Context Matters: WHERE You Teach Affects HOW you Teach

When we plan and teach our English language courses and lessons, our focus is usually on the language learning activities and materials we will use to meet student needs.  Lost in this planning and teaching process is the impact of the context in which we are teaching.  The impact of context on our language teaching is much greater than we might think.
 
Through the analysis of scenarios drawn from real experiences in English language teaching and teacher training projects run around the world, we will talk about the impact that context has on what we do as language teachers.  We’ll see how where we teach very strongly influences how we teach.  Context will be examined from three angles:  the physical environment, the organizational context, and the regional or national culture.  We will discuss the impact that each angle can have on the English language teaching and learning processes.