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Output Myths #2 and #3 Post 5.6.10

(originally posted 5/6/10)

Output Myth #3:

The rate at which students begin to comprehend and produce a second language is totally dependent on teacher-controlled issues save three: student motivation, student work, student “ability”-level.

Therefore:

If all of the students in the class are equally motivated,

(and teachers assume that they should be)

If all of the students in the class complete the same work,

(and teachers assume that they should have)

and

If all of the students in the class are perceived to have the same academic skill level,

(and teachers assume that students are either “teachable” or “not teachable”.)

then they will all accomplish/learn the same material at the same rate.

Therefore:

those who do as requested/planned will earn A’s and those who do not will earn F’s.

and

those who do as requested/planned and do NOT earn A’s are less intelligent than those who receive A’s,

and

students who have earned A’s will know more and be able to produce better language than students who have earned F’s.

Although I thought so for many years………………none of the above is true.

Myth #3:

Saying a word or phrase over and over and over again is the surest way to learn it.

I’d like to share a story from 2000 ( I think….) when I attended my first workshop with Susie Gross. It was the end of day two and we had been working with a select group of words for about 16 hours. For whatever reason, the group could NOT produce the phrase le vert d’eau (the glass of water …please excuse any sp/agreement errors…I haven’t used the phrase since…).

How hard could it be???????!!!!!!!!!!! We were ALL experienced language teachers. We had heard Susie use it over and over and over and over again. Someone suggested that we had not “acquired” the word because we really hadn’t had to use it. We needed to say it. Over and over and over and over.

Susie said, “NO.” The room got very quiet. “I don’t believe in that any longer. I haven’t used it often enough, comprehensibly enough for you all. That’s all.” I didn’t believe her. I don’t know if anyone in the room believed her.

And she began another story…which I don’t remember at all…except that I do remember her somehow inserting “le vert d’eau” in there a bazillion times. Finally…….it clicked. And le vert d’eau was in our lexicon. Just like that. And it was still there the next morning. And it’s still there a decade later. And I definitely don’t go around saying it out loud. At all.

Then there is the word “escaparate” (shop window). I learned it in grade 9. I never said it out loud once in high school (although I really wanted to tee hee it’s a fun word…escaparate! like pamplemousse!! ). I never used it in college. Then, when I was in Spain for a semester….there it was..in my brain…totally ready to use!!! Too bad I couldn’t remember a single one of the question words…..which I KNOW I had to use over and over again in high school and college. In context. Still couldn’t remember them….

Still….I spent many years creating activities which gave students plenty of opportunities to say things in Spanish. Games and role-plays and projects and skits and all kinds of well-conceived, well-written, well-rubricked, totally ineffective activities…..that did not help students to acquire any kind of language for the long run.with love,

with love,
Laurie

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Climbing the PQA Mountain Archived Post 3.2.10

Posted by: lclarcq Posted on: November 30, 2014 Archived 2010 , Engagement , Personalization , Questioning techniques , Relationships , Starting The Year , TPRS techniques

(Originally posted 3/2/10)

I have to confess…..I really had trouble with PQA (Personalized Questions and Answers). The idea behind PQA is to use a targeted, high-frequency phrase in conversation with students so that they hear (and comprehend it) many, many times.

At first, I didn’t spend a lot of time nor energy analyzing my PQA resistance….I just avoided it whenever possible. (Fortunately now there is Ben Slavic’s PQA in a Wink!! …but pre-Ben all I could do was marvel at how Susie and others wove wonderful questions in workshops and wish that I could do the same.)

Then one day I had an epiphany! PQA is NOT about the focus structure. IT’S ABOUT THE STUDENTS! So…..instead of asking myself, what questions can I create using this phrase, I began to ask myself…

Can I get to know my students better using this phrase? If so, how?

This cleared away many of the thoughts and emotions that were holding me back. First…I realized that not all phrases are good PQA material. I was able to find other ways to get repetitions with those phrases. (Work smarter not harder Laurie Ann!!)

Second…when I started to think of questions in light of getting to know my students better, the questions became more interesting!!! I was more interested, the questions were more interesting, and so, of course, the students became more interested!!

The third piece that really helped me was incorporating other TPRS skills into my PQA forays. Combining PQA with teaching to the eyes, using signals, choral responses, and circling helped me to focus on my strengths rather than my weaknesses.

More later…

with love,
Laurie

All content of this website © Hearts For Teaching 2009-present and/or original authors. Unauthorized use or distribution of materials without express and written consent of the owners/authors is strictly prohibited. Examples and links may be used as long as clear and direct reference to the site and original authors is clearly established.

What Happens in the Brain Archived Post 1.1.10

Posted by: lclarcq Posted on: November 29, 2014 Acquisition , Engagement , Pacing , Questioning techniques , Starting The Year , TPRS techniques

(This post originally appeared first on 1/1/10)

When I tell my students about language, I point out to them that much of what happens in our brains is “automatic”, that we are not conscious of what actually happens in L1 and so it feels strange or difficult in L2.

I point out that there are the following steps:

1: Hear/See the language element (sound/word/phrase/sentence).

2: Recognize the language element.

3: Comprehend the language element.

That is why on listening quizzes, with fairly “new” language elements, I give them 2/3 credit if they hear “La casa” or “Quisiera comprarlo’ and can write or say it back to me. The remaining 1/3 credit is the meaning. This is often confusing to them because they think that the meaning carries the most importance. I try to remind them that unless they can hear/see and recognize it, they will never get to the meaning portion!!!

It is also practical. Being able to hear/see an element and write/pronounce it allows them to then ask someone…what does “X” mean. Very useful.

Step #3 can be fairly complex for the brain. The brain may run through several process, simultaneously, to arrive at meaning and I am sure that some of you out there can offer research to back me up on this. From a layman’s perspective, at the very least, the students’ brains may use context clues, in comparison to L1 (which relies heavily on the level of development in that language!!!), and/or reach into stored memory for the meaning.

All of this takes time. The input speed, IF I AM TEACHING FOR ACQUISITION, can make or break the students’ ability to attach meaning. When teaching for acquisition…I already knew…and try to remember to frequently point out to my students (colleagues, parents, administrators as necessary) that slower is better.

SOMETHING THAT I HADN’T YET FIGURED OUT is that there is (at least) a FOURTH AND FIFTH STEP!!!!!

Step 4: “Picture” the meaning. Holding on to the meaning of an element (again, sound, word, phrase, sentence) means being able to “picture” , “imagine”, or “feel” the meaning. Step 4 is CRUCIAL. Without it, there is no acquisition, no long-term memory. That is why nouns and actions are so much ‘easier” for the brain to hang on to. It is why the “little’ words are the hardest, and take the most time to get. The meaning of the word “while” cannot be pictured, nor even easily described. It has little “weight”, it is more of a feeling or situation where meaning is concerned and is frequently harder to remember. It takes longer for the brain to assign, hang on to, dig up the meaning of the word.

Step 5: Connecting the meaning to the “story in the brain.” A random set of words that creates no pattern or picture is very hard to remember. Memory and comprehension occur when meaning is connected to a pattern.

Memory and comprehension occur when meaning is connected to a pattern.

On a very simple level, when we do TPR with students and ask them to “Jump three times” their minds must connect the meaning of all three elements in order to know what is required of them and THEN they need time to make their bodies move. Just knowing the meaning of all three elements is not enough. The mind must connect the meanings to comprehend the phrase. Their brains and bodies need TIME to do that.

In conversation or in a story, every meaning-carrying utterance is added to the ones before it in the students’ minds in order to add to the conversation or story. That is how comprehension is built. That is why humor works.

When our students laugh at the idea of our principal feeding doughnuts to a Chihuahua he has hidden under his desk, it is because they got to Step 4: visualizing the situation….and to Step 5: comparing that image to the image of what is expected of a principal and finding humor in the absurdity of it.

IF WE ARE TEACHING FOR ACQUISITION, then we must slow down to allow their minds to go there.

Therefore….following the sage advice of my 9th grade Geometry teacher….I reversed that and was stunned and humbled by the (now obvious, at least to me) truth:

IF WE SLOW DOWN AND LET THEIR MINDS GO THERE, then, and only then, are we teaching for acquisition.

with love,

Laurie

All content of this website © Hearts For Teaching 2009-present and/or original authors. Unauthorized use or distribution of materials without express and written consent of the owners/authors is strictly prohibited. Examples and links may be used as long as clear and direct reference to the site and original authors is clearly established.