I CAN Do It – A Language Learner’s Manifesto

I found this Language Learner’s Manifesto by Steve Kaufmann of The Linguist and was quite relieved to read it, particularly because it is great to read that you don’t have to be perfect. Of course, we may know that realistically but it is still so easy to put such high expectations on ourselves. I am guilty of never being happy with my efforts at learning Chinese simply because I had set the standard for myself at an impossibly high level. This is a lesson that can be taken in to all aspects of life, not just language learning. I wonder how my more senior students would respond to the manifesto. I’ll have to let you know.

Steve Kaufmann talks a lot about taking on a ’silent period’ when you first start learning a language. He advocates that you read and listen a lot before you try to produce anything yourself, which, really, is how we learn our own languages to begin with. As babies, we are listening and listening for quite some time before we start speaking ourselves. Also, rushing in to try to produce a new language can be daunting (ask my year 7s!) and can often put the learner off if it’s seen as too difficult.

I’m also glad to read in this manifesto the statement on not worrying about grammar (see the Manifesto page for that paragraph) as I believe that teaching too grammar explicitly unnecessarily confuses and can disengage the learner. It is much much more important just to get in there and have a go at using the language you are learning. Make mistakes, discover new patterns and have a good laugh! Learning and using a new language can be a magical experience. Being realistic and positive about how we do it will do everything to make us better language learners.

Here is first part of the manifesto. To read the full version visit The Linguist.

A Language Learner’s Manifesto

Have you tried to learn another language ? How did it go? Are you still afraid to speak that language? Please study this and repeat it to yourself daily.

I can be FLUENT. My goal is to be FLUENT. My goal is not to be perfect. My goal is just to be FLUENT. I can be FLUENT and still make mistakes.

I need to make a fresh start. I will not think of rules of grammar. I will forget about quizzes and tests. I will forget all the times I made mistakes. I will forget about my native language. I will forget who I am. I will become a new person, speaking a new language. I will have fun with the language. I will focus on enjoying myself. That is how I will learn to become FLUENT. I know I can do it.

I know how I will learn. I will listen often, every day. I will let myself go. I will listen in the morning and listen at night. I will listen and let the language enter my mind. I will choose content that I like to listen to, where the voice is pleasant. I will listen to the sounds and the rhythm of the language. I will listen to the words and the phrases but I will not worry about what I do not understand. I will continue listening and enjoying the language. I will take my listening with me on the bus, on walks and even when I do other chores. Listening will help to make me FLUENT.

I will read what I am listening to. This will help me to understand. [...]

I will never say that I am no good. When I read and listen I will tell myself “nice going”, even if there are always some parts that are not clear. When I try to pronounce the new language and still make mistakes, I will not care. I know that I am improving, naturally. I will always be nice to myself. I will try not to be nervous. If I make a mistake I will say “never mind”. If I forget a word I will say “never mind.” If I have trouble saying what I want to say, I will tell myself “ no problem”. I will continue until I am FLUENT. [...]

Steve Kaufmann
www.thelinguist.com

The image in this post was found through Every Stock Photo – free images for the web.

For more suggestions about language learning, check out this post: Get Silly! Some suggestions for language learning.

Information Overload and Your Inner Bookshelf

I just blogged about a Skype conversation that I had with Kim Cofino and one of the main points in our conversation was about too many things to do and not enough time to do them, or should I say to many blogs to read and not enough time to read them! (Go on, admit it, sometimes you hit ‘mark all as read’…)

We live deeply entrenched in the information age and we’ve got more information than ever before. The skill is not reading it all, the skill is figuring out what we do and don’t need! It’s important to allow ourselves to realise that we don’t have to read it all. That it’s impossible for one person to take it all in. I left a comment on Chris Betcher’s blog saying how overwhelming it all can be. A comment in reply to my comment (love it!) likened our lives to bookshelves saying that we’ve got to make room for new books by taking old ones off. We can’t take on all the new projects and things that people want us to do and things we want to read if we don’t take a book off our shelves to make room. When we overload our lives we overload our minds and it can be so difficult to break the habit. How’s your inner bookshelf looking?

For more on living slowly and some of my resolutions, check out these posts: My 2008 Web 2.0 / ICT Resolutions, Slowing Down in a World Built for Speed and Yesterday I Ate Cake.

Typing Furiously!

I have just had a great conversation with Kim Cofino of Always Learning which actually began a few hours ago when she asked, through a Twitter if anyone would be interested in collaborating with her over a ning network. I sent a direct message back to her through Twitter, to which she replied and asked me to send an email. After a few emails back and forth over an hour or so I added Kim to my Skype contacts and for half and hour (it went so fast!) we have been chatting about lots of different things, including briefly mentioning the project we will work on together, as well as our interest in yoga and the pressures of teaching, being busy, managing it, watching movies and chick lit! It’s amazing that all of a sudden I am having a real conversation with someone whose blog have been reading and admiring for a while. Kim put it very well when she said:

[11:38:08 PM] Kim Cofino says: i mean we’re having a totally normal conversation
[11:38:12 PM] Kim Cofino says: i didn’t know you a week ago
[11:38:14 PM] Kim Cofino says: and here we are

I must say I have never had a more fast and furious skype chat before. I thought I was a pretty fast typer, but oh no, I had not yet typed with Kim Cofino!

So, here I sit in Warrnambool, Australia, chatting with Kim who is from America but living in Thailand and we are going to get some of our students to work together. Just like that! Very powerful and awesomely (is that even a word?!) fun stuff happening just like that! Oh, I love it I love it I love it. This is really really cool.

I’d love to hear about those moments when you just had to sit back and marvel at how fantastic all this technology and instant communication is. Do you have your own Typing Furiously story?

For another surprise international communication check out: A Virtual Tour at Midnight!

3 Series on Collaboration: A Virtual Tour at Midnight!

I just had a virtual tour of Turning Point Learning Centre in Kansas, USA courtesy of Ginger Lewman who I met through Classroom 2.0. This little tour actually took me by surprise as it is after midnight here in Warrnambool, and I am sitting here at my kitchen table in my dressing gown. I had too many things running through my head and couldn’t sleep, so I got up, saw the Ginger was online on Skype and stupidly thought to myself ‘What’s she doing up so late?’ , forgetting to take the 13 hour time difference in to consideration! Silly me!

These are the sort of right-here-right-now moments we have to grab so I was rapt when Ginger asked if I wanted to see her kids, and then my tour started. Ginger walked around a couple of her classrooms, macbook in hand, and introduced me to some of her students. It was great! I met Olivia who wore a very striking hat, and is determined not to be an entertainer when she leaves school because she doesn’t like giving concerts. I also met some students working on classifying leaves – well, that’s what I think they were doing! I hope I understood properly! There is also an eager student, Ryan, (G’day Ryan!) who is keen to be taught by ‘the awesomeness that is Australia.’ No worries, mate, the awesomeness will teach you whatever you want to know!

Ginger and I are planning to do some collaborating over the next few weeks. My kids are going to teach her kids how some Chinese characters are made. American kids being taught Chinese by Australian kids. Love it.

A big hello to the class at Turning Point – leave some comments if you read this! You guys might also like to hear some of my kids speaking some Chinese – with Aussie accents of course! You can hear that at technoChinese (just click on the page of the Grade you want to hear and then wait a minute for the page to load properly).

Talk to you again soon!

For another surprise international connection, check out: Typing Furiously!

You might also be interested in reading Talk Swap – webcams, Skype and 4 Chinese kids or listening to the first episode of the technoLOTE podcast – Classroom Collaboration the Ning Way.

3 Series on Collaboration: Talk Swap – web cams, skype, and 4 Chinese kids

Firstly you will notice that the title of this post starts with ‘3 Series…’ Here at technoLOTE that simply means that there will be a series of 3 posts relating to one particular topic. Each post will extend on the previous related post with more ideas and resources. Coming up in the 3 Series on Collaboration – international collaboration (finding partner classrooms) and collaborative project ideas (how easy it can be!).

So, the part one of the first ever technoLOTE 3 series is about using web conferencing with skype to improve cultural awareness and conversational skills.

Last term my Grade 5 class had some regular Skype web cam conferences with 4 Chinese students at a school about half an hour away. What started out as some casual chats turned into an assessable project for a student teacher at Deakin Uni. Anna, who is Chinese herself, went in to the primary school in Warrnambool every Monday and helped the Chinese students with their spoken English while they chatted to me and the small group of students I had there for each session. It was a great way for her students to practice their conversational English and it was a great opportunity for my students to ask questions about life in China. My students also used some simple Chinese phrases – much to the delight of our virtual Chinese classmates!

I started this wiki using Wetpaint for the sessions and got my students to record what it was they chatted to the Chinese kids about. My kids were horrified to hear that you start school at 8:30 in China, finish at 4:30 and have heaps of homework every night! The Chinese kids said they thought school here was much more relaxed. My kids also found out that there were some similarites – they all like McDonalds, The Simpsons and football. Who’d have thought!

We are hoping to arrange a time that the Chinese students in Warrnambool can come and visit our school. It was just great to watch these kids talk to, laugh at and make friends with each other virtually!

One of the things I would work on for next time around would be to make sure students on both ends are well prepared as far as questions go. I found that too often I was prompting my students because they couldn’t think of things to say. I think this could have been avoided by a meeting before each link up to avoid too many long silences!

As you can see from these photos, our experience was greatly enhanced by the fabulous SMART board that we have in the Chinese classroom.