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| ATLANTA SKYLINE. This photo was taken from the fourth floor of the Scheller Collge of Business at
Georgia Tech from a breakout room where I was conducting tutorials with
Chinese graduate students enrolled in Quantitative and Computational
Finance. (photo by Ruth Schowalter, ESL language coach) |
One-on-one English
tutorials with international graduate students are intimate and supremely
rewarding for both the language learner and the instructor. Having taught English as a second language at
the university level for more than 20 years, I have met thousands of bright,
talented and motivated people of the world and supported their efforts to gain
a comfortable fluency using their “academic” language—English!
Now, as an InterPlay
Leader-in-Training, I have been experimenting with ways to use the principles of
InterPlay in my language instruction. Before I go any further in this
discussion, you might want a working definition of InterPlay. Well, there are
many definitions, but here is a simple one for starters:
INTERPLAY is “easy,
fun, and life changing.
It is based in a series of incremental
“forms” that lead participants to movement and stories, silence and song, ease and
amusement. In the process, we discover the wisdom in ourselves
and our communities.” (from the InterPlay website)
To understand how these
life changing and incremental principles of InterPlay can be used in language
instruction, let me explain a few applications I am currently experimenting with
in my one-on-one tutorials with Chinese graduate students majoring in
Quantitative and Computational Finance at Georgia Tech.
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| ESL TUTOR AND TUTEE SELFIE.
Arthur (his English name) and I took this selfie at the conclusion of
our one-hour one-on-one tutorial. I learn so much each time I have the
opportunity to meet individually with students, especially now as I
integrate the principles of InterPlay into my language instrutction. (photo by Ruth Schowalter, ESL language coach) |
AFFIRMING THE GOOD.
As I train in InterPlay, I
am learning to discern the good and name it with a greater frequency than I did
previously. Affirming the good is one of the tools of InterPlay. However, as a
language instructor specializing in pronunciation, I am trained to recognize
and record where English language learners are deficient in producing English
with an American accent. That is, to point out “the bad” –the opposite of “the
good.”
This noticing and focusing
on the deficiencies is what students demand. After all, that’s what I get paid
for, and in their belief system that is the “only” way to make improvements.
Acknowledging their achievements, areas of spoken English in which they
demonstrate strong skills, is quickly skimmed over, and dismissed as being
insignificant in the learning process!
Previously, before
InterPlay, I excelled at outlining my students’ flaws so I could lead them down
the avenue towards accuracy. I disregarded their “humanity” and honored their
hunger to achieve. In my rich past, I once had a student from Colombia pout during
a meeting where I was explaining why she was failing my advanced-level pronunciation
course. She was not impressed with the detailed document, which recorded her
speaking errors over the academic session. “In your class, we call ourselves
the D students,” she told me. My endless hours spent evaluating the
shortcomings of their speech was not proving to be the way to motivate them
individually or collectively.
I had failed in my
ruthless ambition to show them precisely where they could improve. Thus began
the reformation of my teaching. My pedagogy evolved. I transformed my role from
“evaluator” to “coach.” Instead of grading students based on their performance
observing a strict course agenda, I would set up overarching course goals,
observe their individual behavior and cheer them on as they meandered on their personal
language journey. I developed a new course using the acting tool of
improvisation to teach fluency in a manner that enrolled me as “coach” (see
this blog,
blog,
and blog
for examples).
Once I had figured out the
“content” of teaching language using improvisation along with the collaboration
of my improvisation teacher, I needed more of a “how” in order to implement
these improvisational tools. Discovering InterPlay has become THE HOW!
Therefore, “affirming the
good” is the first thing I am practicing in the one-on-one tutorials I am
conducting now with my Chinese graduate students at Georgia Tech. This
affirmation practice requires me to retrain my teaching brain. Really focusing
on the positive outcomes of each student’s speech demands patience and being
present to the individual.
At the beginning of the
hour-long session, then, I set up a way to “playfully” interact with the
“tutee” and allow him/her to speak for 10 minutes or so without any correction.
We do this “playing” while standing up and moving, using our hands, feet, and
entire bodies. We have already warmed up our voices and played with vocal
variation.
Once I have set up an
objective, for example, “Tell me about a former work experience,” or “Give me
your ‘elevator speech,’” I keep the student on his/her feet moving about the
room, experimenting with their delivery while strolling. I stroll or walk with
the student too. Once the “walk about” is completed, we sit down and AFFIRM THE
GOOD. This begins with NOTICING, another InterPlay term.
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| CHOOSE A VOWEL.
Often English language learners need multiple ways to perceive how to
produce target language sounds. Here Boya and I pose with a mirror as
she chooses to work with the "ahhhh" sound, which is a low-mid vowel
requiring the mouth to be wide open as if having the back of your throat
examined by a doctor. Using different lip, tongue, and jaw muscles in
another language feels clumsy and makes it difficult to produce sounds
accurately. A student's ability to move towards accuracy is greatly
increased when having fun, experimenting, being permitted to make
mistakes and recover, and then to make choices about future ways to
implement these English vowel sounds. Affirming the good in the students
progress greatly enhances their optimism in becoming successful
communicators. (photo by Shi Tang, QCF student) |
NOTICING: COLLECTING BODY
DATA, BODY KNOWLEDGE, BODY WISDOM
InterPlay teaches us to
“notice” what our body is experiencing; that is, to tune in and see where we
might be feeling tension or energy. Is the tension residing in the neck, the
stomach, the throat? In InterPlay, we call these noticings, “body data.”
As a language instructor,
I am very interested in having my students connect with English and the wider
American culture. For me, this connection to our U.S. English speaking culture
is more than just intellectual--it is emotional and physical. Having the
students be more in touch with their “total” beings, seems a positive way to
support their successful language learning. Fluency results from ease and
comfort, from connecting with the self and extending that sense of self to
others. We use language as a social tool in addition to a cerebral one.
Although it surprises my
Chinese “tutees” when I ask them how they are feeling and to share what they
are noticing in their bodies, it makes sense to them as we continue our
tutorial session. Let me explain....
Well, InterPlay offers a
way to use the “body data”! After I, the instructor, has listened carefully to
the student observations of what feels good or bad in the body when speaking
English, we discuss “why” these feelings are occurring. In InterPlay, we call
this “body knowledge.” For example, one of my students expressed feeling more
ease when slowing down his speech and making it more musical. Using his hands
to punctuate a key idea felt different (slightly awkward) but effective
resulting in a feeling of accomplishment.
Many international students
learning English for academic purposes equate fluency with speed. The faster
one talks, the better one is at communicating. This is a false assumption since
their hurried speech generally results in a stream of unstressed words devoid
of musicality resulting in a breakdown of meaning.
Well, “noticing” how they
felt during the tutorials with these Chinese students revealed that when they
speak fast, they feel nervous about finding the right vocabulary and cut off
from the listener. Relying on being solely in their heads while speaking
distances them from experiencing a fullness when communicating with others.
“Body knowledge” is
knowing when these good and bad experiences occur. I’m experimenting with
teaching students to be aware of what feels positive and effective when they
are speaking English and to practice those behaviors to increase the frequency
of fluency. And then the reverse, if something feels bad when they are speaking
English to reduce that behavior—like speaking fast but incomprehensible sentences.
Implementing what you have learned from body data and body knowledge is called,
“body wisdom.”
Whoever thought that as a
language instructor, I would be teaching “body wisdom”! As I work and play
towards integrating the principles of InterPlay in my ESL teaching, I am
surprised, pleased, and expanded!
CONCLUSION. You probably
won’t be surpised to learn that I have a lot more to say about this topic of
using InterPlay to teach English as a second language! I really really do! I want to tell you right now about
“witnessing” and explore the concept of “incrementality.” But, for now, I will
stop with this incremental step, this blog entry about the InterPlay principles
of “affirmation” and “noticing”!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I thank
my Chinese graduate students for their earnestness in learning English. They
elected to take this “accent reduction” course and are very open to trying new
strategies and tools to increase their fluency. I appreciate their trust in my
methodologies and vulnerability. What a gift you are to us all.
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| SELFIE WITH TUTEE.
Such fun! A new found way to relax and speak English both on a personal
and academic level. I am convinced that academic English cannot be
pursued without making personal connections at a very warm human level. (photo by Ruth Schowalter) |
