“ È la mia ancora” (She’s my anchor) What a pleasant surprise! How many adolescent girls are in the habit of describing their mothers in such endearing terms? I remarked as much to the student whose class I was visiting for conversation practice. She laughed it off: "That’s just what our teacher taught us to say – you’ll probably hear it a few more times today.” And I did, often in the same breath as describing eye colour and length of hair. I felt rather disillusioned. I was sure their teacher had higher aspirations for this heart-warming Italian phrase but, for these students it seemed, they were just words. As a non-native speaker of Italian, I adopt any new mannerisms of speech with a certain caution. Questions arise: Does this expression accurately reflect the sort of person I am or want to be known as? What are the subtle nuances of this phrase? What’s the cultural 'baggage'? What meaning does it really convey?
Language is more than just words and yet it is the very words that will leave a lasting imprint on the memory of the hearer. ‘Say what you mean, mean what you say’ is all the more challenging when you are still trying to work out how to say it! It got me thinking. If we uphold sincerity as a virtue, can we encourage our students, even at beginner level, to be sincere with the language they are learning? I thought I would give it a try. During the next round of conversation practice, whenever ‘è la mia ancora’ was the descriptive phrase of choice, I responded with another question: "Perché?" This gave the students the opportunity to think why they had chosen that particular expression. It pushed them to find words in the target language to express what their mothers really meant to them. It became a much more sincere, and I think ultimately satisfying conversation. In that brief moment they shared, even if haltingly, something of the significance of relationships. It was more than just words: they meant what they said. Libby Colla Image source: Family portrait courtesy of a Year 2 student
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