Re: Teaching and Learning English in Hong Kong

From: Lee Sau Dan (danlee_at_informatik.uni-freiburg.de)
Date: 03/29/05 

Date: 30 Mar 2005 00:41:03 +0800

>>>>> "Jim" == Jim Walsh <jiSPm_walAMsh_iii@oOKperamNOail.com> writes:

    Jim> Actually, pleasure in learning is (usually) enough.

Yeah. But some people learn a language not with pleasure, but out of
pressure! (Remember to remind your students to pronounce "pleasure"
and "pressure" differently! That's challenging for Chinese students!)

>>> Explaining the difference doesn't produce fluency. My way
>>> does.
>> I disagree. If you were studying Chinese, you'd probably want
>> to know what the particles "de" and "le" mean.

    Jim> I am and I don't.

    Jim> I want to be taught correct sentences. I will figure out on
    Jim> my own what they "mean". [Hint: de doesn't mean "apostrophe
    Jim> s"]

For concepts completely foreign to you, it's hard to infer the meaning
from correct examples. It's not impossible, but very very hard. If
you learn the explanation first, and then pay attention next time you
encounter an example, you'll be able to grasp it much quicker. I'm
not saying that your method won't work. I'm just saying that from my
own experience, there is a much more efficient and equally effective
method.

>> Somethings need to be explained, especially when they are
>> concepts we aren't familiar with in our own language.

    Jim> Actually it is the familiar ones (subject) which can most
    Jim> usefully be "explained". The Chinese don't have a Past
    Jim> Perfect tense, and teacher after teacher has "explained" it
    Jim> to them, without results.

Because those teachers haven't followed that with lots of (oral)
drills and (oral) exercises. And most probably, those teachers never
listen to a sentence from those students to see if they can apply that
knowledge in practice.

Knowing a grammatical rule and being able to apply it are two
different matters. There is a big gap between the two. Just like you
can't acquire the skill of swimming by just reading a thousand books
on swimming skills, you can't be fluent in a language by just reciting
and reciting the grammar books and vocabularies. If you don't
practise it, you'll never be fluent.

Explanations are useful, but only when they are put to practice.

    Jim> My advanced students FEEL the meaning.

No. You FEEL that they have felt the meaning. None of you is sure
that they've got the CORRECT meaning. Sometimes, it can be a
misunderstanding. You don't know.

    Jim> Explanation is neither helpful nor necessary.

I completely DISagree.

    Jim> After all your Mother didn't explain English, did she?

But your mother tongue has brain-washed you, so that it becomes less
easy to acquire another language. Explanations helps to lower the
hurdles introduced by such brain-washing. See Phipps's example about
"to play computer". If you don't explain (in English or Chinese), you
leave the student confused and dissatisfied. A suitable explanation
can enlighten him.

>>> My students don't make those mistakes, because I teach them
>>> how to say something is spicy and how to say something has
>>> alcohol in it. They learn bus stop and bus station by looking
>>> flashcards that clearly distinguish them. Etc.
>> If you don't know they have this problem though you might
>> encounter serious confusion later on. I once asked a student
>> "Is there a bus station near here?" and he told me that there
>> was one right outside at the corner!

    Jim> He didn't study English in my school.

    Jim> Of course I know about that confusion. But better than fixing
    Jim> it is avoiding its creation. They make that (and many other
    Jim> mistakes) BECAUSE OF learning by translation.

You can't avoid the creation of such confusions. Their mother tongue
has created such a confusion. Their mother tongue doesn't distinguish
between "bus stop" and "bus station". They say "to play computer" in
their mother tongue. How can you avoid it? Can you wash their brains
so that they forget their mother tongue? You don't let them speak
with their mothers until they come to your class? 

-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     §õ¦u´°                          ~{@nJX6X~}
E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee
Quantcast