Tools of Language Learning

To learn a new language one has to have a lot of tools in their toolbox. At PILAT they suggested we think of our ourselves as Business Entrepreneurs. When you are starting a business (say a restaurant) you organize all that you need like a cook, waitresses, food, and a great location, etc. In the end though, the responsibility is yours. You will be the one there early in the morning and late at night and you will be the one responsible for the bills. Learning a new language is similar in many ways they told us. There might be a language school, language helpers, books to learn from, projects to do, etc but in the end the responsibility to learn that new language is ours.

To really have a ministry and serve one must learn the heart language of the people. That is why this time around, although I have spent time in Indonesia before and do know some of the language I will be spending the first several months at a language school. The school is in Indonesia but on a different island from the hospital. This way I can focus first on the language and not be distracted by the needs at the hospital.

While I was at PILAT they gave us several tools we can use to learn our new language. Here are just a few...

One of the first tools we used was a simple mirror. It allows you to see the movements your mouth is making when you are making different sounds. There are lots of sounds in the different languages of the world that are not in English. If you cannot see what your mouth is doing you cannot change what you normally do. You can listen to us do some of those drills in my last blog post. Which brings me to the next tool....

The next item that will get a lot of use will be a digital recorder. With it you can record native language speakers. Those can then be memorized when the language helper is not available (homework!). Also the student can record herself saying the same thing and hear the difference. So how do you start? That notebook at the top is filled with exercises and activities to do. Here is one example...

You start with four places drawn on a piece of paper. In our case we did home, church, school, and post office. Then you sit with your language helper and point to each place. They tell you the name in their language. You do this again and again until you are starting to become familiar with the words. Then the teacher says the name and the student points to the right place. Then the you go back the beginning with the student pointing and the teacher saying the name but this time the student repeats the name after the teacher. Then you learn the word "you" and move onto the next step...

You draw four modes of transportation on separate pieces of paper and learn those in the same way you learned the places. Then you add the modes of transportation to the places and learn the phrase "you went to ?? on ??" for all the different places and forms of transportation. In this picture for example "you went to church on a bicycle." For each stage you learn it first by having the student point and the teacher says it and then then the teacher says it and the students points and then you do the steps all over again with the student repeating the word after the teacher. Confused yet? It was a bit at the beginning but once we got the rhythm down it was easier than we expected. The final step was to draw pictures for and learn the pronouns "he, she, we and they" in the the new language.

Then you were able to make more phrases like in this picture "she went to church on the bicycle" in the same manner. With mixing just four places, four modes of transportation, and four pronouns you can say a lot! The teacher can also ask questions like who went to the church, etc. In the end, I think we were all amazed at how much you actually learn just by hearing and how quickly your mind actually comprehends things! It made language learning seem a lot less scary and actually exciting, although I know it will still be a lot of work.

Did I hear that right?

Greetings from 7,200 feet above sea level! It has been a busy almost two weeks here at Mission Training International (MTI) doing Program In Language Acquisition Techniques (PILAT). The view out the window of my room is beautiful but the air here is definitely thinner and drier!

View from my window

Our days are full and filled with funny sounds and laughter. We spend at least an hour a day (and many days two hours) practicing phonetic drills. Now for those that haven't done phonetics, especially those sounds outside the 44 sounds that are in the English language, this is a unique adventure in getting your tongue, lips etc to do things they don't normally do. You can take a listen to one of our drills here:

PILAT Phonetics Drill by calistay


We are also learning and practicing using several different tools such as Language Acquisition Projects (LAPs), GLUEs, and Series to study a new language. In my case that language is French. It is not the language I will use in Indonesia but this process gives us a chance to try out the tools. We have had a fabulous volunteer language helper named Trudie, to help us with this process. It is amazing how fast comprehension actually is although speech is definitely much farther behind. It is great reminder that when we are kids we listen to language for a year or so before we ever try to speak.

Using a GLUE to learn how to welcome someone to our house in French

Using a LAP to learn places, pronouns, and transportation

More next week on this process!

Delays, or are they?

If you have been traveling this journey with me for long, you know there have been several hoped for departure dates along the way. Recently, there have been several who have asked me if I am struggling with how long it is taking to get to Indonesia. The answer to that question is complicated!

Yes, of course there is a piece of me that wants to be there right now. This is something I have felt called to, been dreaming about and planning for a long time now. That said, there is also something special about this time of waiting and preparing. It is special to know that God is using this time in my life to refine me and prepare me.

Is spending all this time reading books, writing reports, attending training, and being 100% supported before I can depart, necessary? At the beginning even I had my doubts but now I am completely convinced that the program that WorldVenture has designed for me is necessary. It is simple, I want to be the best I can be and this program helps with that. I want to be able to assimilate into the Indonesian culture at a deeper level, I do not want language to be a barrier, and I don't want to have to worry about having adequate funding to do the ministry God has called me to.

After spending several years working and going to graduate school this chance to rest and spend time with the people I love is a blessing. It has also allowed to be spend time focusing on improving my health. So while my heart's desire is to return to Indonesia as soon as possible, I know the Lord has plans for this time and that I can be content that He knows the best time for departure.

Living at "Home"

There is nothing quite like moving back in with your parents after 15 years on your own! I have to admit it has taken a bit of adjustment. Sometimes it is the little things, like traveling in the back seat of the car as they drive or having my mom being in charge of the kitchen again. Others are taking a bit more effort, like adjusting from Calista back to Callie and losing some of my independence.

When it was only going to be a few months it didn’t feel like it would be a big deal. Then when I found out it was going to be closer to nine months, it was a bit overwhelming. The more I have thought about it though, the more it has made sense. Financially it is a blessing since I am no longer working. It is also one of the many transitions I will have to go through in the coming months. Somehow I think having to make this transition first will ease those to come.

It also providing me with the opportunity to spend time with one of my sending and supporting churches - First Baptist in Hood River. The chance to spend time amongst this community is a blessing!

It also reminds me that the awkwardness of this transition and the ones to come just represent a desire for home that this world will never fulfill. Heaven is my home! 

The Road Less Traveled

Do you have those moments when you look up at the sky and see a plane passing overhead, wonder where it is going, and want to be on it, not really caring where it takes you. Or maybe you catch yourself looking through the pages of your passport. Seeing the stamps and remembering the places and the people. Or looking at the empty passport pages and wondering what stamps they will be filled with someday.

For those that don't know me well I am a person who craves home and normal. Once upon a time I had a plan for my life and it was perfect right down to the home with white picket fence, loving husband and kids. When I moved recently I found the journals I had written in from college. I read through those entries once again where I struggled with going to Indonesia that first time in the summer of 2000. I sensed that God was calling me to an adventure but I was worried and scared. It was scary to consider going so far from home but there was also a sense that God might be calling me to a life that was different from the normal and that was even more frightening.

As each step of this journey and adventure has unfolded there have been similar feelings. I wonder if when I am old I will regret not having a normal life with stable friends. I wonder if spreading my wings, pursuing my dreams, and once again leaving for the road less traveled is for the best.

I recently read the book Love at the Speed of Email by Lisa McKay. In the book she tells the story of her and her husband-to-be's journey. They were both world travelers (still are) and had many of the same questions and thoughts. There were several parts of the book that struck a chord with me but then I came across this quote, "What if with God there is enough adventure at home and enough home in adventure?" It helped me realize that the the adventure I crave and the home I desire is not found in places but in God, and as long as I am following Him I will always have a home.

Learning to COPE

How does one learn to cope with a new culture and language and not only survive but thrive? Can one learn to effectively minister in this new environment. Why do missionaries leave the field early and how do we prevent it from happening?

These are just some of the topics we covered at Cultural Orientation for Personal Effectiveness (COPE). This training was two weeks long and hosted by Wycliffe Canada at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. The training focused on several different areas including Spiritual, Personal, Language, Interpersonal, and Cultural. Many of the reasons missionaries leave the field are because of problems in these aspects such as issues adjusting to culture, learning the language, or interpersonal conflict. These different aspects were taught through classroom instruction, discussion groups, presentations, group activities and an assignment in Chinatown in Vancouver.
 
But as they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few pictures...

Classroom Time

 

During our trip to Chinatown in Vancouver - I loved the juxtaposition of the Chinese temple in the foreground and the big building of Vancouver in the background.

Our small group's skit on a cultural taboo (showing anger)

Another group's skit on a cultural awkward moment (guys holding hands)

One-on-one time with leaders

Moving

Wow it has been a quite awhile since I updated my blog! As an introvert my response to lots of changes and challenges is to withdraw and recover. That is what I have been doing for the past couple of weeks. Now however it is time to peek back out of my shell. So hi again world :) What have you been doing the last couple of weeks?

So time for a quick catch-up... I finished and traveled home to Everett from Cultural Adaptation Training on June 9th. Then I spent a week sorting, packing, and preparing to move to Oregon to live with my parents until my departure for Indonesia. The big move happened Father's Day weekend. If you have never tried to sort through a 1200 square foot house and get rid most of it I don't suggest you do it alone. Thankfully I had a great moving team! My parents were able to come up to help and my two of my sisters who live in Seattle also spent most of Saturday helping with the heavy lifting.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend and of my great crew!

Sisters Kara and Laura packing the U-haul

The sorting area - there is an actually a method to our madness

Mom climbing the walls to remove pictures

Sisters hard at work

Settled in at my parent's house in Hood River, Oregon

It was a blessing to set-up my own bed at my parent's house and get settled! It is home for now with my cat Missy, Eduardo the wooden duck (a house-warming gift from my sisters five years ago when I first moved to Everett) and my parents.