Humanistic Teaching

An approach to learning English

One of my adult students went to see 2012 this week. I've no idea why. From the TV trailers I've had the misfortune to come across, it appears to be little more than an epidemic of CGI. My student told me that the plot involves the super rich trying to save themselves from impending cataclysm by building arks in the Himalayas. Tickets from one billion euros apiece. The story is supposed to be based upon the Mayan prophecies but is probably further away from them than a goose with a club foot is from reaching Mars.

What's this got to do with cognitive academic language proficiency and basic interpersonal communicative skills? Nothing much except that I question the usefulness (and by implication the legitimacy) of a lot of academic work, especially a lot of the stuff done in regular school. It seems to be more about social conditioning (accept a hierarchical society and obeying superiors) rather than learning. I also have sympathy with the argument that much high level academic work is designed as a distraction from real issues. As the conclusion to the Adrian Mitchell poem I mentioned last week goes:

Finally I was given the Chair of Comparative Ambiguity
At Armpit University, Java.
It didn't keep me busy,
But it kept me quiet.
It seemed like poetry had been safely tucked up for the
night.

For me school seems to be about tucking up certain kinds of thinking by requiring certain kinds of skills. I don't mean to suggest that there is some kind of conspiracy as in 2012. Most teachers work very hard and have genuine interest in their students, not just as students but as people. But genuine interest doesn't preclude the possibility of the conditioning I am jabbering about.

When I heard the basic storyline of 2012 the thing that immediately struck me was not the outrageousness of having one billion Euro tickets to buy a seat on a lifeboat but more the notion that a political and economic system that allows such fast differences in wealth and power can in anyway be legitimate. Even Plato with his gold, silver and bronze citizens questioned any society in which the richest had more than four times the wealth of the poorest. What's the difference today?

Is it possible that issues about class, wealth and power could be raised in the classroom in a meaningful way? The tighter the curriculum the less the possibility. But even if such issues were raised what practical difference would it make when the day to day experience of school, the very structure itself, belies the possibility of alternatives.

So when I was confronted with the little girl who couldn't win I kept looking for activities she could win at. This missed the real problem, which was the structure of my lessons themselves. I used games but they were all competitive. Once I began introducing co-operative activities the lesson structure began changing. The lessons became more enjoyable for all. The little girl was no longer excluded by her lack of ability.

Last week I advocated teaching and I questioned teaching. One can square both by examining the conditions under which teaching takes place. I think as a bare minimum our students should have the choice as to whether to be taught or not. But even if this is the case we still need to look at the structure of the situation and also at what we are teaching.

Last week I mentioned that the unpleasant boy had been trained to play chess aggressively and without respect. Winning was everything but as it happened he had more book knowledge than experience and understanding of the game. I clawed my way back into the game and won it. Afterwards we examined the game and as we went through the moves he kept complaining that I should have resigned. Eventually I lost patience with him and simply said, "But I won." Later, however, as I was wandering around the conference hall I saw him with a man. The man might have been his trainer or maybe his father. Either way, the man was doing everything but physically hit the boy. Such was his anger. Suddenly I realised that the reason the boy had been so unpleasant was fear. He feared what would happen if he lost. I'd like to be able to write that I strode over to the man and gave him an experience that would cause him to reflect and change his outlook and perhaps behaviour. But I didn't. I didn't even try. I guess I'm trying now.

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• Yada!
    - michelle
  
• The Keyword Game
    - Brett Iimura
    - Renae
  
• New Year Resolutions
    - Robert Sieveking
    - Chris (Hunt)
    - Steven Williams
    - Chris (Hunt)
    - Steven Williams
  
• Quitting
    - Jon Otto
    - Chris (Hunt)
  
• Improvisation
    - Dr. Michael Cubbin
  
• Violence
    - Jon Otto
    - Chris (Hunt)
    - Jon Otto
  
• Ambivalence
    - Ben Shearon
  
• Negotiated Syllabi
    - Harry
    - Phil
  
• Mitigating Quietness
    - Alison Miyake
  
• Motivation Mores
    - Kelly Brown