start at the beginning …
Learning from learning Japanese
Clearly the purpose of me attending these lessons, from my TESOL tutors’ point of view, was not to learn Japanese. The Course Handbook (SCOLA: 2009) tells me:
‘Trainees are not assessed on the volume or accuracy of language learned but on the analysis [sic] and reflective nature of the journal’
So other than a little bit of Japanese language what did I learn during those four hour-long sessions?
I learnt that teaching absolute beginners (entry level students) was something that was incredibly challenging, exciting and thrilling. As I sat in the classroom with Mayumi I increasingly yearned to be the one up front. This course requirement to undertake four unknown language lessons, this part of the course that I had been dreading provided me with a profound learning experience that no amount of rational pedagogy could of. Over the course of those four lessons I became increasingly aware of one of key psychological and spiritual urges that had motivated me to enroll to train as an ESOL teacher.
I realized that I have a deep desire to communicate and connect with others without using words. It is ironic that my most meaningful experience of this (post-infanthood) occurred in an environment designed to teach me words and how to use them. Yet beyond the irony is something quite primal. Being treated as a child by Mayumi caused me to revisit some early childhood memories; of infantile experiences of the teacher as parent, and the parent as teacher.
“I was raised by teachers. Most of my earliest years were spent at the back of a small classroom listening to my mother teach. I grew up with teachers, and was a student as much as a son”. (Gibson:2009: 1)
Perhaps my unique childhood experience (of being in a classroom from the age of three months) made this association more vivid, however I think it was one relevant to all of us. In many ways Mayumi’s relationship with us, and I assume it is the same in other entry-level ESL classes, replicated that of a parent and their children. And as such the vast potential of this relationship can only be realized when the participants’ share genuine love, trust and respect.
It was the challenge of attempting to share and nurture such love, trust and respect with a group of strangers with whom I shared no spoken language that influenced my decision to enroll as a TESOL student. Mayumi’s teaching reminded me of that, and at the same time, wonderfully reassured me just how empowering it is to be in such an environment.
My awakening was further heightened as my attendance at Mayumi’s Japanese classes coincided with my guided observations of other ESL classes. This was effective scheduling as the classes I observed were of intermediate or pre-intermediate level which served to highlight for me the significant differences and similarities in teaching practice between intermediate and entry-level classes. I wrote of one of my most memorable observations of an intermediate class:
“There was an almost tangible feeling of the tutor bringing her world into the classroom, and by doing so she created a sense of intimacy and friendship between herself and the students… the teacher (whether consciously or not) made a continuous effort to be close to her students. Students were treated as friends and equals … the teacher challenged the students, encouraging them to think, not necessarily about the ‘right’ answer but about how they felt, what they believed and who they were”. (Gibson: 2010: 6-7)
Here once again is the teacher as parent, connecting, being intimate with, and challenging her students. Yet now, at this intermediate level, the teacher has a more discursive identity, and the love, trust and respect within the classroom grows more from the sharing of life experiences through words rather than through gestures, chanting and a sunflower soft toy.
While teaching at all levels is potentially a very challenging and fulfilling experience I am grateful that as a student I came in contact with the sunflower soft toy. Within the intermediate classroom learning activities are typically less kinesthetic and tactile, and more visual and auditory as greater emphasis is placed upon reading, writing, and grammar. While a variety of learning styles are catered for within the intermediate student environment, naturally as students come to understand more of the taught language, less intuitive learning occurs. It is at this level that discovery techniques are often used where students are “asked to use their previous knowledge to work out what words go with others, when they should be used and what connotations they have (Harmer: 2000:160).
I enjoyed being a child again. I enjoyed having no previous knowledge. I enjoyed trusting my intuition. Being in Mayumi’s class reminded me of the ‘hidden map’ approach to teaching used by Roberto, one of my TESOL tutors. It is a way of teaching that recognizes that students do not need to know where they are going to arrive at the destination. Often referred to as the ‘bottom-up’ approach[1] to the teaching process, this approach appeals to me (as a teaching style) as it encourages, and if successful affirms, students’ trust in the process’[2].
I did however, at times, experience some difficulty in letting go and trusting where Mayumi was leading us. There were a number of external factors that contributed to this, most notably:
- As part of the TESOL course, our attendance at the Japanese lessons required us to be as mindful of elements of the teaching practice (e.g. methods, materials, interactive patterns etc) as we were of the Japanese words, sounds and phrases we were being taught. This had the effect of undermining our ability to be completely present in the learning process.
- Unlike typical adult beginners we did not have a high degree of extrinsic motivation to learn Japanese, and we knew the lessons would end after four sessions. What this meant is that some of us who did not enjoy the learning experience soon became disinterested and dismissive of the process.
- Language acquisition is best achieved when students have some ‘deep experience’ (Harmer: 2000: 34). As students of Japanese we had little or no interaction with the vocabulary we learnt outside of the classroom, which we would have had had we been residing in Japan. Such interaction is important not only as it enhances learning but also enhances the motivation to continue learning.
Regardless of the above shortcomings (which given the nature of the unit seem almost inevitable) I was truly inspired by my time in Mayumi’s class. Each hour long lesson was an intense experience that left me feeling drained and weary. Yet each week, after having weathered the storm, I felt stronger and more confident. My confidence grew not only as I learnt and retained some Japanese words and phrases, but my self-confidence grew as I learnt that I could learn Japanese.
雨降って地固まる
‘After the rain falls, the ground becomes harder’
[1] The bottom-up approach provides students with little or no understanding of the objectives of the teaching session: it sees understanding as starting from the students’ exposure to, and gradual decoding of, sounds, words and phrases. Teaching progresses as students are exposed to, and grasp, more and more elements (e.g. sentences, intonation) until the lesson objective is reached.
[2] Developing ‘trust in the process’ is a central element within many enlightenment philosophies. Associated with the Buddhist notion of ‘non-attachment’ it encourages the letting go of all fixed locations (e.g. a sense of self, a future objective, a relationship) and just trusting in what is happening, right here, right now. See Chopra, D (2009) and Tolle, E (1999) for elaborations of this principle.
