I'm bored!

In the current module of our course, we've been asked to address the following issue, which I’m sure has arisen in more than one English class, and will continue to be brought up. It goes something like this:

Learner: I’m very bored with the grammar lessons. I feel  that I can learn English without learning grammar separately.

Teacher: I understand that you might be feeling frustrated. I sometimes get frustrated as well, when I’m trying to learn something new. For example, when I was learning German as a second language, I used to get confused and embarrassed when people laughed at me if I got something wrong. In German, the article (the, that...) changes depending on the gender of the noun. That’s really confusing, and I almost gave up trying. Then one day, a friend of mine explained that as long as I knew the noun gender, it was easy to apply a few simple rules. It took me a few tries, but I got it eventually. I learned the rules well enough to be able to hold a conversation, and try making new sentences of my own. It even helped me when I took German as a course at university.
 
Why do you feel that you don’t need grammar?

Learner: I don’t talk to my family in English much, and when I’m at work, I have friends from back home who can talk to me in my own language.

Teacher: OK, so in some situations for you it’s easier to speak in your own language. But, what about when you want to talk to the Cable service company? Or, maybe you want to order food in a restaurant? Do you ever have English-speaking friends visit you and have conversations with them? Have you ever needed to explain something to a Doctor, Government Agency, or had a conversation over the phone with a market research company? There are lots of everyday reasons for needing to be accurate as well as fluent in English. If you can master just a few simple rules, and see the patterns of how these rules work to make sentences, you’ll feel so much more empowered and independent. You’ll be able to help your friends and family, and maybe socialise with your English speaking coworkers.
 
But let me know what you think I can do to help you enjoy the grammar lessons more. I’d be more than happy to listen to your suggestions.

As a change to the lessons, I would want to include the learner more in the activities, by perhaps making them an assistant in the classroom, where they feel motivated to learn the grammar and to encourage others as well.


There are so many reasons why a learner might feel that they are bored in your class. The above script touches on only one such possibility. However, in order to deal effectively with such a situation, it's imperative that you be a good listener. Discover from the learner the true (either spoken or unspoken) reason for their dissatisfaction with your classes, and address the immediate problem. We can't satisfy every learner all of the time, but we should at least give it our best shot :)

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 :)

The complex nature of Register in L2 Listening

Listening might seem like a natural thing to do, for most of us. We listen for a multitude of things, and do so naturally and subliminally. That is, we don't (always) consciously concentrate on listening. Sounds are around us all the time... sometimes recognisable, sometimes not. But we still hear them and try to place our interpretation on them. Remember the old adage, "If a tree falls in a forest when no one is around, does it still make a sound?". The answer here of course is Yes. There is even a theory that sound from hundreds of years ago is still travelling in our air waves, just so quietly that it is inaudible to the human ear.

So what is Register, and why is it important to listening? Register in language learning deals with the level of complexity and formality at which conversation occurs. "What's up mate?" may be considered very informal, whereas "May I inquire as to your well being?" may being considered of a high level of formality.

When teaching L2, particularly in countries such as Canada, Register is impacted by social constructs. By this I mean, the nature of the diverse society and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms cause challenges to Register in the Canadian classroom. I have personally experienced, as I'm sure you have, moments in my instruction where I have wanted to say something and done a mind check, changing the words I have chosen or the context of what I was about to say. In L2 instruction, the impact of these mind checks can be to change the register of what was about to be taught.

An example of this might be, "How do East Indians do this?" becomes "How to people in East India do this?". The change seems minor, and the implication may be negligible, but the Register has changed, therefore changing the learning, if ever so slightly, in the learners mind. The first question may appear to be discriminatory, as it targets an ethnic group. The second question, which primarily asks for the same information, asks at a non-targeted, population level, and is perceived as a less discriminatory level of inquiry. By changing the subject of the question, we have changed its political and ethnic impact. But, if our goal is to teach the subject of a sentence, we have now altered that target learning.

So, does learning L2 in a politically sensitive country alter the depth to which the learning can occur? Or, does this factor innately incorporate political targets to language learning?

Linguistic Darwinism - IYKWIM

With the advent of texting and SMS (Short Message Service) in 1992, a new breed of linguistics was born. Based on abbreviations of common expressions (IYKWIM = if you know what I mean), communication using technology became simplified and the sender of the message didn't need to type the full sentence, expression or statement in order to be understood.

Coded language for communication using technology has been around for decades - Morse Code in 1835, Signalese in 1914, ICAO phonetic alphabet in 1932, Police 10-code in the 1940s,  and so on.

During the evolution of these early forms of 'shortspeak', only the chosen few - those who needed to know - were able to understand what was being said. The codification of messages served multiple purposes - for example, it shortened transmission time, reduced resources, encrypted messages, and so on. The code was only available to and used by those who needed it in their everyday communications. Today's SMS or texting code, however, has changed the way we use language when we communicate using today's devices. The availability of communication tools such as cell phones, chat rooms, instant messaging, and email has increased the volume of messages being transmitted by the average person, the desire for faster communication methods, and a standardization of language coding. It has also increased our tolerance for errors in written communication, while helping to reduce the errors created between intended and received message. (OMC instead of OMG makes no sense, and is an obvious error in this code.)

In most countries, using LOL or OMG is recognised by anyone who has access to communication devices. Some countries have developed their own versions of common expressions (here are some German examples). Regardless of your opinion of the contributions this style of communication has for language use, it has been developed by today's technology users and, as such, is the realia of the generation. The language is now so extensively used that business has developed its own version of the language (click here to view).

Teaching this language style in a classroom is difficult, as it is founded upon a deeper understanding of the language it is abbreviating. It requires the user being able to model expressions into abbreviated versions using the rules of the shorthand style. The teacher needs to understand explicitly how these rules are applied - as complex as they may be. However, today's language learners must have an understanding of this language in order to survive the development and implementation of technology in their world, just as previous generations have accepted changes in their 'language for the everyday' ('rad' for something exciting, 'phat' for something awesome, and 'sick' for something that is extremely good, for example).

These are generational evolutionary changes to a language that is being adapted to new uses on a daily basis. The rules that once applied to language learning are changing, both through the introduction of technology, and in the use of technology. Language instruction needs to move with the times, rather than mourn the times lost. Teaching approaches and strategies have to be modified to include this new language strategy.

For an extensive list of text message short hand, click here.

Being knowledgeable about teaching does not a good teacher make...

I've recently had cause to revisit the idea of what makes a good teacher.

Here I am, studying a program of courses that provide me with all the knowledge I need to teach EAL learners. What is my expected outcome for this program? To become a good EAL teacher, of course. But does the knowledge I am gaining in this program make me a good teacher? Can it? Should it?

It's a bit of a paradox, being a learner in a program that's supposed to teach me how to be a good teacher. One of my colleagues in the course used a perfect and valuable perspective in the explanation of one of the discussions (of many! LOL) that we've had throughout the program so far. The perspective they took was to place themselves in the position of the learner, and ask what they would expect from a 'good' teacher.

Caine and Caine (1991) note:

"Teachers need to understand that students' feelings and attitudes will be involved and will determine future learning. Because it is impossible to isolate the cognitive from the affective domain, the emotional climate in the school and classroom must be monitored on a consistent basis, using effective communication strategies and allowing for student and teacher reflection and metacognitive processes." (p. 82)

How do you succeed in this emotional circus in the online approach of delivery? I suggest that there are few who are skilled in this, and fewer who have mastered it. It takes only one small error to affect the emotions of an online student, and this error can be as simple as, for example, suggesting to a student that their desired goals may be unachievable.

The teacher may have all the qualifications in the world, but such a comment can turn them in to a student's worst nightmare, leading to a desire to finish the course as quickly as possible, or even to exit the course early.

Teachers today, particularly in the electronic learning arena, have to be familiar with, and guarded against, such fallacies and demonstrate expert caution in not exposing their learners, either deliberately or accidentally, to affective situations that can have adverse effects on the success of the learner.

Needs Assessment - advertising in reverse...

Thinking about Needs Assessment, I came to realise that it is a very necessary function for every teacher to learn well and implement even better.

Learners have a variety of needs... some obvious, some not so obvious. Sometimes, EAL learners have needs they don't even know they have. Imagine an IT person who is fluent in multiple (spoken) languages, but doesn't have the soft skills to be able to talk to people! Ever met someone like that? I hear there's at least one in every IT department! So, if there's first language speakers who don't have the interpersonal soft skills needed for Customer Service, what hope is there for an L2 language learner in the workplace?

Teachers of todays languages have to be sensitive to so many non-language acquisition issues for their learners, to be able to create a learning-effective environment. We need to practice advertising in reverse.

Advertisers know (or think they know) everything about us and our needs. They throw stuff out there about how useless we would be in society if we didn't have the latest wine bottle opener, or how ugly we are because we're using the wrong hair color, and so on... How do they know what we want? They are experts at Needs Assessment, that's how.

Corporations bring them a product, and they go ahead and start analysing Joe Public, and who would need such a widget. Then, they start designing their advertising material to target that group of needy individuals. Just like teaching, they may not reach all of us, but when they manage to reach even a small proportion of us, they can celebrate their successes.

So what do you think... would Advertisers make the best teachers? Or should they stick to their night jobs?