https://doi.org/10.53656/ped2023-5s.04

Резюме. The paper deals with developing teaching materials dedicated to the ISPS Code and issues related to handling stowaways on board ship. It points out the main considerations in designing materials for Maritime English and specifies the place of such topics in the Maritime English Syllabus. Then it offers several activities intended to make the issue of shipboard security more practicable and user-friendly while developing all macro-skills and providing skills-integrated work.

Ключови думи: ship security; stowaways; skills development; task-based learning

The English language proficiency of future seafarers requires a special emphasis to be placed on maritime law in terms of IMO conventions and related documents. The Model Course 3.17 explicitly sets out requirements for familiarisation with the ISPS Code regarding security of ships and port facilities and actions to be taken for ensuring a vessel’s security. The purpose of the present paper is to dwell on the development of teaching materials in this respect, namely dealing with stowaways on board ship, taking into account all restrictions and requirements of the specific communication situation. The texts are extracted from various websites the links to which are cited immediately after each task.

Considerations in Designing Materials for Maritime English

According to Tomlinson materials development is a practical undertaking, involving the production, evaluation, adaptation and exploitation of materials intended to facilitate language acquisition and development. (Tomlinson 2016). Materials writing is an indispensable part of the practice of any Maritime English lecturer. There are various reasons for that. First and foremost, it “can be more facilitative in providing the personalised, relevant and engaging experience of language in use and opportunities for observing how the language is used and for meaningful communication” (Tomlinson 2012). Then there is the lack of materials available and accessible commercially as well as restrictions in terms of time, syllabus and level of students to take into consideration. Last but not least, a Maritime English lecturer is ‘a language consultant’ rather than a guide who must motivate the learners to use their own expertise in the subject-matter in a particular profession or discipline in the maritime industry (Pritchard 2001).

So, having defined the setting in which the students will be using Maritime English, the lecturer must decide on appropriate input and content-based instructions. In this case, we will apply a task-based approach and make sure that our material is:

a. authentic – involving learners in communication

b. appropriate – related to the right language and professional level

c. valid – linked to a particular target group with its specific setting and relations

d. suitable – to address the students and optimize their learning rate.

The model underlying their development is Hutchinson and Waters’ materials model (Hutchinson & Waters 2001). The input is usually a text but may also be a diagram, a dialogue, etc. Language items and structures are set in a certain context. The content combines the student’s own knowledge of the language and the particular situation and generates meaningful communication. Language and content are drawn from the input and are put into practice according to what the students will need to do the tasks assigned to them and feel involved in learning through use.

Survey of the Materials Designed

The starter to the topic could be a number of questions for students to brainstorm, e.g.

1. What is a stowaway?

2. Why is it illegal to be a stowaway?

3. Why do people become stowaways?

4. What vessels attract stowaways most?

They will reveal the learners’ knowledge in the field in terms of language and content and activate their attention to the issue.

Then their attention will be drawn to the following passage with further questions accompanying it:

1. Where do stowaways come from?

2. How does the problem affect the shipping industry?

3. What precautions are taken to prevent stowaways boarding?

Alternatively, students can be warmed up to the topic by watching the video2.

Then they can be asked questions like:

1. Where were the stowaways found?

2. How long did they travel?

3. Where do they come to the Canary Islands from?

The next step can be an instruction on how to avoid embarkation of stowaways.

While scan reading it students can try to answer questions such as where? how? why? what? and by whom?

Further, the text may be used for grammatical purposes, e.g.:

1. Convert the instruction into a checklist.

2. Give an account of the activities carried out during the last stowaways search.

The following text answers the question “What happens if a stowaway is detected on board?” Here students are given a chance before reading to hypothesize and evaluate alternatives and then look for the correct answers below. The exercise that is given here suggests traditional reading for gist.

Read the instructions list and find sentences concerning: a. Precautions taken in port b. Access control c. Stowaway search d. If a stowaway is found e. Dealing with stowaways on board f. Stowaway healthcare g. Reporting h. Repatriation arrangements

A good approach would be to familiarize the students with a report on a marine incident related to the topic and make them comment on it. This is a real problemsolving activity in which reading comprehension and speaking skills are combined. It activates the learners’ specialist knowledge and stimulates them to analyze a situation, to express their opinion and offer an alternative viewpoint.

Read the MARS report. Give your opinion. Do you agree with the author’s view?

The next activity could be used as a stand-alone task. It could be guided or free depending on the students’ level. In groups (of at least 5) they work on the following case:

The group should act as the ship’s committee and select one of the following options:

1. Get rid of the stowaways as soon as possible (even if this involves abandoning them in the open sea).

2. Proceed back to the same port where they boarded and hand them over to the authorities.

3. Allow them to stay on board, give them some work to do in the kitchen and let them sneak out in the next port of call.

4. Inform the shipowner, deviate from the planned voyage to disembark them in the nearest port. (However, this will incur an unnecessary delay and extra expenses. Furthermore, there is also the risk that a permission for disembarkation may be refused).

The next stage could be a class discussion in which groups report, present, and compare the choices they have reached with regard to any factors that affected their decision, e.g. economic considerations, human rights (whether these have been considered or violated and how), etc. If time allows, they must consult excerpts from legal documents such as:

1. The International Convention Relating to Stowaways8.

2. Note on Stowaway Asylum Seekers9 and maybe support or reconsider their decisions.

Yet another option can be a role-play in which students work in pairs using either cue cards or a situation given in English or Bulgarian. They do not have much room to improvise; they just formulate the questions or comments they have to make.

Finally, good finishing off activities may be writing a witness statement covering the following details:

Source: Web site7.

– how, when and where the stowaways got on board

– where they were found

– how they were treated

– if they were repatriated immediately.

Alternatively, students may be asked to make a webquest on the Nave Andromeda incident and write about it using the infographic below7.

Conclusions

Apart from being an issue of global concern, stowaways have been an everpresent problem for the shipping industry. In this paper we tried to approach it from the seafarers’ point of view.

One of the aims of this paper was to present a number of activities related to stowaways boarding a vessel, making the issue of shipboard security more practicable and user-friendly while developing all macro-skills. Some of these have been practiced with different groups and prove once again the interrelation between General English and Maritime English competence. The better the students are at English, the more they tend to participate actively in the activities.

The other goal was to share experience with other Maritime English lecturers who may have encountered the same problem and found a completely different solution to it.

Last but not least, we all know that there are no ideal teaching materials. However, if they have been realistically set, if they can improve the learners’ linguistic skills and contribute to their professional and linguistic awareness, then probably they have served their purpose.

NOTES

1. The problem of ship stowaways. Website. MS Amlin - Global Specialty Insurer and Reinsurer. Available from: https://www.msamlin.com/en/chart-hub/english/ Stowaway.html.

2. Stowaways found on ship’s rudder after surviving 11-day trip. Video. Infinity News, 26 Jan 2022. Available from: YouTube (distributor) https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=T6WwNVY6c14. [Viewed 2023-01-28].

3. Stowaways. Website. The Swedish Club. Available from: https://www. swedishclub.com/loss-prevention/security/stowaways.

4. Stowaways. Website. Standard Club. Available from: https://www.standard-club. com/fileadmin/uploads/standardclub/Documents/Import/publications/standardsafety/2013/23802-standard_safety_april_09-2.pdf.

5. Stowaways. Website. Nautical Institute. Available from: https://www.nautinst. org/resources-page/200848-stowaways.html.

6. Problems with Stowaways. Website. Nautical Institute. Available from: https:// www.nautinst.org/resources-page/problems-with-stowaways.html).

7. What is a Stowaway? Website. Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide. Available from: https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/what-is-a-stowaway/.

8. The International Convention Relating to Stowaways. Available from: https:// www.unhcr.org/4d9486c39.pdf.

9. Note on Stowaway Asylum Seekers. Available from: https://www.unhcr.org/ excom/exconc/3ae68c4374/stowaway-asylum-seekers.html.

REFERENCES

HUTCHINSON, T.; WATERS, A., 2001. English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-521-31837-2.

PRITCHARD, B., 2001. The Role of General English in ESP – the Case of Maritime English. In: WOME 11. Varna: n/a. CD.

TOMLINSON, B., 2012. Materials development for language learning and teaching. Language Teaching, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 143 – 179. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000528.

TOMLINSON, B., 2016. The Importance of Materials Development for Language Learning. In: Issues in Materials Development, pp. 1 – 9. Leiden: Brill Publishers. eISBN: 9789463004329.