Common reactions to something new
When we hear about something new, we react. And different people react in very different ways. In the context of English language learning and teaching and teacher training, I once wrote this:
Like all teachers and trainers, I am often in groups where someone is attempting to introduce something a little new or a little different to people who are, ostensibly, gathered together precisely in order to meet something which is a little new or a little different. Over the years, whether in ….language classes, workshops for teachers, staff meetings to discuss a new timetable or in informal teacher and trainer development groups, I’ve been noting my own and other people’s reactions to newness. It seems to me to be centrally important that I understand more about this.
So, I wrote an article about it. I hope you may find it both amusing and useful. The ‘new’ in the context of this web site is …making sure we have as many women as men giving key note talks, and contributing to speaker panels at UK ELT events. The article is here.
(See ‘Carrot ice cream’ by Tessa Woodward in The Teacher Trainer Vol. 16 No. 1 2002.)