Learning to read, write, and speak English remains a legal requirement for legal immigrants to become citizens in the United States. National polls also consistently show that over 80% of American voters favor making English the official national language. Immigrants to English speaking countries like the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia also want to learn more English to gain better jobs, feel more comfortable, talk with doctors and teachers, and a thousand other reasons.
Yet funding for English language classes, especially for adults, remains quite limited. Government programs only help students learn rather basic English, often around 1200 essential words. Students can “pass” all their ESL classes and learn enough English to hold low-level jobs. The learn to listen more than speak, and read more than write. These low standards, by the way, also include a very, very low level definition of “can read, write, and speak” English for citizenship. (More on this subject in future posts.)
Many states, like California, are cutting back on all their education programs. English as a second language classes face even more dramatic cutbacks, partly because the students seldom vote. On one hand, this decision makes perfect sense during economically difficult times. Recessions and economic fears force citizens and governments to make tough choices, and cutting funds for English classes for immigrants – especially undocumented (illegal) immigrants is popular. It’s also very short-sighted and counter-productive. America is a stronger, better, and smarter country when we allow immigrants to use their intelligence and creativity, and we develop everyone’s skills.
” Uncle Sam wants you to speak English” reads a popular bumper-sticker. Uncle Sam, the traditional symbol for the United States government, probably does want everyone to speak English. The American people clearly want immigrants to know how to speak English too. A gap exists between vague desires and concrete actions. For instance, cutting English classes for immigrants seems unlikely to help them learn English.
I saw this “Uncle Same Wants You to Speak English” bumper-sticker on the way back from an English teacher’s conference again last week. I also wondered about the driver.
Does he support helping immigrants learn English?
Does he really think immigrants who don’t speak English will understand his message?
Would a Spanish speaking immigrant, for instance, know who Uncle Sam is?
Or is the driver simply stating that immigrants – who might speak two, three, four, or more languages – should only speak English in the United States?
Or would he prefer illegal immigrants just leave the country? Was he inviting everyone to share his language and country, urging linguistic unity, or expressing a distrust of people speaking other languages?
Would he expect French tourists, Japanese visitors, and international guests to only speak English too? Really?
Unfortunately, I never had a chance to talk with the gentleman who placed this provocative message on his car. I don’t really know what he meant by his “Uncle Sam wants you to speak English” bumper-sticker.
I hope, however, that he supports adding, not cutting, English language classes. We both would like more people to be able to speak to him and ask him questions in his best language (English) too.
How can English language teachers create a rigorous, tolerant, and focused classroom atmosphere?
One effective technique is encouraging English students, especially ESL students, to “learn by doing” and “make good mistakes” as they expand their vocabulary, experiment with new sentence structures, and use English more in their daily lives. A good mistake, as I explain on the first day of class, is a logical error that makes sense, but just happens to be wrong. For example, a young boy might think 2+2= 22. You can see the logic, but the answer is wrong. The student needs to know that 2+2=4. But you can also acknowledge that “22″ is a good mistake. Some teachers might consider this mistake a systems error or category confusion.
Far too many ESL students, especially in countries that worship standardized exams, have created psychological barriers to experimenting in English. These students often want to avoid making any mistakes, and prefer to remain silent in conversation class to expanding their verbal skills. The ESL teacher, therefore, has to directly confront this trend or learned behavior. You can’t learn to speak a new language without making mistakes.
So I encourage English students, in both conversation and writing classes, to make good mistakes. Take chances. Try something new. Stretch your learning muscles. And make good mistakes. A good mistake is also a mistake that we acknowledge and learn from and avoid repeating. A good mistake is not a good mistake if you’ve made it ten times before in a class or on previous papers. Students usually understand, relax a bit, and proceed to experiment a bit more in our crazy, confusing, and misspelled English language.
Our goal, I sometimes joke on that first day, is to make many good mistakes, learn from these good mistakes, and move forward to make new, different, and even better good mistakes.” We usually realize this goal in our English classes!
Americans love to create, read, and discuss top ten lists. Newspapers and magazines use the simple format to summarize large chunks of information in a friendly manner. Year end issues often expand the technique to create “100 best” or the year’s “ten best”, “top ten”, or “ten smartest” lists. Naturally, many English teachers use this format in their classrooms to express ideas and create discussions.
Sometimes, however, students will simply create a list and avoid providing clear reasons. In order to emphasize the need to share information and exchange insights, I often ask for a “top ten tips” to doing something. This twist also invites a wider range of topics from the practical to more philosophical, and shows respect for students knowledge and interests.
You can ask students for their top ten tips for:
choosing a school?
saving money?
staying healthy and happy?
making and keeping friends?
avoiding boredom and finding satisfaction?
getting good grades?
learning English?
traveling to a new city/country?
Break students into groups of 3-4. Give them 20 minutes to come up their top ten tips on a given topic. Ask them to provide at least one reason and/or example for each answer, and agree on a final order. During the discussions, students will use common phrases like “this is better”, “I disagree”, or “what do you think?”
What does the teacher do? Circle around, listen in, and pass out different colors of chalk for each group. I ask more questions than I answer at this stage. Have each group select a student to write their “top ten tips” on the board.
The instructor goes through the list, asking questions – both soft and hard, and engages student groups. Finally, after the instructor lead discussion, the entire class votes on the top ten tips. This democratic element takes only a few minutes, and encourages more student participation.
This flexible, communicative activity can be constantly used to create engaging, lively classroom conversations. Students enjoy sharing information, telling stories, and helping each other make sense of an often strange land where people speak a strange language. By giving students a chance to offer advice, you also get to learn as you teach!
Ask more. Know more. Share more. Create Compelling Conversations. Visit www.compellingconversations.com
Many English teachers have asked if I plan a “culturally sensitive” version so Compelling Conversations can be used in more countries.
For instance, China censors not only their classrooms, but has created a great electronic fallwall so its citizens can not find information on Tibet, Taiwan, democracy, or free speech. China’s educational leaders, perhaps the most important market for many English language programs and books, simply wants “harmonious communication”, not discord, goes the argument. Likewise, Saudi Arabia – where women are banned from driving, Islam reigns as the one and only religious faith, and free speech is forbidden – wants books where relations between men and women go unasked. Why not accommodate the local rulers and pander to the prejudices of the powers to be? Sales will surely increase.
No doubt, sales would increase. Yet I prefer not to censor myself or support local tyrants. Consider me a “live and let live, speak and let speak” teacher. As Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence declared, “resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.” Asking simple questions and sharing personal experiences, without worrying about what some government official might think, seems reasonable. Freedom is still a good idea.
Originally written for immigrants and refugees coming into the United States, Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics allows students to share, candidly, their personal stories. Some fled to avoid persecution, some escaped civil wars and economic poverty, and some sought more free to just be themselves and create a new, usually better life.
I’m even a bit flattered that my tiny little website is blocked by a few governments addicted to censorship and trying to stop their citizens from asking questions. My book simply asks over 1400 questions, shares a few hundred proverbs, and demonstrates how brilliant women and men have disagreed on many issues through out history.
Conversation matters, especially during times of war and hysteria. I’m trying to help English language learners develop their conversation skills, reflect on their experiences, and exchange insights with other fellow human beings. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes powerful people abuse their authority. Sometimes little people suffer because of the mistakes and decisions of the more powerful. If some government or authority feels that these questions are too dangerous, uncomfortable, or impolite, than so be it.
Asking questions and simple conversation help us clarify and understand our world. I’m perfectly comfortable with every question that is asked in this book, and emphasize many times that students can just decline to respond if they feel less comfortable. (Learning how to say “no” is also a good conversation skill to master!) Yet it’s a very different situation for a student – an individual – to choose to pass over a question and for a censor to block a website, ban a book, or prohibit a question. I prefer to treat all adults as adults.
Sorry for the long rant, but that’s why I have declined to create a “censor’s version” that would eliminate questions of elections, corruption, women’s rights, or double standards. Freedom, including the freedom to ask simple questions, still seems like a good idea to me.
English has rapidly become the international language for business, as a lingua franca. “That is to say, it is used as a medium of communication by people who do not speak the same first language,” explains Andy Kirkpatrick in his controversial book World Englishes: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching (2007).
In fact, some linguists claim that an estimated 700-800 million individuals speak English as a second, third, or fourth language. That is almost twice the estimated number of native English speakers, usually estimated at 400 million! Isn’t that amazing!
The power of English to transform lives in the developing world, including nations where English is an official language, deserves more recognition. The Washington Post published this an excellent article on April 6 called In India, Dreams Unfold in English: Boom is Driving Languge Classes . Read it!
Praise, especially from an experienced colleague, on a difficult project feels satisfying. In the last week, I’ve received three emails from Joan V., an ESL teacher and tutor, praising Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics – the book that I co-authored and self-published. Her experiences mirror my own experiences with the material, and validate the book’s premise: engaging students in sophisticated conversation helps build their vocabulary, leads to memorable conversations, and deepens relationships.
Here, in Joan’s own words, are excerpts from her strong recommendation for the unorthodox ESL book.
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I am an English tutor working with Japanese adults in Jackson, Michigan. I was a public school and ESL teacher for many years, retired, and now my retirement job is tutoring. A few weeks ago I purchased the PDF of your book and then this week I bought the hard copy which just arrived from you this morning. I want to tell you what a marvelous book this is!
I’ve always used questions as a conversation stimulus, and now I have this whole organized around topics book to use with my students! As you probably know, Many Japanese arrive in this country with a fair understanding of English grammar and quite a lot of vocabulary, but are initially unable to engage in conversation. This book is the perfect answer to this situation!
Thank you so much for putting this together!
Teachers and tutors should know about Compelling Conversations. I was a classroom ESL teacher for many years, went to conferences with book displays shopping for books, and was usually disappointed by the books I saw. There were a lot of boring books out there!
The book needs to on display at ESL conferences if they are still being held. ESL teachers and tutors working with intermediate and advanced level students would choose this book over almost anything else if they knew about it. Also many community colleges have ESL programs using traditional materials focused on grammar and repetition rather than real meaningful conversation which your book provides.
I happened on your book accidentally on the internet and looking at the sample lessons, I quickly knew that this book would work for my students.
I wanted to add one more thought regarding Compelling Conversations. It is saving me a lot of time! I have been tutoring Japanese adults (businessmen and their wives) for nine years after retiring from almost 30 years of teaching in public
schools. I’ve spent so much time gathering materials from various sources–textbooks, my own materials, bilingual dictionaries, etc.
Now I’m finding that printing out a chapter of your book provides plenty of conversational focus for at least two hours or more of tutoring time. Even more important, our conversations are at a deeper level. For example, in
chapter two there are some questions about childhood. A couple of weeks ago a student bordering on fluency was able to tell me about his childhood dreams and that now he is living that dream! I was thrilled!
Thanks.
Joan
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Wow!
Thank you, Joan! You made my week!
Check out sample Compelling Conversations lessons for yourself at:
Hopefully, you will have the same satisfying experiencesthat Joan and other satisfied teachers and tutors have had with Compelling Conversations. Enjoy!
