed and developed following community and problem- based learning approaches in connection with the pedagogical pillars framing the language institute located in Bogotá, Colombia. On the other hand, it intended to reveal learners’ understandings of their communities, based on the text created by them, and fieldnotes complemented with audio recordings. It is worth noting that providing spaces for learners to situate their knowledges and freely express their thoughts transforms their perspectives towards the second language. This challenges the traditional vision of teaching and learning at the language institute.