GPA: Intro

Basic philosophy of the GPA (Growing Participator Approach)

“It’s not a language to be learned but a life to be lived.”



In other words, the goal isn't simply to understand a language, but to be involved in a community.  To understand how people in this new community see themselves, their society, and the world as a whole.

Traditional methods tend to be grammar-based, while the GPA is closer to the way a child would learn his or her first language: lots of listening, correction while speaking (Child: "I seed a bird." Parent: "Yes, you saw a bird."  Child: "I saw a bird."), etc.  You don't get long grammatical explanations; you aren't expected to memorize conjugation charts or vocabulary lists or dialogues.  Instead, you're progressively gaining a base of knowledge from which to spontaneously (though not always "correctly") express yourself and to understand what is going on around you.

There's all more that could be said, but since I'm not trying to write a thesis here, we'll move on. :)

Terms used

 

Growing participator (or GP):  The language-culture learner, whose participation in the host world should ideally grow deeper and deeper over time.

Nurturer: The “teacher” (may be on a formal, paid basis, but may also be unpaid), who nurtures the GP into a deeper understanding and participation in the host world.

Host world/people/etc.: This is pretty self-explanatory.  For example, my “host people” are West Africans.

Super-charged participation sessions: Language-culture learning sessions, with activities designed to facilitate participation in the host world.

Growth zone: The area of language-culture that provides enough challenge to stretch the GP, but not enough to be overwhelming or impossibly difficult.

Iceberg principle:



Basically, the idea is to get as many words/phrases into your "iceberg" possible, then move them steadily up in the iceberg.  Traditional methods would tend to see only the words in the tip of the iceberg ("words I have mastered in every respected") as the ones actually learned.  However, the GPA considers words at any point on the iceberg to be learned at some level.

Massaging: Used in many different activities throughout the program.  The GP records the nurturer (telling a story, for instance), then plays back the recording, stopping each time he/she doesn't understand a word or phrase, or else needs clarification of some sort.  The nurturer explains as necessary, then writes down any new words or expressions encountered.

Negotiating meaning: When either the GP or nurturer says something the other doesn't understand, they dialogue until an understanding is reached.  (Nurturer: "She put the food on the table."  GP:  "'Food'?  What's food?"  Nurturer:  "You eat food.  You cook food."  GP:  "So, a burger is 'food'?"  Nurturer:  "That's right."  GP:  "Is water 'food'?"  Nurturer:  "No, water is a drink."  GP:  "Okay.")  The dialogue is an important and valuable part of the learning process, which would be shortcut if the scenario went like this... Nurturer: "She put the food on the table."  GP:  "Hold on, let me look up 'food' in my French-English dictionary.  Oh yeah, here we go.  Nourriture."

Script of life: A detailed, step-by-step description of an everyday event, such as taking a bus, washing one’s hands, or making tea.  In general, people in the same culture will share a basic "script" (a normal, expected way of doing a certain thing).

Word log: A written list of all words and phrases learned (along with the date of the session).