Building Nests in Our Classrooms

Ana Maria F. Barcelos, Brazil

Ana Maria F. Barcelos is a teacher of Applied Linguistics and English at Universidade Federal de Viçosa in Brazil. She is interested in beliefs about language learning and teaching. She has co-edited Beliefs about SLA: new research approaches with Paula Kalaja published by Kluwer/Sringer. Email: anamfb@ufv.br

Rubem Alves is one of my favorite Brazilian writers, educators, philosophers and thinkers. He is a wonderful story-teller and his stories are so powerful! As I was browsing through a magazine, I found this beautiful article he wrote on “a child and his/her gifts”, in which he reminds parents of the wonderful feeling it is to have a child in their arms. He says: “…sleeping in the arms-nest of his/her father, the child learns that the universe is a nest. It doesn´t matter if it´s not! It doesn’t matter that all nests are destined to be abandoned. The nest is an eternal fantasy. The nest takes us back to childhood, to a childhood”.And he continues: “It´s impossible to estimate the importance of the ephemeral moments in a child´s life… and in ephemeral moments of a father’s life. The father that has his child asleep in his arms is a poet! A man that keeps memories of a nest in his soul has to be a good man. A child that keeps memories of a nest in his/her soul has to be a calm child!” According to him, as the child grows, the father´s eyes also act as nests. And he concludes by saying, “Life is not in the nest, but in the flight!” Reading this chronicle (and also seeing the two lovely pictures that illustrate the story – the first of a father holding a child in his arms; the second, an old man saying goodbye to feathers), I felt nostalgic remembering my own childhood (how good it felt to be in my mother’s and father’s arms) and the kids (nieces and acquaintances) I have carried in my arms. I also remembered another beautiful story that a dear friend loves to tell: the Love You Forever Story (Munsch, 1986) in which a mother always tried to build a nest for her son. No matter what he did or how he behaved, she always held him in her arms and sang a beautiful song to him – even when he was a grown up man. Then it was his turn to do so with her as she grew older and later, he did the same with his own daughter.
Rubem Alves’ story made me think about language learning and teaching. As this dear friend once said, he has “deformation profissionelle” – always thinking about language learning and teaching. We both do. Like parents who try to build nests for their sons, so do we, (language) teachers, try to build nests in our classrooms. We try to welcome our students and make the classroom as comfortable and cozy like a nest so that they can have the right environment to develop courage to risk and take their first flights in speaking and using the language and making it their own; to try out their first attempts to fly under our (sometimes) nervous, but (hopeful(ly)) encouraging and reassuring eyes. We know sometimes we fail to build nests. This happens when we don’t really see students for who they are, but for who we think they should be. Then, there’s no nest, no safety, no risking, no flights. But sometimes, we do succeed. And then it’s rewarding to see them risking, being bold and adventurous and us being (somewhat) certain (like parents, teachers can never be a 100% sure) that they will be able to fly high when they leave that nest. If the nest was good, they’ll fly high and will one day, if they become teachers, build their own nests. As in Rubem Alves’ story, a teacher who tries to build nests has got to be a good teacher and has got to have a good soul and connect to students. The good teacher knows that the real world is a nest and that language learning is not really in the classroom-nest, but in the learners’ attempts to fly, in the actual doing, making the foreign language part of their lives and their own nests. Making language and language learning their major flights!

References

Alves, R. (2008). Um filho e seus presentes. Bons Fluidos, no 106, January, p.44-45.

Munsch, R. (1986). Love you forever. Ontario: Firefly books.

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