As part of their Evening English Exchange, TESOL majors hosted a program on Nov. 7 called “The Art of Conversation” to improve non-native speakers’ conversational skills, as well as allow the students to practice their teaching.
“It’s a great way for everyone to be comfortable in practicing English conversation,” said Clarissa Johnson, a junior from Nevada and TESOL major. “Tonight’s focus is on the art of speaking, and how to communicate more effectively with one another.
“We’re going to teach the non-native English speakers the structure of a conversation. How to begin, carry it on, and how to finish it. We’ll also do a lot on pronunciation and intonation.”
Johnson continued, “Jaylea, Hanna, and I really try to make it fun. A lot of these students coming here don’t speak English to each other very often, and we’re trying to expand their comfort zone. I think it was David O. McKay who said that the teaching of English would be firmly planted here. The kids are so excited to learn, but still a little nervous, because they don’t want to be embarrassed.”
When asked about why TESOL is so important to her, Johnson shared, “The man I’m engaged to is from Kiribati, so learning English was a hard process for him. Being a TESOL major really opened my eyes to how difficult it can be for people to have to learn a whole new language.
“I really want to work in a refugee camp and help open doors for others who might not have had the opportunity [to learn English].”
The activity began with each of the students introducing themselves. The attendees played the Five Finger Game, where one person said something they had never done and the people who had done it had to put down one finger. The winner was the person who had the most fingers up when the game was over.
TESOL Professor Neil Anderson said he supports events like this because “we get to see the interaction of multiple cultures. Not just American and one other culture. I feel that developing one’s language skills is very rewarding, and it can really empower the student when they succeed.
“The TESOL students benefit from the program because they get first-hand knowledge of how to teach effectively and be good listeners too. “
The activity continued with Johnson and the other TESOL students introducing the concepts of intonation, punctuation, and dialogue. Johnson spoke about how too often, students live in a bubble and go from place to place without engaging in any meaningful conversation.
“Sometimes our conversations aren’t as meaningful as we would like them to be. Even native English speakers don’t take enough time out of their day to talk to someone else like they really care,” explained Johnson.
The participants were instructed to think about when it would be a good time to start a conversation and what the best way to do it was. The students discussed why just using the word “hi” was not enough to convey emotion to the person.
The teachers explained how a conversation is like a tennis match; words need to keep going back and forth to keep it going. If one of the players is not playing, the match will end very quickly.
Students were then given a slip of paper with a scenario on it, where they were required to be a person in the scenario and start up a conversation with the person sitting across from them. During the 10 minute period, students were expected to learn how to carry on a long dialogue with another person and use the proper tone when saying certain words.
Shanmugasundaram Arumugam, known to his friends as Shan, said, “the most difficult part of practicing my English is the accent. There are so many different kinds of accents when people speak English. It’s important to be able to tell the difference and know the word they are saying.”
Arumugam is a freshman and a business and marketing major from India. He said he “grew up speaking Tamil, the native language. Then on my mission to New Delhi, I had to learn Hindi in order to communicate, but coming here to BYU–Hawaii, I needed to learn English if I wanted to function and succeed, especially in business.
“I think my biggest issues when learning English are the grammar mistakes, and also making sure I talk directly to the person and show them that I am interested in talking to them. English has so many words that can carry a lot of meanings. One word can change an entire relationship.”
When asked what the greatest challenge was for students learning English, Anderson said, “it’s non-native English speakers teaching other non-native speakers that present a unique challenge. Here, we have some students from Hong Kong who didn’t grow up speaking English, and they’ve succeeded here, so now they understand what these new students are dealing with, and can have more empathy. It also helps with recognizing the differences between accents.”
Anderson was originally a business major but after listening to the advice of his wife, he “switched to TESOL, and never looked back.” Anderson has taught at the University of Ohio, BYU–Provo, and was a Ph.D. student at the University of Texas at Austin. He has also taught at universities in Guatemala and Costa Rica.
“I served in Guatemala and El Salvador as a Spanish-speaking missionary,” Anderson said. “I later met my wife at the MTC when we were both Spanish teachers. It’s where I really learned the value of teaching with patience and care.”
Writer: Elijah Hadley