Devine voice

It was about a year after I lived in the United States and I was becoming really comfortable with English. I knew I had come a long way since I began learning the language at a conversation school when I was 19. I was standing on what you might say the edge of the world I was used to. There was a river, an imaginary one, in front of me and the other side with houses was clearly visible. I wondered what it would be like to live there and I was ready to go. I think I heard a divine voice that said, “Are you sure you want to go to the other side?” I said yes and went into the river.

Since then, I have not returned to the world of my mother tongue (Japanese). There are no regrets.

Did you bring my bag?

The cashier said, “Did you bring my bag?” as I was waiting for him to ring up my Ebisu beer. I did not bring his bag but did not say that because if I did, he would have thought I was insane - I'm sure of it. 

For those who wonder about his question, it is the store's new code to encourage its customers to bring their own shopping bags. If they did, the store will deduct a percentage from the shopping bills; a green tactic to reduce the use of plastic bags. 

When he said "my" bag, I was giving him a mental lecture that "the personal pronoun of 'my' is used by the person who is speaking and the correct word is 'your.'"He did not hear it because he was not making mistakes in English - I think. In fact, he said it to me in Japanese, "My bag wa motte imasuka?"

I said yes and he charged ¥1,117 for my six pack, instead of the regular ¥1,120.

“Young people do not know how to behave.”

The president of the vocational school I used to work for confided in me that he was unhappy with the ways his students behaved. The two-year college offered computer skills and English literacy. The students were high-school graduates. I was an English teacher. He told me, “You know Mr. Sekino, young people today don’t know how to behave.” What he meant was that some of the students would not say, “Good morning,” to him when they see him in the morning. He took his grievances further and decided that “proper behaviors” were mandatory for the young people. Soon, the students were required to stand still before the teachers’ lounge and yell to the closed doors, “My name is such and such. I am a first year student. I am here to talk to such and such sensei. May I come in?” Sensei means teacher in Japanese. If the student is in the second year, “first year” will be replaced by “second year.” Whoever happens to hear the plea would command, “Come in!” and the student will enter the room. I did not think it was the exercise of proper behaviors.

Selective learning

The difference between children and adults is that children want to absorb everything they learn, but adults may not. They often take the attitude of what I call selective learning. So for instance, in a business English class, you introduce the expression of, “Mr. A is not in the office. May I take a message for you?” and a student whose job is to monitor the merchandise inventory of a warehouse may encounter a few chances to use the sentences.

Intuitively, selective learning takes a learning curb that is skewed to right. It means there is a heavier knowledge concentration towards zero. As the level of knowledge advances the volume of people who know the knowledge decreases.

By the way, it may not be the purpose of the teacher to require students to reproduce exactly what is taught. Yes, this statement is a challenge to TESOL because it implies “not to expect students to reproduce what they learn exactly in the way they learn.” Adult students are free to build on what they learn. In fact, such attitudes are recommended. A question is, “How will the teacher know students have learned?” An answer to this question is that there is more than one way to assess how knowledge is acquired. In fact, the discussion is a Second Language Assessment topic of assessing learning in qualitative ways. Qualitative ways mean assessing in writing and quantitative ways mean assessing with grades. 

My question is, “Do adult learners study English to get good grades or to use knowledge in their work?” To me, the answer is the latter, and if so, you should aim for a class where students can build on what they learn and express how they are going to use the knowledge. 

Keynote Essay

Taming Wild Animals

Teaching English is like capturing wild animals. You think you have captured them but you are not sure where they are. Ask students why they want to study English, they will tell you why. Ask teachers why they want to teach English, they will tell you why. Ask policymakers why they want to train people for English skills, they will tell you why. So, you teach students how to speak, read, write, and even listen to English. 

Interestingly, wild animals may run but will not go very far, so they will be captured again - as if they are waiting for the moment. Some of you do not want to play this game and create artificial intelligence that translates languages. But AI languages today include errors in syntax, semantics, and pragmatics that you sometimes wonder what is said. As a dedicated teacher of English, I prefer the old school ways: to capture wild animals, tame them, and have them work for you.   

                                                                                                                                           - Nicky Sekino