Religion in the classroom

Religion may be discussed in terms of personal beliefs and faith; however, it is fundamental to find the right place to express an opinion about it. Classrooms for instance are places where you can manage to talk about this topic, having in mind your personal point of view and being respectful of others.

Being polite and respectful allows anybody to talk about any topic. In this case, religion is a controversial theme because people tend to avoid talking about it because it has been a taboo topic and people are not used to tolerate opposite opinions. For instance, believers and non-believers have different ways to express their opinions; especially non-believers need to be careful about how to express their ideas in front of believers which you will se in the following examples.

On one hand, there are people like Bill Maher who are not believers and are always very critical about religion; moreover, most of the time they express their ideas disrespectful and rudely. For example, in a NPR interview with Terry Gross ahost and co-producecer of "Fresh Air", he states that religion must die in order to let humanity live.

On the other hand, there are people as Deborah Mitchell, also a non-beleiever, who writes respectfully about religion and can see the benefits of being open to topics different than your own beliefs. She wrote as part of this work how great religion can be in order to make people understand and being tolerant with others. (6)

The previous examples show that some people do not believe in religion, however, they have different ways to express their opinion about it. It is absolutely essential to find the correct way of expressing opinions. A confrontational and closed minded opinion will only cause problems and misunderstandings and in many cases, no matter how solid your point could be, it will not be accepted it. Therefore politeness and sensitivity are extremely important in order to show your point of view.

Teachers are respected inside the classroom; they have the authority in front of the students and because of this, they can approach different subjects for discussion. This is the reason why they need to be careful about the way they talk about religion even though they may be believers or not. Students spend so much time inside classrooms that they should have the opportunity to talk about anything with their teachers and classmates. By being tolerant and respectful with others’ beliefs, students will learn a lesson for their lives.

Gross, Terry. Interview with Terry Gross. Fresh Air. NPR. 30 September 2008

Mitchell, Deborah. "You Might Not Expect an Agnostic to Say Let's Teach Religion in the Public Schools" The Dallas Morning News.

Leland, John. “Cameras Roll, and Faith hasn’t a Prayer” The New York Times 26 September 2008. 28 March 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/movies/28lela.html

Natalia's last post

I would like to visit Egypt,(PP) because is a beautiful place with an interesting history in the past and in the present this country have different things to show at the people of others (WF)countries and others(WF) cultures.

I think that(X) Egypt is the best place in the world for travel(T) because is my favourite place and if I can go to the Egypt I would go with my boyfriend for enjoy(T) the travel with a important person for me. In this place I would visit the pyramids, desert and the museum because I love the history of Egypt (^)I think that is very interesting and exciting.

In Egypt, You(S) can visit many places as the Giza pyramids, Nile river, white desert, desert of Nubia, the temple of karnak, temple of Dendera and others (WF)temples because there are many temples in Egypt to visit and I believe that missing (WW)time me.

I chose Egypt because from(WW) girl I liked the history of the great pharaohs and the mystery of the pyramids;(PP) I feel that it should be fascinating to be in front of a pyramid by(P) both its size and grandeur (^)it is amazing to think as in antiquity(WW) did these large constructions.

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Sebastian's last blog

Well, I would like to visit Venezuela, mainly,(PP) because I like the lifestyle of this country. Personally, I would like to taste the Venezuelan food because it is a fusion with other style of foods, for example, the Venezuelan food has a little of Indian food, French food, Italian food and Spanish food and all this(WW) with Latin American ingredients. This combination makes meals full of different mystical flavours. Other reason, (PP)for that I would like to go to Venezuela is because the geography is very intense, moreover, I like the tropical climate(WW), like the full rain with warm temperatures, for example. About the natural resources in Venezuela you can find beautiful beaches, wonderful rainforests and precious mountains and rivers, one of them is the waterfall “El Angel” with 500 meters of height, which makes this waterfall unique in his kind. Venezuela has many types (species) of animals too. Other reason why I would like to go to Venezuela is because the cities have a precious architecture with wonderful colonial and vanguard buildings. In Venezuela, what I would like to do is: fishing and go(T) to the beach to relax. Also, I would like to fly in helicopter over a rainforest.

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Jaime's last post

Hello

This is a good moments in my life

I remember that i (S) have(T) 13 years old, and the photo was took(T) in the house of my best friend Manuel.

In(P) this moment I was in 7(^) grade in the school and my principal(WW) hobby was listen(^) music, also in this époque(WW) i(S) shared(WW) more time with my oldies friends.

(^)Is in this moment of my life when I beginning(T) to play guitar and also I think(T) in former(WW) a punk rock band and met pretty girls. Hahahaha.

This picture means a lot of things for me, (^)is very important for the context and the situation that happened. I remember the separation of my fathers, also the birth of my second niece.

In(P) this time my life was different, i(S) don't had (T)responsibilities, problems or big obligations, only the school.

I still remember that moment, this picture was saved in my closet more than ten years ago and only two weeks ago was scanned in my PC.

Well, this is a little part of my history(WW), I hope you liked it.

good bye!

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Error Correction II

This video is so funny. I believe there are many ways to learn English, (P)especially(X)as a second language, but I've never imagine that this would be one of these ways.I've met a lot of people that remember things by saying it many times(WE), singing it or relate them with another thing or situation.(WE)It is always important to know that people have different forms(WW) to add new knowledge to the things they already know.So, we can think in this video as a way to include new vocabulary or phrases to be used in a context. If this(WW) Japanese girls mixed songs and exercises with English, we can do some creative activities for our students.Never forget, students must learn with things they know(WE) use and feel comfortable with.


This video is so funny. I believe there are many ways to learn English as a second language, but I've never imagine that this would be one of these ways.I've met a lot of people that remember things by repeating, singing it or associate them with another thing or situation.It is always important to know that people have different styles and strategies to add new knowledge to the things they already know.So, we can think in this video as a way to include new vocabulary or phrases to be used in a context. If these Japanese girls mixed songs and exercises with English, we can do some creative activities for our students.Never forget, students must learn with meaningful things that they use and feel comfortable with.

Error Correction I

I didn’t have enough time to look out for all the topics and tips that this web page has but I can tell you that it is very helpful.It is a very interesting web page because it’s always very useful to have some activities already designed –(like the ones)(X) like cartoons- so you need to put it in(P) practice with your students in any(WW) way they would like to (change it.)(X)Also, the grammar part has a lot of information with enough examples for explaining the way they use the language.(WO) So you can give some examples and look some more closer to the reality of your students.(WO)(WW)In terms of Phonetics, you can also find all the sounds –being explained(WE) and audio- so they can be used inside the classroom.Students usually feel more comfortable when they have the example(WW) and then they can do their activities, in any kind of exercises. So, this web page can help us now as students and later as future teachers.(WO)


I didn’t have enough time to look out for all the topics and tips that this web page has but I can tell you that it is very helpful.It is a very interesting web page because it’s always very useful to have some activities already designed –like cartoons- so you need to put it into practice with your students in a way they would like to.
Also, the grammar part has enough examples and information needed for explaining the way people use the language. So you can give some examples, look and adapt them to a reality closer to your students.
In terms of Phonetics, you can also find all the sounds –audio and explanations- so they can be used inside the classroom.
In any kind of exercises students usually feel more comfortable when they have a model which they can follow to do their activities, So, this web page can help us now as students and later as future teachers.