Risky learning

Talk in my ESL course has turned to Flow and the joy of learning. The concept inspired me to look at the flip side, and consider what are the risks involved in learning. "Learning...", I hear you say, "shouldn't be risky. We choose to learn, and we only learn what we want, so... what's the risk?"

Well, I'm glad you asked, because it gives me reason to continue writing this particular blog.

The risk(s) in learning can be many-fold, especially when the learning takes place in a group or pair-work setting. I have no fear or concern in learning on my own, in a secluded setting such as through an online course. However, put me in a classroom and I appear to go through a personality change. I sit quietly, listening to the instructor's words, following the text, and observing my classmates. Put me on the spot, and I become a stammering, stuttering fool without a brain. Does this mean I have no brain? Certainly not... I have a very good brain, and it serves me well in most situations. Perhaps I suffer from nerves, or a condition such as Classroom Phobia (yes, it really exists!). Well, actually, no to both of those premises as well. I do, however, suffer from a fear of being wrong. Arrogant? OK, but it is a fear that has been with me since childhood, and I am far too old to change my ways now :)

Many learners suffer the same or similar anxieties in learning situations. Particularly when placed in group settings, or learning teams. They won't raise their hand or ask questions in the classroom, for fear of creating the impression that they are uneducated or ignorant. When this fear is placed firmly in a situation of different cultures, where the fearful one cannot even gauge what the other learner's reactions might be, this fear increases in intensity. If they ask for help, they run the risk of appearing incompetent. If they make mistakes, they may seem to be lacking in ability.

The learner group that I instruct comprises largely professionals. These young people have - for the most part - had significant careers in their short lifespans. These youth have an image to maintain, and even more so now that they are in a country where they need to make an excellent impression just to get an entry level position in a career where they were already supervisors and managers. Damaging their reputations through group learning, even when the topic is not field-specific, is a high risk maneuver for most.

So, what should we do as teachers to reduce these perceived risks and encourage the Flow and joy of timeless learning? How can we develop in our learners the confidence they once had before they came to this country?

I try to let my learners know that nothing has changed in them as a person. The only thing that has really changed in their lives is the view from their window when they wake up in the morning. They are still those knowledgeable individuals that stepped off the plane, with their education and career backgrounds. They still possess all of their skills and abilities, just at another time in another place. I tell them that, if they open their learning up to listening to others, they will become richer for the experience. I tell them that there is no risk in my classroom, and that we all feel that fear... even me. I cannot fail my learners. For if I do, I doom them also to failure, and I will not allow that to happen as long as it is within my power to prevent it.

To encourage Flow and joy, mitigate risk and fear. Be strong, confident, and a leader as well as a guide, and your learner's will follow your example.

Instilling confidence

So what have we learned so far? We know how adults learn; how to manage a classroom; how to establish a learner/teacher relationship; how to create a guided learning environment. We have learned that communicative competence is a tenuous thing, dependent upon a seemingly unending set of variables.

We may have learned that teaching is not a simple task, and that the desired learning may not take place as we intended. We've learned that what a learner needs may not always be what a learner gets, with the involvement of external stakeholders having such an impact on the direction in which learners are steered on the rocky waves across this ocean of learning. We've learned how to find out what our learners need, and then how to give it to them. We've learned that speaking, reading, writing and listening may be approached in separate ways for learning, but are never really separated while learning.

As if that isn't enough, let me throw one more variable into the midst of this collage of educational creation. Confidence... plain and simple, confidence.

I was recently a participant in a week long series of seminars. These meetings were designed to bring together a group of people responsible for helping L2 learners in Canada find, obtain, and keep a job... successfully. The learner group comes from a variety of CLB levels, from CLB1 to CLB8, with and without literacy needs.

During one of the presentations, my ears perked up at one particular comment from an experienced ESL teacher. She has been teaching for 15 years, been in charge of designing and implementing a variety of programs, and demonstrated her skills in a variety of employer and classroom settings. I trust her experience. During her presentation, she talked about the things that impact her learners, and the one thing that she found most affected her learners' ability to learn. It was simply... confidence. I'm not necessarily talking about confidence in the way that you may imagine... you know, the kind of confidence where there's the archetypical father telling one of his children to "...pull up your bootstraps, look it square in the eye, and just do it!".

My colleagues, who were the presentation participants, were given a demonstration that I doubt many will forget. The presenter spoke to us all in low German. I speak German, and so was at a greater advantage than the other participants. First came a short explanation of the 'lesson', in low German. Next, the group was asked to take out a piece of paper and a pencil. This was followed by a request to draw a Sun in the middle of the paper. Then, draw some grass and a tree. All the time the instructions were in low German. The class was asked some questions about the exercise, also in low German.

I watched the faces of my colleagues as the 'lesson' progressed. There were looks of confusion, alarm, embarrassment, despair, and even humor. The one emotion that was missing throughout the entire exercise was... confidence.

Imagine leaving the countryside, community, language, culture, beliefs and values that you have grown up with all your life, to be confronted by someone who speaks a language you don't understand, and seems to be needing you to do something you can't comprehend. You can't get help from your peers, because they don't understand either, and each of you feeds emotionally off the other. Find your confidence, you know, the confidence you have to speak in your own language about things that affect your life, that you have such clear thoughts about in your own language. Find that confidence in the middle of a group of confused, embarrassed, desperate and nervous people.

It is our responsibility, as teachers - yours and mine - to let the learner find that inner confidence again as quickly as possible, using all of the tools we have been provided. But, for me, the most important tool is understanding. All of us should go through the experience that my colleagues went through. They have a whole new respect for our learners... all of them. They will approach helping the clients from a new perspective, with renewed and altered understanding.

Not understanding has provided all of my colleagues with truly clear understanding. So please, next time you don't understand, understand with confidence :)