week 13 readings

This week, we discussed Actvities within the classroom.
The first reading, again by Van Lier, discusses the idea of "emergence." It can be from a biological standpoint, or from an "organic" learning process, but in either case it is when simple things coalesce together to become more complex. He suggests that learning by doing, a trusted method of Montessori, is the best one in the scope of language learning. Rather than rely heavily on prescriptive rule doling, Van Lier analogizes children learning to play footie: they have no need to go into explicit detail about the rules, they just start playing, and, when there is something they are not allowed to do, they are told then. They then know not to do so. He expands this to grammar, and phonology and the like, and his main point then delivers the idea that grammar is an emergent practice for learners of L1, and that it should be this way for L2 as well. In this regard, I agree, and I think that there should be more study done on how L1 and L2 ( or L3, L4 or however many more languages you want to try and kill yourself learning) are similar. It takes a child three years to produce simple sentences, and three more before they can really sound like someone who knows what they are talking about. It takes adult learners, learning consistently and with focus, about the same. It might be good to take a look at the natural way language is picked up, and proceed from there.

The next reading, Stoller (2006) is what I presented on this week! And, I stand by what I said about incorporating projects of the classroom to extend beyond the classroom. Since I spoke so much then, I am just going to say here that I am a big proponent of language partners, and I think that we can really use the technology of Skype to fufill this. However, language partners only work when both are willing to invest time in the target language, have something that they want to say, and are encouraged to speak freely. So, the challenge here is to find a person with whom you can do this. In this case, I think the role of the educator is similar to what Stoller argues for, that of a mediator for the mediums. If one can design a project which captivates the interest, and entices a learner to go beyond the classroom, then the work of the teacher is accomplished. Not done, mind you, but accomplished in the sense that the learner is engaged in their own learning, and thus the teacher has engaged in a Freirian "revolutionary pedagogy."