Thank you for your comments… students are quick to see the schitzo nature of our classes when, on the one hand we still do kill and drill exercises at the lower levels (to make them proficient, supposedly, although I think it just makes them anxious…stay tuned for a LLU show on FL learner anxiety to hear more) and then when we get them to the place in the language where they can converse, they immediately see that native speakers make mistakes too. So our manic push for perfection and accents all in the right place seems misguided to say the least.

It also proves how human we are as well. When my students do language exchanges on Skype with ESL classes that speak Spanish, all it takes is 30 seconds for them to realize that the other person is just as worried about his/her mistakes and “being correct” as they are, and then immediately the guard falls down and they work well together, supporting each other, encouraging each other. THAT is real language learning, in my mind, and once you insert humanity and compassion, this little exercise that might have been reduced to staccato Qs and As now has the potential to become magical.

Example: One of my students “met” with her partner 3X a week for the entire semester, completely on her own and w/o tewlling me til the end of the term, as a result of one of these in class exercises…(isn’t this what they want them to be doing???)

We need to teach our students what we have known all along…that language is a living, breathing, social activity that morphs and changes based upon the user and the region. That and the fact that the real goal for any language class should not be perfection but deep, sustained communication, a sharing of passions, a desire to learn how to say what needs to be said.

If as language teachers we can tap into their passions, then our work becomes what Dawn M. Skorczewski (Teaching One Moment at a Time) calls “emergent pedagogy:” We are shaping, guiding, helping students listen to one another….vs dictating and correcting and controlling.

A field worker can’t be expected to make their subjects write essays with perfect grammar in order to answer questions. I’m sure many a sociology, medical, or educational student would agree.

Of course one also needs to be able to read the literature that is written on research subjects in these native languages, but that comes far easier to students due to its fairly standard structures.

Yes, please do upload your ppt. There’s a ton of information I just couldn’t get down … my little fingers can’t move that quickly. Thanks for a great talk! Taking notes is easy when a session is done well.

Actually, I can post it here too for double safekeeping and incase anyone wants to see the IALLT logo and the tootsie pop again. Will do so shortly. Thanks for staying awake and keeping notes ;-&