Day One With Criancas

I just finished reading about second language acquisition theory and found little that I thought was valuable to me. I expected to read about ways to teach, but instead the articles were about Vygotksy or Chomsky and Universal Grammar. Many of the articles expressed views that contrasted the prevailing Universal Grammar concept in fundamental ways. As I mentioned, there was the frequent referencing of Vygotsky. The majority of the authors I read wanted to say something different, it seemed. A socio-cultural perspective, it was argued, could bring into focus aspects of the learning process previously overlooked. The idea is that language is the medium between conscious man and the external world. There was talk of the value of symbols. It was claimed that language is the mediator, if I recall correctly, between man and his reality. This is all very interesting. I am wild for language and communication. But I do not see the application of many of the results. I expect to see curricula, methods, games that recruit this or that learning component. But I haven't found anything like that yet. I am working at Speaking, a language institute in Itajuba, Minas Gerias, Brasil. We teach Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, but the majority of our students study English. Many of them are engineering students who need to learn English for this or that reason. Some to take a test, some to get jobs. Some of our students are professors at the nearby enginnering university, UNIFEI. Word on the street is that there is a lot of interesting work going on at UNIFEI and in Itajuba, itself. Certain industries are attracked to this area because of the status of UNIFEI as a leading engineering university in Brazil and the world. Already Helibras is here. I think they make helicopters. There are at least two other major companies here in Itajuba. So this is a fascinating place, not only for its environmental beauty or friendly "gente", but also for the economic forces at play in the unassuming little city. I teach, as I said, students at UNIFEI, professors, Itajubenses who want to learn for this or that reason, and kids. Today I taught kids for the first time in Brasil and it was a great experience. I made it as interactive as possible, begining the class with writing on the board, "I want to get to know you", and then having them read it until they pronounced it correctly. Then when the said, "I want to get to know you" I started to tell them about myself. We carried on in this playful fashion for the entire hour. The whole process unfolding so organically, as they would ask "how do you say...", "can I write", "I draw?" "'Can I draw?', or better yet, 'may I draw?'", I correct. We drew pictures of objects or animals that I would say in English. Everybody (there were three students, aged 6 - 15) did their own thing on the board, and everything was in English. The kids had gone nuts over wanting to say things in English. It was then that I saw something that I still think is quite valuable. The learning process was so organic, that it stimulated not only interest, but action. We laughed a bunch, we practiced English a bunch. And perhaps that is the word of the day, "practiced". Its not just learning English, it is practicing it. And you want to practice it when have something to say more so than when you are told to say something.