Sniffing, then squinting and holding a kiwi fruit, a Chinese student muttered something he wasn’t sure he wanted to translate. A classmate from Brazil leaned over and pointed to a photo in a picture dictionary. Two Korean ladies laughed, covering their mouths with their hands.
The food lesson was a great success. When the ESL class ended, none of us were satisfied, but at least the subject had been broached. “Check your vocabulary materials before the next class,” I encouraged. They were all new to America. Some had only been in their new country for a few days, others a few weeks. Some for a couple of months or so, but none had moved into the realm of daily communication in English. I had to do something to help my multicultural class of ESL students begin to internalize the language. Thinking back to my own struggles with the French language in Paris and French Canada, the answer caught my eye. The next class was ready.
“Okay, everyone, let’s go,” I asked. They all looked at me curiously.
“Where we go?”
“Just wait. You’ll see.”
Previously, I had arranged with the manager of a local supermarket located three blocks from where we had our English classes, to take the 15 adult students on a field trip. Representing Colombia, Brazil, Poland, China, Korea, Puerto Rico and Vietnam, the group made a curious sight when we stumbled upon the remnants of a week-long snowstorm. Many of them had experienced snow for the first time only a few days ago. Two of the newly immigrant Chinese wore sandals. I kept my comments on this to myself, trusting that they would soon learn. I just hoped they didn’t have pneumonia.
“Okay, where are we?” I asked.
“The store”
“The supermarket”
“grocery store”
“Great market”
It didn’t take long for him to realize that none of them had ever been to a large supermarket. For the most part, they bought food from small local grocery stores that catered to the tastes of their immigrant neighborhoods. Their reactions ranged from shock and disbelief to astonishment and amazement. There was also more than a small curiosity present.
For the next forty minutes or so with notebooks and notepads open, we methodically wandered from one island to the other, exploring the vocabulary of foods and containers introduced in previous lessons. Stories we exchange in broken English. Anecdotes emerged. A student offered to push the shopping cart to pick up the items that he would have to pay for later.
“No, you can’t buy just one egg,” I explained.
“At home you can buy just what you need,” answered several students.
“Two eggs or a cigarette, up to half a loaf of bread or a cup of rice,” they explained as best they could.
They stroked grapes, sniffed, licked, and nibbled on new fruits and strange vegetables like Brussels sprouts, squash, and zucchini. I bought watermelon, apple varieties, canned goods, dip jars, pretzels, and pickles to bring to class to taste. That class outing used “realia”, or real physical objects, to make the lesson “real” for the students. It spawned discussions, jokes, and humorous stories until the following spring and beyond.
Use real objects and items instead of just pictures to make your language learning real and more natural. Think of the difference it makes to have a can or jar of something in your hands versus the image of a can or jar in a book. Other containers, box, bottle, bag, package, roll and tube, came to life and were instantly assimilated by the students who brought full (or empty) containers of products from their respective countries. Try a nearby zoo for animals, a museum, a pizzeria, the cinema, even a local park to bring your foreign language classes to life and reality like we did. Problems? Yes, some, but you and your students will be amazed at the difference it makes by internalizing the language. Whether you are an English as a Foreign Language teacher or a foreign language teacher or a language learner, using realia will go a long way towards making your new language “real” for you. It will also be a lot of fun. I promised.
