Context

This week I had several experiences context; transferring knowledge to a new context, reading or using the language in an authentic context, and remembering words according to context.

Let’s start from the beginning with the good news. My students received a form this week in school that needed to be completed by parents and then returned. There were several translated versions available, so I took this opportunity to look over some Chinese characters in authentic material. I was so excited that I was able to recognize the character for the word “month” and the word “day” and proudly shared this knowledge with my Chinese speaking student who I was giving the form to. She got a smile on her face, but did not seem as thrilled as I was. I expect my students to have a million victories like this every week, so for them simple vocabulary recognition is an expected task.

This weekend I took the Chinatown bus for a weekend trip. Even though I had taken this particular bus before and knew exactly what to expect, I had some illusion that some circumstance would come about in which I would need to save the day with my Chinese skills. While my Spanish skills have “saved the day” in public places before, there was no way that my simple Chinese phrases were going to serve me quite so well.

Then today I had a real opportunity to use my Chinese skills. A Chinese parent was visiting the school and he spoke very little English. With my students, I never had any reservation about practicing my new skills, but with this adult, I could not muster up the courage to do it. On the one hand, I worried that my string of Chinese phrases would just come across as awkward and confusing. On the other hand, I was just too nervous. I racked my brain with everything that I had learned so far to think of the perfect simple phrase that would let him know I am learning Chinese and would like to help him in our school. It was not until tonight in class that I remembered the first word that my teacher said to us 100 times on the first day of class “Huan yin” (Welcome). It would have been the perfect word to use in this situation, but I did not think of the word until I was in the actual context of the place that I had learned it.

The other physical space where I use Chinese is in my car on the way home when I repeat everything that I can remember that we learned that week (sometimes on the phone to my sister). Another classmate mentioned that she pasted her notes on her mirror so that she would practice her numbers as she brushed her hair. I pictured a Marsha Brady image of hair brushing and counting; only the numbers were in Chinese.

Today it was hard getting started in class. I had missed two weeks of class (doctor appointment and elections) so I felt almost like I was starting over. We worked on the words that indicate time/tense. There is no actual past or future tense for verbs in Chinese, so this is indicated through the use of words that signify past, now, or in the future. Besides being a difficult concept to grasp, we combined these words with the literal time words for morning, noon, afternoon, and evening. Without a picture, it seemed just like a lot of sounds that had no meaning for me (but isn’t that what all Chinese is to me until it becomes meaningful through pictures, repetition, and personalization?). I decided that if I was going to learn these words, I would need to make pictures to go along with them, practice each one at the correct time of day, or some other trick to make it stick with me. While I am having a lot of fun and my student help has been amazing, my motivation for learning Chinese is not always strong enough to make the extra effort to do all of these little things. Perhaps I need to start thinking seriously about booking a plane ticket to China to kick up a notch my motivation level.

3 classes of Chinese

This first post will be a summary of my motivation for taking Chinese lessons, my experiences as a language learner, and my students' reaction for the first 3 classes. From here on out, I will try to write on a more regular basis so as to capture the essence of the experience.

My motivation:

I am a native English speaker who learned Spanish through high school and college study as well as several trips and studies abroad in Spanish speaking countries. I am currently working as a middle school ESL teacher and have a Master's degree in Secondary Education. As I was learning about second language acquisition, several times I thought about my own experiences as a language learner. If there was one regret that I had, it was that I never documented my language study or what my first attempts at Spanish sounded like. The first time I became near fluent in Spanish was during my semester abroad in college when I studied in Argentina. I know that I started with an Argentine Spanish accent, but I can barely do this accent now if I am trying to do it. I also remember very little about my language learning process. The one thing that really stands out for me was that I used the strategy of self talk in the beginning stages to train my mind to think in Spanish. When I was walking down the street, I would describe the world around me by talking in my and using as much Spanish as I could. I would force myself to use only Spanish in public spaces, but also in the private space of my head.
So now here I am in 2008 and have decided that I would like a new challenge and also to test myself once again as a language learner. After learning about theories of second language acquisition and dealing with English language learners all day, I am putting myself to the test as a language learner once again. I am documenting it for personal reasons such as better understanding myself as a learner and also to take a deeper look at the strategies that I utilize. I hope that others too will benefit from this window into the mind of a language learner.

Why Chinese?

• More people in the world speak Mandarin Chinese than any other language.
• Challenge
• To gain insight into Asian language and culture to better understand my students
• My school district offers a free course for teachers!

Class and my experience as a learner:

The only word I knew before class in Chinese was "Ni hao" hello. Little did I realize before class that I was probably not saying it correctly according to the tones. We spent our entire first class just focusing on the 4 tones of Chinese. My teacher used exaggerated pronunciation and hand motions to help us follow along and hear the difference between the tones. In music I am what most people would call tone deaf, so I was actually amazed to see that by the end of class I could distinguish between the tones when she quizzed us with words. Of course she was still saying them in a very exaggerated form, but it was a small victory. Our teacher was previously a special education teacher and so she will often incorporate sign language into the lesson by using the sign for the word at the same time that she is saying it in Chinese. I generally have considered myself a visual learner, but Ifind this kinesthetic addition to be extremely helpful. The other technique that I have found extremely helpful is a listening exercise. Every now and then the teacher asks us to put our heads down and repeat after her. I find this time to be soothing and a good practice for my ear to get used to hearing Chinese without the complication of trying to look at the spelling and worry too much about how I am pronouncing the words. I would be curious to see if my best pronunciation comes out of these times when I am letting my ear hear and then I repeat the words. After 3 classes, I basically know how to say hello, I am a teacher, I love you, and the numbers 1-10. This brings me to the next topic.

My students' reaction

I feel so fortunate that every day I work with at least a few students who are Mandarin Chinese speakers with whom I am able to practice my new language skills and also listen to their pronunciation and tones. This part of the learning process has also been a fascinating experience on so many levels. It feels like some of my students have taken me on as their project! When I first told them I was learning Chinese they seemed indifferent or perhaps did not believe it. After the first class I came in and told them the words for "I am a teacher" which if I used the wrong tones for would come out as "I am a mouse". Thankfully they all understood my attempts at using this line. I must admit, however, that given the context it was not necessarily due to my pronunciation but more due to the fact that I would have no reason to say "I am a mouse". They were surprised and delighted all at once. Each one of them responded by repeating the words for me so that I would hear the correct tonal pronunciation. If I would not repeat it correctly, they would continue to say it until I would do a better job. One student even went so far as to launch into a discussion (using his beginner level middle school English abilities) about the 4 tones in Chinese, draw characters on the board and use the same basic hand gestures as my teacher to make sure that I understood the tones correctly.

The other students became interested and would then also try to repeat the words that I was learning and proceeded to ask the Chinese students to write more words on the board or teach them other words. My students come from diverse backgrounds, but the most common language spoken is Spanish. There are several other teachers in the building who speak Spanish as well as teachers who speak Korean, Arabic, Italian, and German. As far as I know, I am the first teacher to attempt Chinese and both Chinese and non-Chinese speakers seemed intrigued by my interest and attempts. It has certainly stirred up a lot of student interest about Chinese in and around the classroom.

As I have said, I believe that my students have taken me on as their project. Almost every day when I walk in the room they have written something on the board in Chinese characters and are eager to tell me how to say it and what it means. I am not quite sure if this is because they are eager to teach me, they are missing their language and like the excuse to be able to write and use it, feel now that their language is being validated by the teacher, or because they are being diligent students and fulfilling the teacher request to practice Chinese.

Prior to last week's class my teacher told us to know the numbers by the next class. I told my students that I had a quiz on the numbers and they would listen carefully and help me practice until I got it right. Another Spanish speaking student saw me practicing and asked if she could borrow my notecards to copy them and learn it as well. The day after class, one of the students who was helping me came up first thing and asked how my quiz went. We didn't really have a quiz, but instead just used the numbers for class activity. She was pleased to hear that I was able to remember them all for class.