Chapter 25: CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"Fumie, I can't believe the change in the boys! Watanabe-san seems to have gotten the other two boys to come and at least try to attempt to take part in the class. And I think they might actually be beginning to enjoy my class."

Fumie nodded. "I guess that's because you keep calling on them no matter what. They're just not used to that. I'm happy it seems to be working. Does this come from your direct method of teaching?"

"Yes . . . well, mostly anyway."

She smiled. "Well then, I guess it's time for me to have my first direct method lesson in German."

I put a pencil, pen and book on her desk. "This is for the very beginning lesson with a student who knows no German whatsoever. I haven't actually taught it myself. All of my students already speak English to some extent."

"That's because they've studied it in middle and high school. But the emphasis is always on reading comprehension, never on speaking it. To tell you the truth, I think the real reason for that is that most of their English teachers can't really speak English, either."

"Well, here goes then. Remember I can't speak a word of English from now on, only German. Nur Deutsch!"

I picked up the pencil. "Bleistift." and motioned for her to repeat.

"Uh, bleisift."

I shook my head. "Nein. BleiSTIFT!"

"Bleistift?"

I nodded. "Yah. Gut!" I picked up the pen "Feder".

"Feder."

"Yah. Gut. Richtig!" I held up the book. 'Buch".

"Buk."

I shook my head. "Nein, nein. BuCH."

"Ah, Buch?"

"Yah! Richtig noch einmal! Gut! Sehr Gut!"

I to the pointed the pencil and continued in German, "A pencil."

"A pencil."

"Right!" I picked up the pen. "A pen."

"A pen."

I nodded. "Good!" And picked up the book. "A book."

"A book."

"Very good!"

I pointed to the pencil and very slowly recited, "This is a pencil" and motioned for her to repeat.

"This is a pencil."

I pointed the pen.

"This is a pen."

"Yes! Right!" I pointed to the book.

"This is a book."

I picked up the pencil and stared at it. "Is this a pencil? Yes, this is a pencil." I pointed the pencil toward Fumie. "Is this a pencil?" and motioned for her to answer.

"Ah, yes this is a pencil."

"Right! Very Good!" I picked up the pen and pointed it at her. "Is this a pen?

"Yes, this is a pen."

"Right again!" I picked up the book. "Is this a book?"

"Yes, this is a book."

"Right!"

I picked up the pencil again and stared at it. And slowly, "Is this a pen?" and shook my head. "No, this is not a pen," I pointed the pencil toward Fumie. "Is this a pen?"

She shook her head. "No, this is not a pen."

I nodded. "Very good. Is this a book?"

"No, this is not a book."

"This is not a book. This is not a pen." I shrugged. "What is this?"

"This is a pencil."

"Right! I pointed to the pen. "What is this?"

"This is a pen."

I pointed to the book. "And what is this."

She smiled. "This is a book."

Back to the pencil. "What is this?"

"This is a pencil."

I paused a bit. Then pointed to the pencil again. But this time I also motioned to Fumie. "Now you ask me questions."

She looked a bit confused. So I began "What . . . " and pointed to Fumie to continue.

"Um, . . . what . . . is . . . this?"

"This is a pencil. Good!" I pointed to the pen and motioned to her.

More confidently, "What is this?"

"This is a pen." And pointed to the book.

Immediately, "What is this?"

"This is a book. Right! Very good."

I breathed out and gratefully shifted back to English. "Well that's about as far as I can teach German using the direct method, and I probably made some mistakes along the way. Usually it would be taught by a native speaker of the target language. Or someone who is as fluent in the target language as you are in English. But are you beginning to see how the direct method works? And from this point on it would be almost straight question answer, question answer. And so it continues right up to and including the conditional tenses and indirect speech with stories using only each tense to ask and answer questions about. And the more I learn about an individual student's interests, job, etc. the more I can adjust these questions and answers to talk about that individual's own personal life. And have an interesting, true conversation with the student."

Fumie nodded. "I think I'm beginning to understand. But why was 'a' in German "ein" for the pencil and book but 'einUH' for the pen?"

"That's because pen is a feminine noun that needs a feminine article. And if you think that's confusing wait till we get to the 'the's.'"

"Oh, why is that?"

"Because book is neuter and so it's das buch. But pen is femimine, so it's die feder. And pencil is, I think, masculine so it's der Bleistift."

"That seems confusing."

"It is to a nonnative speaker. But not to a native speaker of German. And it really gets confusing when you get to the pronouns."

"In what way?"

"Well, since pencil is masculine you refer to it as 'he'. But pen is feminine, so it's 'she'. And book is neuter, so it's 'it'. One of your girl students is a Fräulein which is also neuter. So if you told me about telling a girl student to pick up her pencil, you would say 'I told it to pick him up.' Fun huh?"

Fumie chuckled. "I think I'll stick to English. German is way too confusing for me."

"It is for me, too. To teach that is. Oh, I can carry on simple daily conversations in German. But I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to teach even the articles and the pronouns. But a German native speaker would. And the direct method has teaching books in many languages, each with methods to teach elements peculiar to that language. Now let me ask you what does 'Was ist das' mean in English?"

"'What is this.'"

"Yes. But did I teach you that?"

She thought for a moment. "Well, you must have."

"No, I didn't. Not outright."

"Then how did I learn it?"

"Remember when I held up the pencil and asked you if it was pen and you said no and then the book?" She nodded. "So when I asked you 'Was ist das?' what else could you answer?"

"I'm beginning to understand."

"And what does 'richtig' mean?'

"'Right'."

"But I didn't teach you that, either. Nor did I directly lead you to it."

"So how . . . ?"

"Because after I taught you 'yah', I started adding 'richtig' and you inferred it meant 'right'."

"Ha, ha. So you tricked me!"

"No I didn't. I led you. That's what I really love about the direct method. Everything flows so naturally. Particularly with a student as good as you. And it can get nice and personal, so I can have a true conversation with a student whose English is still very limited."

Submitted: August 09, 2023

Romance romance japan gaijin travel-in-japan japan-1970s

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Comments

B Douglas Slack

Teaching languages is one of the hardest things to do. Due to my travels around the world, both as a dependent of my USAF father, and in my career in the Navy, I can get along in about seven or eight languages. I learned to speak Thai during my year there, and spoke German like a native when I was there for three years. The rest are mostly Asiatic languages, with the exception of Russian.

Challenge and response is a great method of teaching as it forces the learner to pay attention as well as retain the conversation. One can learn from a book, but practical, conversational language training as you outline is the best.

Bill

Sat, September 16th, 2023 8:22pm

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Glad you agree. I started my teaching career at the Berlitz school in Chicago where they use the one-on-one direct method of teaching and was trained in how to do it. Later after getting my MA in Teaching English as Second Language, I was hired as an English Language Lecturer at women's college in Kyoto, Japan, where I taught for 37 years using my own adapted method of the direct method. My Japanese wife and I have also traveled to many countries as tourists, and I always tried to learn a little of the language, including Thai and quite good German, before going and using as little English as possible in country. I've always been fascinated with languages since I was a little boy.
My wife and I have spoken only Japanese with each other since we met. The best way to learn any language!

Ken

Sat, September 16th, 2023 2:41pm