Friday, December 9, 2022

From the sidelines

A few days ago, I was at the barber’s for a hair-cut. When I entered the narrow, air-conditioned salon, a programme had been on on a Telugu TV channel. It was a musical show on which different groups of young people were presenting a series of music-cum-dance performances, and the competition was being judged by a panel of judges consisting of a Tollywood star of yesteryear, a music director, and two playback singers. The show was being anchored by a pretty young girl in bridal outfit. All the eyes inside the salon were fixed on the TV screen. The three barbers were no exception: they managed the cutting and the shaving with one eye firmly fixed on the TV screen and another eye on the head or the chin where the hands were dexterously at work. Time and again, the anchor, the participants, and the judges were screaming out exciting exclamations in half-Telugu-half-English, and this provoked giggling inside the salon.

All of a sudden, the anchor screamed, ‘Come on, guys, time is running out.’

I asked my barber, ‘Ammayi cheppindi meekku ardhamayinda?’

‘Emi cheppindi, saar?’

‘Time is running out.’

‘Ante, time ayipoyindi katha?’

‘Ayipoyindi kathu; ayipovuthunnadi.’

‘Time’s running out. Cheppu,’ I said.

My barber is not the type that would take shelter from a rain in a school. He may have been “conscripted” into a Telugu medium school for a couple of years, but the school itself and the English language would have been poles apart. With some difficulty, he said, ‘Time’s running out.’

The programme progressed. The anchor, the actress and the participants kept squealing with excitement, either individually or all of them at the same time, and this generated quite a lot of English expressions. I noticed a perceptible change in the barber’s behaviour now: he seemed to be listening carefully rather than casually, as he had been earlier.

All of a sudden, the anchor screamed, ‘”Oh” momentnurchi ippudu manam “wow” momentkku vochamu!’

Now, the barber asked me, ‘Sir, “wow” ante enti?’

‘Oh” kooda annaru katha? Adu meeku ardhamayinda?

He gave a sheepish smile.

I said, ‘oh ante ascharyam.’

‘Wow ante?’

‘Wow ante chala ascharyam

The first round of presentations in the series was perhaps the “oh” moment for the anchor. They were in the last round now, and the sense of surprise, from the anchor’s point of view, had reached a crescendo. Hence her description of it as the “wow” moment.

Film-based dance-and-music shows of this kind take place almost every day on television channels, and they are keenly watched by young people like my barber. But, hereafter, when he watches these programmes, he will do so with yet another purpose added to his watching: he will not let go of the English-language expressions in the exclamations being screamed out without thinking about them and making sense of them because his attention has been focused on this particular aspect. And, given this attention, he will have little difficulty in understanding those expressions in their context. In other words, what I did with the barber was consciousness-raising, and I believe this works eminently in adult language learning.

Perhaps the basic principles that operate in the barber situation should be the guiding principles behind our instructional efforts on a foreign language programme meant for adult learners – namely, motivation, consciousness-raising, a certain amount of teaching followed by practice, with the rest of the responsibility for pursuing and consolidating their learning in an ongoing way -- throughout their lives – being left to the individual learners.

 

8 comments:

  1. Sir, you had a fruitful discussion with barber. Indeed he is very much interested to watch the TV though he couldn't understand some expressions. You made him to start keen observation that leads learning language consciously. There are several shows that the TV channels have played which attracts youth easily. If they pay attention to the language expressions they will learn some communicative functions and vocabulary. For instance the questions ('Oh' and 'Wow') asked by barber revealed the clarity over exclamations. Your constant observation gave insights to second language teaching and learning. The TV anchor used funny expressions along with the judges in the music-cum-dance show can easily attract the youngsters. If they may observe the vocabulary and pronunciation they will try to imitate. the result is very less because they watched only for fun. Nevertheless, my son who is studying LKG more interested to watch kids channels in English. He started speaking a few English words(Carpenter, thief, doctor, police, lawyer...….) perhaps what you said is correct that the conscious learning through motivation can work wonders. I used to watch Tom and Jerry in the cartoon network but it has no dialogues.
    So it is very important to choose some innovative methods to teach English to the adults so that they not only watch the shows for entertainment but also for the language acquisition. Fear of making mistakes during the imitation abolished through this fun way of language learning, another example I would like to share that the primary school children used the Telugu letters after the English words, 'na', 'kada', 'avuna' and so on. Initially those things are accepted but ultimately they started not using those expressions when they finished their schooling.
    thus, what we do? in part we allow the teachers in some extent to discuss the language with students in the lines of your experience with barber. of course the teacher need some practice, the remaining part is dependent upon learner (student).

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  2. Dear Sir,
    For me this is not just an attempt to “theorize” from a barbershop experience. This blog post gave me many insightful ideas. Firstly, the way that you narrated the experience created humor and laughter. I laughed at my contentment. (“All the eyes inside the salon were fixed on the TV screen. The three barbers were no exception: they managed the cutting and the shaving with one eye firmly fixed on the TV screen and another eye on the head or the chin where the hands were dexterously at work.”) Even the entire conversation between you and the barber is humorous, if one understands it in depth.
    Secondly, the narration created so much scope to language learning. Eg: narrating an experience, usage of expressions like “conscripted”, squealing with excitement, sheepish smile and many more.
    Thirdly, the conversation shows how you are so friendly and enjoy little things in your life.
    Finally and mainly this ‘barbershop experience’ gave me clear idea on how to make students learning English language. It also provided some insights about how a language teacher can make a common place into language learning and teaching laboratory.
    By asking the meaning of the statement used by the anchor “Come on, guys, time is running out”, you created interest in the barber. Subsequently, the barber got interest in learning the meaning of English words that are used by the anchor. He asked what do the words “Oh” and “Wow” mean? The answers that you gave (‘oh ante ascharyam.’ and ‘Wow ante chala ascharyam) created interest in the barber in learning language.
    I think that the barber definitely will not let go of the English-language expressions. I believe that the meaning of the words ‘Oh’ and ‘Wow’ imprinted in his mind in such a way that he will not forget in his life.
    Definitely, we shall think about our day to day conversations with our students in the classrooms and on the campus and try to impart language skills in them.

    Thank you very much Sir for sharing this blog post.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Nagaraju. What do you think about the use of the mother tongue in this situation?

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  3. Dear sir,
    Delighted to listen to an interesting account of how people learn language unconsciously through entertainment. I feel the media is also contributing a lot in learning language these days. Of course, we as teachers, suggest number of times to students to use media as a resource to enhance their language skills, very few seemed to be following our suggestions.
    You have made a very good observation that the barber was able to understand certain English phrases such as ‘Time is running out’. I appreciate your strategy by making him to be more conscious while the interaction was going on. Your keen observation and suggestions will certainly help motivate our students. Thank you, sir

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  4. Dear Sir

    It was a delight to read your blog post because it contains a valuable lesson. I find your approach to the barber to be very interesting. You turned the casual conversation into a productive one when you started asking him the meanings of certain common expressions like ‘time is running out’, ‘wow’ etc. Further, the situation was ingenious because you provided feedback, the barber accepted it, and he asked you to answer a couple more questions.

    The "Consciousness-raising" approach you used in this situation was worthwhile. It is unequivocally rewarding because the barber wouldn’t let go of the English-language expressions in vain the next time he watches something on television. And, overcome the difficulty in understanding such expressions when used in context.

    Next, this post helped me understand how the technique (Consciousness-raising) could motivate any learner to focus, think, and communicate, and also pay attention to the properties of the target language. I think, we teachers could also succeed in making our students use their mental competencies to focus on and understand certain phrases and expressions by applying this strategy to some of our classroom activities.

    Many thanks to you for educating us with such knowledge.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Raj Kiran, for your thoughtful comments.

      For a sensitive English teacher in a country like India, there are potential English language teaching and learning situations wherever s/he goes, whether the place is a barbershop or one where footwear is mended. In my first year in Vijayawada, I had an interesting conversation with a cobbler. The active vocabulary of these skilled labourers who haven’t had any formal education in English – or even in the mother tongue – consists of many English expressions, and, if only we are ready to engage them in a conversation consisting of those words, we can help them learn new words in a playful way.

      I believe that teaching works when the teacher asks questions that awaken the desire to learn in the learner. My experiments with reflective practice at Loyola and SRGEC were based on this belief.

      Do you know what (or who) made me see this? Not the books on ELT I have read, not even the ELT courses at the CIEFL. It was Oscar Wilde. In my formative years at Madras Christian College, I was almost alone in the afternoons, reading Oscar Wilde in Miller Library. Among the other gems, I came across this: “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught.”

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