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.