Humanising Language Teaching
Year 3; Issue 6; November 2001

By Griff Griffiths and Kathy Keohane (2000)
Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press.

If anyone has ever had the experience where, at the end of a language course, the students still didn't know each other's names, this is certainly the book to change all that. Griff Griffiths and Kathy Keohane have written a user-friendly book full of practical activities that make language learning much more person-centred. The aim is to increase motivation and personal involvement in the classroom by viewing the learners as the starting point for language practice and drawing on their personal experiences, thoughts, feelings and opinions to make language learning more meaningful for each individual. It goes beyond the sometimes artificial world of textbooks and their imaginary characters, and develops the concept of the student as a resource in the language classroom.

The authors recognise the reservations teachers might have about taking a humanistic approach in the classroom and suggest practical ways of respecting an individual's right to privacy and creating a feeling of trust. With this in mind, the book is divided into 8 sections which imitate the development of real life relationships, in that they progress from 'getting to know you' type activities at the beginning to later sections where more personal matters are discussed, such as a student's own set of values and individual experiences. The 8 sections are as follows:

1. Starting the course. Activities focus on students talking to each other about themselves. 2
2. Warming up. This section looks at how different topics relate to the students' own lives and what the students have in common with each other.
3. Acting, reacting and interacting. The aim here is to encourage student interaction through activities such as role plays, spoken and written narration and drama.
4. Self-awareness and self assertion. In this section, students become more aware of who they are, how they are, and how to deal effectively and assertively with others in different situations.
5. Values and values awareness. This section gets students to look at the value they place on material things, the qualities they value in other people, and their own values in relation to the world around them.
6. Self-knowledge. This chapter encourages the learner to relate their past self to their present self and what has made them the person they are today.
7. Images and scenes – real and ideal. In this section activities focus on story telling and acting out mini dramas that students have developed based on their own experiences.
8. Closing the course. The aim of the final section is to encourage student reflection on the course and their classmates, to elicit feedback, and to provide ideas for leave-taking activities.

The authors have kept preparation time for each activity to a minimum and have added variations and follow on activities where possible. Activities can be used with both adults and younger learners, and the language focus and level of student are highlighted throughout the book.

One activity I particularly liked is called 'Deflecting questions' (Section 4). We spend so much of our time as teachers getting students to answer questions, that we forget that there are often questions that we all feel uncomfortable answering, particularly when meeting someone for the first time. 'Deflecting questions' is an activity which encourages students to identify questions they would not like to be asked – e.g. 'How old are you?' and to develop ways of responding politely without providing an answer.

Examples include:

Partial answers - 'I'm in my thirties'.
Jocular answers - 'Old enough to drive'.
Firm but friendly refusals to answer - 'Old enough to know you shouldn't be asking that'.
Confrontational answers - 'I think that's my business, don't you?'

Students then work out deflecting answers for other awkward questions and after a walkabout practice activity, decide which answer felt most comfortable for them during the walkabout.

Personalising Language Learning is a useful and practical resource book for all teaching situations. It encourages a more person-centred approach that goes far beyond the 'Find someone who…' activity, to explore many untapped areas in which the students can be used as a resource in the classroom – as well as getting students to learn and remember each other's names!