Today I spent the lunch hour with A., a woman in her 30’s
from Bangladesh. I originally met
her during my C.O. A. is very
willing to practice speaking English.
She is uninhibited by her frequent mistakes and by her shortage in
vocabulary. I believe she is
highly motivated, as seen in her willingness to be away from her two boys and
husband on weekdays, only seeing them via Facetime and on weekends. As well, she is challenged by her 6
year old, who shows her his grades via Facetime (all 100’s) and asks her to follow his example by sharing
hers with him.
A. and I have a great, experiential bond, for I lived in
Bangladesh as a boy during 2nd and 3rd grade. We discussed how her country had
developed since my time in her country (1969-1970). At that time the country’s name was East Pakistan and the name
of our “shared” city was Dacca (now Dhaka).
Our conversation began in the CIES hallway at 11:50 a.m. and
continued in her classroom until her teacher entered for the 1:00 p.m.
class. She shared with me about
her family, including her 8 siblings, her husband and children, and her sister
and brother-in-law, who are doctors.
She added a long discourse on how this brother-in-law is a Harvard
genius (her word, which she struggled to find in her mind).
I began making corrections after our first 15 minutes. The sentence structure in her language
must have a different order than in English, particularly where quantifiers are
involved. For example, she would often
say things like, “I go sometimes to . . .” I also needed to help her find ways
to express her thoughts. Total
communication breakdown happened twice, meaning I could not decipher what she
was trying to say. I simply and
politely said, “Let’s start back at the beginning and try again.”
I believe A.’s strength lies in listening comprehension, while
her weaknesses lie in grammar and vocabulary. I think that if she is faithful with putting in hours of
learned system study, her acquired system of learning will enable her, fairly
rapidly, to have improved success in her use of productive vocabulary and
applied use of grammar. Why do I
believe this? Because A. is so
willing to put herself in situations of meaningful language usage (this was my
second significant conversation with her – at her invitation) and because she
is accountable to an inquisitive 6 year old son!
Question for classmates: How often do you make corrections
in your CP settings? Does this
differ greatly from during your TP’s?
Thanks!
Greg
It must have been fun to talk about the place where you lived as a child with someone who is from there. It must have been meaningful for her to have someone here to know something about her country and city. Her country is not a place where the average tourist goes.
ReplyDeleteI have found that it is hard for students to express their thoughts clearly if they are corrected too often during conversations. I enourage you to be selective in your corrections as Ms. Kim said fluency first.
Jodie (I don't have my own account)
I have not had an official meeting with my conversation partners yet, but I have talked with several people in the program. I guess the way I look at it, is that the conversation partners is more of a cultural exchange (as you were talking about here) and a little less of the language check. Now I will from time to time correct my conversation partner, but I normally wont come right out and correct them, but rather I will use the same kind of sentence they were using when they made the error, but use it correctly, and use it very soon after they made the error, but in the natural flow of the conversation.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of our conversation, my partner did ask me some questions about grammar and the things I said differently from him, and I brought up some of the errors that were made. He made notes, and we moved on.
So yeah, I guess there is room for grammar improvement, but depending on the level of the student, I agree with Jodie.., ensure conversation first, and then move on to some grammar.
Just my thoughts...