What really is the problem with learning languages?
They really are not difficult. Yes, they might be hard work and demanding, but really all there is to it is:
• Being proactive
• Getting organised
• Working out what you need to learn ….
• Practise the four skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing
• And learning it
• Having a go
• Collecting language
• Even grammar is not hard – there are just five points
1) Verbs (tenses, voices, mood and person)
2) Word order – default and proactive
3) Parts of speech
4) Prepositions
5) Number and gender
And pepper it up with a few idioms and idiosyncrasies.
There really is not too much to contend with. You don’t have to be clever or intelligent. But you do have to be prepared to do the sweat. Be motivated enough and visit it often enough and it just happens. If you haven’t got that motivation you can’t find the sticking power.
One of the greatest obstacles to motivation is shyness. We Brits do tend to be very self-conscious about making the effort in another language. In fact, most native speakers of English are. It is because we know everybody can speak our language, so we know it’s a type of false game.
And yet, there are a few who buy into the game and play it well. They end up communicating and understanding and reaching out a hand to another culture.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Monday, 19 May 2008
Creative Use of Language
I’d like to examine this even further. What do I mean by “creative use of language”?
I think some of it goes back to proactive learning. That in turn carries several characteristics. It means:
• Having a clear view of what you want to learn.
• Taking steps to put that in place.
• Being willing to use what you do know.
The third point is the crux of the matter for creativity.
When I taught languages full time, I often noticed that there was a real difference between those students who just worked mechanically and those really made something of what they knew. The latter would use tone of voice, gesture, and sometime even had less language than the other group. There was something about a willingness to communicate.
Of course, it is a game.
I speak English. They speak English. We could communicate much more easily if we used our mother tongues. But I’ve often also noticed that those who buy into the game also perform better in real life, too. I remember one young man going out the night before his French orla and chattign up some of the students over on an exchange programme. He was so excited by his success with the ladies that he sailed thorugh the exam the next day.
It is about that willingness to have a go. There’s a bit of acting in it too. That again, I supposing, quite creative.
I think some of it goes back to proactive learning. That in turn carries several characteristics. It means:
• Having a clear view of what you want to learn.
• Taking steps to put that in place.
• Being willing to use what you do know.
The third point is the crux of the matter for creativity.
When I taught languages full time, I often noticed that there was a real difference between those students who just worked mechanically and those really made something of what they knew. The latter would use tone of voice, gesture, and sometime even had less language than the other group. There was something about a willingness to communicate.
Of course, it is a game.
I speak English. They speak English. We could communicate much more easily if we used our mother tongues. But I’ve often also noticed that those who buy into the game also perform better in real life, too. I remember one young man going out the night before his French orla and chattign up some of the students over on an exchange programme. He was so excited by his success with the ladies that he sailed thorugh the exam the next day.
It is about that willingness to have a go. There’s a bit of acting in it too. That again, I supposing, quite creative.
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Creative Writing in Foreign Languages
I was invited to attend the meeting at the University of Portsmouth. There was debate about how to take the project forward. The competition has already won an award. I was very privileged to be one of the judges last year.
Portsmouth now wants to expand and open the competition to schools and colleges in the area. In the meeting after the meeting, Elizabeth Maldonado, the lady in charge of the project at Portsmouth, talked about how we would like to run a conference, at the beginning of the academic year after next and invite language people who are interested in this, but also well known creative writers from other countries.
I’m interested in this whole are of research myself. I‘d like to unpick the sort of creative process which goes on when one uses a foreign language for one’s writing.
We had quite an interesting debate anyway. We almost wanted to take the word “creative“out because it implies something too clever almost. My left-brained brain started then playing with the idea that all writing is creative.
There does seem to be a problem about convincing the students that this is meant for them. Those who do the workshops don’t necessarily enter the competition. We know how simple “creative” writing can be. It’s all about using what you know – and that may be a very small amount – in a really interesting way. Our students don’t necessarily see it that way. It was that lack of confidence I was trying to address when I first started doing this with children in their first or second year of language learning. So, we considered also inviting them to write blogs on a topic of their choice and some reflective writing as well.
The idea is to go national in two years’ time and international in three. I can’t wait for that time – even though in theory, I could take my teaching pension two years later.
It is Elizabeth’s project, but it is something very important to me and I hope she will keep me involved.
Portsmouth now wants to expand and open the competition to schools and colleges in the area. In the meeting after the meeting, Elizabeth Maldonado, the lady in charge of the project at Portsmouth, talked about how we would like to run a conference, at the beginning of the academic year after next and invite language people who are interested in this, but also well known creative writers from other countries.
I’m interested in this whole are of research myself. I‘d like to unpick the sort of creative process which goes on when one uses a foreign language for one’s writing.
We had quite an interesting debate anyway. We almost wanted to take the word “creative“out because it implies something too clever almost. My left-brained brain started then playing with the idea that all writing is creative.
There does seem to be a problem about convincing the students that this is meant for them. Those who do the workshops don’t necessarily enter the competition. We know how simple “creative” writing can be. It’s all about using what you know – and that may be a very small amount – in a really interesting way. Our students don’t necessarily see it that way. It was that lack of confidence I was trying to address when I first started doing this with children in their first or second year of language learning. So, we considered also inviting them to write blogs on a topic of their choice and some reflective writing as well.
The idea is to go national in two years’ time and international in three. I can’t wait for that time – even though in theory, I could take my teaching pension two years later.
It is Elizabeth’s project, but it is something very important to me and I hope she will keep me involved.
Friday, 9 May 2008
Impressed
Do you watch Grand Designs? I have to confess to being very impressed with our Kevin. I’ve now seen him working on a French project and on an Italian one. He speaks both languages fluently. Yet he is a design expert, not a language expert.
Surely, though, in order to understand local architects, builder, planning regulations and culture you really do need a good command of the language. Or a very good interpreter - and that comes at great expense.
I do think someone should write a learner’s book for those people who relocate abroad and there should be quite a hefty section for those people taking on building projects.
In the end, language is power. We are powerless without it. And those who speak a language which we do not have more power in situations where it is spoken.
Surely, though, in order to understand local architects, builder, planning regulations and culture you really do need a good command of the language. Or a very good interpreter - and that comes at great expense.
I do think someone should write a learner’s book for those people who relocate abroad and there should be quite a hefty section for those people taking on building projects.
In the end, language is power. We are powerless without it. And those who speak a language which we do not have more power in situations where it is spoken.
Monday, 5 May 2008
Native Speakers and British Exams
Yes, of course a native speaker of, say, German, is going to do well at least in the language, content of an German oral exam. You would expect them to be fluent, to use tenses correctly, show good understanding of the grammar and use correct intonation and pronunciation. If they speak clearly and remember to show their knowledge of their own language.
However, even if they do slow down so that they speak clearly and remember to add in quite a few conjunctions which change word order (German again), they still may not get full or even high marks, especially in AS or A2.
They still need to know how to structure an argument, to develop it and to sustain an idea through debate. These are more pure language skills than just speaking in a given language. Even in GCSE, where the presentation of a topic and the consequent discussion will be on a much simpler level, just being able to speak fluently in the foreign language may not be enough to get the very top marks. That two minute speech should be given in a way which makes the topic interesting and allows for a meaningful discussion afterwards. Also, in GCSE, the second role play in the Higher exam is actually a narrative piece, and those performing this will need to know a little about narrative structure to obtain the highest grades.
At first, this may beg the question of whether the exam really is checking performance in Modern Foreign Languages. I’d argue that the exercises described above are actually extremely appropriate. Language, one’s own or one that you learn later, is all about communication, and these exercises test whether you can communicate with the language as well as merely use it. When we look back at the Communicative Language Initiative, the emphasis here was on communications – sometimes at the expense of grammar. There is, in fact, a place for all these components in language learning.
Perhaps the question we really need to ask about our language exams is whether they really test what we really need the examinees to be able to do. I rather suspect that we are simply allowing an academic tradition to bend towards something more meaningful rather than cutting straight to the chase.
However, even if they do slow down so that they speak clearly and remember to add in quite a few conjunctions which change word order (German again), they still may not get full or even high marks, especially in AS or A2.
They still need to know how to structure an argument, to develop it and to sustain an idea through debate. These are more pure language skills than just speaking in a given language. Even in GCSE, where the presentation of a topic and the consequent discussion will be on a much simpler level, just being able to speak fluently in the foreign language may not be enough to get the very top marks. That two minute speech should be given in a way which makes the topic interesting and allows for a meaningful discussion afterwards. Also, in GCSE, the second role play in the Higher exam is actually a narrative piece, and those performing this will need to know a little about narrative structure to obtain the highest grades.
At first, this may beg the question of whether the exam really is checking performance in Modern Foreign Languages. I’d argue that the exercises described above are actually extremely appropriate. Language, one’s own or one that you learn later, is all about communication, and these exercises test whether you can communicate with the language as well as merely use it. When we look back at the Communicative Language Initiative, the emphasis here was on communications – sometimes at the expense of grammar. There is, in fact, a place for all these components in language learning.
Perhaps the question we really need to ask about our language exams is whether they really test what we really need the examinees to be able to do. I rather suspect that we are simply allowing an academic tradition to bend towards something more meaningful rather than cutting straight to the chase.
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