Week One Diary

A new school year is upon us! Today was the first meeting of African 670 and 697. I have seven students enrolled, six here and one at another university who is participating via Skype.

They are learning:

K: Kinyarwanda
LP: Beginning Luganda
SF: Arabic
SS: Somali
LE: Advanced Luganda
H: Amharic
V: Basaa

Both H and V are heritage learners. H is an undergraduate but the rest are graduate students. LE is a returning student, having already taken 670 with me but continuing to self-instruct though 697.

All are women! This seems to be a pattern for this class.

I was a little flustered by dealing with Skype and Powerpoint at the same time, and remembering to fully include V, the distance student, but otherwise our first meeting went well. They seem highly motivated and open to discussion.

We talked briefly about the article I asked them to read for today (Marshall 1987). H mentioned that she was very interested in the concepts of metacognition and in-situ learning and that both are aspects of learning she values but have not been central in her other classes here. LP mentioned that many of the ideas in the article apply to (or should apply to) all learning, not just language learning. And we talked a little about the importance of thinking about a conversation partner who speaks the desired language* as just that, or as a mentor, rather than as a tutor. H and SS both talked about the importance (and challenges) of approaching the communities in which the desired languages are spoken with respect and cultural sensitivity.

* I'm experimenting with using the term desired language in place of target language. What do you think?

Works Cited

 

Marshall, Terry L. 1987. “The Multi-Language Seminar: An Approach to Offering More of the ‘Less Commonly Taught’ Languages.” Foreign Language Annals 20 (2): 155–63.

Week six diary

Today we were supposed to discuss working without a native speaker but ended up talking mostly about working with a native speaker. This was partly because the book chapters we read (6 and 7 in the Marshall book) are supposed to be about when you've exhausted the possibilities with your language partner but don't really get into that.  (Although ch. 7 does talk about how to work outside of your target country.) N led our discussion and it was fruitful.

All three students have spent time in their target cultures and were able to reflect on what worked well for them in that context and what they might do differently in the future. Some good ideas were exchanged about how to integrate what they are doing on their own with what they are doing with their language partners.

E is considering creating a Swahili book discussion group, which I think would be great. Maybe I'll go too!

None of them seem frustrated with their language learning, so I take that as a good sign.  N said she is practicing what she knows more than learning new things, but she seems okay with that.

I wonder if we need a slightly more structured way of reporting on their weekly progress. It feels a little like when I ask my 12-year-old how school was and he just says, "Good" and shrugs.

N and E reported back on the books I loaned them. It sounds like Lingo may not be helpful but the DIY guide might be. L borrowed the latter so I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but based on E's feedback I might incorporate it into the course next time I teach it.

Week two diary

Yesterday we had our second meeting. I gave some updates on what I've added to the course website and told the students about the research I hope to do about the course. I was happy to see that they seemed interested.

We talked about the three readings for this week—a couple of chapters from the Peace Corps book, a couple from Marshall's Whole World Guide to Language Learning, and one from Leaver et al's Achieving success in second language acquisition.  The campus bookstore only had two copies of the Marshall book, so one student (L) didn't have it yet, but the others seemed to find it useful.  I think it will be most useful for those who have a language conversation partner.  I found this other book that would have been good to assign, Individualized Study Plans for Very Advanced Students of Foreign Languages (also by Leaver), but I'm hesitant to assign a lot of reading for the course. E borrowed it, so I will ask her next week if she thinks it would be good to assign next time. If not, maybe I'll just have it put on reserve for those who want to use it.

Mostly we were getting to know each other still, sharing past experiences with language learning.  We had a really good discussion of their draft ISPs. I was surprised to see how different they were from each other in terms of both format and content.  I wonder if it would be better to dictate a specific format or if that individuality is actually positive. It's certainly fitting with the self-directed nature of their language learning. They had lots of good suggestions for one another and were very encouraging.

Next week we'll meet in the library to talk about finding resources!