I’ve met a few misguided souls that think that since we speak English as a first language we can automatically teach it. Little do they know that the extent of my grammar knowledge is limited to the major word types and a couple of verb tenses. Ask me about conditional modals or past perfect continuous and you’ll get the glassy-eyes of one who’s wondering what language you’re speaking.
Apparently though, I know enough to know how to teach myself and then pass on any knowledge gained – usually as particular grammar points appear in the students’ workbooks. It’s not ideal. I’m a great believer in teachers being subject matter experts. (Teachers please do not write in with your objections to that statement. It is my opinion and I am fully entitled to it.) Nonetheless I do my best to know what the heck I’m talking about.
Perhaps the greatest challenge I have teaching in Timor is background education. The Timorese education system is based on rout learning. That basically means parroting what the teacher tells you, never questioning and always expecting to be given the answers. It’s why critical reasoning is so lacking in the day-to-day workings of the country. Add to this a striving to please the customer as it were and you’ve got a recipe of guaranteed heartache for any malae actually trying to dig to the truth of any process or procedure. Basically you’re told whatever will make you happy in that moment. It doesn’t matter that you’ll go away and be stymied elsewhere because you don’t have the required paperwork. In that moment, future considerations do not feature. There’s no thoughtful reasoning that says, “If I tell you x then y will probably ensue. Is y a good thing? If not, what can I do now to avert y and create z?”
The idea of instantly gratifying the person asking a question is prevalent in the classroom too. Most students answer before they’ve even thought. If they can’t answer the question you’ve asked, they’ll answer another one – or so it seems from the weird and wonderful responses I’m often given.
For example, one class was studying how to make questions in the past tense. In the exercise they were given an article and a list of answers and they had to write the questions. Even if it doesn’t sound easy peasy pudding and pie, I certainly didn’t anticipate that it would be a nigh impossible as it became.
Most students had difficulty remembering which ‘question words’ (who, what, where, when, why, how, how long) pertained to what topics. So I wrote the words on the board.
Who – person
What – thing
Where – place
When – time
Why – reason
How – way of doing something
How long – timeframe
It was there for everyone to read – if they only looked up, focussed their minds as well as their eyes. One student was struggling with the answer: Yoko Ono. The correct answer (or question actually) was Who did John Lennon meet in an art gallery. (Remember all this information was also freely available in the text). The student had started the question with “why” (and I was to ask myself that very same question over and over again in the space of a few short but emotionally looooooong minutes).
“John Lennon met someone. Do we meet people or things?”
Long pause and blank stare.
“Do we meet people or things?”
“Why did he meet in art gallery?”
“John Lennon met someone. Do we meet people or things?”
“Art gallery.”
“Yes, they met in an art gallery. Was it a person or a thing?”
“John Lennon.”
“Yes, John Lennon was in an art gallery. Did he meet a person or a thing?”
“Why did he meet art gallery?”
“Person or thing?”
“Person?”
“Yes. Excellent! Now look at the board. What word do we use when we’re asking a question about a person?”
“Why.”
“Look at the board. What word do we use when we’re asking about a person?”
“Why did he meet in art gallery?”
“Is why the word next to person?”
“Yes.”
“Is it? What word is next to person? What word is this?”
“Why.”
“Is it why?”
“Oh, no. Who.”
“Great. So what word do we use when we’re asking a question about a person?”
“Why.”
“No, not why. What do we use why for? Look at the board. What word is next to why?”
“Reason.”
“Great. Excellent. What word is next to person?”
“Who.”
“Awesome. Yes! Who. So what word do we use when we’re asking about a person?”
“Who.”
“Yes! Excellent! So what is the question you want to ask?”
“Why did John Lennon meet in art gallery?”
I know you think I’m exaggerating and for those who know me well, I’ll allow you a small moment of that indulgence . . . . . . before I reveal that that conversation was sadly no exaggeration – though the exact words may have differed, rest assured the length and the overall essence of the conversation is spot on.
When I work out why students can’t answer the questions asked or follow the instructions given I’ll bottle it – teachers and other workers here will pay a tidy sum for such a panacea.
Another example happened on Friday with my one-on-one students. He’s awesome – mainly because he keeps telling me what a great teacher I am, but mutual adoration aside, he works really hard and appears to be making real progress.
We’re studying shortened forms and ‘s. You may not have considered it but that damned ‘s is not as innocent as it first appears. It actually has three possible meanings: is; has; or possession as in:
He’s a doctor.
She’s got a Ferrari.
Mildred’s cat is white and fluffy.
We’ve included this concept in a couple of lessons so far and have extended our reach to include: they’ve, you’ve, we’ve and they’re, you’re, we’re as well as didn’t and don’t.
I gave the student a story in which there were no shortened forms. He was to make shortened forms wherever he could. The guy’s smart and we’ve done similar exercises before . . . the exercise would take ten minutes max . . . . or so I thought.
The challenge was, despite what I thought were clear instructions, he wanted to keep adding words not taking them out. So I decided to take it back a step. I wrote on the board, “is, has, did not, you are, he is, do not” and added, “underline these words.”
Simple. Not. (and no that can’t be shortened)
“He has is?” he asked.
“No,” I said (we are told not to say “no”. It’s apparently too negative. Let me tell you it’s far less negative than some of the words that have come to mind.) “Underline these words.” I walked to the board and did my best game show hostess impersonation.
“He isn’t has?”
“Underline these words.”
“The owner of a missing cat is asking for help.”
“Great. What can you underline in that sentence?”
“Isn’t has?”
“Are those words in the sentence?”
“Mrs Brown has isn’t?”
“What word in the sentence is on the board?”
“Is?”
“Great! Excellent! Awesome. Underline is. Now, what’s the next one?”
“56-year-old-woman?”
“Find ‘has’ in the story.”
“7-year-old cat.”
“Find ‘has’ in the story.”
“Owner of a missing cat?”
“Look at these words. Find them in the story.”
“I want him back so badly, said Mrs Brown.”
“Find these words and underline them.”
“Mrs Brown isn’t?”
“Underline these words.”
“The owner has a missing cat?”
“Underline these words.”
“I has isn’t him back?”
“Underline these words.”
I tell you my stubborn streak is working overtime. Some days it becomes a matter of principle. I simply refuse to give in and supply the answer. Eventually my student relented and underlined the words as asked.
“Now make shortened forms,” I told him bringing my hands together in a gesture of “make smaller”. Less than five minutes later he’d done it . . . . but it took about twenty minutes to get to that five!
It’s all a process and I’m baffled by our students’ abject refusal to do what they’re asked. It’s almost as though they are so eager to please that they want to circumvent the process and get straight to the answer. The problem is that the process IS the answer – at least until they become so familiar with English that these basics become natural. Until then, all I have is waning patience coupled with a stubborn streak the likes of which these students have probably never seen before and perhaps hope they will never see again. They will learn English damn it!
You know how weird that relationship between John and Yoko was. Possibly your student did, too. Therefore the correct question was "why?" I've often wondered myself
ReplyDelete