missforeignlanguageteacher.com

Oh no! You waited too long to start studying for your vocab quiz, and now you have a huge list to learn and not much time. Two words: flash cards.

The typical foreign language textbook is organized into chapters with a theme: classes, food, occupations…and there are usually a lot of vocabulary words.

One way to practice is to use flash cards. The easiest way to make flash cards is to use index cards (big or small, lined or plain–your choice). Write one word or phrase in the target language on one side, and the English translation on the other side. Then, quiz yourself: look at the side in the target language first, and see how many of the words you recognize. Once you can give most of the meanings in English, try doing it the opposite way. Look at the English side, and try to give the word or phrase in the other language. A bundle of flash cards is easy to carry, and you can study in your ‘down’ time: between classes, on public transportation, during breaks at work…

Many foreign language instructors try to get students to ‘personalize’ the vocab by having them give their opinions and talk about their own activities and people who are important to them. That’s my go-to technique, too, but if the countdown is on, well…get flashing!

A student asked me how to practice word order and learn slang expressions not typically taught in beginning or intermediate language classes. My first idea was to suggest reading children’s books in the foreign language. Books written for kids around eight years of age use a variety of  tenses and grammatical constructions (basically, more than just “See Spot run”). After going through a few books at this level, you could move up to books written for a slightly older reader, and then to something more challenging–as my student suggested: the Harry Potter books (or maybe  Twilight). If you’ve read them in English and you know the plotlines, you can read them in another language (maybe with the help of a good dictionary). You may not get the same enjoyment out of them, but it’s a way of putting the foreign language into a familiar context. How could you not learn from that?

There are many different types of learners, and many different ways of learning a foreign language. Here are two good tips; the first works well for visual learners, and the second is helpful for audio learners (the reference to tapes kind of dates it, but the advice is still good).

http://www.academictips.org/acad/literature/learningaforeignlanguage.html

I recently made a comment about how my daughter knows a phrase in Slovak: Jak sa maš? (How are you?). I know that most Slovak speakers would argue that the first word should be Ako instead of Jak.

There are two possible explanations (I think) for why my version is different. First, there are regional dialects in every language, so my Baba might have spoken non-standard Slovak. Second, she immigrated when she was quite young (and that was a very long time ago), and  language  evolves.  My dad  said the only word they used for bathroom really meant ‘outhouse’–but the Slovak that he  learned was what was common among farmers at the turn of the 2oth century.

I know a professor who teaches French and German, but who has a Ph.D in Norwegian. She had studied Norwegian in the 1960’s, and the language has become a lot more informal since then. She said that when she speaks Norwegian, it’s like she is saying “My good sir”, instead of just “Excuse me”.

My two-year-old has been exposed to several different languages since she was a newborn. I’m only fluent in one other language (Spanish), but I can wing it in a few others. Plus, other people have spoken to my daughter in different languages.

Interestingly, she is already connecting the dots when it comes to languages. When she hears salsa music, she asks about Tio Javi (who’s from Colombia). When she hears French, she automatically thinks of Didi, a grad school friend who visited us from France last year.

The most interesting thing, though, is how she made the connection in Slovak. I only learned a little Slovak from my dad, but I’ve make sure that my little girl knows some of the basics: jak sa maš? (how are you?) and dupa (rear end). She had been saying both individually  for a while when one day,  she put them together and said “Jak sa maš, dupa?“

So, you’ve looked over the vocabulary in the current chapter of your foreign language textbook. You recognize most of the words, even if you haven’t memorized very many of them yet. Hopefully, your instructor will speak to you in the target language and use those words so that you can practice hearing them in context. Then, you might read something that contains a lot of those words. Ideally, you will do an activity (or two, or three…) to reinforce all of those 180 vocabulary words that you need to know for the upcoming quiz. That’s great, but is that all it takes to learn new vocab? Looking at it, hearing it, reading it and saying it a few times? Nope.

Looking over vocab before class is a good idea, and a good instructor will provide lots of opportunities for you to practice. But most of the work is up to you. You may need to say the words out loud, or write them over and over. If you are a visual learner, a picture dictionary might be a good idea.

Make it easier on yourself:

• Don’t try to learn all the new words at once. Make it your goal to learn a few words each day. Then, as you increase your vocabulary, start reviewing daily. It will be hard at first, but it will get easier with practice.
• The Rule of Eights: saying a new word once isn’t enough to engrave it on your brain. Say each word (or write it) eight times in a row before going on to the next one on the list.
• Make connections to things or people that are important to you. For instance, adjectives like ‘pretty’, ‘tall’, and ‘intelligent’ will mean more when connected to your current celebrity crush.

For serious memory tricks, check out
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTIM_10.htm

I once read an evaluation written by a student who was trying to give me some constructive criticism. What she really did, though, was explain the main cause of the dissatisfaction felt by many students in her class. (I say ’she’ and ‘her’ because I know who it was; I recognized her handwriting.)

She started out with “You are a very nice person” (obviously softening the blow), then added, “but your job is to make Spanish class fun”.

WHAT?!

My job is to teach the Spanish language and the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries. In pre-school, learning is supposed to be fun. In kindergarten, learning  is supposed to be fun. But college-level courses are supposed to teach you something. Period.

That’s not to say that I don’t like to have fun in my classes; I often include interactive exercises, games and songs in my lessons. Some topics (the past tense of irregular verbs, for instance) are just not fun, but you have to learn them anyway. If you don’t, you will sound like a doofus when you try to speak. (At the very least, your grade will suffer.) If you hang in there, we will do some activities that will reinforce those irregular verbs, but I can’t make the grammar fun, even if I stand on my head.

I started thinking about the classes I’ve taken. I made a list of the top 5, and I can’t say that any of them were fun. What do you think?

Spanish Conversation: two days a week of conversations about pre-selected topics, plus we had to record our exams. That made me so nervous that I would get a stomachache. Then, every Friday we had pronunciation practice.  Each time we practiced two consonants and one vowel and had to repeat, repeat, and repeat until our jaws ached.

Hitler/Fascism/Third Reich: lectures and so many notes that I got hand cramps. And there was a simulated air raid staged by the professor on an unused floor of the building. That was terrifying (and probably illegal).

History of the Spanish Language: lectures, notes and hand cramps again. Plus the occasional random tirade by the professor in which his face would turn purple and we would wonder if we needed to call 911.

Escritura (graduate-level writing course in Spanish): writing, revising, proofreading and critiquing other students’ work in class, more revising…I’m bored just writing the description, but the professor was dynamic and knowledgeable, and I learned a lot.

African American Womens’ History: the professor was on a lot of committees, and she was absent more often than she was in class, so she made up for it by adding to the reading list. But when she was in class, her lectures were fantastic.

Those are the classes that I remember vividly and that taught me the most. A big shout-out to Professors Scalise, Allshouse, Renahan, Amores and Bankole. Your classes were amazing, informative, fascinating, and thought-provoking…but definitely not fun.

I asked some other higher-ed instructors (not all foreign language teachers) about offering extra credit. Most sided with me and said that they just don’t do it. Those who do give extra credit will only do so if it is available to the entire class, not just one student who is insecure about his or her grade.

It is acceptable to offer extra credit for attending events that are somehow related to the course content. For example, it is reasonable to offer extra credit to Spanish students if they attend a showing of a film in Spanish. They have to provide their own transportation, pay for their tickets, and spend an hour or two of their own time engaged in an activity they might not do otherwise. But they have to do something to prove that they were actively watching the film, not sleeping, texting, or listening to music on their iPod. In my experience, only a small percentage of students take advantage of such offers for extra points, and they are usually the ones who would want to do those extra activities anyway.

So, actually, I have no problem with this type of extra credit. The kind of extra credit that is unfair is the kind that will give a student a higher grade than what they deserve. I’m referring to the student who does not put any effort into completing assignments, or who is not capable of comprehending, speaking, reading, or writing a foreign language well enough to meet the criteria for the grade that they desire.

The topic is extra credit. A moot point since I don’t give it. I will bend over backwards to make sure that my students get the credit that they deserve: I will take late assignments if there are extenuating circumstances; I will allow students to take a quiz or exam early if they are going to miss class; I will even let students take a quiz or exam late if they have proven to me that they are serious about my class. That includes but is not limited to:  arriving on time; having their books, paper and a writing instrument ready; not texting during class; taking notes rather than doodling; answering when called on; asking intelligent questions; making the effort to turn assignments in on time; doing assignments with integrity (that means not cheating); and behaving in a respectful manner toward me and their classmates.

To be worthwhile, an assignment has to assess some aspect of language learning. That means that I have to grade it. I grade a lot already: homework, quizzes, exams, compositions, plus I consider attendance and participation when calculating final grades. Why should I have to grade something else? (Teachers, no matter the level, do not live for grading. Just thought that I would let you know.)

If one student is given extra credit, then every student should be accorded the same right. Not only is that a lot of extra grading (grr), but it makes all of the other assignments lose their value. Why bother doing your best on the composition if you can get extra credit and make up the points? Why study for the quiz if you can do an extra credit assignment and still have a high grade?

Are there ever legitimate reasons for giving extra credit? If a student is in the hospital or is otherwise incapacitated so that they can’t fully participate in class–sure. Otherwise, no. And I won’t read your report on Mexico.