I was recently asked by a friend and colleague I've known for over 15 years... Jack Scholes... to write a review of his latest book aimed at helping the Brazilian worker in different service sectors in Brazil to acquire the basic 'survival English' required to 'get by' in their jobs when foreigners who speak English appear before them.
Here's the review itself, if you're interested... but then I have a story to tell you below.
Pedro is a smart guy. He has managed to pay for his daughters' education and buy his own house all through his work as a taxi driver over the past 25 years (in Brasilia). He's also fully aware of the importance of giving good customer service as well as being polite, punctual, professional and pleasant (the 4 Ps???).
In his taxi you will never hear unwanted musical styles, loud conversations on his mobile as he drives or any kind of negative comment or complaint that could make a passenger uncomfortable (unlike some taxi drivers I've come across in my time, believe me!). He even has a machine enabling him to accept credit cards, making life easier for clients and broadening the market he is able to captivate through providing excellent service.
So, what's missing? And what's this got to do with Jack Schole's book, called "Inglês Rápido"? Well, our friend Pedro doesn't speak A WORD of English... despite regularly picking-up foreign diplomats and tourists at Brasilia airport, Ministries and hotels etc. He WANTS to learn English, or so he says, but just doesn't have the time.
So when I presented him with the book mentioned above, feeling pleased with myself as one sometimes does when practicing a 'good deed'... I was sure he would be dipping into the book during his long waits in the line of taxis at the airport, practicing new words and phrases with me during our frequent taxi rides together (at least twice a week!) and that he'd soon be telling me what a difference my gift had made to his life and the short but effective exchanges he'd be having with other foreign clients who perhaps didn't speak any Portuguese... Right?
..
Wrong!
Every time I inquired hopefully about his progress with the book... he'd say the same thing... "Ah, doutor... tive tempo não, ô?" (for non-lusophones, that's something like "Ah, sir... I couldn't find the time, see?".
Was it really a lack of time? I don't think so... As I said before, he has long waits between fares at the airport almost every day... but when I asked what made it so hard to get started, he said that he didn't feel motivated to learn English, although he knew he SHOULD... He preferred to chat to his friends, fellow taxi drivers... and that when he picked up foreigners, they'd usually have an address written down, which they'd show him, or the name of a hotel which he could recognise, even when mispronounced...
So I wonder... is English for everyone? Could we be overplaying the importance of learning English for some people? I don't think so!! I happen to believe that there are a number of benefits to learning another language, at any stage in life, that go beyond mere functionality or 'getting a job done'. Take a look at some of the reasons mentioned on these links:
http://www.omniglot.com/language/why.htm
http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/07/26/50-reasons-you-should-learn-a-new-language/
http://www.adviceforyou.org.uk/blog/studying-foreign-languages/10-good-reasons-to-learn-a-foreign-language/
http://www.cla.auburn.edu/forlang/resources/twenty-five-reasons/
To close this post then... What have you found (as either a teacher of English or a learner of any foreign language) to be the most important reasons for making this 'strategic investment' of effort (and time and money!), beyond the use of English for Work? How can we best get this message across to people who can't seem to find that 'inner will' to learn English?
G.
In my case, an inner passion for learning languages that started in my early childhood.
ResponderExcluirLovely story, Graeme, showing that not everyone will have the drive to learn another language.
Thanks for your welcome comment, Carla... I also share your passion for languages. I remember when I was about 3 years old (or maybe it's a reconstructed memory having been told this story so many times as a child)... my mother taught me a few words of French and German then recorded me saying them on one of those ancient spool tape recorders... not even cassette at that time! This was about 1975! Every since childhood I've been fascinated by language and over the years (especially my teenage years) attempted to learn Japanese, Dutch and Mandarin, in addition to studying French at school and acquiring Spanish after I started travelling extensively throughout Latin America. Reading Latin American literature in Spanish also helped develop my grammar and vocabulary... and I'm sure all those nights spent dancing salsa in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Argentina and elswhere couldn't have hurt either! LOL
ResponderExcluirHi,
ResponderExcluirIn a way I can relate to this post as I have a sort of similar attitude to learning Spanish as your taxi driver has to learning English. I had no problem whatsoever learning French, but when it came to Spanish, the will simply wasn't there. You see, I can always rely on my English to help me out in any Spanish speaking country and use my Portuguese to provide back-up support. I have even resorted to French in Spain when I couldn't make myself understood in English. I tell myself that because I live in South America it is sort of an obligation to learn Spanish. So I have tried to feel happier with Spanish by watching films and making myself read articles etc. This actually isn't a problem. My problem lies specifically with the speaking of Spanish and a sort of block that arises when I hear it being spoken and I simply can't get a word that is being said. So, coming abck to your question: is English for everyone? Well, whilst as an ELT professional I would love to say yes and truly believe in this, as a mere mortal non-speaker of Spanish I would have to say "no", not all languages are for everyone. I think there needs to be an empathetic understanding and love for the target language before you get even close to wanting to learn it. But this is my very personal way of looking at this issue. Who knows, I might find out that one day my need to learn Spanish may be greater than my resistance to it.
Valéria
Thanks for your insights, Valeria. I guess when we realize not everybody is ready for English that takes a little of the pressure off the teacher. What if somebody told you they'd read a life-changing book in Spanish that you would love? Would you give it a go?
ExcluirGraeme, talvez por vir de outro país e outra cultura, existem alguns dados históricos sobre o Brasil que talvez te façam repensar algumas colocações.
ResponderExcluir1) Taxistas no Brasil nem sempre são (suficientemente) adequados para ler um livro, muito menos em inglês.
2) Taxistas no Brasil não são necessariamente ricos. Muito pelo contrário: costumam ser oriundos das classes oprimidas/exploradas/subalternas. Para você ter uma ideia, eles não são pessoas que ganhem bem o suficiente para andar de táxi duas vezes por semana. Geralmente trabalham em longos plantões exaustivos para garantir o próprio sustento (ou o da família, pois nosso machismo ainda coloca os maiores pagamentos e responsabilidades sobre os homens). Talvez ele realmente não tivesse tempo. Quando você insinua que ele mente, na realidade naturaliza determinadas condições de trabalho que são estabelecidas por uma determinada classe para explorar a outra. Talvez isso não aconteça no seu país, mas aqui no Brasil é muito comum.
3) Essa naturalização e o consequente -- considerado possível pela sua argumentação ainda que você alegue não concordar com ele -- não aprendizado de inglês pelos taxistas (e outras categorias que frequentemente sofrem os mesmos impedimentos acima relatados) apenas ratificaria e manteria a exclusão daqueles que ao longo de nossa história se encontram privados de direitos básicos.
Obrigado pela sua importante reflexão, js. Claro que nao se pode generalizar e por isso nao estava fslando de taxistas de modo geral e sim de um indivíduo específico. O Pedro possui alguns imoveis, vários carros (até já me emprestou um quando meu estava na oficina!) e já viajou de avião para passar férias no Nordeste.. Foi ele mesmo que me disse depois que prefere passar o tempo conversando com os colegas enquanto passa horas esperando a vez dele, Mas ele é muito trabalhador sim. Quanto ao outro pinti sobre o sistema de classes, ele recebe R$120 para cada viagem comigo, já que moro longe do aeroporto, e gasta cerca de 35 minutos para fazer o percurso. Felizmente não sou eu qye pago, pois viajo só a trabslho, mas ele não se sente 'explorado', te garanto. Como educador, busco possibilitar justamente esta inclusão social a qual mencionou, através do acesso ao inglês.
Excluir*pinti = ponto
ExcluirGraeme before anything, congratulations on your new blog. I'm sure I am going to enjoy reading every post of yours.
ResponderExcluirI totally agree with the saying that you can take the horse there, but you can't force it to drink the water. Your story ilustrates it really well. For a person whose job never really required him to communicate with foreigners, learning another language doesn't really seem worth spending the time on. I have been wondering lately if this need to learn English is really real and for who. I take my own children for instance. My son who is 20 and was born in England and his father is British. He also has family in Egypt... people who by the way don't speak Portuguese or English. So, a need to speak Arabic? And how about English, so he could speak to his own father? His father never cared to learn Portuguese and Sean used to say that he couldn't understand why he was the one that needed to keep up with a language that most people (almost everyone apart from me and his stepfather) couldn't speak. So in his teens, he continued to arguing against it. Then, he realised he should get back to English practice because in the near future he would need it for work. At the age of 16 he got into technical course, computer programming. Many people in the field learn the computer language without bothering learning it for communication, so again he didn't see the point of getting back to English. When he visited Egypt couple of years ago, I was so worried that he wouldn't be able to communicate at all with his dad and family. But guess what? He did. Not perfectly and he didn't care. Did he come back to Brazil all excited about going back to school or starting one-2-one classes with me? Not at all. Nowadays he communicates a bit in English with his little brother who loves the sound of languages and is bilingual (English/Portuguese). But this is just for the fun of watching Emanuel speaking in English. It is sweet. Otherwise SEan doesn't really bother. I wonder though if one day he will change his mind or something will click inside him and unlock the language he beautifully spoke when he was 3.
thanks for a lovely post.
Thanks so much for sharing, Rose. On the topic of kids, my eldest (who is almost 19) speaks fluently (about C1/C2 level on tge Common European Framework of Reference) despite our never having spoken English at home. He had private lessons here in Brazil and practiced during trips to the U.K. My other three kids (aged 8, 4 and 2) are not yet English speakers, as they would be if English were spoken at home, but it just doesn't feel natural to force English on them when I have always spoken only Portuguese with their mother.
ResponderExcluirThanks so much for sharing, Rose. On the topic of kids, my eldest (who is almost 19) speaks fluently (about C1/C2 level on tge Common European Framework of Reference) despite our never having spoken English at home. He had private lessons here in Brazil and practiced during trips to the U.K. My other three kids (aged 8, 4 and 2) are not yet English speakers, as they would be if English were spoken at home, but it just doesn't feel natural to force English on them when I have always spoken only Portuguese with their mother.
ResponderExcluirHi, Graeme. Great post and discussion. If learning a language did not require such an investment of time and other resources, if it produced quick results, more people would do it, right? However, when someone has not had the incentive, the support, the exposure, and the encouragement to do so from an early, formative point in their lives, it becomes an abstract aspiration, which in most cases never gets turned into reality. It becomes something like wanting to be in shape, live healthily, lose weight, or change some other type of deeply ingrained habit/behavior. It is like an illiterate person thinking that they should learn how to read and write, but if they have already lived a whole life without it, and have adjusted to that life without reading and writing (for better or for worse), it is hard for them to concretely see that the benefits of learning are worth the trouble of changing. I have met countless immigrants in the US (as an ESL teacher) who go through the same dilemma. In some cases they have lived decades in the US, always saying that learning English is a priority for them, but have in fact not invested in actually mastering the language (or not done so consistently enough) because they are too busy living the lives they can live in the US without English.
ResponderExcluirIndeed... too right! Thanks for bringing the ESL perspective to this discussion. It always seems strange that people would be content to live for years in a foreign country without learning the language, but then I've come across 'gringos' in Brazil who are like that, with next to no Portuguese... or almost incomprehensible pronunciation thereof. These are usually people who are married to English-speaking spouses who act as translators-interpreters for them, but still... I wouldn't want to be that dependent on someone else! In terms of teacher recruitment by schools in Brazil, your comment about people living in the US (or UK, for that matter)without learning English is an important reminder that having spent 'time abroad'... even years... is far from 'proof' that an individual has a good command of the language, and some kind of language assessment should always be built into recruitment procedures, particularly when there are no paper qualifications (e.g. Michigan, Cambridge ESOL) to back up claims of 'fluency'. Of course, this is less of a problem for schools where the interviewer will immediately pick up on any language issues in a prospective teacher, but not so easy for regular employers in the business world who may not have proficient English themselves and may be induced into thinking that it's enough that the candidate lived overseas for 6 months, to make them the English-speaking voice of that company or department, with foreign suppliers, clients, even governments! Employers, be warned!
ResponderExcluir