Superpower
What are your thoughts about language learning? Does it excite you? Stress you out? Something you have to do to fulfill some requirement? The prospect of learning a language has always been exciting to me. In high school, I took an etymology course so I could learn a smattering of Latin. I switched programs in seminary so I could study Greek and Hebrew. If I could have one superpower in the world, I would want to be fluent in every language ever. I remember one of the first times I saw language acquisition in action. I was babysitting a 15-month-old and told him, "Adam, come here." He paused, looked at me, and you could see him beginning to understand what I said. He then walked over to me. I loved seeing him grow in comprehension and was grateful to witness this moment. Too late to flash the nerd alert?
You can imagine how much I was looking forward to my training at MTI when I learned that part of it was on how to learn a language. I went expecting tips on how to get the most out of language school and how to choose a good language helper, and there was some of that, but most of the training focused on language acquisition. Language acquisition focuses on the meanings or messages being conveyed while language learning focuses on the language itself. The difference is easy to discern when regarding how children and adults are taught a new language. When teaching children, we point at objects and say what they are (meaning), but when teaching adults we tend to focus on structure (grammar). MTI gave us methods by which we could increase comprehension and gain structure at the same time. Pretty helpful, I'll say.
The training also went further than that. We discussed premises that helped us see language in a different light. We do not generate language, but we have to bring it in to our brains.It isn't knowledge or a skill but an ability we have that develops naturally. It is personal and creative. The way you speak (words and voice) is not the same as anyone else. Language is shaped by the people in our lives and our experiences. It expresses our culture and our identity. It has structure and framework. Ultimately, language has power. We can wound or encourage by what we say and how we say it. We can wound by saying nothing at all. We can connect with our heavenly Father, and we can share the hope of eternal life. Language is a superpower indeed, and as is often said regarding superheroes, "With great power comes great responsibility."
You can imagine how much I was looking forward to my training at MTI when I learned that part of it was on how to learn a language. I went expecting tips on how to get the most out of language school and how to choose a good language helper, and there was some of that, but most of the training focused on language acquisition. Language acquisition focuses on the meanings or messages being conveyed while language learning focuses on the language itself. The difference is easy to discern when regarding how children and adults are taught a new language. When teaching children, we point at objects and say what they are (meaning), but when teaching adults we tend to focus on structure (grammar). MTI gave us methods by which we could increase comprehension and gain structure at the same time. Pretty helpful, I'll say.
The training also went further than that. We discussed premises that helped us see language in a different light. We do not generate language, but we have to bring it in to our brains.It isn't knowledge or a skill but an ability we have that develops naturally. It is personal and creative. The way you speak (words and voice) is not the same as anyone else. Language is shaped by the people in our lives and our experiences. It expresses our culture and our identity. It has structure and framework. Ultimately, language has power. We can wound or encourage by what we say and how we say it. We can wound by saying nothing at all. We can connect with our heavenly Father, and we can share the hope of eternal life. Language is a superpower indeed, and as is often said regarding superheroes, "With great power comes great responsibility."
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