ABSTRACT
In this case chapter, the author recount the process of guiding students in a summer English as a Second Language (ESL) program through a problem-posing pedagogy that was informed by their questions and used materials that they researched and produced or that were curated for them. It describes a class the author taught in a private secondary school in Hawai during an intensive summer ESL program for mainly incoming and some continuing international students. Language was presented as sets of decontextualized discrete grammar and vocabulary items that were only loosely connected to students' lives through awkward turn-to-teacher-partner activities to discuss their friends or dating habits using the prescribed grammar and vocabulary. The students used the community mapping project and their research of other videos to complete storyboards and scripts. Approaching the class from a problem-posing stance, the people were able to open a space for a more culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogy.
