[MUSIC] "The nature and importance of language." The Hundred Languages of Children doesn't necessarily refer to the languages of literal things, but it talks about the infinite number of ways that children can express themselves, connect and explore learning. Let's look at language in context. Think about the language you use in your home; the language of the community; think of the language you use amongst your friends and peers; and then now think about the language you use in your classroom. Of course, the different languages, or the different conversations which you use, would carry different colloquialisms, or have different words: words that have different meanings that may be different from how you maybe used them in your home, to how you'd use them in the classroom. So, words have different meanings. And I'm going to pick up on a couple of the words that we've listed for you. Let's look at the word "volume". Now, "volume" for many learners would mean picking up the volume, or raising the volume of on their iPhones, iPods or on a hi-fi system, or it could mean decreasing the volume, letting the sound down. Now in a class, you may use "volume" very differently. You might be using volume to refer to measuring liquid in a glass. Now, at first the understandings of the word "volume" may be very different, unless or until you explain how you're using the word volume. Let's look at another word, "tense". "Tense" has meanings in terms of time, in terms of present tense, in the future tense or the past tense. But "tense" can also mean somebody was very anxious, was very frightened, and is very tense. So again, you can see that some words have multiple meanings, they can have double meanings. I'd like you to make a list of words that have different meanings in your context; or words that you'd use differently at home, and the meanings it would have in the classroom; words you would use with your friends, and how those words would be used in the classroom. And I'm sure you'd generate a very, very long list. Now, communication can be difficult. If you look at the cartoon, the little girl who is dancing and trying to communicate that she's being a flower. But if you look at her audience, they all think a number of meanings. They get a number of meanings for what they think she's doing. How often have you been in a class where you've been speaking about something and while you have a particular meaning about you're speaking about, your learners have a completely different meaning? I remember when I was, when I was in a class many, many years ago, and the teacher was teaching about a crane. At first, I had an understanding of the bird with long legs and a long beak. And she was going on, and she was starting to speak of the mechanical movements of this crane, or of this crane made of steel, and I couldn't picture this bird that I knew - with long legs and a long beak - but what the teacher was talking about was a crane: a large machine, operated on wheels, that is used to lift things. Now, you can understand, I was in grade four at that time, and my understanding of the word crane just picked up a whole new meaning. But, it took me about 20 to 30 minutes before it made me realise that my teacher was speaking about something completely different. Now language codes, Bernstein, speaks about how language can be used when multiple codes are used, can be used to disadvantage or to limit them. If you think about my story that I've just shared with you, I didn't learn or understand what the teacher was talking about the crane, because I'd not made the distinction between the two codes, the two meanings of the word "crane"; the meaning that the teacher had and the meaning that I had had. In many ways, it that was not cleared up in that classroom on that day, I would not have understood the teacher's understanding, and lesson on what cranes were doing and what their purpose was. Now, I want you to think about that. Have there been learning experiences when you've been in the classroom, and the teacher was speaking about something and you had a completely different understanding of that? Sometimes it's words, but sometimes they're concepts as well. Now, in many ways the restricted code, and I'm going to use the words "restricted code", which refers to language that has a very specific meaning, but is understood by a particular group of people. I'm going to use a sports example here. I'm from South Africa, and in South Africa rugby is a sport known by most people, in fact, South Africans are passionate about rugby. Now, with my friends in South Africa we would talk about the rugby team, we would talk about the different positions. Some of the positions on a rugby team are called "props", "hookers", "flanks", "wing". Now, if I was having a conversation with my friends about rugby and about the hooker that threw the ball to the flank, somebody from Japan, or from America or from England, for instance, where I'm assuming that rugby is not so followed, might have difficulty following that conversation - unless we explained those concepts and what those positions meant. So, in other words, a hooker on a rugby team would be somebody who throws the ball into a line out, which is two lines of players. And so, that is one of the positions. Or the hooker, his position is in a scrum, in a rugby game. But even as I'm explaining, I'm using the words "line up" and "scrum", it would be difficult to understand. And you can see the restricted codes in language, and how that can be used to deny access, to exclude in many ways. Of course, elaborated codes would be very much where you open up that conversation, like I've been trying to do it rightly, trying to explain the meaning of how a hooker plays a position in a rugby team. Or if somebody was taking a penalty, to kick it through the goal posts, the process how a person would place the ball down, and then try to kick the ball through the two posts that are on the rugby field. Now, that would be explaining it and opening up the restricted code, to have a more shared meaning of what the concepts of the words mean. Also, to enable learning to happen. Now, language can also be powerful. And the power of language is because language in many contexts has cultural and symbolic capital. In many contexts, language is seen as something that enables access, that will give people power in certain positions, or give people privilege in certain contexts. And think about, for instance, the language English, in your context, how is English as a language interpreted? Is it seen to give people access to certain things, is it seen as giving people privilege to certain parts, is it seen as giving people power in some ways to people? Now, in South Africa, and I want to draw your attention to the quotation of Jonathan Jansen, where he talks about how language is used to deny access to many people who are African, or didn't speak Afrikaans in higher education. But also in schools, South Africa during apartheid, denied access to many learners, or kept schools separate or segregated on the basis of race. Post-apartheid, many schools wanted to maintain that position, wanted to mind the privileges, and the powers that some schools came invested with. And so they denied access on the basis of language. So, if somebody didn't speak the language Afrikaans, you couldn't come to that school. So, whilst race was no longer to be used to deny access, language could also be. So, in some ways language can give you power, it can give you privilege, it can give you access. But language can also be used to deny access, to deny privilege, and also to discriminate. Language as disenfranchising, and that's a really useful, quotation. "Teachers who favor the use of English fail to also recognise that privileging a foreign language reinforces cultural imperialism." But not only that. Think about how young children learn. Is it easier to learn in mother tongue? To gain an understanding of difficult concepts in a language that is far more natural to you, rather than a second language? Think about you, would it have been easier for you to have learnt some difficult concepts, particularly early in your life? Would it have been easier to have learnt in your mother tongue? In the language of the home and the context? Or would it have been more easier to have learnt it with a second language? I'm sure the answer would be with the first language, the mother tongue. So many schools, particularly when they are teaching particularly early concepts and introducing early concepts to learners, are teaching in the language of the country, or what we call the mother tongue language. Now, reframing communication, and I think this quotation really brings the session really well together. "In the old frame you set the children down and lecture, lecture, lecture." Now, we've spoken about lecture and what it does, right? "And then you ask the children, 'do you understand?' And they will answer, 'yes sir'. And yet there are some who couldn't pick up anything from what you've taught." Think about even how the learners get comfortable with the code, so even the response of "yes sir", is a response to acknowledge the question that might have no meaning for the understanding of what is being taught. So, which brings us to some of our earlier sessions of where teaching could have taken place, but learning hasn't happened. So, language as empowering, and there's a quote from a teacher from Tanzania elementary school, "Although I had been a teacher for a long time I didn't really understand how the words I chose, the language I used, could create a barrier between myself and my class." It's a wonderful piece for your own reflection. How do you use language? Is your language very verbose - and I'm using a difficult word deliberately here - is it very verbose? Or is it accessible? Are the codes you're using shared codes, that are understandable to the learners, so that learning is happening? So, does the language I use in the classroom empower? Or does it disempower? Does is exclude? Does it deny access? So, the questions have changed, and these are questions you could reflect on, or maybe share with your peers and your colleagues. What could I do differently? What are the obstacles? What is there in my favour? Because there are some things that you are doing really well. How can you build on that? [MUSIC]
