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| Photo credit: Hazlewood.com |
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label risk taking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label risk taking. Show all posts
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Conducting a great (pronunciation) class--according to Hazlewood!
If you haven't seen this phenomenal 2011TED talk by Charles Hazlewood--and you plan to be an even better (haptic pronunciation) teacher--this is definitely REQUIRED VIEWING! Hazlewood, one of the world's premier orchestra conductors, demonstrates beautifully both the "gestural" art of conducting and the central role of trust in the relationship between the conductor and the musicians. (The finale, from Haydn, alone is worth watching the talk for.)
The parallel to what we do (or what we could do) is striking. One "problem" with pronunciation teaching is that it demands both serious risk taking on the part of the learner and the ability of the instructor to "conduct" the class in a atmosphere of genuine trust with strong musical overtones of rhythm and melody. Hazlewood's depiction of the "degrees of freedom" between the conductor and members of the orchestra is a fine analogy to what is foundational to any "great class".
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
"Classless" pronunciation teaching and "miscue-aggression"?
Attended a delightful, engaging, stimulating and very well presented workshop on teaching pronunciation last week--by a charismatic, former drama teacher who had been teaching a twice-weekly pronunciation course for college ESL students for well over a decade. After the session, in the hall, one of the less experienced participants remarked: "Phenomenal presentation . . . but I couldn't possibly use any of those techniques in my class!" No kidding. Why not?
One of the most "striking" techniques demonstrated was when the teacher or student would comically hit a student over the head with an artificial daisy whenever he or she made a pronunciation miscue. The presenter remarked, in fact, that in all her years of teaching pronunciation she had never had a student complain about being corrected. And, after just an hour in the presence of that presenter, I don't doubt that . . .for a minute.
Two reasons most of what was presented was pretty much "in-applicable" to most of us in the audience. First, rapport. The presenter was one of those gifted teachers who almost instantly creates a safe and yet wildly creative milieu where learners will engage in extraordinary risk taking and not be threatened in the least. Second, and related, was the fact that many of the techniques demonstrated required that kind of "wide open" classroom setting to work effectively and especially--efficiently, in the first place.
The point: so often what can be done in a dedicated pronunciation class or language lab, with all its relational and situational constraints and social contracts, cannot be done in an integrated classroom setting where pronunciation is taught or attended to only piecemeal or occasionally or on a more impromptu basis. As research has demonstrated convincingly, instructors and students alike do not generally feel comfortable with much of how pronunciation is taught today. With good reason.
The affective and emotional context of pronunciation teaching is critical, even more so than for many other aspects of language teaching. In a dedicated "dramatic" class, strange things may work well; in an integrated "classless" setting, the rules and consequences can be very different. The "take way" from the dramatic, engaging workshop: Very little . . .
John Rassias (1925-2015) where are you when we need you?
One of the most "striking" techniques demonstrated was when the teacher or student would comically hit a student over the head with an artificial daisy whenever he or she made a pronunciation miscue. The presenter remarked, in fact, that in all her years of teaching pronunciation she had never had a student complain about being corrected. And, after just an hour in the presence of that presenter, I don't doubt that . . .for a minute.
Two reasons most of what was presented was pretty much "in-applicable" to most of us in the audience. First, rapport. The presenter was one of those gifted teachers who almost instantly creates a safe and yet wildly creative milieu where learners will engage in extraordinary risk taking and not be threatened in the least. Second, and related, was the fact that many of the techniques demonstrated required that kind of "wide open" classroom setting to work effectively and especially--efficiently, in the first place.
The point: so often what can be done in a dedicated pronunciation class or language lab, with all its relational and situational constraints and social contracts, cannot be done in an integrated classroom setting where pronunciation is taught or attended to only piecemeal or occasionally or on a more impromptu basis. As research has demonstrated convincingly, instructors and students alike do not generally feel comfortable with much of how pronunciation is taught today. With good reason.
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| Photo: Dartmouth.edu |
The affective and emotional context of pronunciation teaching is critical, even more so than for many other aspects of language teaching. In a dedicated "dramatic" class, strange things may work well; in an integrated "classless" setting, the rules and consequences can be very different. The "take way" from the dramatic, engaging workshop: Very little . . .
John Rassias (1925-2015) where are you when we need you?
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