Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yeat
William Butler Yeat
Language Teaching and Learning
I have thought about and been fascinated by the process of language acquisition ever since I was a small child making sense of the languages all around me. As a teenager I remember watching and being fascinated by the learning processes in my younger siblings who were being raised bilingual just as I had been. I thought it was fascinating to see how my youngest sister mixed the languages as she was learning and I wondered if I had done similar things as I was learning to speak.
My fascination with languages and the process of language learning made me want to learn many languages. I felt that I needed to learn a difficult language in order to really understand the process of second language acquisition. Being a language teacher was incredibly rewarding because I learned much about the process of learning while trying to help my students learn. One of the most exciting (and challenging) opportunities has been to work on learning Iñupaiq. I have loved learning Iñupiaq for the new way of thinking about things and for the deeper understanding I am gaining of the process of second language acquisition.
I'm currently working on my Ph.D. in applied linguistics (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) with an emphasis on the use of computer assisted technology for teaching and language learning (CALL). I had learned a lot about language revival while working with the Iñupiaq Education department of the North Slope Borough School district, but I have learned even more as I've researched how this is being done in other communities around the world. Having been raised bilingual I understand how much our identities are tied in with the languages we speak. I believe that language loss is painful on an individual and community level and every precaution should be taken to avoid it. Being able to help the Iñupiat people as they work to keep their beloved language strong has been a true privilege.
While working on Iñupaiq language curriculum materials, I designed and developed (along with computer programmer Jon Snelling) the VIVA (Visual Iñupiaq Vocabulary Acquisition/Assessment) program. It is an online program where students can work on receptive language skills (referred to in the program as auditory recognition) of thousands of Iñupiat words and phrases. VIVA is a mastery learning program that guides each student through their language learning by unlocking more difficult levels only when students have mastered easier ones. The program tracks each students' progress and provides teachers with many different types of reports so that they can know what how far each student has progressed in their learning, and group students appropriately when doing classroom activities for developing their productive language skills. I am grateful to the brilliant mind of Jon Snelling, the feedback from the thousands of students that have used the program, and from the Iñupiaq language teachers that have provided valuable feedback for it's development. After seven years of work on this program, I can say it is one of the things that I am the most proud of.
Four years ago I got the opportunity to begin teaching full-time and it has been very exciting to have my own students and get to work with all of the materials I developed over the previous six years. I am teaching one class of Iñupiaq at Kiita High School and two classes of Iñupiaq at Barrow high school. I'm also teaching one class of Spanish and attempting to use as many of the same types of methods and materials developed for the Iñupiaq program to evaluate the difference in the classes. Having taught Spanish for so many years without the advantages of a program such as VIVA, it has been exciting to see the difference in the way the students learn the language and in the additional freedom I have as a teacher. Because the program is designed to work with each learner individually, I can teach a multi-level classroom. This was something I claimed could be done but actually doing it has been one of the most exciting experiences of my career in teaching. I do whole-group language activities that benefit all learners such as singing and playing games or doing activities that give opportunities to practice common vocabulary that I want them all to be very comfortable with. I organize the class for small-group activities based on how far they have progressed in the program.
I had an epiphany during my second year of teaching Iñupiaq when my theory of the multi-level language classroom was tested beyond my wildest imaginings. The community I work in is very small, and as there are no centers or schools with special services for the intellectually disabled, they attend at the regular high school. I have taught mixed grade and ability level groups and I have taught all different age groups from preschool to college, but I had never taught in a class where a student was intellectually disabled to the point that they were at least eight grade levels below the other students. I wasn't sure I was up to this challenge and in fact I am sad to admit that at the time I believed that people with intellectual disabilities, that struggled to be able to speak their first language should not be taught a second one. I thank God that I have had this unique opportunity for learning, as I have completely changed my mind about the intellectually disabled learning a second language. I have gotten to see just how much differentiation can be done through the VIVA program. When I first started working with this specific student he had the vocabulary of a three or four year old but because of speech problems, I had great difficulty understanding him. I created simplified units in the VIVA program and he absolutely loved using the program. Teachers told me that every time he finished his work in other classes or had free time he would choose to work on VIVA. This was all completely unbidden and I figured that he was using the program between 10-30 hours a week. Even though it took him about twenty times longer to master a unit than it would have taken a regular student, he never got bored or quit trying. Within months of beginning to use the VIVA program, all of his teachers began to notice a sharp increase in his communication skills in English. I noticed it too but wasn't sure if I was simply getting better at understanding him. I was able to speak with his speech therapist after he was re-evaluated in the second semester. His speech therapist said that he had been completely shocked at the change in his language abilities and had wondered what might have precipitated it as there had been no change in ability in over four years. One of the special education teachers told me that she had worked with students who had shown a sharp increase in general language ability after learning sign language. My theory is that the additional stimulation to the language centers of the brain when learning a second language improve language ability all-around. I still have this student in my regular high school classes and his enthusiasm for learning is infectious and his perseverance against all odds is inspiring. I'm still learning from him.
My fascination with languages and the process of language learning made me want to learn many languages. I felt that I needed to learn a difficult language in order to really understand the process of second language acquisition. Being a language teacher was incredibly rewarding because I learned much about the process of learning while trying to help my students learn. One of the most exciting (and challenging) opportunities has been to work on learning Iñupaiq. I have loved learning Iñupiaq for the new way of thinking about things and for the deeper understanding I am gaining of the process of second language acquisition.
I'm currently working on my Ph.D. in applied linguistics (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) with an emphasis on the use of computer assisted technology for teaching and language learning (CALL). I had learned a lot about language revival while working with the Iñupiaq Education department of the North Slope Borough School district, but I have learned even more as I've researched how this is being done in other communities around the world. Having been raised bilingual I understand how much our identities are tied in with the languages we speak. I believe that language loss is painful on an individual and community level and every precaution should be taken to avoid it. Being able to help the Iñupiat people as they work to keep their beloved language strong has been a true privilege.
While working on Iñupaiq language curriculum materials, I designed and developed (along with computer programmer Jon Snelling) the VIVA (Visual Iñupiaq Vocabulary Acquisition/Assessment) program. It is an online program where students can work on receptive language skills (referred to in the program as auditory recognition) of thousands of Iñupiat words and phrases. VIVA is a mastery learning program that guides each student through their language learning by unlocking more difficult levels only when students have mastered easier ones. The program tracks each students' progress and provides teachers with many different types of reports so that they can know what how far each student has progressed in their learning, and group students appropriately when doing classroom activities for developing their productive language skills. I am grateful to the brilliant mind of Jon Snelling, the feedback from the thousands of students that have used the program, and from the Iñupiaq language teachers that have provided valuable feedback for it's development. After seven years of work on this program, I can say it is one of the things that I am the most proud of.
Four years ago I got the opportunity to begin teaching full-time and it has been very exciting to have my own students and get to work with all of the materials I developed over the previous six years. I am teaching one class of Iñupiaq at Kiita High School and two classes of Iñupiaq at Barrow high school. I'm also teaching one class of Spanish and attempting to use as many of the same types of methods and materials developed for the Iñupiaq program to evaluate the difference in the classes. Having taught Spanish for so many years without the advantages of a program such as VIVA, it has been exciting to see the difference in the way the students learn the language and in the additional freedom I have as a teacher. Because the program is designed to work with each learner individually, I can teach a multi-level classroom. This was something I claimed could be done but actually doing it has been one of the most exciting experiences of my career in teaching. I do whole-group language activities that benefit all learners such as singing and playing games or doing activities that give opportunities to practice common vocabulary that I want them all to be very comfortable with. I organize the class for small-group activities based on how far they have progressed in the program.
I had an epiphany during my second year of teaching Iñupiaq when my theory of the multi-level language classroom was tested beyond my wildest imaginings. The community I work in is very small, and as there are no centers or schools with special services for the intellectually disabled, they attend at the regular high school. I have taught mixed grade and ability level groups and I have taught all different age groups from preschool to college, but I had never taught in a class where a student was intellectually disabled to the point that they were at least eight grade levels below the other students. I wasn't sure I was up to this challenge and in fact I am sad to admit that at the time I believed that people with intellectual disabilities, that struggled to be able to speak their first language should not be taught a second one. I thank God that I have had this unique opportunity for learning, as I have completely changed my mind about the intellectually disabled learning a second language. I have gotten to see just how much differentiation can be done through the VIVA program. When I first started working with this specific student he had the vocabulary of a three or four year old but because of speech problems, I had great difficulty understanding him. I created simplified units in the VIVA program and he absolutely loved using the program. Teachers told me that every time he finished his work in other classes or had free time he would choose to work on VIVA. This was all completely unbidden and I figured that he was using the program between 10-30 hours a week. Even though it took him about twenty times longer to master a unit than it would have taken a regular student, he never got bored or quit trying. Within months of beginning to use the VIVA program, all of his teachers began to notice a sharp increase in his communication skills in English. I noticed it too but wasn't sure if I was simply getting better at understanding him. I was able to speak with his speech therapist after he was re-evaluated in the second semester. His speech therapist said that he had been completely shocked at the change in his language abilities and had wondered what might have precipitated it as there had been no change in ability in over four years. One of the special education teachers told me that she had worked with students who had shown a sharp increase in general language ability after learning sign language. My theory is that the additional stimulation to the language centers of the brain when learning a second language improve language ability all-around. I still have this student in my regular high school classes and his enthusiasm for learning is infectious and his perseverance against all odds is inspiring. I'm still learning from him.