NATIVES Language Transfer

Being an English trainer has taught me several things, but one thing is for sure: throughout the world, learning English as a second language has become essential in global communication. English has become the most important language in a time of globalisation and worldwide correspondence.

Textbooks are helpful when learning and teaching a second language. How does a teacher know, however, which book is the most appropriate for effective learning and teaching, before having used it? What criteria should be considered?

Most textbooks, thanks to marketing experts, meet all the requirements needed to count as good books. Critical teachers however, have no other opportunity than to study the contents of a book, try the books out, and finally rely on their own initiative. Fortunately, several guidelines referring to textbook analysis have been created in order to assist teachers in finding appropriate textbooks.

Teachers are able to create their own personal guidelines for choosing the most effective textbook. I believe that the creation of an ultimate textbook would be impossible to achieve. All teachers would probably agree on two things, namely that textbooks should be motivating and interesting and that learning should be enjoyable.

In reality and because teachers have individual ideas of their own, there can be no such thing as a universal, best textbook. In my opinion, the answer is to rethink and be creative. First of all, teachers should not depend too much on their books, but depend on themselves. A teacher should be capable of noticing whether participants are interested, motivated and enjoying themselves. A teacher should also notice whether certain tasks are effective and fun.

A teacher needs to be creative and reconsider how to make tasks more interesting, enjoyable, and more effective. Teachers must realize what works and what doesn't. In the end it is down to the teacher's experience, creativity and how seriously the frameworks are taken into consideration.

Marko Müller is not your average language aficionado—he wants to learn Gaelic, and reads Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare when he is not sweating it out in the gym.

Light bulbs and life

Three years ago, Marko Müller turned his life around. "I had been working in sales and management for around 10 years moving around Bavaria, Sauerland, Dortmund and North Rhein Westfalia. One of my parents was unwell at the time and I needed to decide: career or family. I chose the latter and relocated back to Bielefeld. I didn't have a plan, but decided at some point to take a personal training course, just for myself. I sat the exams, quit my existing job and set up my own business. At some point in all of it, I had a light-bulb moment. The decision changed my life".

There's training and then there's training

Marko drew on the rigour and discipline while learning English and studying Macbeth in high school to apply himself and become a fully qualified personal trainer in under one year.

He then created his own business and has since gone on local radio to discuss health and fitness, run in-house workshops on healthy living and nutrition for one of the region's largest insurance companies, Menze & Menze, and has private personal training clients (none other than NATIVES Commander-in-Chief, Jessica). He saw the potential in devising tailored health and nutrition workshops and lifestyle programmes as a way to reach out to people who work long hours and may not have previously thought about the importance of sport for their wellbeing.

One of the main challenges was finding ways to transfer the existing skills he had in his former corporate career to now being on the other side of a corporation—teaching people about burnout, how to be healthy and work less and live more. "I built on my existing people skills, all that I learned about sales and management and tried to bring it to my new business".

On Shakespeare, Scotland and staying motivated

His love of languages came from his high school experience learning English, followed by a "devastating experience" in his early 20s on a visit to Scotland where he could not understand anyone! After that, he became an autodidact par excellence: he started subscribing to English business journals for language students (Spotlight) and started to read English books.

Years later, he enrolled in a 6-week English language course to further polish his language skills. He has a love of urban fantasy novels and has commenced a love affair with film noir Tarantino classics and sci-fi thrillers á la Matrix (all without that eponymous German dubbing).

Marko is also testament to that old adage that we learn best when we are passionate about something: "When stuff fascinates me, it is as if it is burned into my brain. At some point, I started to experiment with old English. I like the way it is spoken, the way it is written and how it sounds". These days he can randomly recite passages from Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe with concentrated, personal fondness.

English's saucy first cousin, français, was never a language that Marko warmed to "I studied French at school and people told me if you enjoyed English then you would enjoy French. This was bullsh** as I hated French and gave up after half a year". Gaelic, on the other hand, has been a long-time passion project, based on his great empathy with the Scots. He adds laughing that he would have pursued Gaelic, had the Scots voted in favour of independence in the recent September referendum.

And what about the quirkiness of English, its spelling and mix of borrowed words? "In comparison to German, English is a much more accessible language. We're bombarded with English via internet, film and media in our daily lives and this makes it easier to motivate yourself to keep learning. Look at the kids and teens of today—they have much earlier contact with English compared with 20 years ago." Marko believes that if it were the other way round, that is, if deutsch were the all-pervasive global language, then its prevalence would make it more accessible. It was not to be: "History did not turn out that way, I guess", Marko adds with a smile.

This article was written by guest author, Petra Zlatevska.

One of the most intimidating tasks for the language learner is without a doubt learning vocabulary. Nobody really likes learning grammar but at least it does seem to be finite. Vocabulary, on the other hand can seem never-ending. And to add to the frustration, when you do learn a word, it doesn’t stay in your head for long.

What can language learners do to address these problems? Well, one tried and tested method is the trusty deck of flashcards. The learner writes the L1 word on the first side, the corresponding L2 word on the second side and tests himself regularly. Over time the deck grows and with frequent reviews, the words become more and more familiar.

Micheal Erard in his book "Babel No More", went on a quest to investigate the world’s best language learners. He discovered that the legendary Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti, who was said to have spoken anywhere between 30 and 72 languages, relied heavily on his collection of carefully handwritten flashcards. "It does not appear that the Cardinal possessed any extraordinary secret" he said. "In Mezzofanti’s own time, his methods must have seemed sensibly industrious. Today they dazzle us only by their vigour and persistence." This just goes to show the power of the humble flashcard when combined with a great deal of motivation.

And modern flashcard programs make the process much more manageable and eliminate at least some of the "vigour and persistence" required. With a deck of electronic flashcards, the learner can take his vocabulary on the go and synchronise them across multiple devices.

These programs go a long way to addressing most of the practical problems associated with an analogue (paper) deck of flashcards but are they any more effective? Do they help us learn more?

Why do we forget?

Fiction and real life are full of examples of people who we admire for their minds. We are amazed by people like Daniel Tammet who learned Icelandic in a week or magicians and memory champions who memorise decks of cards or impossibly long strings of numbers. We watch films like "Limitless", in which a wonder drug allows characters to learn skills and retain information like a supercomputer. We accept however that these examples are not reality. People with savant-like abilities often can’t lead normal lives, memory tricks are by nature tricks and have limited practical application and fiction requires us to suspend belief.

We marvel at these people and enjoy the movies but at the same time, we accept that in fact it is natural to forget. Our brains sort through what we learn, and when a particular piece of information is not recalled often enough, it is deemed not useful and allowed to be forgotten. Anything else would be inefficient.

How do we forget?

In 1885, German scientist Hermann Ebbinghaus published his book "Über das Gedächtnis. Untersuchungen zur Experimentellen Psychologie". This work detailed a phenomenon known as the spacing effect. Ebbinghaus’ research showed that we forget at an exponential rate and that this rate (the so-called forgetting curve) is predictable. Because it is predictable, Ebbinghaus concluded that if we are reminded at a specific time, just before we forget, information can be more successfully retained.

On the one hand, this isn’t really new. Obviously, consistent study over an extended period of time is better for learning than cramming but Ebbinghaus’ method is so efficient that study time can be drastically reduced. Unfortunately, this pattern of forgetting is far too complex for the human brain to calculate….

Flashcards 2.0

This is where an SRS (Spaced Repetition Software) program comes in. On the surface it looks like any other flashcard program, but after checking both sides of the card, the user is asked to rate the card on a difficulty scale of 1 - 4. An algorithm then determines when the card should next be reviewed. Cards with more '1' ratings are shown more often to the user (perhaps twice in ten minutes for example) and cards with more '4' ratings appear less frequently (perhaps just once every six months). Each time a card is viewed, the user gives it a new rating.

Because of the algorithm, learners can be confident that the information that is scheduled for that day, is the only information that needs to be studied in order to retain it.

"I know Kung-fu"

Ok, so we’re not quite at the point where we can download information into our heads. But the use of an SRS system can really help with the age old problem of remembering vocabulary. You just need to outsource some of your memory to your computer…… and let’s not forget the "vigour and persistence".

Sources:

http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff_wozniak?currentPage=all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacing_effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Ebbinghaus

Babel No More: The Search for the World’s most Extraordinary Langauge Learners / Michael Erard

Image: 

http://static2.akpool.de/images/cards/10/101934.jpg

Process is the fulcrum of learning. When teams call in facilitators and businesses charge consultants to clean up, or educators realise that their pupils are drifting off, it indicates that a process is stuck.

Role-plays and simulations are a crutch to coaching and learning. We use both methods as a process to familiarise ourselves with the unknown—like a dress rehearsal before the real thing. The process works because the parameters are loose enough to allow space for discovery of what works and what doesn't, and because a part, but not all of the process, creates a framework or cadre. I find that sound conditions foster creative thought and trigger curiosity in learning and in business.

Six Thinking Hats can be implemented in a wide range of situations. It supports in unsticking processes, breaking routines, avoiding groupthink, bonding teams, and it speeds up outcomes. It works like role-play and simulation in that it forces participants into different thinking modes (by donning different hats).

Six Thinking Hats can help you and your team to

➜ Step outside of what you know works

Force yourself and others to adopt the opposite/ a different mode of thought to gain insights that are not visible to you but known to others (blind spot).

➜ Discover more about yourself

Put on a hat you normally wouldn't. Maybe you were wrong about what you thought to be right.

➜ Speed up your decision-making process

Avoid groupthink and group bias, and achieve objectives more quickly. Add some urgency to voicing thought by limiting time for each hat. The combination of hats + timing can be a fun and effective way to get teams to collect and commit. Results don't need to be exact.

➜ Fine-tune your attention

Pay attention to how the process benefits you and your team while in action:

1. What type of hat tendency do you have?
2. What about the tendencies of the others involved?
3. What effect does timing the process have on the process?
4. What do you takeaway after applying the method?
5. How do people feel after a six hats session?
6. How is a six hats session different to a meeting format you normally use?

The hats:

• BLUE – The supervisor/ manager
• WHITE – Facts and data
• GREEN – Creativity, opportunity, and doing and making
• YELLOW – Positivity and benefits
• BLACK – Judgement, risk and analysis
• RED – Emotion and feeling

How to:

• Have your group collect topics they need to discuss.
• Set the overall timeframe and allocate time for each hat.
• Start by having everyone put on the same colour hat. (It's recommended to not wear black first.)
• Summarize the outcomes and trends for each hat session.
• Close by reflecting the entire process as a group.

Change the process to change the results.

Six Thinking Hats was created by Edward de Bono

A business and organisational change coach can help change more than just an organisation. They can help create a global movement. Here is one woman who has helped a very powerful man to do just that.

The head of the Australian armed forces, Lieutenant General David Morrison, was up on stage in London last month, speaking alongside Angelina Jolie and the UK's foreign secretary William Hague at a four-day Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The reason for his appearance at this Summit was because of one woman, April Henry, the organizational change and strategy coach of the Australian Army's senior leadership group including Morrison. Henry had encouraged Morrison to do one simple thing (based on written recommendations from The Review into the Treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force by Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick): to sit in a room with women who had left the army, navy and air force and listen to what had prompted them to leave the armed services and the ongoing impact of these decisions on their lives.

Following this meeting, Lt General David Morrison spoke out about eliminating sexual harassment and gender discrimination in 2013 via a YouTube video message where he pleaded with sexist members of the Australian Defence Force to "get out". 1.5 million views later, and his message is gaining traction all over the world. His video was the catalyst for his personal invitation to speak at the Global Summit.

While on first blush this staunch military man may be the most unlikeliest of heroes for gender equality—he is the son of a late Army General, he's the father of three sons and now the head of the army—it is testament to Henry's coaching style. Henry's coaching hallmark is working with organisations and leaders to create change through effective communication techniques and breaking down stereotypes in the workplace.

Henry coaches men of different generations and cultures. She claims that while many are ignorant and not aware of the challenges women face in workplaces, it is not necessarily intentional. Through their sessions with Henry, "They have these light bulb moments where suddenly it makes sense," she says.

When it comes to coaching strategy, sometimes the most seemingly simple solution—sitting down and talking—can have the most far-reaching and unexpected results.

This article was written by guest author Petra Zlatevska.

Image: Flickr