Few of the 140 participating students in the classroom study expressed discomfort in the feedback, even though judged by their facial expressions, some of them felt unease during the critical moments which were detailed in 4.3.1.1 and 4.3.1.2. Nevertheless, these hot moments were very memorable for the group members, and they even referred back to them in the course feedback round as fond but illuminating memories. What became clear from their feedback is that they truly appreciated the up-to-date and relevant materials they were presented with. They found them useful, engaging, and informative and they particularly enjoyed the fact that these lessons served them with a new take on topics they had already discussed many times. They were appreciative of the videos and songs the lessons revolved around, they felt that they were out of the ordinary and they made it easier to relate to the topic, as observed by many in the literature (Keddie, 2014; Sampedro & Hillyard, 2004; Stempleski & Tomalin, 1990). The awareness-raising nature (Boix Mansilla & Jackson, 2011; Longview Foundation, 2008; Stoller, 1997) of the activities was underlined in their feedback: they realised how much they learnt about some topics and vowed to change some of their behaviours and attitudes as a result, such as fact check news items more frequently, donate to the needy, be more conscious about their consumption, and appreciate their relationships more. Some students admitted that they would have never dealt with such topics had it not been for the lessons, and overall, they were grateful for these classes having opened their eyes. Many of them wrote that these lessons expanded their knowledge about the world: they learnt new, surprising, and sometimes even shocking information about these topics, and they also learnt about peers’ worldviews. Some of the activities they truly enjoyed were the infographics presentation (Ruas, 2017) in the Dear Future Generations lesson, listening to the Major Lazer song (Get Free), doing the Kahoot quiz (Get Free), doing one of the projects from the What makes a good life lesson (creating infographics on loneliness among the elderly, or chatting with an elderly acquaintance). Their enjoyment was also reflected in the author’s reflective journal. Some students also put forward some constructive criticism (e.g., allocating more time for some activities) but there were few students who did not think the activities were useful, who did not like the creative activities (e.g., rewriting the Brian Bilston poem), or who thought that they were asked to do too much (e.g., researching and presenting the eco-conscious behaviour of companies). Even though these students were not completely satisfied with the lessons, it is much hoped that they still developed their language proficiency in the activities.

The majority of the students also felt that the activities contributed to developing their language skills. They mostly commented that their reading, listening, and speaking skills improved and that the activities helped them with argumentation in English and expanded their vocabulary. Overall, even if not every student filled in the feedback sheets, what became clear from their reflections and their classwork was that most of them appreciated the activities and profited from these lessons, given that they put hard work into developing their global competence and language skills equally.

 

The aims of the classroom study were to familiarise teachers and their students with such sequences: relying on up-to-date, pop-cultural materials and using interactive (and sometimes creative) activities, it attempted to bring the global perspective closer to the students. Most of the students seem to have appreciated these endeavours. After each class, the worksheets enquired into the extent to which they liked the activity sequences, the extent to which they think they developed their language skills and 21st-century skills, and what they learned about the world while doing these activities. The students seem to have enjoyed these lessons, as they awarded a mean above 4.00 to every sequence. The words enjoyable, fun and entertaining appeared on many feedback sheets. They also appreciated that the lessons were out of the ordinary: they did not have to open their coursebook and they could instead, discuss issues with their partners. Many students alluded to the fact that they enjoyed pairwork and groupwork a lot, listening to each other’s opinions and working on the tasks together. They acknowledged that they acquired a lot of knowledge about certain issues, and the activities helped them understand certain phenomena better (e.g., how t-shirts are made, what could be done to help the poor, why many people have mental health issues). From this respect, they found the activities eye-opening, and, in their reflections, they promised to take some action, e.g., appreciate more what they have, fact-check information more often, and think more positively. Some students also commented that they developed their perspective-taking skills and learnt to see things from other people’s perspectives. Many students thus acknowledged that these lessons helped them develop their global competence in different ways, even if there were some negative comments. Some students found the activities depressing (e.g., the quiz on poverty-related issues), could not relate to the issues at hand (e.g., talking to strangers) and a few students stated that they did not learn anything from doing these sequences and they already knew everything that was addressed during the lessons. Aside from the fact that the latter comments were most likely not true, they came from those groups where, based on their teacher’s reflective journals, the students were not willing to do the activities properly (because they were undermotivated). As it is posited by Oxfam (2015), in the framework of GCED, learners have to take an active role, ask questions, take responsibility for their own learning, collaborate with others, listen to others actively and connect their local experiences to the global and if they do not participate actively, they cannot get the best out of their learning experiences.

Many students acknowledged that the sequences helped them develop their language skills as well, such as their reading, listening, and speaking skills. Many of them explicitly referred to expanding their vocabulary, and when they learnt many new expressions, they tended to rate the question referring to the extent to which they developed their language skills higher. Overall, despite the few negative comments, the students seem to have enjoyed the sequences and if they contributed actively, they could develop both their language skills and their global competence.

 

The results of Studies 6 and 7 imply that teachers should not worry about students’ attitudes towards such complex topics (see Section 5.1.1.6 and Divéki, 2018; Macfarlane, 2015), as they seem considerably open and ready to delve into complex discussions. If not, it is possible to show them the relevance of global issues by incorporating up-to-date, interactive, pop-cultural materials, which are close to the students’ world: as some students pointed out, they would have never talked about such issues if it were their choice, nevertheless, they were grateful to have participated in the class. Furthermore, by creating student-centred classes, taking students’ interests into consideration, and giving them the power of decision-making in the process (Cates, 2002; Pike & Selby, 1988), teachers can certainly rise to this challenge.