More often than we expect, there is a disconnect between our well-meaning efforts to make English classes meaningful to students and their “whatever” attitude. Is it us? Is it them? Is it the books? We will review the application of key concepts from demographics and sociolinguistics as simple research tools, and their application along with ELT strategies. As teachers, we can develop skills to replicate our students’ subcultures and urban tribes, so that they can contextualize English as a relevant aspect of their lives, in ways conducive to their really speaking and writing.

1. Why are my students so different now?
Why is there a disconnect between my efforts to make English meaningful
to them and their “whatever” attitude?
Is it me? Is it them? Is it the books?

2. Informing ELT, engaging students!
SUBCULTURES
IN THE
CLASSROOM:
From a workshop at VenTESOL 2011 and an infographic at:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/542050505123455708/

3. Coping with Changing Demographics,
or “Why Are My Students So Different
Now?”
• Analyzing population trends, as well as economic and social
patterns, is becoming crucial for educators.
• School authorities often must reacquaint themselves with
their institutions’ students, as well as find ways to address
their social, physical, and educational needs.
• Across the world, people are facing the challenge of living
in changing societies.
• Low-income, two-income, single-parent, and homeless
families are all on the rise.
• Drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, and teenage
dropout rates challenge schools.
• These conditions spell an increase in students designated as
"at risk”.
Klauke, 1989
“My students
are beyond
recognition!”
“What’s going
on in their
lives?”

4. Urban Tribes, or “What Are Our
Students’ Worlds?”
“Urban tribes are microgroups of people who share common interests in
metropolitan areas. The members of these relatively small groups tend to have
similar worldviews, dress styles and behavioral patterns. Their social interactions
are largely informal and emotionally laden […]”
“Urban tribes are groups of never-marrieds between the ages of 25 and 45 who
gather in common-interest groups and enjoy an urban lifestyle, which offers an
alternative to traditional family structures.”
“Members of a subculture often signal their membership through a
distinctive and symbolic use of style, which includes fashions, mannerisms, and
argot.”
Maffesoli, 1988
Watters, 2003
Hebdige, 1981

5. Music Stars Meet The Press:
• The original project in book proposes a business-as-usual,
same-old-thing poster on music festivals.
• Teacher resets it to students as celebrity chit-chat, and offers
them three delivery options; students choose press conferences,
and consequently sort musical genres among teams.
• After doing some research, team members cast themselves as:
 One celebrity performer of the genre assigned
 Four reporters from cable music or showbiz channels
• Students rehearse and then play their roles.
For analysis matrix of this activity, see next chart.
Celebrities!
(Lesson slides redacted for copyright reasons,
procedure provided instead)

6. Analysis Matrix. Teens
Event organization (music festivals), PR for celebrities,
and interviews, in the context of interviewing roleplays as
preparation and presentation of a classroom project
Contextualization
for Relevance
Urban, Clubbers, EmosUrban Tribes /
Subcultures
• Learn: Organizing Web search results
• Cooperate: Teamwork for roleplays and performances
Life Skills
Reading for fact finding, listening to questions, talking at
interviews, taking notes
Language
Skills
Concert-related vocabulary, (dis)likes with love / (dis)like
/ don’t mind / can’t stand, ability with good / bad at
Language
Systems
• Performers’ songs teens dance to at parties
• Teen mags, video channels
• Websites with content fot teens, social networks
Observation
Sources

7. What is the difference between observing and
participating?
In the first, you remain an “outsider” and simply observe and document
the event or behavior being studied. In the second, you take part in the
activity while also documenting your observations.
Mack et al, 2005
Qualitative Research, or “How to
Get into Our Students’ Worlds?”
What is participant observation?
Participant observation is a qualitative method with roots in traditional
ethnographic research, whose objective is to help researchers learn the
perspectives held by study populations. As qualitative researchers, we
presume that there will be multiple perspectives within any given
community. We are interested both in knowing what those diverse
perspectives are and in understanding the interplay among them.

8. Identification of people who receive a lot of attention
from others
People who
stand out
People who enter, leave, and spend time at the observ-
ation siteHuman traffic
How close people stand to one anotherPersonal space
What people do, who does what, who interacts with
whom, who is not interacting
Physical behavior
and gestures
Who speaks to whom and for how long; who initiates
interaction; languages or dialects spoken; tone of voice
Verbal behavior
and interactions
Clothing, age, gender, physical appearanceAppearance
What to Observe during
Participant Observation
Mack et al, 2005

9. Kids’ Style Expo:
• Each team chooses an urban tribe, and makes a
poster with pics and slogans.
• They talk about themselves and their lifestyles as
part of that tribe; their motto: “Represent!!”
Values in Our Lives:
• Children remember friends from other
countries / urban tribes, and say
something they appreciate about them.
Values & Kids’ Style Expo
(Lesson slides redacted for copyright reasons ,
procedure provided instead)
For analysis matrix of this activity, see next chart.

10. Profiles of lifestyles and presentation skills, as a way to
identify the moral / instill the value of a story at an expo
Sport players, movie and music fans, cybergeeks
• Think: Identifying a value in different examples
• Act: Respecting different lifestyles
Talking about friends not like themselves to infer value and
find differences, talking about kids’styles, making posters
Adjectives, There is / are, present progressive for
descriptions of art, attire, and personality
• Kids at the Mall
• Disney, Nick, Cartoon Network
• Channels’ sites, video games for different consoles
Contextualization
for Relevance
Urban Tribes /
Subcultures
Life Skills
Language
Skills
Language
Systems
Observation
Sources
Analysis Matrix. Kids

11. R&D for Editorial Projects,
or “How Do ELT Resources Bridge Both
The Students and Teachers’ Worlds?”
• Needs analysis
• Aims
• Target demography (age, region, mother tongues, socio-economic & socio-
cultural profiles)
• Comparative analysis of existing resources for such target
• Methodological framework and its didactic, SLA, linguistic, etc. support
• Team of editor(s), author(s), ELT / didactic and other ad-hoc consultants,
illustrators, and media & digital producers / developers
• Field research with focus groups, polls, qualitative research (participant
observation), or other instruments, subsequent results analysis
• Manuscript, proof-reading, piloting of chapters in actual classrooms
• Revising, editing, upgrading of manuscript
• Devising of promotional & academic support
• Print runs & release
• Reader feedback for upgrades

12. Contextualization.
Fields of activity,
or “How to Make Our Students’
Worlds Part of An ELT Class?”
Production: Where “new” knowledge is constructed and positioned.
Contextualization: Where discourses from the field
of production become ‘educational’ knowledge.
Reproduction: Where pedagogic practice takes place.
Bernstein, 1990 (1971)

13. Distribution of a society’s worthwhile knowledge.
Transformation into a pedagogic discourse
(suitable for pedagogic transmission) = Recontextualizing.
Transformation of pedagogic discourse
into a criteria / standards to be attained.
Bernstein, 1990 (1971)
The Knowledge to Teach,
or “How to Make Our Students’
Worlds Part of An ELT Class?”

14. Make it Viral!
• Teacher introduces topic unit by having students share info
on hobbies and leasurely activities.
• Class learns lifestyle adjectives.
• Students think of / log in to their social network profiles,
and find where to use the words learned.
• Learners share their publicly available profile data in
English with someone else in class, and talk about those
received on their cell phones / tablets in teams.
For analysis matrix of this activity, see next chart.
Lifestyles and Web Profiles
(Lesson slides redacted for copyright reasons,
procedure provided instead)

15. Current affairs ranging from night life and leisure to
environment
Cybergeeks, cyberfriends, active and laid-back people
• Me: One’s preferences and habits, personal action plans
• Act: Recycling
Asking and answering about lifestyles, reading and
writing personal profiles
Adjectives for lifestyles, simple present tense to talk
about preferences and habits
Learners’ outings and use of mobile devices
Speed, Lifestyle TV, FTV, ESPN, TruTV
MSN Messenger, Facebook, and Twitter
Contextualization
for Relevance
Urban Tribes /
Subcultures
Life Skills
Language
Skills
Language
Systems
Observation
Sources
Analysis Matrix. Adults

16. Now, we understand what produces the disconnect between our well-meaning
efforts to make English classes meaningful to students and their “whatever”
attitude, and how to prevent it.
We have reviewed the application of qualitative analysis and participant
observation, from demographics, as well as (re)contextualization of
knowledge for (re)production, from sociolinguistics, as simple research tools.
We have also applied them along with ELT strategies.
As teachers, we can continue to develop skills that replicate our students’
subcultures and urban tribes, so that they can contextualize English as a relevant
aspect of their lives, in ways conducive to their really speaking and writing. Let’s
enter our learners’ world and bring it into the classroom, to trigger their interest and
contribute to their building of authentic discourse.
YES, WE CAN KEEP ENGLISH
REAL, IN RELEVANT
CONTEXTS!!

17. Sources
Bernstein, Basil. Class, codes and control. Vol. IV. The structuring of pedagogic
discourse. Routledge, London, 1990 (1971)
Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning Of Style. Routledge, London, 1981
Klauke, Amy. Coping with Changing Demographics. ERIC Clearinghouse on
Educational Management, Eugene. 1989
Mack et al. Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide, FHI (Family
Health International), Durham, 2005
Maffesoli, Michel. Le temps des tribus: le déclin de l'individualisme dans les sociétés
postmodernes. Meridiens Klincksieck, Paris, 1988
Ramos, Andrés. (2011, May 28) Keeping it real with learners: Contextualization for
relevance. Workshop conducted at the VenTESOL Nt’l Convention, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
Watters, Ethan. Urban Tribes: A Generation Redefines Friendship, Family, and
Commitment. Bloomsbury USA, New York

18. Informing ELT, engaging students!
SUBCULTURES
IN THE
CLASSROOM:
From a workshop at VenTESOL 2011 and an infographic at:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/542050505123455708/