Will Fenton on "Teaching the Global 1%"

English PhD student Will Fenton shared his unusual summer teaching experience in a recent article in Inside Higher Education titled "Teaching the Global 1%." At an Institute located in a "four-star resort in a one-street Alpine village" in Switzerland, Fenton brought not just skills, but new ideas and experiences, to his students...and learned a few things himself.

My lessons often failed. Once, I asked students to describe their home bedrooms. Each one took a turn speaking while the others drew illustrations based upon this description. This exercise, which I intended to hone locational vocabulary, failed because students didn’t know how to describe or depict “bedrooms” that occupied multiple rooms and, sometimes, entire floors. On another occasion, I asked students to create a brochure for a dream school. I intended for my students to apply educational vocabulary. Instead, they submitted descriptions of shopping malls, glutted with Gucci, Prada and Boss boutiques.

Click here to read the complete article. Congratulations to Will on the publication of this illuminating and engaging essay.