WE often turn to textbooks for book knowledge. However, time and again, the burden of carrying textbooks on children’s backs has been discussed and different suggestions made.
Although there are many options, including digital devices, it is even more important to realise that learning can actually be done without books.
For example, language is everywhere. Whether on road signs, billboards, shop and building names, there are sign posts all around us.
Not only are all these examples of living languages which depict a society, they also provide powerful learning opportunities.
Often, public signs give directions or instructions to be followed, or communicate messages.
In a language project at Sultan Qaboos University, instructors have found a novel way of teaching English at the intermediate level.
Teachers created a game in which pictures of different places within the university were shared in the class. Students then discussed what these signs meant, where they may have seen them before and what information they are providing.
Dr Tuzlukova, the principal investigator of this project, said that this was a unique way of attaining two outcomes – firstly, to make students appreciate the fact that language was a living and breathing entity that surrounds us and, secondly, that these signs and posters are all learning opportunities.
In fact, the research of her team discovered more than 250 images in the university campus, all of which had a specific purpose, both outside in public spaces, or inside buildings.
An interesting way to teach language, according to Dr Tuzlukova and her team, is in the form of a scavenger hunt.
Students are asked to explore the building in which they are based and photograph any two signs. Later, in class, they share the photographs with other groups and discuss the meaning, purpose and role of a specific sign.
They also discuss why that particular board was only in Arabic, only in English, or bilingual.
Using this technique of discovering a language landscape has many advantages beyond textbook knowledge. It develops collaborative skills among learners, in addition to problem solving and critical thinking skills as learners learn to navigate between different language contexts.
It also introduces them to larger questions of how and why languages operate in specific ways.
Of course, there are some challenges to teaching language using innovative methods such as these. To begin with, students are usually comfortable with established ways of teaching which consist of passive listening, targeted at a final exam. New teaching experiments may be received sceptically at first.
However, research suggests that students appreciate different learning opportunities, especially when they are combined with group activities that look beyond the classroom.
This is true for young learners at the beginner or intermediate level. For more advanced students, the role that language plays in a community is itself an important lesson.
Learning a language does not have to be monotonous and repetitive. There are many interesting and fun strategies, particularly when they are easily accessible to learners’ immediate vicinity. That we are surrounded by language and its learning potential is itself a valuable lesson for teachers and students alike.
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