Undecidedly speechful

I realise this seems like a bit of a weird title, but the topic it is addressing is autonomous speech in an L2 language.

I learned German as my L2. I remember feeling incredibly awkward in the beginning, stumbling over sentence construction, trying to find the right word, using the appropriate verb tense, knowing if I should use "der, die, das, den, dem, derren, dennen, dessen"... all too much, or so it seemed. Then I got over the embarrassment of stumbling, and started asking others to help me with my language acquisition. Eventually, with much interaction and practice, the speech came more readily, fluently, and comfortably. Responses to basic every day conversation ("Wie geht's?", for example) became reflex rather than thought provoking. Ordering food in a restaurant wasn't an ordeal any more, where I would usually end up eating 'schnitzel' and 'kartoffelsalat', because it was the only thing I could read on the menu, or the only thing I could understand the waiter describing to me. I started to participate in social conversation, coming out of my position of silent observer.

Sure, I still made mistakes, but that started to become how I learned. Another thing that I learned to do when speaking was, if I wasn't sure on what to say or how to properly pronounce what I wanted to say, I would 'swallow' the word - say the word incoherently so that the listener had to rely on their sense of context to fill in the word I hadn't spoken clearly enough. I did this until I learned how to say the word properly, and would then proudly speak the word out loud and clearly. The moment for me when I realised I was speaking autonomously (without deliberate thought or reflection) was in a restaurant one day.

I was with a group of German friends and we were enjoying our meal and each others company, telling jokes and relating stories of the day. Our waiter, who also happened to be the owner, had apparently been listening in to our conversation as, when we were preparing to leave, he started a conversation with me that focused on my (German) accent. He asked me what part of Germany I was from, as he detected a slight accent in my pronunciation. I asked him where he thought I was from, and he said "Muenchen oder Frankfurt" (Munich or Frankfurt). I told him I was actually from England, living in Germany with the armed forces. He laughed, as he apparently thought I was sharing a joke with him. It took a great deal of convincing for him to finally believe that I was actually English, and I had to speak a couple of English quotes for him to hear. I'm not sure that he totally believed me though, as he commented that I had a really good English accent!! It was then that I realised that I was speaking German without thinking about the speech process. The words came naturally, my thought processes followed the conversation, predicted what would be said, and allowed me to participate with independent thought and opinions.

Welcome to the world of Autonomy!!

TTFN

From Troglodyte to Shakespeare

Writing, for today's purposes, is the use of widely recognised symbols set out in a specific pattern that carries meaning to the reader. Considering the drawings found on the walls of caves, this really hasn't changed too much since cro-magnon times.

Pre-writing times (as we understand the term 'writing' today) may have found verbal skills as the most important, perhaps with the use of hand gestures and gesticulations to provide emphasis and accuracy. The use of writing can 'paint a picture in the reader's mind', and often we find such imaginative expressions being used in teaching creative writing courses.

If writing were enough to convey a message there would be no need for in-person contact, as we could simply jot down our thought, use some conveyance method to have it delivered to our intended reader, and have them interpret meaning from the symbols, characters, and sequencing of those 'words'. However, with 55% of messages being conveyed using body language, 35% of the message being conveyed through the tone and inflection of the voice, that leaves only 10% of the messages' accuracy to be conveyed through the words selected.

Strong and effective writing skills provide for a message to be written in a semi-permanent and consistent way, carrying a message for multiple readers to see over time, rather than the spoken message which may quickly become interpreted rather than translated, and thereby lose its original meaning in its conveyance.

Everyone can write, whether through the use of illustrations, words, SMS characters, or any other generally recognised symbolisation. However, not everyone can write well. And not everyone can understand everything that is written. It requires training in the written symbolism to read that symbolism well. Also, even well written prose can lose its meaning in translation. So, reading and writing go together. Here's an example of what I mean.

Der schnelle braune Fuchs ueber den faulen Hund springt.

With even a limited understanding of German and a strong understanding of English pangrams, you may recognise the expression as one used to teach typing skills with the use of all of the letters of the English alphabet included. However, when translated into German in this manner, the pangram no longer exists, and we are left with a sentence that, while having some interesting meaning, may well leave the reader confused as to why a fox would leap over a dog, unless trying to escape from it.

Using examples such as this in the classroom to emphasise the importance of writing, and learning to do it well, may well help L2 learners to understand why literal translation doesn't work too well in writing, especially when you are trying to understand whether to be or not to be, that is the question?

TTFN

Say what?!

Teaching Reading

It's interesting to consider how important reading is as a skill. An exercise conducted by one of my colleagues highlighted this importance with myself and a group of my peers. She conducted the exercise using Low German as the language of choice - no one in the room understood the language, much less were they capable of reading it.

The exercise comprised reading a document and completing the task as required - these were the only instructions offered. The task was timed, and needed to be completed in two minutes. Anyone not completing the task would be asked to leave the room, as their language skills were obviously not high enough to continue in the peer group.

 

By the end of two minutes no one had even started the task, meaning we would all have to be ejected from the room. This was a strong message to send to a group of instructors who were dealing with second language learners who were new to the country, and new to the concept of finding work in a foreign place.

To me, this was a very revealing way of demonstrating the difficulties our newcomer clients may experience in their search for work, and in how we as an organisation had set our expectations of our clients.

It was clear from the document during the skimming phase that this was either a list of instructions or an inventory of items, as the bulleted list style of writing was used. However, beyond that any guesses anyone made as to the nature of the task were grossly off the mark, because we lacked the communicative part of the task.

After discussing the client dilemma that this type of approach provided, we were asked to complete the task with a more detailed set of instructions. we were told that this was a set of instructions, and by the time we were finished we should have drawn a picture. We were given clues to the words being used (die Sonne meaning the sun, der Rasen meaning lawn, ueber meaning above, and unter meaning below). Provided with this new set of instructions, many of the peer group were able to draw a minimalistic image of what the instructions were calling for. Most of the task was completing using our own comprehension of where the sun and grass were located in our world with respect to each other, the fact that the sun was yellow and the grass was green, and so on. It became a constructive reading task that allowed us to use previously gained knowledge to complete it, and the ability to explore the language in a communicative way.

I now truly understand the importance of teaching communicatively in the EAL classroom, particularly when it comes to reading tasks.

Everything old becomes new again

This post is a bridging post between the three previous ESLTCP courses and the last course, which brings together all of the materials learned to date.

I've been fortunate enough so far in this program to have been working in an environment where I was working with newcomers. They have been seeking work, and I have been able to learn the nuances they experience in language and authentic materials as differences between their cultures and 'the Canadian way'.

My interest in teaching ESL lies in this area.


I want to guide learners through the potential minefield of errors and nuancial mistakes (yes, that's a real word). I plan to provide language courses that integrate cultural understanding in language learning, and that identify how language is more than verbal communication, but includes non-verbal as well.