My background is in both formal linguistics and in group facilitation, and I have been learning languages and working with groups for a combined ten years. After countless hours struggling to express just the right kind of idea in my second or third language, and trying to help others do the same, I have come to believe a few key truths:
1. Students’ needs MUST be at the center of the learning process:
Despite what you might have learned in traditional classrooms, learning doesn’t happen best when teachers speak confidently and students quietly listen. People come to a classroom because they have a problem that Duolingo couldn’t solve. My job as a teacher and facilitator is to listen to that problem and work together with my students to help them better understand what they need, and then see what we can do together to meet that need.
2. Every English problem is also a social problem:
The use of a language can’t be separated from the social context it’s being used in. I ask you to reflect for a second on the following situation:
Imagine you need to give a presentation in English in front of the new members of the team you don’t know so well. You don’t know what’s wrong, because when you watch your favorite show on Netflix, or talk to your neighbors, you have no issues in English.
Is the problem only that you don’t know English?
Often, I have students who have a large English vocabulary, who understand the grammar perfectly well, but still struggle in their working environment. Before we bother with memorizing new words, we need to discover if the problem is really just English, or if the situation they’re in might just make it hard to speak up in any language!
In situations like these, I find it more helpful to talk with my students about how people speak with each other at work:
- How do coworkers speak with each other?
- Is there a manager who’s hard to talk to?
- Where do you feel most comfortable speaking?
Everyone's Second Language 