ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Chris Hunt

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Chris
Date: January 2004

Topic: "What are some proverbs that you live and teach by?"

Peter Viney

I've never gone in for proverbs and clichés, because they remind me too much of the little inspirational pieces in Readers Digest, and by extension dentists' waiting rooms. I have no such thoughts pasted around my computer. That grey apple with a chunk out of the side is inspirational enough.

A proverb or cliché makes us think we've discussed a truth when we are merely repeating a wordplay. Maybe we should be looking for "ELT soundbites"? But I get enough of that when checking out publicity copy.

“A proverb or cliché makes us think we've discussed a truth when we are merely repeating a wordplay.”

We do have a few fridge magnets, but the content bears no relevance to ELT. We have:

Boring women have immaculate homes.

That caused one hell of a fuss when my wife's aunt saw it and asked, "Does that mean I'm boring?" And

Be Alert.
This country needs lerts.

which means approximately nothing. My daughter added one with:

I saw my mother yesterday. Thank God she didn't see me!

but again the relevance is missing. I've racked my brains to think of a meaningful ELT one.

I guess I'll have to repeat stories / anecdotes that stuck in my mind at conferences instead. Robert O'Neill told this one at JALT around twenty years ago, and I like it:

A young man wanted to become a Zen archer. He walked many miles through the mountains to meet the greatest master of Zen archery. "Master," he said, "I want to learn Zen archery. How long will it take me?" The master replied, "My son, if you practise three hours a day, five days a week for twenty years, you will become a Zen archer." The young man was horrified, "Master," he said, "I haven't got twenty years. If I practise eight hours a day, seven days a week, how long will it take me?" The master smiled sadly, "Forever."

Now that has educational relevance, does not need further explanation, and has stayed with me. Robert O'Neill was the source of another soundbite in the title of an ELTJ article: "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," which was a comment on the lack of attention to structure in functional syllabuses of the era. I've seen it quoted many times since.

Another is a story I've repeated many times at talks - damn! I won't be able to use it again.

I had just given a talk at a summer school training day in England. The principal stood up and addressed the fresh-faced would-be teachers. She said:

"The most important teacher skill of all is a genuine, deep, sincere interest in your students ... and once you've learnt to fake that, you're a teacher."

It does tell us that listening to students attentively is a skill of the highest order, and that it is a skill. You can learn it and practise it. It relies on several micro-skills for showing attention.

After those feeble attempts, I have to say that all the other quotes that are stuck inside my head are lines from rock songs and several quotes from Mark Twain.

Due to my early days in ELT, I actually have a deep loathing for proverbs and sayings as teaching material (which was not being suggested in this month's title), dating back to the days when ELT materials above intermediate level were fond of teaching the things. When I started doing teacher training for non-native speakers, you could tell in advance which nationalities had endured such material because they would cunningly try to work them into "casual" conversation, as in:

"I must say it was raining cats and dogs this morning. But this is not a criticism of your English weather. I myself come from a somewhat damp region of (enter country*) and those who live in glass houses should not throw stones, as you English are so fond of saying."

The attempt to impress is so palpable and so misguided that you can't say ‘Sorry, foreigners using sayings like that sound like complete a***holes," which is the sad truth.

* Enter country: the students most likely to do this came from Greece, Germany, Austria and Italy. A Greek teacher, who turned out to be the author of a translation book on proverbs, once managed to greet me with "I am delighted to say that it is not raining cats and dogs today." I gazed out at the shimmering heat-haze. The temperature was 90 degrees. You had to admire the creativity in forcing that one in!

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Chris

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Peter Viney, Freelance ELT Author

Co-author of New American Streamline & Grapevine. Peter's Web site

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