[Kieran]

You’re very welcome. Maria Penya.

[Kieran]

Hi Anthony,

Thanks very much for your great answers!

1. Empathy is an affect which is generated by cognitive leap. More specifically, it is the process by which I am able to cognitively put myself in the other person’s shoes and attempt to reproduce a feeling which the other person may be experiencing, in order to guide my actions.

This is a very clear explanation of what empathy is.

There is most certainly a genetic basis for this feeling in most humans due to the existence of mirror neurons. Also, common sense has it that the more we are aware of similarities with others the easier it is to put ourselves in their shoes.

Yes. It appears we are hardwired to be empathic. Mirror neurons are a component of an empathy network made up of 14 brain regions.

However, empathy is also something that develops as the result of social context and upbringing. First, the mother – child relation contributes to empathy. The mother seeks to understand the baby and make sure it is not suffering. She tries to understand its facial expressions, for example.

Definitely. Empathy develops as the result of social context and upbringing. Parent-child attachment, especially mother-child attachment, in the early months of life are fundamental to the development of empathy.

The other non-genetic cause is the role of culture, and more specifically of religion. Putting yourself in the other person shoes is an idea that is very prevalent in Christian teachings. The idea is known as the golden rule, and it states, “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27). Empathy is also very much present in Buddhism, and is often referred to as loving kindness, or compassion. Empathy can be considered a secularized version of the religious principles described above. I believe empathy today is what “holds” the social fabric together.

Absolutely. All the major religions have the concept of the Golden Rule. The concept of the Golden Rule is also important in many secular organisations. For many humanists the Golden Rule is a basic principle based on our common humanity and which grew from our natural capacities of reason and empathy.

2. I’m not sure what “universal” here means. But I would absolutely agree to saying that empathy acts as social, emotional, and psychological balm. Because it is an internally generated and motivated feeling, it produces actions which are in turn empathetic. As a result, other people will feel this, and will feel less fear. Because fear tends to generate hostility, the reduction of fear will lay the ground for understanding and trust.

As I understand it, Baron-Cohen is using ‘universal’ in the literal sense, meaning that empathy is a trait that exists in all societies and cultures. I completely agree with you that empathy does work to combat fear.

3. Yes of course. The role of social media is partly to blame. We are constantly bombarded with the message that “image is everything”, “you can become whatever you want if you try”. There is little or no room for failings, for defects (think of how bad the insult “loser” is considered to be).

Definitely. As much of social media promotes narcissism, it works against fostering empathy.

Economically there is also a paradox: the wealthier we become the more afraid we are losing our wealth. This is exemplified by the housing market boom about everywhere in the world: people are afraid being “houseless”, and so purchase a home, which in turn pushes price of housing up, leaving many people at risk of eviction in many cities. Professionally, this is illustrated by the craze in “professional development” and “life coaching”.

Yes. There is also the paradox of the richer we become, the less empathic we become. This seems to be backed up by a wealth of research.

Thanks again for your excellent responses, Anthony.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Anthony,

Thanks very much for introducing yourself. Great to have you on the course.

I’m looking forward to working with you on the course, Anthony.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Mariana,

Thanks very much for your great analysis of the short films.

After watching the 7 films, I realized that what really got me what the unexpected. Be it the very different alphabet song, the son’s book or the family hug.

Absolutely. Film directors are very good at using the unexpected to make us feel empathy.

In terms of how the films foster empathy, I think they make use of every single resource in a very powerful way. As we discussed on Sunday, music plays a very important role, as do close-ups.

Definitely. Film directors are extremely emotionally literate and know how to make us feel certain emotions through the use of dialogue, music, sound effects, shots and the actors’ facial expressions, body language and actions.

In “Mankind is no Island”, I found the “look away” words interlaced with close up shots of the eyes/faces of people experiencing homelessness incredibly moving. Forcing me not to look away.

This is an excellent example of how a film director manipulates our emotions.

While the “We’re the Superhumans” short tries to showcase that fact that people with disabilities can do anything, as I was watching, I couldn’t help but think of it as inspiration porn. I then found this interesting article written by Penny Pepper called “Turning Paralympians into ´superhuman´ is no help to disabled people”. Pepper says “The hyping of disabled athletes into superhuman status by Channel 4 only deepens our wounds, inflicted by continual assaults on our daily lives. It truly seems that the only acceptable disabled person is a Paralympian – and then only for a few weeks. The disabled sportspeople who went to Rio also carried the burden of securing Channel 4’s viewing figures on the back of a massive publicity campaign.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/06/paralympians-superhumans-disabled-people

The author goes on to say “the superhuman shtick is a tiresome diversion away from what is important. Let us be ordinary, let us be every day and let us at least have rights. Rights to independent living.”

Very interesting point. The article is well-written and puts across a good argument. Giving paralympians ‘superhuman’ status is probably not helpful.

While I was a bit disappointed that “The Reader” is an ad for Whiskey, I was really touched by it. It was very different from the other films in terms of the camera shots and overall atmosphere; it was bright, cheerful, and with lots of smiling faces.

Most people are disappointed when they discover the short film is an ad for whisky. However, I would argue that the film highlights the increasing tendency of commissioning short films which foster empathy to sell their products and services. We can analyse why companies are doing this and this helps to develop our students’ media literacy.

It reminded me of this beautiful ad I used last year in class for the Christmas season. I won’t spoil it for you:

I know this film and think it’s great. I’m certain the director of this film watched and was inspired by ‘The Reader’ as it came out a few years earlier and there are so many similarities between the two films.

Thanks again for your great analysis, Mariana.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Angie,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the framework and viewing guides.

Extensive Viewing.
Teachers benefit from the framework buy having a set structure to follow that is proven to work.
Students benefit from the framework as there learning experience is supported by the scaffolding.

I like the way you’ve expressed this. I agree the framework gives students a tried and tested structure that helps to scaffold their learning.

Little Miss Sunshine: Great film, plenty of room for discussion, the variety of characters and the way they’re portrayed make them relatable and good for fostering empathy. The Questions in the guide foster just that.

A very good choice, in my opinion. It is a brilliant film which generates so much discussion on a variety of topics which can foster empathy.

Green Book: Great film. Students are confronted with a different era, racism, great for fostering empathy. Relevance transferrable to today.

Another very good choice, in my opinion 🙂 Looking at racism in a different era can allow us to say how relevant the film is today. I also think that the topic and film are relevant today.

Guide helps students to prepare for the viewing and to digest afterward.

Yes. The guide definitely helps students prepare for viewing the film. We shouldn’t underestimate how difficult, and potentially frustrating, watching a whole feature-length film is. This is why we need the pre-viewing questions to activate the students’ schemata, and the synopsis and glossary to grade the language.

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Angie.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

You’re very welcome, Maria Penya 🙂

[Kieran]

Hi maria Penya,

Thanks very much for responding to Julie’s post.

I think you’re both absolutely right. Praising students is good but it has to be done judicially and be deserved. Over-praising students may come across to students as insincere.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Maria Penya,

Thanks very much for your excellent answers.

I remember well a teacher in Primary school who was very sweet and smiled all time. She was calm and happy. Her attitude made me open up and not worry about mistakes.

She sounds like a great teacher. Smiling really does a difference!

Maths teacher in Secondary school! She talked to herself, never worried about us, she asked us questions in the same tone of voice and we could hardly notice that she was talking to us. She was never cross nor happy.

The attitude of this teacher sounds as if it was one of indifference to the students. I would say that indifference and empathy are mutually exclusive – you have to care for the other person to be empathic.

As an adult I’ve learnt languages by myself, but I took violin lessons for 4 years (I quit with the lock downs) and I think it’s very similar. I had 2 different teachers. The first one tried to be overempathic, she over did it, when I made a huge mistake she minimized it. I don’t think this is positive, I felt like scorned at.

There similarities between learning a new language and learning a musical instrument. The first teacher doesn’t sound as if she demanded high standards from her students. Bridget Cooper discovered that empathic teachers actually expect a lot from their students and demand a lot. As students feel the teachers cares for them, they give more of themselves.

My next teacher was just the opposite, he was so perfectionist that he made a big deal of every little mistake, he expected me to play like I had been playing since age 4.

Perfectionism is an enemy of empathy! No-one is ever good enough to deserve the perfectionist’s empathy.

Thanks for this question, Kieran, I had never thought about this before ?

I’m happy you liked the question 🙂

My boss is very emphatic. She always cares for all of us, if she has to point out a mistake, she’s very understanding, she’s kind, she doesn’t overdo it. She doesn’t boast about what she does or when she gives you a hand. There’s always harmony with her. She does a great job. Thank you Emy ?

Emy sounds like a brilliant boss!

Thanks again for your excellent answers, Maria Penya.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Maria Penya,

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response to the questions.

This should be a must in all curricula. It’s a great idea to place social skills first. the video mentions that individual and group behaviour develop sensitivity and care for people, and this gives you pleasure. I completely share this insight.

I agree with you that empathy should be in all curricula. Denmark’s education system is a role model in developing empathy and seems to be bearing fruit as denmark is regularly cited in research as one of the most empathetic countries in the world.

“To teach children, we must first reach them.” Mary gordon. This is why it is important. Empathy is basic to reach children. And I think, related to Emilie’s question about teachable children, that a prerequisite for a student to be teachable is that we have reached them. Then they will want to be taught, if we don’t reach them, they will not open up.

Absolutely. The Mary Gordon quote is beautiful isn’t it. So succinct. As you point out, if we can’t reach them , they won’t open up and are therefore not teachable. I feel the definition could be extended to “To teach students, we must first reach them.”

Unfortunately, I don’t se this happening in the near future. In Spain the curriculum changes almost with every new political party in power, and they always have other priorities in mind. To begin with, politicians should be empathic, so that they could give some importance to empathy. In my opinion, learning different languages is a way of learning to be empathic, since when you see that there are different words for the same thing, you understand that there can also be different perspectives to the same idea or thought, and thus understand plurality at large and start feeling empathy.

Absolutely. I also feel that education is a political football in Spain. Every new government radically changes the education system for ideological reasons. This isn’t the case in many other countries.

In this sense, many communities in Spain are bilingual and they teach both languages at school and/or at home, plus English. This is a way, but it’s indirect. I think empathy and social skills should be taught in a more direct and specific way.

I agree with you that social and emotional skills need to be more explicitly developed in the Spanish education system.

Thanks again for such a thoughtful and insightful response to the Activity, Maria Penya.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Maria Penya,

Thanks for very for replying to Julie’s comment on empathy levels in Argentina. You make a very good point about how the pandemic has also brought about more empathy as COVID affects everyone.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Maria Penya,

Thanks very much for your great answers!

I really like Krznaric’s definition of empathy and the way we deconstructed it in class: Empathy is the capacity of stepping IMAGINATIVELY into the shoes of another person, UNDERSTANDING THEIR FEELINGS and using this to guide our actions towards them. I find it accurate because it is a prosocial attitude, and I find that being prosocial is a good synonym of being empathic.

I like the way you express this. Krznaric’s definition of empathy is the most succinct and useful one I’ve seen. agree with you that being prosocial is a good synonym of being empathic.

I found it surprising that parent-child attachment is so essential to empathy. Would this mean that children awaiting an adoption in certain countries perhaps will never feel empathy or will be less emphatic?

According to the research parent-child attachment in the first three is vital. Your question about children waiting adoption is a very important one. It would seem that children who don’t form this parent-child attachment early on in childhood are much more likely to development detachment disorders. However, this is not to say that adopted children cannot forma close attachment to a parent later on. Here’s a link to more information about detachment disorders and their treatment.

I do not completely agree with Baron -Cohen saying that empathy acts like a universal balm. In any case, it could act like a personal balm, but still… This is my reasoning: I am very empathic, maybe too much. My husband says that I get involved too much and then I care too much, I feel too much and I can’t shake it off and I have a hard time. I have friends who are also like this.

This is a very good point. It is certainly possible to care too much and there is a phenomena called empathy fatigue which especially affects people in the caring professions. Here’s a link to an article on empathy fatigue.

Maybe it’s a south Mediterranean trait and that’s why Julie says French people are more empathic than Greeks ?

As far as I know there isn’t any research into differences in empathy levels in people from Mediterranean countries and other regions. However, there is some research and theory suggests that empathy might be higher in collectivistic countries that value the interconnection between individuals. On the other hand, the few studies that directly compare countries suggest that trait empathy might be lower in collectivistic countries compared to individualistic countries. So the issue of levels of empathy in particular countries appears to be a very complex one. Here’s a link to a paper on empathyy in 63 different countreis. The results are somewhat surprising: The countries with the highest Total Empathy scores were Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Denmark, and the United Arab Emirates. The countries with the lowest Total Empathy scores were Lithuania, Venezuela, Estonia, Poland, and Bulgaria.

Anyway, my being empathic may or may not help others, and therefore may or may not be a balm. I do agree though with Simon Baron-Cohen and David Howe saying that without empathy democracy is impossible. This is different, because If you don’t care and feel for others, you cannot give them solutions, let alone rule a country under democracy.

Absolutely. Democracy declines or is even impossible without empathy.

I don’t feel there’s an empathy deficit in my local context, it is a small town and there’s a strong sense of community compared to larger cities.

Community activities seem to be great at fostering empathy.

However, I do feel that this deficit exists in general in the world, perhaps because politicians in general showcase their words and acts so much and (again in general) these are not a good example of empathy because (in general) these words and acts do not match.

Politicians are not often the best role models of an empathic person although there are notable exceptions.

Also football players, bands and those who are under the social spotlight show little empathy, and this is the example that society in general follows.

Good point.

Despite this, I think (was it Mariana that mentioned it?) that social media can help in fostering empathy, since they are a fast and cheap way of being in touch with friends and family, and sometimes it’s easier to write about your feelings than to talk about them.

Yes. Social media can definitely help us stay in touch with family and friends, connect us with others we previously wouldn’t have been able to know.

Thanks again for your excellent responses, Maria Penya.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Mariana,

Thanks very much for your great evaluation of the framework and viewing guides.

1. I believe that the framework would be very beneficial for extensive viewing. Doing all the prep work before actually watching it would definitely help in terms of comprehension, getting students to think about the topics, activate schemata etc.

Absolutely. There is a lot of preparation work before watching the film but it all aids comprehension.

I’m a bit wary of giving students a list of 100-200 lexical items to read over before watching. I would be curious about how many of them would actually read the glossary, and if at some point they even stop noticing the lexis. I see the great value of the glossary, but I wonder how students can interact with it beyond a list.

Many teachers are not too keen on such extensive glossaries. However, as only students at very high levels will understand the majority of the lexis in the film, the extensive glossary is an essential part of the guide as it pre-teachers or primes students for the lexis they are going to encounter in the film. To move away from it being a mere list of vocabulary items, there are three example sentences for each item which helps to contextualise the vocabulary and also make it more memorable.

2. I looked at the Viewing Guides for Me Before You and Little Miss Sunshine. From my perspective, the post viewing questions are really where empathy can shine bright. During the film, we can see the struggles the characters are facing, but the questions allow us to think deeply about how disability or beauty pageants are portrayed, as well as to reflect on how it was to “walk in their shoes” for the duration of the film.

Definitely. The Post-viewing questions on character and story can help students empathise deeply with the characters.

I would definitely add trigger and/or content warnings to the viewing guides.

Absolutely. It may be necessary to warn students about certain content.

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Mariana.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Mariana,

Thanks very much for your great answers!

1. Many of my private students are women from different parts of Latin America. I have actually already read “House on Mango Street”- One of the things they really loved was that it is short. It can be read quite easily, as you mention.

I think this is a great choice especially for your students. As I mentioned in a comment in the previous Topic, having characters students can identify with is a great way of developing empathy.

We used it to find similarities between their experience of living in Berlin and the characters’ experience in Chicago.

I love this idea of comparing students’ lives with those of the characters.

2. I haven’t really used graded readers in my classes. I honestly forgot they existed, and most of my students can manage a YA novel without any issues.

3. As Angie mentions, I think it has to do with the time required. Most teachers have a fixed curriculum that has to be taught, and maybe even given a test that students must pass. This definitely limits what teachers can do with extensive reading.

Absolutely. Time is the most commonly stated reason for not implementing Extensive Reading.

Extensive reading might not be included into language learning programs because it’s hard to grade, and schools are obsessed with grades.

Yes. The obsession with grades and certification is not healthy and moves us away from holistic and humanisticeducation.

It might also be the case that many adult students don’t have too much time to read just for fun, and want to “get to the point” fast- despite the benefits.

Yes, I agree. I feel that if schools actually implemented Extensive Reading and Extensive Viewing programmes, they would actually save time in the long run. The effectiveness of Extensive Viewing is one of the few things there’s no debate about in language education, so if we spent less time on activities which are shown to be particularly effective and more time on Extensive Viewing language learning would actually be faster and more effective.

Thanks again for your excellent responses, Mariana.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Angie,

Thanks very much for your excellent answers.

I would choose Refugee Boy as it is a very topical subject.

A good choice, in my opinion. Sadly, it is very topical. The author Benjamin Zephaniah has huge compassion and empathy.

I have used a graded reader at the end of my A1 Spanish course and the students loved it as they were amazed they could already ready books, albeit a graded one. It was a detective story, so not particularly useful for conveying empathy.

Yes. This sense of satisfaction is one of the many benefits of students reading graded readers. As you point out detective stories may not be the best genre for fostering empathy, but here are some detective story and noir authors such as Henning Mankel, George Pelecanos and Walter Mosley who are masters at developing empathy.

Extensive reading takes time, and teachers might feel less in control of what their students are reading. Usually it is encouraged as a hobby, not as an integrated part of class.

These are great points. Extensive Reading does indeed take time but the benefits are so great that the time is fully justified. Teachers giving up control is another reason why Extensive Reading is used more widely. I really think it should be part of any language learning programme as should Extensive Viewing.

Thanks again for your excellent answers, Angie.

All the best,

Kieran

[Kieran]

Hi Mariana,

Thanks very much for your great answer to the question and evaluation of the activity sheets.

A few years ago, I read a book called “I’m not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika L. Sanchez with a group of general English adult students. It’s a YA book with language that was very accessible for my group, even more so because the the character is Mexican-American, so the text included a lot of words in Spanish (my students were Spanish speakers). It was very well received, despite it being about a girl in high school in Chicago.

I love the title of this book! YAF books are very accessible. There are many benefits of having words in the students’ L1 in a text. Having a main character students can identify with can help to foster empathy.

2. As I was going through the different literature activity sheets,and I believe that Empathy Fostering questions and the Character Questions would foster more empathy with my university students. It allows them to really think about the characters, the situation and the whys.

Both the empathy-fostering questions and the character questions work very well and are very robust and flexible. As I mentioned in my reply to Angie’s comments, the shift from asking what happened to why something happened is a hug one.

Empathic roleplay questions would not go down very well with my students, they really don’t like to act.

If they don’t like acting, the roleplay questions are probably not going to work. However, it might be worth giving it a go, as students have probably never been given time to prepare their roleplay and get into the head of their character before, and this might make them more comfortable and confident in performing the roleplay. It’s worth a try!

Thanks again for your great evaluation, Mariana.

All the best,

Kieran

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