[ola] Traditional struggles
- From: Arnold Bleicher <arnoldb@xxxxxxxx>
- To: OLA Listserve <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:39:49 -0800
Hi JoAnna -
I find it an interesting conversation that a FL teacher would praise her
students (and your ability to send her students with increased levels of
communicative skills) for being more proficient in interpretive and
interpersonal skills, but then complain about them not ³knowing² test
stuff. Maybe the question is: what would she rather have? Kids who can
interact in interpersonal modalities or kids who can conjugate verbs on a
piece of paper? Grab some math teacher who speaks English as their mother
tongue and ask them to explain what an indirect object pronoun is and,
when s/he can¹t do it, tell them they are not proficient in English. I
would like to point out, for anyone old enough to have taught a
teenage-child to drive, that it is one thing to ³know the manual² and
another thing to drive a car.
Let me use my own teaching experience as a model. I began teaching Spanish
in 1979. I was clueless, and my approach was that of a grammar-based
technician. I had kids who could conjugate verbs until the cows came home
and identify all sorts of pronouns, subjects, and objects. Drill and kill
and by golly, they were doing very well on my tests. Then I took them to
Mexico for a week and I was stunned to see their inability to actually
communicate. I had to completely rethink my assumptions. That was the
beginning of a long journey in understanding best practices. So, I¹ve been
on both sides of the issue and I saw a huge difference in what students
could do as I changed my strategies.
I did a study years go and compared HS students who had been in a
communicative-based class and were all Intermediate-low and mid speakers,
against their scores on the BYU placement test (at that time it was even
more grammar-based than it is now)- those HS kids did poorly on the BYU
test. Let me reiterate: they were all Intermediate-level speakers. Then we
compared them against kids from a grammar-based approach - those kids had
much better BYU test scores but almost none of them were INT on an OPI.
So, which student profile would I be more proud of producing? Yes, a
rhetorical question.
Now, as far as a student saying ³lavo mi pelo² I have to ask, as one used
to dealing with language learners, did you understand the message? If so,
what is the big deal? Will we want that student to eventually get the
correct structure? Of course. Do I mark her down on a grammar test? OK.
But do I mark her down for being able to communicate a message? No!
As far as English moments, the only thing I will say is that ACTFL
recommends 90+% use of the target language. If, now and then, a moment is
spent in English to clear up a question a student has, would that be so
awful? But that is my opinion, and everyone has one.
Keep up the good work.
Arnold
>
>________________________________
>From: ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <ola-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of
>JoAnna Coleman <joannac@xxxxxxx>
>Sent: Friday, December 13, 2013 3:57 PM
>To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [ola] grammar and English use in classroom
>
>
>Hey OWLers - I just had a conversation with the 3rd year teacher who
>teaches the kids I had in 2nd year last year - she has said over and over
>again how the kids speaking and listening proficiency is so much higher
>than in years past, but today she said that they don't "know" a lot of
>stuff, when I asked her to be more specific, she said when it comes to
>regular tests (ie. verb conjugation tests on paper) that they don't do
>well and when she talks about things (ie. stem-changing verbs) they don't
>know what she's talking about.
>
>
>This is frustrating for me on many levels, I don't want my kids to feel
>like they don't "know" something when they go to a new teacher (or to
>college)
>
>
> The other day I spent 10 minutes going over in English with my second
>year kids a couple of grammar points We have been talking about our daily
>routines (me lavo el pelo vs. lavo el coche vs. te lavo el pelo, tu vs te
>vs ti, etc...). I told them that in a traditional classroom, they would
>go over the grammar first, learn the rules and then practice, where as in
>our class, we hear it and practice it first until it "sounds" right and
>then look behind the curtains at the grammar. That way, they don't need
>to worry about memorizing a rule that will soon be forgotten, since the
>language is already internalized.
>
>
> I opened it up to any nagging questions they had about language
>structure as well. (what if I say "Me lavo mi pelo"? brought up a really
>good comparison of someone learning English saying "I like the pop
>music") it was actually a really great conversation and a lot of stuff
>came up.
>
>
>I think I may need to do a little English moment every couple of weeks -
>make it part of the routine, something they can expect is going to
>happen, but not on a daily basis.
>
>
>What are your thoughts on this? Do any of you do this or something
>similar? Do you do English days or moments?
>
>
>
>
>JoAnna Coleman
>Spanish Teacher
>Wilson High School
>503-916-5280 ext. 75231
>joannac@xxxxxxx
>http://profecoleman.wordpress.com/
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