The Alternative Vote, Intercultural Education,the ELT Classroom and the Happy Casual Cat

Yes or No

Yes or No

Today only the second ever referendum will be held in the history of the British state.  It is also the first time the result will be binding on the government.  I remember the first one when we had to vote on whether Britain should continue to be a member of the European Union or the European Economic Community as it was known in 1975.  I was at school at the time, just turned 18 but remember nothing about learning about it in the classroom.

Referendum Question

nice pic that was passed around on twitter today via @andrewbloch

nice pic that was passed around on twitter today via @andrewbloch

Based on the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition agreement, the referendum is to be a simple majority yes/no question as to whether to replace the current First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system used in general elections with the Alternative Vote (AV) system. The question posed by the referendum is:

At present, the UK uses the “first past the post” system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the “alternative vote” system be used instead?

NO to AV or YES to fairer votes?

NO to AV or YES to fairer votes?

In Wales the question on the ballot paper will also appear in Welsh.

Ar hyn o bryd, mae’r DU yn defnyddio’r system “y cyntaf i’r felin” i ethol ASau i Dŷ’r Cyffredin. A ddylid defnyddio’r system “pleidlais amgen” yn lle hynny?

Using the front pages of newspapers in the classroom

The press has been very active in the campaign and these are some of the front pages of the British newspapers today. It is part of British culture at election times that editors of newspapers are never shy of directing their readers in the direction of who or what to vote for. Analysing front pages of newspapers on significant days is a great task for students in the ELT classroom and today’s papers provide engaging learning opportunities for noticing and compare and contrast activities. How much space is devoted to AV? What is the newspaper’s position? Which other issues are highlighted on the front pages and why?

SAY NO TO AV
SAY NO TO AV
VOTE NO TO STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY
VOTE NO TO STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY
WHY YOU MUST VOTE NO TO AV TODAY
WHY YOU MUST VOTE NO TO AV TODAY
VOTE NO
WHY IT IS VITAL TO VOTE NO TODAY
VOTE YES
YES FOR LABOUR AND AV
Super Thursday and the stake are high
Super Thursday and the stakes are high
British Newspaper Circulation Figures
British Newspaper Circulation Figures

It is only “The Independent” that puts the views of the three party leaders on the front page of its newspaper.

According to David Cameron, the British Prime Minister:

Cameron and AV

Cameron and AV

“It would be wrong for Britain, it is obscure, it is unfair and I believe it would be a backward step for our country”

According to NickClegg, Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats  ” If

Clegg and AV

Clegg and AV

you want something a bit fairer , a bit better, which makes all politicians work a bit  harder for your vote then vote yes”

And according to ED Miliband, leader of the Labour Party

“In the 10 minutes it takes to vote you could change British politics for the better.”

Miliband and AV

Miliband and AV

Over 85% of newspapers sold today in Britain support the continuation of the present system and against AV. My own views are well represented by Caroline Lucas, the only Green MP in Britain

The Green Case for AV

“The Green party has been fully supportive of the Yes Campaign, on the basis that it represents a step towards strengthening our democracy – and because we think it’s right that MPs, who will need to secure at least 50% of the vote to be certain of winning, will have to reach out more widely to keep voters’ support.

The current first-past-the-post system was designed for a different age, when 95% voted for the two main Westminster parties; at the last election this fell to 65%. Today, as there is ever greater pluralism in our politics, it’s clear that we need a reformed voting system that delivers fair representation.

To my mind, there is no doubt that AV is an improvement on FPTP, which will give the public a greater voice, reduce the likelihood of safe seats and tackle the cynicism of large-scale tactical voting.

While it’s no secret that many of us would have preferred a system of proportional representation, that option is not on the ballot paper. We should not let the best be the enemy of the good.

Whichever way you look at it, a “No” vote would be interpreted by this government as a vote against change. It would maintain the status quo and set back the campaign for wider constitutional reform by at least a generation. From a democratic perspective and from an environmental one, this is a setback we can ill afford.”

Caroline Lucas, fair(er) votes are worth fighting for

Caroline Lucas, fair(er) votes are worth fighting for

An integral part of intercultural education in ELT

The arguments for and against a change in the electoral system can be found here.  An analysis of the front page of the British newspapers today along side the circulation figures might be an enjoyable and creative task in some ELT contexts.  As a part of citizenship and media education in Seconday Schools, both inside and outside Britain, this kind of comparative, contemporary and critical approach to  intercultural education has long been part of  British Studies projects within the British Council since the projects were launched in Eastern and Central Europe after 1991. It is also something I work on in the Applied Linguistics Department at ELTE, the university I teach in in Budapest.

Politics in class?

Some people argue that doing this kind of thing is being too political, however it can be argued that it is just as political not to do it. If it is desirable to have a well-educated society, then education for citizenship, part of which is knowledge of the electoral system, is an educational responsibility which all schools are faced with. Critical reading within a critical media programme within English language lessons with 17/18-year-old students is one place where this could and maybe should happen.

A cat-friendly explanation of the Alternative Vote System

And if you are still not sure about the AV system then this video will help you to decide how to miaoooooow and how we will have much happier kitties in the future. The dog has always won very easily in the past without actually having to put too much effort into it.

Education for citizenship for cats and humans alike, all stand to benefit

Education for Citizenship

Education for Citizenship

Just A Very Right Royal British Kiss, Nothing More, Nothing Less

Tracey Emin's the Kiss on the front page of Saturday's Independent

Tracey Emin's the Kiss on the front page of Saturday's Independent

The Kiss, by Tracey Emin

“It was the moment everyone was waiting for, because you want to know that it’s real. After that kiss, you realise it isn’t just splendour and pomp: it is two people in love. I’m talking about the second kiss, of course. The first one was so quick I almost missed it. The second kiss definitely looked like a snog; a proper kiss. They looked really naive and natural, like a child’s fantasy of a bride and groom. This was an incredible day of pageantry and, above all, Britishness.”  Tracy Emin

An incredible day of Britishness?

Britishness isn’t a neutral concept, it’s a contested concept and it is regularly debated in the press, on TV and on phone-in programmes in Britain.  The Britishness that was on show on Friday is a deeply conservative view of Britishness drawing on the legacy of the Empire, the aristocracy, inherited wealth, privilege and monarchy.

Understanding the role of the monarchy in Britain

In 1981 I was on a train between Berlin and Dresden when Charles married Diana.  In 1986, when Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson  I was on a campsite in Miskolc Tapolca in Eastern Hungary and on Friday when William married Kate  I did a lesson on the Royal wedding with a group of 12-year-olds in Szombathely in Western Hungary.

Through working for the British Council for 12 years on British Studies projects, understanding the monarchy and its

You wait years for a Royal kiss

You wait years for a Royal kiss and then two come along at once

role has become a mainstay of my work, Linda Colley’s book “Britons, Forging the nation 1707-1837″ is a fantastic exploration of Britishness and a fantastic play on the word “forging”.   This weekend is one of those times when the British monarchy is in sharp focus on a world stage and a great opportunity to exploit in English language lessons.  In Friday’s lesson we looked at St Andrews University in Scotland, William’s  2.1 degree in Geography, Kate’s  2.1 degree in Art History and how they met up there. We looked at the Union Flag and it’s components and some pictures of Kate at school at Malborough College and William at Eton College.

I'm not a royal wedding mug, lovely use of the two meanings of mug!

I'm not a royal wedding mug, lovely use of the two meanings of mug!

We sang “Going to the Chapel” by the Shirelles and looked at some Royal souvenirs, both positive and negative about the wedding. If I could have next week with the same students I would have continued to work on the Royal Wedding using the front pages of Saturday’s newspapers as shown in this blogpost. With an older group (15-16) I would have looked at the school system in Britain using Kate and William as examples of people who went to very exclusive and prestigious schools and we would have ended up

Kate and Willliam's life on the mug

Kate and Willliam's life on the mug

discussing the advantages and disadvantages for a society of private education. These are ambitious aims but they were part of the British Studies Secondary School Project I was involved in for 6 years and we ended up writing a textbook which included this kind of methodology.

Front page of Daily Telegraph on day after Royal Wedding

Front page of Daily Telegraph on day after Royal Wedding, no text

The closest we have to a national day is Remembrance Day and the argument goes that celebration of Royal weddings is a way of having a national day.  On my facebook page I wrote this on Saturday:

“The dress featured the daffodil, shamrock, thistle and rose. A role of monarchy is to unite”the nation”from the “4 nations” which make up the “United Kingdom”.What if you don’t feel united at these”national” moments? Our national anthem, sung yesterday, celebrates God, Queen and Empire and as somebody who is not an Anglican,a Republican and not wanting to send anybody victorious anywhere, happy and glorious, I wonder where I fit in”

This provoked several comments including one from my former Assistant Director at the British Council who actually

"Let's give them another kiss, I love you."

"The Whole World Rejoices..Well Mostly" Does it?

oversaw the British Studies project which I mentioned earlier and which was about getting students to understand British society better by comparing it to Hungarian society and developing intercultural skills.   He said: ” Don’t over-analyse just enjoy”. I actually think it really is worth analysing these things and it is through analysis of events like Friday’s Royal Wedding that we can begin to understand how societies work, in particular British society and through which people of other nationalities can also understand their own through comparing theirs with Britain.

What is being British?

I had before worked in the Czech Republic 20 years ago on a similar British Studies project and still use the quotes in my teacher training sessions of two 14-year-old girls Dana and Ivana on answering the question what is British to discuss how you would evaluate cultural knowledge and cultural understandings.

I think the most thing British is the Queen.  Everyone in the world knows about her.  A typical British food is fish and chips and the typical British game is cricket. In Scotland men wear kilts and play the bagpipes.

Ivana 14

What is Being British?  Many different types of  people and cultures are British.  Many people think that in Victorian times it was better than now.  In the Czech Republic we haven’t got a Royal Family but Great Britain and other countries have Royal Families and it isn’t original.

One Beautiful Bride...One Great Day To BE BRITISH

One Beautiful Bride...One Great Day To BE BRITISH

I have had many rich discussions with teachers using these two quotes about how to measure cultural knowledge and tomorrow in class I will be using the front pages of the papers in this blogpost to deepen understandings and reflection on Friday’s event. It used to be said that in communist countries the press was always the same and that there were no alternative views allowed, in this context it is worth exploring what editors of almost all the daily newspapers chose to make their front pages yesterday.

Conservative Values, Conservative Wedding

It is no co-incidence that the Prime Minister David Cameron wanted to have a bank holiday to celebrate this event.  The values that the Conservative Party espouse are entrenched in a system which secures large amounts of inherited wealth, the private ownership of vast amounts of private land by a tiny minority of the poplulation, deference to authority, the (heterosexual) family and marriage as the preferred way of  living and an education system which ensures that 8% of children go to fee-paying “public” schools. Kate Middleton went to Malborough which now costs £30,000 per year,  William Mountbatten-Windsor went to Eton which costs the same. Both of the fees are considerably more than the top figure I found for the average annual salary in Britain of £24,000. The majority of people in Britain earn less than this amount. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard over the last three days that Kate Middleton is just like us an ordinary girl from an ordinary background and the Northern Irish journalist Stephen Nolan in his fivelive programme said she was an ordinary working-class girl from Durham mining stock, way back when!

“It’s just about two young people in love. ” Is it heck!

Obviously we all enjoy the celebration of happy things and two young(ish) people in love is a happy thing. The other thing that Stephen Nolan said on BBC Radio five live last night was this:

William and Kate's Perfect Day

William and Kate's Perfect Day

“It’s just about two people in love, it’s as simple as that.”  Come off it Stephen, if it was as simple as that then 50 heads of state being invited to a wedding which is turned into a bank holiday and is given wall to wall coverage by the media wouldn’t happen. And don’t go on about if we weren’t interested then 30 million people in Britain wouldn’t watch it on television. I watched it on television as did millions of others who don’t subscribe to the values of the Conservative Party but who are invited to go along with the perpetuation of those values, consciously or sub-consciously by the way in which the Royal event is managed, broadcast and packaged within the context of the contemporary British state.

Our United Kingdom

On Friday the Queen bestowed the titles Earl of Strathearn (Scotland) and Baron Carrickfergus, (Ireland) on William, in line with the monarchy’s role of uniting the different parts of the United Kingdom, echoing the flowers of the dress, the daffodill, the shamrock, the thistle and the rose to represent the United Kingdom. William of course has nothing to do with these places and is ironically Duke of Cambridge now, a university he “turned down” by going to St Andrews.  He also wore the uniform of the Irish guards in another symbolic act of union.

A different kind of Bank Holiday celebrating a different kind of Britishness

Many lives have been saved by the British National Health Service

Many lives have been saved by the British National Health Service

We don’t have a national day, the Americans do on the fourth of July, let me propose the day after, the fifth of July for us. On the fifth of July 1948 the National Health Service was launched, (my Grandfather was a member of that government along with Aneurin Bevan who set it up),  with the proud expectation that it would make the United Kingdom the envy of the world. Tony Benn, who easily would have become Prime Minister if he had sacrificed his principles and put his Parliamentary career first has this to say about the National Health Service.

Sealed with a kiss - twice

Sealed with a kiss - twice

“Even Mrs Thatcher said the National Health Service is safe in our hands, it’s as non controversial as votes for women. Nobody could come along and say ‘why should women have the vote’ because people wouldn’t have it and they wouldn’t have it in Britain they wouldn’t accept the deterioration or destruction of the National Health Service”

Well, today the National Health Service, a system which is based not on the ability to pay but free at the point of use and

Kiss me Kate

40 pages of historic pictures and reports

paid out of progressive taxation is under threat. What better way of ensuring its continued existence than to make the day of its birth a national bank holiday.  We could all go out on the streets and have street parties and celebrate an institution which is really based on inclusive values of fairness and equality unlike the monarchy. This would also be a celebration of Britishness.

Poly Toynbee wrote in the Guardian on the day of the Royal Wedding:

“Few yet realise the scale of the conservative revolution in progress. Professors Peter Taylor-Gooby and Gerry Stoker have just revealed that by 2013 public spending will be a lower proportion of GDP in Britain than in the US. They write in the Political Quarterly: “A profound shift in our understanding of the role of the state and the nature of our welfare system is taking place without serious debate.” Can that really be done without rebellion? That will be the test of what kind of nation we are.”

It may be that through a rebellion to this huge shift away from the post second world war establishment of the welfare state that a more equal and egalitarian form of Britishness is established and an NHS bank holiday would have a great role to play in this.

Too political

I guess there would be opposition from  some people to this idea who would say it’s too political and we shouldn’t have bank holidays related to political events.  And they would be the same people who would argue for a bank holiday for the Royal wedding of William Mountbatten-Windsor and Kate Middleton cos that’s not political is it?

None of this analysis is any way meant as being disrespectful to anybody and also recognises that the Royal Wedding is a great source of pleasure and enjoyment for many people, not least of all for my dear mother. I myself am fascinated by the way my country manages these events, but it is a little arrogant to suggest that Britain does pomp and ceremony better than anyone else , although with the amount of experience of empire and monarchy it would be surprising if it wasn’t a thoroughly well-organised spectacle.

Camping out on the streets the night before the wedding

Camping out on the streets the night before the wedding

I also enjoyed watching the wedding and enjoyed reading about thousands of people camping out all night in a celebratory and communal way in anticipation of sharing something exciting. I have done the same myself to get into two Wimbledon tennis finals, an F.A.Cup semi-final and Morrissey’s first ever solo concert in Wolverhampton. I am also happy for a couple who have decided to commit themselves to each other just as I would be at any friend’s wedding. The point I’m trying to make is that it is a political event and it does have a role to play in the maintenance of a society which is still unequal and unfair for many people.

Just a Kiss

The monarchy is an important part of British history and of contemporary British society and we all enjoy kisses. I too like pictures of kisses. Gustav Klimt shocked the Royal Family with his art in his native Austria-Hungary on the Danube a couple of hours upstream from where I am here in Budapest. Now he is celebrated as a national treasure. This painting is one of the more acceptable for public consumption and one which Tracy Emin probably likes too. It is on the wall of my flat and a painting which has followed me around for many years. It’s called “The Kiss”.

“God save our gracious Queen, long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen, send her victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us, God save the Queen.” Lighten up Mark and just enjoy it!

The kiss by Gustav Klimt 1907-8

The kiss by Gustav Klimt 1907-8