Heritage and native speakers are fequently placed into novice-level language classes. This can be motivated by administrators' expectations of lock-step textbook learning of linguistic rules as revealed in a discreet-item placement exam--showing the learner doesn't yet know the program's grade-level sounds, grammar, and specific vocabulary. Intro-level placement can also be motivated by particular aspects of proficiency, like the person can understand daily conversation just fine but they can't read or write, or speak on topics covered in the program's classes. Intro-level teachers who teach for proficiency often point out that when they speak at the levels of their true-beginning-level learners in the target language, for example, "What (pause and point to the board) do you (pause and point) like (pause and point) to do (pause and point) on Saturday (pause and point) mornings (pause and point)?" the heritage/native speaking students start to show an attitude. What is this attitude, we might wonder. I'm going to share a story about when I found myself in similar shoes. I hope as you read this, a certain heritage perspective will become obvious and clear. I'll end with notes for a solution, from a Hawaiian class where I've seen heritage learners integrated very well into novice-level discussions and activities.
Quick story about me. I finished my Masters degree at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, in 2011. At the start of my third semester there, I, along with a classmate from New Zealand and another from Canada (English was our first and primary language), were called into the International Students Office. The office secretary informed us: "All international students are required to complete an ESL course." We protested: "That requirement is for students who don't already speak English...our classmates from Thailand, Japan, and Korea." She was firm, repeated the rule about ALL international students needing to finish the ESL requirement, and she told us the room and time to attend. The class would be around two hours long (it may have been three, but it's been years since already, so I'm going to play it safe and say it was two hours). So we went. A local Chinese teacher (there is nothing wrong with a non-native teacher, in my opinion, but I believe her being non-native did influence our interaction in this particular story) presented English listening activities and discussion topics around the ACTFL Intermediate-mid to Advanced-low levels. Besides us three, everyone else in the class was was from East and Southeast Asia. I remember sitting for a while, and feeling very bored. I remember the teacher looking around the room, but avoiding eye contact with us native speakers. About half-way through the class, the teacher passed out a question sheet, and then played a recording. We were asked to listen three times to the recording and use the information to answer the questions. The recording was confusing, and went something like this, an elderly British man saying: "For this holiday, we are going to need to bring an umbrella, a jacket, and other warm clothes. We plan to visit [place X], [place Y], and [place Z]." And it ended a woman saying something like, "Nothing leaves a person more tired than a vacation!" The teacher read aloud to some of the higher-order thinking questions, asking us to infer from the details why the woman at the end said that. The other students seemed like a shy bunch, so I raised my hand. The teacher showed a sudden combination of surprise and disappointment--she made a kind of slouching down movement--as she called on me. I answered in an American-college-style, higher-order thinking-style, musing on hypotheticals-style (so intentionally asinine-style) exploration of the woman's attitude toward travel and the relevance and irrelevance of the details offered by the man. I talked for two to three minutes (it may have been five). The teacher nodded and said, "Oh. Thank you," and then moved on to another activity. At the end of the class, the three of us spoke with her. She said, "You don't need to be here. Write your names here, and I'll mark you as present for the semester." And that was the end of that. So I've been a native speaker in a room full of "learners" (I put that in quotes because everyone is a learner throughout their lifetime, but everyone is also many identities), and I understand the frustration and boredom of misplaced students. But what about our first question about heritage learners placed in intro-level classes? I'll write that up on this post, here.
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