Understanding Why

I've always been drawn to languages. I like words and look at them linguistically, always trying to figure out where they came from and how they were formed. I also find the grammar of languages fascinating, and I've always excelled at explaining grammar.

I've taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) for over thirty years in different countries and a variety of institutions, from private language schools to technical schools to colleges to universities.

I love teaching grammar. I enjoy being present for my students' aha moments, watching the expression on their faces as they finally understand some linguistic feature that has always been a challenge to them. 

One of my favorite parts of teaching grammar is listening to or reading my students' mistakes. I like it when they make mistakes because it indicates their first step in learning something new. I always jot down my students' mistakes for two reasons:

First, mistakes constitute learning opportunities for students. I correct their mistake and make sure they understand why it's wrong and how they can say or write what they intended to without a mistake.

Second, I'm interested in the reason for the mistake. The “why” for the specific wrong usage of that particular feature is what I seek.

Understanding the why doesn't only help that one student. It helps me as a teacher, too: I learn the source of the mistake, which I often trace back to their first language; I teach that lesson better the next time, making sure to mention all the ways that feature is not used; I know what kind of confusion and mistakes to expect from students.

For instance, when I noticed many of my Chinese students were making the same kind of mistake in using verbs, especially the verb “to be,” I took an introduction to Chinese course at my local college, one of the colleges where I also taught, and learned that the Chinese don't have the verb “to be.” When they want to say “I am fine,” for example, in Chinese, they say “I fine.” The verb “to be” is not used in a language they've been practicing all their life, and it's not easy to break that habit. Understanding this will help me (1) be more tolerant of my students' repetitive mistakes, (2) explain the differences between Chinese, their first language, and English, the language they are trying to learn, (3) teach my Chinese students that when they want to express that “they fine” in English, they need to make sure to include the verb “to be” in its conjugated form, paying attention to the verb tense and the subject-verb agreement. The why behind the mistakes has always been one of the most attractive aspects of teaching.

Learning and understanding the why has made me not only a better teacher but also a better person. I am more patient and less judgmental; I accept differences more easily; I'm open to other perspectives; I learn different ways to do the same thing, get to compare them, and choose the best method for me. Overall, a lot of good comes from understanding the why behind differences.

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson