On Learning and Teaching a Language
Hi. My name is Hayden. I am a Spanish student. I am an English teacher.
I carry these dual roles everywhere I go: They define my identity here. And after thinking about it a bit I´ve come to the conclusion that right now this isn´t such a bad thing.
To be sure, learning a language can be frustrating: I remember quite clearly my first day at the language school here. My teacher Aura Cristina began talking to me for twenty minutes very rapidly in Spanish: I did not understand a single word. Then she gave me an introductory diagnostic test, on which I got a 15%. At that moment, I wanted to cry. What was I doing, taking on a whole language, with thousands of vocabulary words to memorize, lists of subjunctive verb conjugations to nail down, handfuls of idioms to master? I only got a 15% on that test because I knew to write el and la in front masculine and feminine words, respectively. That´s all I knew. Apparently I wasn´t able to get a cross to her that I had studied Spanish nunca. But from there we went to work, and I began learning.
Sometimes I feel like I´m really making progress. There´s this surge of joy when you actually say something and someone nods their head and you see that they actually understand what you mean. And, then again, and this occurs more frequently, there´s also this counter-sensation of extreme hopelessness when I listen to two native speakers jabber away in a language I´ve studied for a month and I don´t have a clue what they were talking about. It´s a bit frustrating to realize that I can be out in public in the morning, spend several hours in my hammock studying, and then return to the world and still speak the exact same amount of Spanish as I did that morning. All I know is that at this point I´m not at all where I want to be. I need a lot of practice because I am not very confident speaking yet, which is strange for me when I compare my progress with my over-confident Hindi.
In my life I´ve studied Latin and Russian and Fante Twi and Hindi. From these experiences I´ve learned well how to learn a language. Yet I´m a little disappointed to say that at the age of 23 I don´t know any of these with anything close to fluency. Perhaps I am too much the product of a generation that likes to take short-cuts (or expects everything to be written in English.) Or perhaps I´m too prone to tasting a bit from every source without committing to one area of expertise. There are benefits to this, of course, and I feel like I have a lot of knowledge about different places and peoples. But I suppose I´ve always been a bit of a dabbler when it comes to language.
Well, whatever the reason is, I want it to change now.
Taking up Spanish now, and concentrating on it for six uninterrupted months, seems to me a good first step toward speaking Spanish well during the rest of my life. (I also maintain this same goal for my Hindi.) Spanish just seems so plainly useful for work in the States and in this entire hemisphere. I certainly don´t expect to reach my goal at the end of this period, but I hope it will be a project I can work on in the years to come. A hundred times a day I find myself thinking the same thought: ¨Wow, language is so intrinsically connected to who we are.¨
Because it´s beneficial to set benchmarks for oneself, one immediate goal I do have for myself is to read one of my favorite books, Paulo Coelho´s ¨The Alchemist,¨en español. (The Spanish title is ¨El Alquimista.¨) I think that will be a fun and challenging project for me. I should note that Coelho originally wrote the book in Portuguese, but I still think reading it in Spanish will be worthwhile since the two languages are quite close.
And then of course when I´m not studying here, I find myself teaching English. It´s not that my life´s ambition is to be an ESL teacher, or any type of language teacher, or that I find the work particularly stimulating. Rather, it just seems appropriate for where I am. Teaching English is one of the only useful things I can offer. And it just so happens that people here want to learn because of the job opportunities resulting from the increasing importance of tourism. For me, though, teaching a language is just a good way to get to know people: to learn about their lives, their families and friends, their customs and beliefs, their hopes and worries, and their personalities. That´s really all I want from Nicaragua at the moment--a country in which, upon arriving, I knew not a single person.
And it´s the same when I´m teaching the kids too. I don´t in the slightest expect them to be good, or even competent, English speakers by the time I go. I´m here for too short a period and we´re starting completely from scratch. My role is small and I have no illusions about my importance: Life goes on without me. But I do think the endeavor has some value: Perhaps the kids just know the basics and that will help them someone. Perhaps they´ll become more interested in other cultures or more tolerant of those who are different. Perhaps I´ll plant a seed of interest that germinates later on in their lives. And, as my friend here Allie pointed out, learning a new language -- for anyone, of whatever age or ability -- is just a good mental exercise.
I´ve heard it said that moving to a foreign country with the goal of education (either teaching or learning) can be an fraught activity, one tainted, one from which we should shy away. When you go to a place only to learn, you are said to be appropriating someone´s culture. And when you go to a place only to teach, you are said only to be furthering a paternalistic or neo-imperialist mindset.
I´m cognizant of the issues, and I´m particularly cognizant of my country's destructive role in Latin America during the last century. But ultimately I just think such arguments are overblown. We need to start somewhere. And specifically, I think that there´s an enormous need for education in this world--a need to share what we know and what we´ve learned with each other. I feel proud to be where I am, helping in small ways and trying to understand this process better.
For being a language student makes one humble. And being a language teacher makes one patient. And both learning and teaching a language makes it slightly more possible for more people to talk with one another in this world, and that is a good thing.
I carry these dual roles everywhere I go: They define my identity here. And after thinking about it a bit I´ve come to the conclusion that right now this isn´t such a bad thing.
To be sure, learning a language can be frustrating: I remember quite clearly my first day at the language school here. My teacher Aura Cristina began talking to me for twenty minutes very rapidly in Spanish: I did not understand a single word. Then she gave me an introductory diagnostic test, on which I got a 15%. At that moment, I wanted to cry. What was I doing, taking on a whole language, with thousands of vocabulary words to memorize, lists of subjunctive verb conjugations to nail down, handfuls of idioms to master? I only got a 15% on that test because I knew to write el and la in front masculine and feminine words, respectively. That´s all I knew. Apparently I wasn´t able to get a cross to her that I had studied Spanish nunca. But from there we went to work, and I began learning.
Sometimes I feel like I´m really making progress. There´s this surge of joy when you actually say something and someone nods their head and you see that they actually understand what you mean. And, then again, and this occurs more frequently, there´s also this counter-sensation of extreme hopelessness when I listen to two native speakers jabber away in a language I´ve studied for a month and I don´t have a clue what they were talking about. It´s a bit frustrating to realize that I can be out in public in the morning, spend several hours in my hammock studying, and then return to the world and still speak the exact same amount of Spanish as I did that morning. All I know is that at this point I´m not at all where I want to be. I need a lot of practice because I am not very confident speaking yet, which is strange for me when I compare my progress with my over-confident Hindi.
In my life I´ve studied Latin and Russian and Fante Twi and Hindi. From these experiences I´ve learned well how to learn a language. Yet I´m a little disappointed to say that at the age of 23 I don´t know any of these with anything close to fluency. Perhaps I am too much the product of a generation that likes to take short-cuts (or expects everything to be written in English.) Or perhaps I´m too prone to tasting a bit from every source without committing to one area of expertise. There are benefits to this, of course, and I feel like I have a lot of knowledge about different places and peoples. But I suppose I´ve always been a bit of a dabbler when it comes to language.
Well, whatever the reason is, I want it to change now.
Taking up Spanish now, and concentrating on it for six uninterrupted months, seems to me a good first step toward speaking Spanish well during the rest of my life. (I also maintain this same goal for my Hindi.) Spanish just seems so plainly useful for work in the States and in this entire hemisphere. I certainly don´t expect to reach my goal at the end of this period, but I hope it will be a project I can work on in the years to come. A hundred times a day I find myself thinking the same thought: ¨Wow, language is so intrinsically connected to who we are.¨
Because it´s beneficial to set benchmarks for oneself, one immediate goal I do have for myself is to read one of my favorite books, Paulo Coelho´s ¨The Alchemist,¨en español. (The Spanish title is ¨El Alquimista.¨) I think that will be a fun and challenging project for me. I should note that Coelho originally wrote the book in Portuguese, but I still think reading it in Spanish will be worthwhile since the two languages are quite close.
And then of course when I´m not studying here, I find myself teaching English. It´s not that my life´s ambition is to be an ESL teacher, or any type of language teacher, or that I find the work particularly stimulating. Rather, it just seems appropriate for where I am. Teaching English is one of the only useful things I can offer. And it just so happens that people here want to learn because of the job opportunities resulting from the increasing importance of tourism. For me, though, teaching a language is just a good way to get to know people: to learn about their lives, their families and friends, their customs and beliefs, their hopes and worries, and their personalities. That´s really all I want from Nicaragua at the moment--a country in which, upon arriving, I knew not a single person.
And it´s the same when I´m teaching the kids too. I don´t in the slightest expect them to be good, or even competent, English speakers by the time I go. I´m here for too short a period and we´re starting completely from scratch. My role is small and I have no illusions about my importance: Life goes on without me. But I do think the endeavor has some value: Perhaps the kids just know the basics and that will help them someone. Perhaps they´ll become more interested in other cultures or more tolerant of those who are different. Perhaps I´ll plant a seed of interest that germinates later on in their lives. And, as my friend here Allie pointed out, learning a new language -- for anyone, of whatever age or ability -- is just a good mental exercise.
I´ve heard it said that moving to a foreign country with the goal of education (either teaching or learning) can be an fraught activity, one tainted, one from which we should shy away. When you go to a place only to learn, you are said to be appropriating someone´s culture. And when you go to a place only to teach, you are said only to be furthering a paternalistic or neo-imperialist mindset.
I´m cognizant of the issues, and I´m particularly cognizant of my country's destructive role in Latin America during the last century. But ultimately I just think such arguments are overblown. We need to start somewhere. And specifically, I think that there´s an enormous need for education in this world--a need to share what we know and what we´ve learned with each other. I feel proud to be where I am, helping in small ways and trying to understand this process better.
For being a language student makes one humble. And being a language teacher makes one patient. And both learning and teaching a language makes it slightly more possible for more people to talk with one another in this world, and that is a good thing.
posted by Hayden @ 12:00 PM
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