Diane Larsen-Freeman

92 Community Language Learning
attention was on the conversation, not on the English.' Another student
says that she docs not mind the fact that she cannot remember any
English; she has enjoyed the conversation. The teac her accep ts her comment
and reassures her and all the students that the)' will yet have an
opportunity to learn the English words-that he does not expect them to
remember the English phrases at [his time. 'Would anyone else like to say
anything?' th e reacher asks. Since there is silence, the teac her continue.'),
'O K, then. Let's listen to your conversation. I will play the ta pe. Just listen
to your voices in English.' T he student s listen. 'OK,' the teache r says. 'I
am going to play the rape again and sto p it at the end ofeach sentence. See
if yOllcan recall what you said, and say it again in Indonesian to be sure that
everyone understand s what was said. If you ca n't recall your own sentence,
we can all help out.' They have 110 trouble recalling what was said.
Next the teac her asks them to move their chairs into a semicircle and to
watch as he writes the conversation on the blackboard. The teacher asks if
anyone would like toope rate the tape rec order and stop it at the end ofeach
sentence. No one volu nteers, so the reacher ope rates it himself. The teacher
then writes line by line, numbering each English sentence. O ne student
asks if he can copy the sente nces. The teacher asks him to stay focused on
the wo rds being written up at this point and reassures him that there will
he time for copying later, if no r in this class session, then in the next.
The teacher wr ites all the English sentences. Before going back to pu t in
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Community Language Learning 93
the Indonesian equivalents, he quietly underlines the first English word
and then pauses. He asks the students to give the Indonesian equivalents .
Since no one volunteers the meaning, after a few seconds he writes the literal
Indoncsian translation. He continues this way unt il all the sentences
arc translated, leaving out any unnecessary repetition.
Next, the teache r tells the students ro sit back and relax as he reads the
transc ript of the English conversa tion. He reads it three times, varying the
student tas k each time. The first time, students just listen. The next time
they dose their eyes and listen. The last time they silent ly mout h the
wor ds as the teacher reads the conversation.
For the next activity, the 'Human Computer,'TM the students are raid in
a warm man ner, ' For the nexr five to ten minutes I am going to turn into a
"human computer" for you. You may use me to practice the pronun ciation
of any English word or phrase or enti re sentence on the transc ript.
Raise your hand and I' ll come behind you. Then you say either the sentence
number or the word in English or Indonesian you want to practice.
As the computer I am progra mmed to give back an i)' correct English, so
you will have to listen carefully rc see if what you say matches what I am
saying. You may repeat the word, phrase, or sente nce as man y times as
you want. I will stop on ly when you sto p. You control me; you turn the
computer on and off:
A student raises his hand and says, 'Thank you.' He has trouble with
the sound at the beginning of 'thank.' The reacher repeats the phrase after
him and the student says it again. The teacher repeats it. T hree more times
the student starts the computer by saying, 'T hank you.' After the teacher
has said it for the third time, the student stops, wh ich in turn sto ps the
computer.
Another student ra ises his han d and says, 'What do you do ?' a qu estion
from the transcript. Again the teacher moves behind the student and
repeats the question the student has chosen to practice. The student
works on this question severa l times just as the first student did. Several
ot hers practice saying some part of the transcript in a similar mann er.
T he teacher then asks the students co work in groups of three to create
new sentences based upon the wor ds and phrases of the transcript. Each
gro up writes its sentence.') down. T he teacher walk s from grou p to gro up
to help. The fi rst group writes the sentence 'Adik not wo rk in a bank.' The
teacher gives the correct sentence to the gro up: 'Adik docs not work in a
bank.' The second gro up writes 'What is my name?' 'O K,' says the
teacher. After the teacher finishes helping the group, each group reads its
sente nces to the class.
T he teacher replays the tape two times more while the students listen.