We have all had a pupil ask, "How do you say..." and had to think whether to just tell them, or get them to realise they can already say it, or tell them to wait (a couple of years) until they know a lot more French. How important are the answers that we give?
If we tell them as a one-off, they may remember it, treasure it, write it down, repeat it and own it. It may be something important to them that they really want to learn. Like my pupil who learned, "La carne de burro no es transparente" and said it to the student teacher in the split second before I could gesture to her that she was standing in front of the whiteboard.
If we don't tell them, it may be because it's not "the right time." Certainly I know many pupils pick the writing assessment as the time to start asking how to say things. And I have to tell them that they are in a test so I can't tell them. And anyway, I want to see what they can do with the French I have taught them. And I've taught them the French they "need" in order to get a good mark. Of course, what they "need" for a good grade, isn't always the same as what they want to say. Similarly when we are practising, we have defined the language that we want them to be getting good at. So again, we may tell them it's the wrong time. This starts to beg the question, "When is the right time?" The right time for students to say what they want to say.
Of all the metaphors and mantras I use for helping to shape pupils' language-learning experience, the one that is repeated back to me by ex pupils who have gone on to study A Level or beyond, or become teachers themselves, is the idea that "You don't need to learn more French. You need to work on getting better at using the French you've got." The fact that I hear this echoed back to me years later by some of the students who have gone on to be most successful in their language, would seem to have some bearing on the current debate about the balance between learning grammar and learning to communicate. Ofsted, NCELP and the new GCSE seem to be suggesting the opposite. That you should concentrate on learning more language and you'll be able to use it some day.
I wrote in a recent post on the Being Ben spontaneous speaking activity, about how to develop your ability to pitch an answer at the level of French you have. Instead of thinking what you might want to say, think of what you can say with the French you have. And how to develop and extend what you say more and more coherently. In a post on Target Language Teaching, I wrote about the pupil who from Year 7 used to come up to me on break duty and talk to me in Spanish. She didn't think what she wanted to say and try to say it in Spanish. She looked around for things she could say, and said that.
This approach doesn't mean you aren't expressing yourself. What you say doesn't have to be untrue. Although pupils on the Spanish exchange have said to me, "I can tell them I like to look for shells on the beach and draw elephants in the sand, but I can't ask them how to make the shower work." But getting back to question at the start of the post, we can't teach a language as a series of one off memorised phrases for every eventuality.
The words and structures we teach have to be cleverly designed to fit four purposes:
They have to serve the immediate topic and enable pupils to say the things they want to be able to say.
And they have to fit into the emerging interlanguage the learner is developing - the links and conceptualisation of the language both conscious and unconscious, correct, incorrect, partial, tentative.
And they have to fit into the teacher's overview of how the whole "grammar" of the language is mapped out over the course.
And on top of that they have to fit the criteria for success.
These criteria are often externally imposed. They may be to show off a certain level of development of the answer. Or to include a certain "sophistication" of language. The current GCSE was sold as rewarding pupils who can interact naturally and have a genuine conversation. Of course, compared to the previous GCSE that destroyed language-learning, this is a definite improvement. Much of our time is spent teaching pupils to develop their answers in a direction that meets the criteria. And this can be seen in the typical language we teach: Opinions, reasons, tenses. I complement this with narration, conflict, disappointment, hope. It's not a bad set of criteria, although others are available. Perhaps more directed towards the culture and Culture of the target language speaking world and away from the ubiquitous first person.
All of these 4 purposes tangled up together is what we are balancing when the pupil says, "How do you say...?"
I feel a little better already having analysed that. But apart from feeling a little better, does it help? Some suggestions:
1. Hang on to the idea that pupils DO want to communicate and express themselves. Even if they ask you something that seems silly. The silliness has a creativity and amusement for them. It may well be that they are asking something that doesn't translate because it is slangy or idiomatic. Even so, this is important in how they conceptualise language and needs working with. Many pupils have a love of language and a certain "voice" from the books they read. "Sir. How do you say, Verily I shall smite thee?" This desire to express yourself can be all-consuming and overwhelming. I had a pupil in tears recently because he wanted to say, "who is called". And the best I could do was "qui s'appelle" which he was suspicious about because it wasn't enough words. And when I told him it meant "who calls himself" his suspicion turned to frustration, because that wasn't what he wanted to say.
2. Find out in advance what they want to say. I often start a topic by asking the pupils to write a page on the topic in English. I can then use that to plan what to teach them. Firstly vocabulary that is going to be important for aspects of the topic that are important to them, for example jobs or hobbies. But also the level of language - more sophisticated conjunctions or timewords or choice of adjectives. And finally, how it fits into my plan for their grammatical development. This would seem to be the polar opposite of the idea that you select words that exemplify a grammar rule or ending, and restrict the learners to those words - see here for the post on the non-pattern-exemplifying-snakes.
3. Find "the right time." Find time for pupils to use their language to say what they want to say. Where there are no criteria for the language, only for the creativity, expression or interaction. This may be in classroom interaction. Like the same pupil who said to the same student teacher, "Comí tu gato. Y voy a comer [a] tus hijos". Or it may be through Tasks. And I am using Tasks here with a capital T, in reference to some of the ideas behind Task Based Learning. I have written other posts about pupils creating an Art Exhibition. Or a Stamper Trail for a museum. Or Story Books for Primary pupils. Or a promotional video for the local Tourist Board.
The point of these is not the real-world task (or simulation). The point is that, unlike an "exercise", with a Task the language to be used is not defined or identified, specified by the teacher. The Task is set, but it is up to the pupil to attempt to complete it, drawing on the entirety of their evolving language base. Some pupils may not even have this concept of a repertoire of language. If they are only ever asked to rehearse the language point they are currently covering. Becoming aware of your overall repertoire and how to deploy it is vital in drawing together and systematising the language you have. The schemata are conscious and unconscious. They may currently be partial or even misconceived. It is by using the language to communicate that you explore how it fits together, how it works and where its limits are.
And this is the process that teachers need to be constantly monitoring and supporting. A pupil asking, "How do you say...?" is a small part of this huge and partially hidden process. The important thing is that we teach pupils in such a way as to challenge them to express themselves, and also to equip them to be more and more able to do so.
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