Getting over the foreign “atmosfear”- a first hand experience with full immersion
Tuesday, 11th May 2010
“Help, I don’t understand my teacher!” - Something we hear quite often in the Cactus office. One of the most common fears of our students is that they feel completely out of depth when learning a new language.
Cactus’ methodology is “Full Immersion” rather than the traditional way where the target language is just the subject material of the class. Many people don’t understand this and wonder:
“Why doesn’t my teacher speak any English?”
Being taught in your target language is used as a teaching tool. At Cactus, myself and a few colleagues were immersed in an academic experiment where we had the chance to be taught by one of our most popular and experienced Japanese teachers, Rinko Sakuma.
As we entered the class, Rinko immediately started teaching Japanese, even in very subtle ways. For example, she counted to 4, before we were asked to repeat anything in Japanese, thus, numerals were mixed into the equation. This meant that we learnt even more than we thought we would.
Another impressive aspect of Rinko’s class was that we automatically felt like we were in a classroom in Tokyo (Tōkyō-to), where our cultural sensitivities were heightened and we became aware of her 4- finger pointing (with an upwards facing palm), her bowing, smiling and encouraging nature.
As Rinko is most definitely an experienced and qualified Japanese teacher with more than 8 years of teaching under her belt, it was clear that these habits and customs weren’t developed through teaching, but rather through her Japanese upbringing and cultural background.
Our class had a foreign atmos-fear and the most immediate of which was that we couldn’t do it! Self-doubt and humoristic self-mocking set in, especially as we didn’t know or understand what we were being taught. All we were asked to do was repeat- individually then as a group. In between we were looking at images all tied together by a common denominator- “How to introduce yourself in Japanese”.
Initially I felt that if I had asked Rinko what everything meant (AKA- to translate), my question would interrupt the class dynamic.
“Patience…, be open …you’re learning something new here…just go with it”- I repeated to myself along with the new vocabulary of the lesson.
After, I found that this fear and self-doubt prevented me from getting the full benefit of a “full immersion experience”. Before submitting myself to the Cactus experiment, I really didn’t quite understand the whole “Immersion concept”. However, when you step out of the comfort zone, you can be very surprised with the findings. I was…
Finding No.1- I can now, count to 5, write 12 characters and pronounce their sounds, introduce myself and tell people where I come from. All in just one 1-hour lesson.
Let me be honest, I don’t remember everything off hand, but I did learn something completely new and if I were in Japan right now, I would probably be able to introduce myself, or at least understand when somebody else does.
Finding No. 2- My “control freakiness’” extends to my language learning abilities as well! I should really just learn to let go and trust my teacher…
Towards the end of Rinko’s class she showed us a few flash cards, with the phrases we had repeated beforehand, written down in Japanese. Through repetition and visual stimulus, seeing the words written down put the last piece of the puzzle into place.
What an experience!
The best part of which was that not once was I made to feel like a nincompoop by the teacher, but rather with her encouraging “try –it-again-you-can-do-it”-smile, I realized I could in fact do it. It was me putting my own barriers in place, which prolonged achieving a very simple goal, which was to introduce myself in Japanese.
“Full immersion will allow you to achieve proficiency in passive skills (listening and reading), and equally allow you to actively participate in class whilst getting a good understanding and appreciation of other cultures.
As a result of this, you won’t know that you do know how to speak the target language. No formulas, conjugations or structures will be floating around in your brain, you won’t need to over-contemplate and analyze, but rather you will instinctively know how to respond in a real foreign environment.
As Francis Bacon said: “Knowledge is power”- When we try to understand the concept of immersion, we empower ourselves to make better choices regarding language learning, we can be better prepared and also achieve our goals at a quicker pace.
Some more advantages of full immersion:
Being forced to speak
Doing without thinking
Not resorting back to English
More conversational
More natural
It’s an automatic process
Enhanced memory
Increased confidence over time
Cactus offers several types of language training options that all promote the immersion-method of learning. Anyone looking to learn a language as part of their weekly routine can opt for an evening language course at one of our many UK and US centres, anyone looking to go away to boost their language skills can attend a language course abroad, and people with more specialist requirements for their language learning can investigate tailor-made language training.
Tags: phrases, language learning, language, cactus, learning, culture, spanish, english
Posted by Nadine Burzler 2010-05 under Attitudes to Language Learning,
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