Every day all over the world, millions of children learn language. They go from zero to fluent in five years, all while learning how to use their brand new bodies. They don't do "unscrambling" exercises, they don't do multiple-choice find-the-ungrammatical-element. They talk a lot, they listen a lot, and they become native speakers. In five years, they have complex grammar; by the time they hit puberty, they have been learning an average of 10 new words a day.
Why in the hell do I have to do this crappy homework for this program?
It's because they want us to work hard. Because in their mind, hard work = language learning. This is a fallacy. Learning your first language was so easy, most of us don't even remember the process. Language learning is an instinct.
Our teachers act disappointed when the grammar seems "too easy" for us. They want us to work hard, regardless. Listen, chuck, just because it's easy doesn't mean we're not learning. Easy or not, the shit happens to be NEW TO ME.
Oh, by the way, I still can't narrate a story in the past, describe a room, make a list of characteristics, any of the stuff described on the ACTFL chart for Novice speakers. Why not? Oh, because they have been busy looking for HARD stuff for us to chew on.
I've been a teacher for 10 years; so add up all my teachers' years of experience and I bet you don't get much more than ten. I have a Master's Degree in Foreign Language Methodology.
I assign homework, I totally do. And sometimes it's hard, and sometimes it takes a long time. But it's always to practice a skill that my students will need when speaking. Always. Always always.
Unscrambling a complex sentence is NOT a skill anybody needs when speaking. Neither is identifying the ungrammatical sentence. Neither is matching. This book's grammar puzzles are a mess; they are reading and grammar at the same time. It is sloppy ass technique and it upsets me, because these people made money from this piece of crap book.
Time for bed, finally.
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1 comment:
Take a cool drink, JP. It's only a few days left. I'm sure you will learn to speak the language fluently regardless of this "stupid" class. (Yes, I agree!)
When you will get exposed to the normal Mandarin speakers you will learn even faster and better yet because you will learn the conversational language.
Take this experience and run with it. You can write a better lesson plan or learning materials for people who, like you, want to learn the language or languages. Maybe, someday, you can develop your own language programs and have your own school that would cater to people who really want to learn.
I don't think those people really understand the objective of their own program. Instead, they just want to show off to students their knowledge of grammar. They feel the power over you that way. Don't let them get to you.
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