Rick asks for it
Now that I've been here for a wee spell, i thought it might be timely and worthwhile to share my vision of a "perfect" Cree immersion learning experience. The people who run the program say it's just as much ours as it is theirs, so I write this in the hope they might indulge my effort to take greater "ownership" over things.
Before I get into it, though, I want to say upfront and for the record, that I think what the school has put in place so far is, overall, very good. What I propose would be just a supplement or complement to it.
As I wrote earlier, BQ's Cree program contains 4 main components — grammar class, immersion class, visits with native speakers and self-directed study at home. To these I propose to add another: highly-individualized, "portable" coaching/tutoring.
Bearing in mind that what follows is more/less "thinking out-loud," or rough ideas yet to be held up against the harsh light of day, I nonetheless believe you never get what you don't ask for. So, hear my pleas, oh language gods! Here goes.
First off, students would continue doing what we've been encouraged to do all along (outside of class) — pursue our own areas of language interest. We select the concepts we want to learn, picking up the words and grammar that go along with them in the process. We do this during our home visits with mother tongue Cree speakers.
Yet precious few speakers of the language can teach the language, and no one should expect them to. (Do you know all the grammatical in's-and-outs of English? ) What language learners need, then, are people who can regularly review, correct and champion our efforts "in the field." Someone who can accompany them on home visits, directly observe their learning process, then collaboratively diagnose and review what that individual student needs to work on as a result.
Now this could arguably happen at school. Maybe it's just a matter of simply re-structuring our current class time. As it stands now, it's organized fairly conventionally: instructors decide what we learn and lessons are conducted as a group. For this, I am in fact grateful; I can only take so much freedom, if you know what I mean. But since everyone learns in their own way, and at their own pace, this must also be taken into account.
Accordingly, I believe more specialized, one-on-one attention must be paid to students. The few times I have sought this on my own initiative (with the gracious indulgence of those who volunteered their time), it has worked wonders. As to the people who would supply this special, customized attention, what I've called coaches or tutors, they would be people who know their grammar, who can take what a speaker says and explain the rules underlying their words 'on the fly.' Ideally, they could also transcribe what's been said. Someone who could see where we consistently make mistakes and then devise methods to correct it. Someone who can facilitate relationships with speakers. Even take us on field trips to other Cree communities!
Ideally, each student whould get to pick a coach/tutor of their choice. And strange and counter-intuitive as it may sound, I think there should be what I call "Cree-S-L" speakers among them. Who better to know and understand what a second-language learner is going through and needs than someone who was once just like them?
Which raises another, somewhat related, point. There are only four students in the program this year, me included. I know there are probably quite legitimate reasons for this: it's a small school, it's only the second year for this program, it's trying to create a kind of revolutionary approach with unavoidable 'kinks' necessarily being worked out as they go.
Yet, by any estimation, four is not a very big number. And, for me, because no other course of learning can make you feel quite as fragile, stupid or dense as acquiring a second language, I need all the empathy I can get. So, if it isn't always a case of 'the more the merrier,' I do believe it'd be a positive version of 'misery loves company.' You need others who understand what you are going through, true peers who can turn to one another for support and strategy.
That's my two cents. I hope it's of use.
Before I get into it, though, I want to say upfront and for the record, that I think what the school has put in place so far is, overall, very good. What I propose would be just a supplement or complement to it.
As I wrote earlier, BQ's Cree program contains 4 main components — grammar class, immersion class, visits with native speakers and self-directed study at home. To these I propose to add another: highly-individualized, "portable" coaching/tutoring.
Bearing in mind that what follows is more/less "thinking out-loud," or rough ideas yet to be held up against the harsh light of day, I nonetheless believe you never get what you don't ask for. So, hear my pleas, oh language gods! Here goes.
First off, students would continue doing what we've been encouraged to do all along (outside of class) — pursue our own areas of language interest. We select the concepts we want to learn, picking up the words and grammar that go along with them in the process. We do this during our home visits with mother tongue Cree speakers.
Yet precious few speakers of the language can teach the language, and no one should expect them to. (Do you know all the grammatical in's-and-outs of English? ) What language learners need, then, are people who can regularly review, correct and champion our efforts "in the field." Someone who can accompany them on home visits, directly observe their learning process, then collaboratively diagnose and review what that individual student needs to work on as a result.
Now this could arguably happen at school. Maybe it's just a matter of simply re-structuring our current class time. As it stands now, it's organized fairly conventionally: instructors decide what we learn and lessons are conducted as a group. For this, I am in fact grateful; I can only take so much freedom, if you know what I mean. But since everyone learns in their own way, and at their own pace, this must also be taken into account.
Accordingly, I believe more specialized, one-on-one attention must be paid to students. The few times I have sought this on my own initiative (with the gracious indulgence of those who volunteered their time), it has worked wonders. As to the people who would supply this special, customized attention, what I've called coaches or tutors, they would be people who know their grammar, who can take what a speaker says and explain the rules underlying their words 'on the fly.' Ideally, they could also transcribe what's been said. Someone who could see where we consistently make mistakes and then devise methods to correct it. Someone who can facilitate relationships with speakers. Even take us on field trips to other Cree communities!
Ideally, each student whould get to pick a coach/tutor of their choice. And strange and counter-intuitive as it may sound, I think there should be what I call "Cree-S-L" speakers among them. Who better to know and understand what a second-language learner is going through and needs than someone who was once just like them?
Which raises another, somewhat related, point. There are only four students in the program this year, me included. I know there are probably quite legitimate reasons for this: it's a small school, it's only the second year for this program, it's trying to create a kind of revolutionary approach with unavoidable 'kinks' necessarily being worked out as they go.
Yet, by any estimation, four is not a very big number. And, for me, because no other course of learning can make you feel quite as fragile, stupid or dense as acquiring a second language, I need all the empathy I can get. So, if it isn't always a case of 'the more the merrier,' I do believe it'd be a positive version of 'misery loves company.' You need others who understand what you are going through, true peers who can turn to one another for support and strategy.
That's my two cents. I hope it's of use.
posted by Rick Harp at 5:06 PM
3 comments
