By Jacqueline Mallais
This poster popped up on Quebec ESL facebook group this past week and after partaking in discussions about the use of gender neutral terms to address individuals and a group I became acutely aware of my own classroom language.
Typically I refer to all my students as “my lovelies” but occasionally I call them to attention with “guys”. I caught myself using “guys” with a group of secondary 3 students and stopped. In front of the class I decided to call myself out and publicly and consciously edit my language. I told them about the poster that had the greeting “theydies and gentlethems” on it and how I found it so inclusive and that instead of “guys” I wished I had used “theydies and gentlethems”. It opened up a discussion about inclusive language and how to respectfully address people. I told them how at university we are asked for our preferred pronouns and while some of the students already quietly ask to be referred to as they, others had never heard of this before. This chat lead quickly into a conversation about the difference between gender and sex. I am sure there were a few interesting dinner table conversations that night.
I have written ESL curriculum for a variety of publishing houses and each of the grammar charts lists the pronouns in a table and I realize now that it is time to reissue the texts so that they include gender neutral pronouns. I wonder if the mainstream publishing houses are ready for the necessary shift. They are already cognizant of gender-bias when teaching the units on professions. Gender-biased is understood as language that uses stereotypes to describe men and women. For example, fireman is no longer used, in its place is the word firefighter, or anchorman/anchorwoman is now just anchor. I can’t remember how we dealt with terms of address like Mr. or Miss or Ms. Are we going to include Mx.?
So why is this discussion important to ESL teaching? Words matter. The words our students hear influence their understanding of gendered careers. We have not yet moved beyond gender bias even if we try to use flight attendants in lieu of stewardesses. Using gender neutral language not only helps stop gender binaries but it is respectful of diverse identities.
A personal example of how awkward biased language is comes from a student who asked to be referred to as they at the beginning of the year and has found themselves in gym class where girls are warming up on one side of the gym and the boys on the other. They are not sure where to go and uncomfortable in both groups. Thinking about language and its power goes beyond the simple utterance of words. It needs to move into the actual act of teaching. Don’t divide a class by gender, don’t just ask the boys to grab the pile of activity books from the library. Ask for volunteers instead. Indicate your preferred pronoun so others feel comfortable doing so too. And, welcome all your students to class with a “Hello theydies and gentlethems”.
