A few years ago I was commissioned to teach English to Franco-African children in the outskirts of Paris.
I'm Argentinian, I have no knowledge of French, and I was quite excited to have been given the chance to teach these children English.
Having said that, I was a little confused about how to communicate with them if problems in communication arose.
The youngest of the siblings was only 5 years old at the time and he had no idea of English or Spanish. His sister though had an intermediate level of English and I told myself I could always ask her for help if things got "too challenging".
My first class with Romain, the 5 year-old boy, was more about observing him. The first thing I knew I needed to do is to establish rapport. I needed Romain to trust me. I took lots of realia along with me with the expectation to deliver my super creative plan and we started the class.
Fortunately for me, Romain was very friendly and easy-going. He smiled at me (I knew he didn't know what to do and it was his sweetest way to respond) and I smiled back. He moved around his bedroom, looking for his toys and ignoring me. I followed him, keepig my distance and just looked at what he was doing in an attempt to start playing with him. I always remembered to smile.
No verbal language was involved. He noticed I was interested in his toys and he eventually handed in one to me. I hugged the toy and kissed it. Romain laughed. He must have thought I was crazy. We were doing the same for a long time - he grabbed a toy, I looked at it with interest and then he gave it to me. I took the toy, hugged it with love and kissed it.
I noticed Romain was very generous and well-behaved. I opened my arms to signal I wanted to embrace Romain. He smiled and accepeted my hug. It was a very moving moment. I said "I'm (pause) Georgi" touching my chest. He imitated me and went "I'm Georgi".
I frowned in a smiley way and said, "I'm Georgi" always touching my chest and I pointed at him saying just "Romain" and he followed "Romain" touching his chest. I repeated "I'm Georgi" and signalled for him to say "I'm Romain" and he did.
I kissed his curly hair and said "ok" and I accompanied the words with the "ok" universal gesture.
That was all I could do on my first day. When I took the train back to my flat, I realized how powerful that meeting was. I was eager to see Romain again. We had accomplished a lot. We were building trust
Suscribirse a:
Enviar comentarios (Atom)
What a challenge indeed, Georgi! I have always wondered to what extent it is possible to accomplish what you did in a formal classroom setting, and I admire the people who do accomplish that! I guess it takes not only time and patience but as you said, a connection at a deeper level, which goes way beyond words cause you showed him caring when you hugged his toys.Funny thing is that I don´t know how you would have accounted for all the huge work you did that day in those shitty (excuse my French!:) ) teaching plans we are required to do in teacher´s training college. And it confirms what most of us know: there is a deeper dimension to teaching which is purely and simply is based on love, and loving your students and wanting to transmit things, which is 100% unaccountable for (thank God!)
ResponderEliminarHow did your story with Romain and the other kids go on? I´d love to know!
Thank you Laura. You're absolutely right and you're shedding lots of light on the question of loving our learners and wanting to communicate something in a totally different dimension to teaching - the realm of respecting individuality and learning from differences.
ResponderEliminarI've got so much to say about that magical experience with Romain and Fabienne, his teenage sis. I need time to recall those memories with clarity to be able to do justice to them.
Keep in touch! I've got lots to learn from you too.
Congrats on this new challenge!!! Keep on writing and enchanting readers with your stories!!!
ResponderEliminarThank you! I will. Cheers!
ResponderEliminarWhat a rich experience, Geor! It goes far beyond the issue of resorting to L1 in the L2 class. It leads us to reflect upon our teaching practices. I do believe that more often than not we are so much focused on students´linguistic competences and abilities that we fail to take account of their feelings.We often ask them what they need English for and what they expect from the class but do we ever ask them how they feel about learning English? What do we do to help them get over their fears and anxieties?
ResponderEliminarYour story shows how worthwhile it is to sometimes leave our lesson plans aside and devote time to building up a relationship that will definitely pay off in the teaching-learning process.
Thanks for sharing this experience with us.
Marisa Mechetti