What do you bring to the table?
What Do You Bring to the Table? or, A Cheesy Extended Metaphor (that, while cheesy, is still helping me to envision and articulate my goals)
“What do you bring to the table?” is an idiomatic expression
in English meaning “What do you provide that will be beneficial to this group?”
It is often used in a business setting or an interview scenario to determine a
newcomer’s potential role in the office.
I don’t know its origins, but I like to think of the
expression as coming from a potluck dinner party. What will you bring to the table? I’ll bring plates and napkins. I’ll
bring a side dish. I’ll bring dessert. Maybe some people also show up with flowers or a bottle of wine. Ideally, every guest brings
something that contributes to the overall enjoyment of the meal.
This week, as my classmates and I have discussed the definition
of applied linguistics and the concept of “funds of knowledge”, the phrase “bring
to the table” keeps entering my head, and I’ve been exploring the extended
metaphor of my classroom as one big dinner party. I, the teacher, will provide
the table and some of the food, but my students need to bring something to the
table, too.
As I have mentioned before, my definition of applied linguistics broadens with every
course I take. This week, I have been attempting to hone my personal definition
of applied linguistics down to a single sentence. As Vivian Cook (2004) wrote,
even “the applied linguists themselves” can’t agree on a definition. Perhaps
every university program focuses on a slightly different aspect of this broad
discipline. Here at UMass Online, in our introductions, most of my classmates
and I shared that we are all here for education-related purposes. We either are
or want to be teachers, or we want to get involved in curriculum development or
assessment. Our “particular horse” (Cook, 2004) is clearly second language
education. We want to learn more about linguistics so that we can help others
learn a language. Given this and based on the readings this week my new
personal definition is as follows:
Applied linguistics
is applying wisdom from the fields of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and
linguistics to the educational setting.
My courses in applied linguistics are assisting me in
building my table (deepening my funds of knowledge) in preparation for holding a feast (a successful classroom). I will have a tabletop of German, balanced on the table legs of
sociology, psychology, anthropology, and linguistics.
I believe that every student has something they can bring to
the table that could potentially benefit the entire class. I think a large part
of teaching is figuring out how to help students recognize their own personal
funds of knowledge and then incorporating that knowledge into the classroom to
make it a richer, more educational space for everyone.
In the introduction to one of our textbooks, the authors had
us do a quick survey about our preconceptions of language acquisition. One of the
statements I disagreed with in the Lightbrown & Spada (2013) survey was: “Once
learners know 1,000 words and the basic structure of a language, they can
easily participate in conversations with native speakers” (p.3). This statement is an oversimplification. It
narrows language learning down to vocabulary and grammar. It doesn’t take into
account all of the cultural nuances that are also key to successful
communication. Language is not just words and rules; it is intricately tied with
culture, and we need to study the social, cultural, and psychological aspects
of language to teach it effectively.
Students are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with
knowledge. They come to us as people with prior knowledge, experiences,
beliefs, and cultures. They bring so much with them to the classroom that can
be either a hindrance or a help to learning, depending on how it is used. Our
students and their families and communities have great “funds of knowledge” that
can be accessed to benefit the classroom. Funds of knowledge refers to the
knowledge that households have accumulated via their labor, their origins, and
their social histories. These funds are “historically accumulated and
culturally developed” (Moll et. al, 1992, p. 133). Educators should take
advantage of these rich funds, not merely act as a narrator trying to fill
students with information (Freire, 2009, p. 52). It’s a lot of work for one
person to host a dinner party and provide all the food. And isn’t a dinner
party a richer, more enjoyable experience when you get to sample several people’s
cooking?
Moll, et. al refer to students’ familial relationships as “multi-stranded”
(1992, p. 133-134), which lead to my initially envision everything in web or weaving
metaphors. Just as familial relationships are multi-stranded, the study of
linguistics is also a complex web of interdisciplinary strands. My goal is to
learn about all those different strands and weave them into my practice, along
with strands from my students’ funds of knowledge, to create a strong network
in my classroom. Or to go back to my original metaphor, my goal is for my
classroom to be the best potluck dinner ever. I hope to encourage students to
dig deep into their own funds of knowledge and bring those scrumptious “dishes”
to the table. I’ll provide the table, the safe classroom, balanced on the table
legs of linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and sociology. The kids will
bring those side dishes. And we will feast on the smorgasbord of learning
together.
References:
Cook, Vivian (2004). What is applied linguistics?.
Retrieved from http://www.viviancook.uk/Writings/Papers/WhatIsAppliedLinguistics.htm
Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (2013). How languages are learned, (4th ed.). Oxford, United
Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Moll, L.C.,
Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for
teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.
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