As activities coordinator for our international students at WAL who are learning English as a Second Language, I have a lot of fun. Plus, a lot of “on the job” adventures to share. Let me tell you about one…

A few weeks ago, a small group of students and I went to Seattle Premier Outlets in Tulalip, WA, We wanted to experience American bargain shopping at its best! The one problem: this trip required taking 3 buses from downtown Seattle! For anyone who has spent much time in Seattle, you know how treacherous this can be.

First, we took Sound Transit #510 to Everett. That was fine – until a passenger heard a strange sound… it was a nearly flat tire! So, the bus driver called a new bus for us. Unfortunately, we missed our connecting bus at the Everett Transit Center.

At the Center, we waited for Community Transit #201. During this time, a young fellow had asked us if we had a quarter to spare. Having lived all my life in the city, my immediate response was “sorry – no.” Soon, I noticed him talking to one of our students. I assumed for the same thing – and I saw him go on to other bus riders at the station.

This fellow came back and began to speak in an agitated tone to another unwary student of ours. He said he didn’t need our “?%&! money” anyway! Being the mother hen I am, I approached the two and was immediately given a loud earful of swear words and names by this fellow for butting in. Once I said the students were with me and that I’m responsible for them, the fellow eventually walked away.

Our bus finally came and we made it to Marysville. We had time to spare, so we took photos and ordered teriyaki to go to save (shopping) time for later. We came back to catch Community Transit #221, but it never came. Who knew that these buses are allowed be 5 minutes early? That’s what the Community Transit operator on the phone told me… So, we missed ANOTHER BUS!

Finally, we got to the outlets. But our bus stop was about a half-mile away, next to the casino! In the end, we survived. We were happy with our purchases. Now that surely was a “bus adventure to somewhere.”

Please share any stories like this in the comments.

The Force of Silence

Originally uploaded by amaroak – quite a life

Our mission at WAL is to facilitate cross-cultural communication. But is all communication achieved through speech? No, people communicate through silence as well as spoken language. It is a way to express oneself non-verbally and it can be very powerful.

Different cultures understand silence in different ways. In Western and Middle Eastern cultures, people tend to be uncomfortable with longer silences and may even view extended silence as asocial or anti-social.

Contrarily, in many eastern and Native American cultures, longer silences are the norm and carry positive connotations of respectfulness, discretion or truthfulness. Negative connotations such as embarrassment or defiance are also possible. I once had a Japanese student who found her employer to be demeaning. At the time, she could not quit work, so she handled the situation by refusing to speak at all until she was able to leave the job six months later.

While a Westerner starts to feel discomfort after 6 or 7 seconds of silence, a Japanese speaker may be quite comfortable after 20 seconds. As a result, the length of silent periods may cause someone outside of the culture to misinterpret what is occurring. For example, a Western teacher may infer that their Asian student doesn’t know the answer or is not willing to speak. A Japanese speaker, on the other hand, may find a western speaker rude or foolish when they jump into commenting without much pause.

Silence can speak volumes, so they say…

Close up of The Thinker

Originally uploaded by marttj

What have I learned about second language acquisition?

1. That it is systematic, rule-governed and yet it is a creative process of discovery.
2. It involves acting on received language input by trying to make responses and by making plenty of mistakes in the new language.
3. It involves interacting with others and using language as a tool for differing purposes.
4. Learning is accomplished by people with different personalities and different learning styles.
5. It takes time.

A classroom should be a rich environment providing for a variety of experiences. Each learner has to be encouraged to use his/her languages in new ways. Each student needs to speak with peers and instructors should recognize and respect individual differences.

The learner must take risks. Risk taking is essential in second language learning. It can be a little scary but risk taking was the way each of us acquired our first language. Social interaction and cultural understandings are essential to learning a language as well. Learning a language is a wonderful mind altering experience which lasts much longer than any artificial mind altering experience.

At WAL we accommodate diverse learning styles within the context of our semi-intensive language program.