Linguistic Laziness
I love my students, but some of the classes have to be tricked into trying. Most of the Indonesian English teachers always translate for them, so they’re not used to having to figure out instructions in Bahasa Inggris. Today we were working on listening comprehension using song lyrics. I very unwisely chose the song “Over My Head” by The Fray, which apparently was much too fast for anyone to understand. Nervous they were failing some sort of quiz, the students freaked out and screamed “APA?” (WHAT?) during most of the song. They know English but sometimes they just don’t want to use it, which can be very frustrating. Here’s an example of a dialogue with one especially unwilling class:
Me: OK, please listen to this song and try to understand it. We’re working on listening comprehension.
Students: Apa?
Me: Listening comprehension.
Students: (murmur to each other in Indonesian) Apa?
Me: Are you serious? LISTENING (mime sounds going into my ear)
Students: Ohhhh, mendengarken.
Me: What is menengarken in Bahasa Inggris? Say the word listen.
Students: Apa?
Me: Say what, not apa! Do you understand anything I’m saying?
Students: Yes, of course.
Me: Raise your right hand if you understand what I’m saying.
Five kids raise their hands.
Me: OK, great.
A lot of times they’re just being lazy, and I have proof. After pretending not to understand the word listen, I assumed they wouldn’t know the word disengage.
Me: (very slowly) disengage—do you know the word disengage?
Boy in front: yes, yes, we know
Me: please define it then
Boy in front: separate; not together; no longer engaged.
Me: (incredibly impressed) I cannot believe you just gave three definitions of that word. Gold star for you.
Boy in front: (frightened by his knowledge) Apa?
I switched to Beatles songs and they perked up. They CAN do everything I ask, they just choose not to sometimes. After we had figured out the lyrics to “Hello, Goodbye,” I asked if they wanted to sing the song together (most of them had been singing it anyway). They said no, which was fine, and then someone called my name in the hallway so I left for a second. I think the poor kids though I left because I was mad they wouldn’t sing, because when I came back in a minute later, they broke into a warbling and off-key version of The Beatles, looking at me anxiously. Adorable.
posted by Caitlin @ 12:46 AM
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