Learning in Chunks

Relatively Short Time Periods of Concentration

I have been multitasking in a grand way for about a month now.  Partly this has meant for me that I have been following the the links on the Internet as they lead me on a gander of super interesting sites and apps - both regarding information, personal connection and skill development.  I am excited, and sometimes exhausted!

I chose these explorations as I wanted to see the larger picture of the possibilities available in my new world of freed from full-time professional.  I now have numerous ideas, contacts and some new skills related to drawing, art, and language learning and teaching.  My vision is clearer about how I best learn languages, and what I can offer or share with other language learners.

Now, however,  I feel sure that it is time to focus on ONE task or idea at a time. 

Concentrate completely- get into the "zone," or stay in the "now." Stay in this place for 15, 30 or 60 minutes and then pause. Then, do something else, for example, 40 squats, make a cup of milky, strong black Assam tea, switch from drilling Spanish pronunciation, to writing my blog,  or from drawing a practice shape, to taking anther Udemy 6-minute lesson. 

Manipulating 3-D Shapes to Demonstrate Point of View of Onlooker 

Light and Shade in Drawing

An online tutoring or language exchange session of 30 minutes may make more sense than the traditional one hour sessions; drilling Chinese for 10 minutes, then reading a novel in German for an hour, or drawing a shape may not seem efficient, but I am finding changing activities radically energizes.  

My drawing lessons and practices are about 3-D shapes and using to shading (core, highlight, mid-tone, and cast shadows).

See Gloria Nesbitt's "Thankful Arts" on FB for the inspiration for this sketch. 

Shadows - Lesson 18 Udemy

Shapes- inspired by a soapstone figure from Kenya that I found in 1987)

Part Two: Culture and Language

A Riot of Color

The vibrant use of color may reflect the cultures desire to to take risks. (See blog posts from Part One.)

And some photos from the net: 

¡Sí! Quiero aprender español.   

Culture and Language

Language Learning Through "Art" Versus "Art" Through Language Learning

Over the past two days I have been reflecting on the relationship between drawing, poetry, songs, photography (culture) and improved language learning.

Maria Ortega Garcia in her talk, 'Cracking the Language Code Through Art and Self-Expression' presents a case for using the arts, as an expression of culture, to motivate and enable learners to connect with the target culture, form emotional connections with the language and the ideas, and have better skills and a sharpened desire to use the target language to share personal connections.

Maria uses poetry as the curriculum of her coaching and teaching sessions. I can see how poems like those written by Holly McNish and Rupi Kaur could invite discussion of vocabulary, and grammar; provide practice in pronunciation and intonation; encourage connection with the ideas; and create a desire for learners to express their own opinion (using the target language.). Here is a short example:

It is a blessing
to be the colour of earth
do you know how often
flowers confuse me for home     --- Rupi Kaur

Drawing and Painting

But do basic learners of English have the language skills they need to discuss the the cultural significance of art?  Maybe they do not, but they can talk about the colors, the shapes, the symbols, and they can feel the vibrancy of the culture.  This may, as for me,  create the simultaneous desire to learn the culture and language.  

In a brief exploration of Mexican graphic artists (my current target being Spanish), I found myself intrigued by the possible reasons behind the vibrancy of color as compared to that appearing in Canadian, architecture, city design, clothing, cloth and art. I am motivated to know more about Mexican people. I felt my motivation to learn Spanish  increase exponentially (Some language experts say 70% of the 'battle' to learn a language may be the motivational factor.)    

1. Mexican artists (Jenny Hoople)- why the abundance of color?

2. Mexican design (Elly Whiley)-  why the images of sugar skeletons, donkeys, cacti, etc.?

Jenny Hoople describes 'el uso del color en Mexico como "una extensión natural de toda su actitud cultural de libertad y correr riesgos." (See "Mexican artists" above.) 

          Muy diferente al simbolismo occidental de que los cráneos son macabros, los                cráneos de azúcar son vivos y festivos y tienen la intención de celebrar las                      vidas  de los parientes fallecido, no de llorarlos.

My Attempts at Mexican Art.  

Drawing Geometric Shapes

Read the Blog if Sugar Skeletons 'Causar el Miedo' (cause fear)    

The Practice of Creativity

Today, is simply a practice day in creativity.

Drawing

Next DayVersion 2 Girl:

More realistic form - arms are a little short. :-) 

Language Learning - Mandarin 

My motivation for today's journey into Mandarin is that a language can be a 'Stargate' to emotional bonding with a culture and people.  So I have the goal to learn  a handful of basic greeting conversations and  and be able to hear and produce the 4 main tones used in speaking.  These two short-term goals seem doable in 2 weeks - phrases-

"pinyin chart". 😲

Today's Breakdown of time: 

1. I read 6 pages in El veijo y el mar (The Old Man and the Sea) by Ernest Hemingway. I resorted to looking up all the words concerning the sea: fish, scales, tuna, fishing line, etc. The story became readable and exciting. 
2. I almost complete the first short-story in Poirot rechnet ab (Poirot Solves the Case- my translation) by  Agatha Christie (German).  Ah. This I can read without looking up words. 

Incredible

I have been thinking about something over the past 2-3 days: I see a relationship between the geometrical shapes --the base they give to drawing -- and feature in language learning that plays a similar role to these geometric shapes.

Lesson 16

Weary Warrior

It seems that, contrary to the first idea that formal language education might suggest, the basic 'shapes' in language learning are meaning units. These are more basic even than sounds, and words and structure of the words. We map these later onto meaning, as we map details onto shapes. Sometimes, the details change alter the shapes, and the form of languages shapes meaning.

Meaning Related to Motivation 

I listened to a polyglot speaker, Judith Meyer yesterday (Podcast in ITunes, in The Fluent Show: Ultramarathon for the Brain). She spoke of being motivated in her overall language learning - not for reasons (economic or survival), but just as an excuse. Just for the heck of it.

She added that to motivate her in a day-to-day sense to spend the time necessary, she needs goals--short term tasks that she wants to achieve: understand enough to follow a certain sitcom, chat a little with a person she will meet in his first language even though they could talk in English, read certain types of books, greet, order food, ask directions in a new country she will visit, etc.  When she focuses on meanings she wants to communicate or understand, the work of language learning follows organically, naturally.

Personal Example of the Motivation of Language-Learning that Grows out of My Desire for Meaning

This has always been my experience. Today, I followed a trail on the Internet and ended up with a list of 10 TED Talks in Spanish. I looked through them and chose a subject dear to my heart: how creativity impacts wellness (Onto Creatividad - Cauhtli Arau Mendez).  I could scarcely believe my ears!!!  I followed the whole talk!  I was even inspired by his ideas. Take a short listen to see the difficulty level.  Me, who has just returned 3 books and an audio book in Spanish to the library this week when I found them much above 'my level'. I realized again that perhaps more than or at least as important as the level was, none of these items had a theme that was close to my heart. I had no emotional buy-in to the ideas they contained.

I find the affirmation that -for me- meaning need to continue to lead my language learning powerful. Powerful.

I feel I could kick up my heels in joy.

Right Brain Left Brain

Drawing and Language Learning

Over the past two days, I have been practicing and learning more about seeing geometrical shapes in objects, characters and in landscapes. The task is to sketch the shapes and then to add more 'organic' detail. While I am focused on drawing, I think of little else. I am not, for example, analyzing myself and drawing up plans.  I am, in fact at peace.

I got to talking about this with my sister. We wondered if this 'flow' experience was because while in the world of 'images', our left analytical brain is 'resting'?

A quick Google research shows that the evidence is inconclusive - also as pertains to learning a second language. We seem to use both parts of the brain for drawing and for language learning, but different tasks may be the carried out in the left versus the right hemisphere.

I wonder if when using the right brain, where images, shapes, and sounds, and meanings of words seem to be primarily processed, we do, though, allow ourselves to rest from the constant analysis some of us are prone to. Maybe with practice, the analysis involved with learning to see geometrical shapes, and learning drawing 'tricks, will recede even further into the background. Maybe approaching language with a less grammatical approach- a more wholistic approach- via music and general listening and reading, could also encourage a certain "lightness" due to analysis being set aside for periods of times, or at least moved to the background.

This may not make sense - it is a very superficial attempt to touch on a very complex subject.

Here then are yesterday's practice activity and today's lesson:

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Fun with Application

Seeing Geometrical Shapes in Landscapes- just could not get the lake to look like a lake! Comments appreciated. 

Differentiating the Real from the Imagined/Expected

Drawing 

In my drawing lesson today, I was introduced to the idea that organic shapes such as the contour lines of a pumpkin, coffee cup or dancer, can be broken down into geometric shapes: circles, squares, rectangles, trapezoids, and ovals.

Instructor's example:

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I sketched two drawings: an already quite geometrical African drawing, and a cactus. As you can imagine, the cactus was a challenge. I had never thought of all the small triangles within my cactus, nor the cross-cutting lines. I did not succeed at drawing realistic contour lines for the new 'shoots' that were at the bottom and front of my plant that I had placed just before me. I expected these shoots to be triangles, but, in fact, I saw they were, I think, circles or even more like trapezoids.  I think with time, as I look for geometrical shapes, and as I step back from what I 'know' to what I really see, my drawings may appear more realistic. Knowing that the shapes exist and looking for them I am confident is useful tool.  Here are my first drawings.  This is about the journey, I am reminding myself. 👍

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Language Learning 

It has been brought to my attention again how important 'connected speech' awareness is for language learners. We hear what we expect, or don't hear what we don't know exists. For example, learners of English hear "a nice cream" when the speaker is saying "an ice cream". Today, in Spanish, I listened to a dialogue in Duolingo and tried to repeat and visualize exactly what I heard, rather than what I knew should be said grammatically.

The speaker said the following: Sara se depiertasustada y mira asuperro dormido el suelo. 

The correct version was the following: Sarah se despierta asustada y mira a su perro dormido en el suelo. 

A consonant was left out, words were run together and the word, en, was omitted.  When a listener knows these kinds of changes can be made in natural speech, he or she may make allowances, and comprehension may improve. Understanding and practicing the 'connected speech patterns' in a new language can prove a useful comprehension tool. 

The Journey

I ask myself why am I drawing? Why am I learning languages? Why do I want to find others who share my learning style so that I can help them learn? It is all about the journey. It is about connections with others on the journey. Yesterday, I had a short conversation with the young and helpful librarian in the public library about listening to and reading in other languages.  I left with my 3 Spanish resources feeling exceptionally 'pumped' by the feeling that she and I belonged to the same 'tribe'.   

On the Facebook site, Inner Artist, some of my dialogues are as inspiring. It is not about competition or a concrete goal that I will be able to draw x or y. The why is about sharing creativity and my journey with likeminded people. This in mind, I share my yesterday's drawing homework. Definitely not professional, but it while I am drawing, or while I am reading in Spanish, that is ALL I am doing.

I have managed to capture a LITTLE depth.