2010.06.22

Today, we talked about the national standards as was put together by the Bush administration to make sure no child was left behind. As is frequently the case in academia, Foreign Languages was the last subject investigated. At first they focused on a few European languages that are commonly taught in the U.S., but when the World Trade Center was hit by a plane, it was decided we should expand the languages considered and work with more languages that have a special political relationship with the United States. The idea suggested is that the old grammar and vocabulary teaching style from before does not give one any real proficiency. To demonstrate true communication requires a blend of activities that goes beyond this older style of teaching of foreign language which tended to focus on the how (structure/grammar) of the saying of the what (vocabulary). Instead, knowing how, when, and why to say what to whom. Well now, seeing as that old style is close to the style of teaching that is necessary for the textbook that I have used for the last 15 years, and also a similar style as I was taught, it is possible to notice a similar theme and wonder if this could affect the level of proficiency that my students could otherwise achieve. The concept of the 5 Cs is used to help delineate part of the process. Communication, culture, connection, comparisons, community. These buzz words represent the goals of this process. Without an explanation these concepts are not inherently clear. Therefore, 1. Communication: in a foreign language, using the three variations of: a. interpersonal: engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions. b. interpretive: students understand and interpret written/spoken language on a variety of topics c. presentational: information given out to others, whether spoken or written. 2. Culture: Learn about other cultures through of the 3 Ps of perspectives, Perspective: a country's meanings values and ideas Practice: patterns of social interaction Products: the books, tools, foods, laws, music, games I don't quite get all this yet, but it seems the question "Why" is important to elicit the information needed. As a concrete example, investigating the reality of a patient in Japan diagnosed with terminal cancer. The patient is usually not told that information. It will require this kind of interaction and questioning to get to the root of the situation. 3. Connections: interdisciplinary, working with other subjects. This combination crosses pathways of your brain to give one a more wholistic understanding and glib use of the target language (my opinion). 4. Comparisons: differences/similarities between host and target languages. 5. Communities: embrace the language on all levels, but in particular outside of class to the point where they become life-long learners. The author's opinion is that this is still a work in progress, for it seems cumbersome to him, and not inherently simple or obvious. If it is difficult to explain with too much detail, communication is not quite happening. Therefore, I will have to put more thought into it to see if I can make a simpler variation. In the afternoon Prof. Saito of the Tsukuba University presented the problem of a challenge in the school system. That is, there are a large number of immigrant children, some who many who are of Japanese descent but don't have Japanese as their native language. In some schools the population is huge.


 * aloha**