It is too easy to fall victim to assumptions. And of course we do, because that is how our mind works. We categorize, we predict, we assume -- that is, we draw on previous experiences when trying to decode the signs of the present situation. Many times it works just fine. For example, if you expect to teach a class that is composed of older people, you will be most probably right about not beginning with a Lady Gaga song. Or, if you are preparing to teach presentation skills to young adults, it is not a long shot to assume they might be interested, in one way or another, in the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs's famous talk.
In other cases, however, you can be seriously misled. Take the following situation for example. I was contacted by a young adult who just passed an intermediate (B2) exam. She wanted to "just keep up" and practice communication. So, I'm preparing for the first class: interesting article from an online magazine, a funny talk from TED, and some discussion tasks. How unprepared I had been for what was to come! She froze after each of my questions (type, How are you? or What do you think about it?) and had to pause and stare at me for 5-6 seconds to start producing an answer. There's no problem with having to stop to think, but B2 in my experience was a good conversational level, so initially I was clueless why she was staring at me instead of answering the most obvious questions. You could think it was just the initial excitement blocking her. Well, the performance didn't improve much. After a while, though, I realized what lay beneath. Funnily, she was perfect at grammar, at least in theory, and it came to me that it was just the lack of exposure to the language that had prevented her from putting this all into practice and confident, real competence.
Of course it makes you wonder about the efficiency and trustworthiness of language exams.
In other cases, however, you can be seriously misled. Take the following situation for example. I was contacted by a young adult who just passed an intermediate (B2) exam. She wanted to "just keep up" and practice communication. So, I'm preparing for the first class: interesting article from an online magazine, a funny talk from TED, and some discussion tasks. How unprepared I had been for what was to come! She froze after each of my questions (type, How are you? or What do you think about it?) and had to pause and stare at me for 5-6 seconds to start producing an answer. There's no problem with having to stop to think, but B2 in my experience was a good conversational level, so initially I was clueless why she was staring at me instead of answering the most obvious questions. You could think it was just the initial excitement blocking her. Well, the performance didn't improve much. After a while, though, I realized what lay beneath. Funnily, she was perfect at grammar, at least in theory, and it came to me that it was just the lack of exposure to the language that had prevented her from putting this all into practice and confident, real competence.
Of course it makes you wonder about the efficiency and trustworthiness of language exams.
No comments:
Post a Comment