The evolution of parrots

Creative people with ADHD are always looking for something new to try. So I don't like doing or saying the same things week after week, but sometimes that's what children need, especially when they're young. For example, I thought they'd be bored after a couple of weeks of my asking each of them individually "Are you ready?", but I found that not only do 1st and 2nd grade classes like it, they started to join me. They think it's funny, but I think it's great. Kids love to repeat what we say, and it's a great way for them to learn new words and phrases. That's why songs, chants and games with repetitive short phrases work so well. 

I hoped the same thing would happen when I played my adapted version of "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?" with the 3rd grade while teaching school supplies. For those of you who haven't been to one of my workshops or used my materials - 

1. All children close their eyes and put their hands behind their backs.
2. The teacher puts items from the pencil case - pencil, eraser, scissors, glue - in their hands.  It isn't necessary for every child to be given an object.
3. Children open their eyes but hands remain behind their backs, even if they're empty.
4. Begin by asking. "Who stole the (object) from the pencil case?". Continue "(name) stole the (object), etc." as in the original game ("Who, me?" "Yes, you!" "Couldn't be!" "Then who").
5. Each round continues until someone guesses which child is holding the object mentioned.

The object, of course, is to practice speaking along with learning some new words. But I found that although the same phrases were repeated again and again, I really had to encourage them to join me.They knew the words, but mimicking the teacher isn't automatic at this age.

Something else happens when we get to 5th grade. I often use songs that they request in addition to my own. Although they like hearing them and even learning the lyrics, I don't always hear them singing. But if I look around the room I can see lips moving, and I've had students tell me that the song we learned last week is still stuck in their head. This is exactly what I want, since the words usually stick there too. I even had a 9th grade student walk into class singing "Hello Everybody" which I opened lessons with when I taught her in 6th grade.

Children, like adults, have some annoying habits. Some of them can disrupt lessons, but sometimes these habits are the best way to learn.

What are we teaching and why?

Recently I had a conversation with a teacher I work with about how well the 1st grade students, who have one hour a week with each of us, know the colors in English. When I work with them, they can point to different colors and name them. She even heard a student answer "green" when I asked her "What color is my shirt?" However, she found that when she asks them in Hebrew they can't always  give the English word. This led to a discussion about which is more important - being able to use a word or translate it. The answer to this depends on why we teach - If our goal is to enable students to speak English, then using the words in context is what they need. 

In order to speak a foreign language correctly and fluently, one must begin to think in that language. Constantly translating while speaking will almost always result in errors. When I began studying Hebrew in Ulpan over 30 years ago I was advised to write definitions for words in Hebrew instead of their English translations. Determined to learn the language properly, I followed this advice and  it has served me well. That is, I have learned to speak fluently and have no problem understanding what I hear and read, but I can't always translate words and concepts into English even though I understand them. 

Unfortunately, this isn't the goal in most classrooms. "Teach to the test" is still the motto, and on many of those tests students must translate words into or from their native language. So they are taught lists of words with their translations, and believe that as long as they can translate words they can read and write.

I believe this may explain studies in which children who began learning English later actually performed better on tests, even though there is plenty of research to back up my experience and that of other teachers who teach young children, showing that the younger children start learning the easier it is for them to absorb a foreign language. When children start very young, they learn to speak, when they start later they learn to pass tests. Read more about my experience with young learners here.

Why doesn't translating work? Every language has its own syntax, a word can have two different meanings in one language which are represented by different words in another, and some words and expressions just can't be translated properly. 

Here are some examples. 

• How do you say "go" in Hebrew? How do you say "walk"?
• How do you say "like"? Now translate the sentence "Your teeth are like stars".
• How do you say "do"? How do you say "How do you say do?" or "Do you know how?"
• Explain in Hebrew the difference between class, classroom, grade and grades.
• How to you say "take"? "take a shower"? "take a picture"? "take a break"?

And if you're still not convinced, try explaining present progressive!

What did we learn today?

Teaching creatively while maintaining structure means adapting many conventional ideas. 

One of my favorite sources is החופש ללמד  Their latest series of tips talks about having students sum up what they learned. I usually end a lesson either by having students collect objects while naming them, or with a chant "What did we learn today?".  They suggest having several students write down something new they learned to see if they understood what we consider the most important points of the lesson.

Writing doesn't really work in my groups. I teach spoken English. Students don't have pencils out unless they're learning about school supplies, looking for objects that are yellow or start with "p", or using them to tap a rhythm. Some of them haven't learned to write yet, and since the point of the lesson is learning to speak writing won't demonstrate that.

So last week toward the end of lesson I opened the voice recording app on my phone and asked who wanted me to record them saying new words or phrases. This was a lot more exciting and more students wanted to answer. Most classes asked to hear the recording and students had an opportunity to hear themselves speak English. I save each recording by class, along with speech-to-text,  to have a record of their progress throughout the year. 

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