Reflections on Education

In the mood for learning...

If we close our eyes and recall some moments from our childhood, it is very likely that we will realise that our memory is selective and feelings play an important role as filters. We normally remember more those things that were linked to emotionally meaningful moments. Don't we?

Emotions and memory are related to each other. Hence, learning and emotions should also have a link. Well, yes, they do. Indeed, having fun is not just a matter of keeping students motivated and engaged. Studies have shown that fun is inversely proportional to anxiety (see for instance, Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). Anxiety prevents learning, fun prevents anxiety, so fun helps to learn.

As one of the best pedagogues of all times used to say:

"In every job that must be done

There is an element of fun

You find the fun and snap!

The job's a game

And every task you undertake

Becomes a piece of cake

A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see that

A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"

Mary Poppins (1964)

Dewaele, J. M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in second language learning and teaching, 4(2).

Poppins, M. (1964). Spoonful of sugar. California: Universal Pictures.

Ears, brain, languages and culture

It is widely known that practice makes perfect. I often hear foreign language students talking about the difficulties of understanding a foreign language speaker. In most of the cases the problem is that real foreign language sounds do not match the sounds they have in their mother tongue minds. Seems that we listen and understand the world from our mother language filter, and the proof is in the pudding!

Onomatopoeia are different in each language. However, it makes sense to think that dogs bark exactly in the same way in Spain and in Ireland. I guess the same happens with roosters and people knocking on doors. However, roof roof sounds guau guau, Cock-A-Doodle-Doo sounds quiquiriquí and knock-knock is toc-toc in Spanish.We, obviously, interpret sounds differently because our brains are trained to recognise better some types of sounds than others; those sounds which are more familiar as they belong to our native language.

The Ground Floor Effect

The concept "cultural awareness" is something we crash against when we start getting interested in intercultural issues. We then realise that cultural awareness is a result of stirring (not shaking*) interaction with new cultures and cultural differences.

We need other cultures to develop cultural awareness of our own culture, like fish need to get out of the water to realise they live surrounded by water. Culture is for us like water for fish. We live surrounded by it, immersed up to the point we cannot see it nor feel it until something happens, until our "normal" is shaken by a new and diverse cultural element. What I call, the ground floor effect. I named it after a cultural shock I had. It was the first time I tried to get to a classroom in a foreign country. According to the map the classroom was on the second floor but when I took the lift and pressed the 2nd floor button (British system) it brought me to the first floor because in that country they follow the American system. Their first floor was my culturally agreed ground floor .

I got lost (and a little annoyed) and thought "they could warn foreigners about this American system... " but then I realise nobody warns foreigners in my country either. We don't explain that we follow the British system. There are no signs in the buildings saying: Watch out!Your first floor is our ground floor and our first floor is your second floor! We are just not culturally aware of this difference so we cannot be more culturally helpful towards foreigners.

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