What expectations do our students have in learning another language? Can we invite them to imagine their learning differently? Often the emphasis is on learning to speak another language, rather than learning to hear another language. The focus is to communicate and get your message across. As Christian educators, we have the opportunity to present students with a different picture of the purpose of language learning, motivated by the call to love God and our neighbour. “We don’t learn languages so that we can bless more of the world with our opinions. Through our learning we are becoming able to hear people we could not previously understand….Hearing involves laying down your agenda and waiting on someone else’s words.” (p.136, Teaching and Christian Imagination)
I love being able to hear the stories of Italians in their own language when we visit Italy. Connections with people and place are deepened. As ‘tourists’, unhurried by life’s usual demands, we have the unique opportunity to pause and listen with fresh ears to a story that others, being more familiar, may have ceased to tune into. Sometimes we can offer a word of encouragement, sometimes a new perspective. More often all that is required is to listen. To listen to another’s story is to identify with their humanity; to invite them to open a door and share an aspect of their lives with us. Listening attentively is a way we can show God’s love. With this focus and aim for our language students, can we design learning activities that place emphasis on hearing stories and practising attentiveness to what others are saying? One approach I take is to introduce short video clips or picture books that invite students to hear personal stories, whether fictitious or real, in the target language. Usually these are linked to a current theme or topic. Acknowledging that they won’t understand every word, I encourage my students to tune in and listen, using their eyes as well as their ears:
Do you have other suggestions? There is much scope for exploring how we can emphasise learning to hear a language. I hope to do so in subsequent posts. Libby Colla Reference: Teaching and Christian Imagination, David I. Smith and Susan M. Felch
2 Comments
Anne Edwards
4/5/2017 10:25:00 am
I also make up stories for K-6 about supposed real people and have a pretend family so that we see different aspects of their lived experiences in each ‘chapter’. Mine are based on stories in an old Primary resource, Niko Niko, and I tell the stories in English with dialogue in simple Japanese. They are a way of bringing an emotional value to the understanding of Japanese culture and helping my students to see that Japanese people share common human experiences.
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Libby Colla
4/5/2017 04:00:47 pm
Thanks for sharing this Anne. Great idea! I really like the way you have adapted an existing resource.
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