Brain Plasticity 2 1

8/17/2019 Brain Plasticity 2 1

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Brain Plasticity

The human brain is amazing. With the right kinds ofexperiences and sustained engagement we can learnto do wonderful things. Other kinds of experiences—like those that lead us to feel afraid of looking stupidin front of our peers—can result in our brain actually

shutting down its best learning centers.

What is one of yourgreatest learningexperiences? Whatfactors contributed to

your success?


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As teachers we want to help each student makethe most of their brain. !oing so will re"uire each ofus to learn a lot more than we presently know andcontinue to do so throughout the course of ourli#es. $#ery day neuroscientists teachers andothers are disco#ering new ways to facilitatelearning. %t&s an exciting time to be ali#e andin#ol#ed in helping learners to succeed. Wewelcome you to this ad#enture and hope to learn agreat deal from you as we become a community of

learners seeking to become more e'ecti#edesigners of learning experiences(


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Case Study: Tim Doner

Tim !oner had the opportunity to study )rench from the third gradeon and began *atin in the se#enth grade. +ut he was not particularlygood at language learning. %t was like any other school sub,ect. -e

,ust did his homework. either of his parents were bilingual and hewasn&t exposed to other signi/cant bilingual role models. *anguagelearning didn&t excite him.

At age twel#e Tim had some experiences outside of school thatresulted in his beginning to experience language learning in newways. At fourteen he enrolled in +01&s 2343 Arabic 5TA6TA*7 camp.-e was not a particularly outstanding language learner except in onething8 -e en,oyed performing for his fellow students. -ere is a routine

he practiced and practiced and recorded toward the end of the camp8http899#imeo.com94:;


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Case Study: Tim Doner !uring the camp Tim was particularly impressed by two people8an Arab T.A. who spoke $nglish #ery well and one of his teachers>a nati#e speaker of $nglish. +oth tutor and teacher spokethree languages well. These camp experiences were the catalystthat launched Tim on a passionate language@learning ,ourney. %nspite of a demanding academic@year schedule o#er the lastthree years he has made signi/cant progress in learning 23

languages some of them "uite well as you can see here8http899polyglotpal.blogspot.com9p9blog@pageB4


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DNA or a Learned Skill?

Cany teachers and students fail to see important lessons we can learnfrom Tim because they dismiss him as an exception. They arecon#inced that he was born with a rare gift for learning languagesafter puberty. Our experience with Tim and a recent inter#iew we didwith him suggest that his success is actually the result of8 4 intensefocusD 2 lots of hard work ac"uiring basics and practicing tasks

rele#ant to his interestsD : /nding ,oy in the ,ourney. As a result ofthese factors Tim has become a #ery talented language learner. O#erthe years we ha#e witnessed how some learners—e#en one whoseemed to ha#e almost no natural talent for language learning whowas one of the worst in his classes in the beginning—turned into someof the best learners we know.

ow please read at least the /rst half of this article on mindset8

http899www.awaionline.com9234493=9is@your@mindset@keeping@you@from@your@potential9

What implications do you see fromhighly successful learners like Tim forhelping other learners succeed inlearning Arabic?


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Implications of Brain Plasticity for

Learners and Teachers of AraicOur understanding of how the brain works has changed a great dealin the last two decades. ew tools now allow us to look much moreclosely at what is going on in the brain. These insights are making itpossible to help people in ways we ne#er imagined including some

who ha#e experienced massi#e strokes. We now know that ourbrains are able to change to adapt to learn new skills to a fargreater degree than we pre#iously belie#ed possible. Watch this brief#ideo summarizing research on brain plasticity and note the far@reaching implications for language learning >don&t get bogged downin the physiology ,ust look for useful insights to help you better

understand how to help your students8http899www.youtube.com9watch?#EFGo@rcGCgb%H6E4HfeatureEendscreen

)rom what youe learned aboutmindset and brain plasticity so farwhat are some speci/c things you feelthat you could do as a teacher of

Arabic to help your students makemore of their brain power?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vo-rcVMgbI&NR=1&feature=endscreenhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vo-rcVMgbI&NR=1&feature=endscreenhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vo-rcVMgbI&NR=1&feature=endscreenhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vo-rcVMgbI&NR=1&feature=endscreen


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The better we are at designing a learning experience thatcaptures students& attention and moti#ates them to practice a lotthe more likely it is that signi/cant learning will be the result.Ionsider the following example and as you do please note inparticular how the teacher has constructed the experience to getand keep studentsJ attention and keep them practicing8

http899www.youtube.com9watch?#EK;rkLzf7rgCHfeatureEshareHlistEM*$)=A!33LII+))AI4

What ha#e you learned? -owwill you use this in thefuture?

-igh "uality language programs

pro#ide learning experiences thatlight a /re in students and showthem how to e'ecti#ely andeciently mo#e forward in their"uest for ac"uiring skill in usingArabic. As we ha#e seen studentscan also do this for themsel#es.

Think about examples ofprograms you ha#e seen

pro#ide this type of signi/cantlearning experience >Arabic)rench Cath $conomicsP?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4rk5zfKrgM&feature=share&list=PLEF6AD005CCBFFAC1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4rk5zfKrgM&feature=share&list=PLEF6AD005CCBFFAC1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4rk5zfKrgM&feature=share&list=PLEF6AD005CCBFFAC1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4rk5zfKrgM&feature=share&list=PLEF6AD005CCBFFAC1


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Case Study: Belal !oundeyaOn Carch F +elal Koundeya one of our former teacher trainees who

now teaches in +01 5TA6TA*7 camps presented at $IT)* to astanding@room@only crowd >http899www.nectQ.org9sessions@lets@make@language@learning@acti#e@fun. -e and his students are a stunning success story. -e showed#ideo of classroom acti#ities he does with children 7@F. This is one

teacher who has taken his training to heart and is excelling atcreating student@centered learning experiences.

http://www.nectfl.org/sessions-lets-make-language-learning-active-funhttp://www.nectfl.org/sessions-lets-make-language-learning-active-funhttp://www.nectfl.org/sessions-lets-make-language-learning-active-funhttp://www.nectfl.org/sessions-lets-make-language-learning-active-fun


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Case Study: Belal !oundeya

When asked what inQuences were most important in histransformation as a teacher he named two8 4 our webinar held on

Kune 22nd 23448 R5tudent Anxiety and Coti#ation during %ntensi#e*anguage 5tudy AbroadS led by clinical psychologist and author !r.Cadeline $hrman who recently retired after :L years at the )oreign5er#ice %nstitute&s 5chool of *anguage 5tudies where she was!irector of 6esearch $#aluation H !e#elopment. The webinarfocuses on sources and symptoms of student anxiety during studyabroad and tools for program directors teachers and mentors toassist them in becoming e'ecti#e self@regulating learners. 2 7irk+elnap discussing the following "uote and its implications with

5TA6TA*7 teacher trainees8 RWe won&t meet the needs for moreand better higher education until professors become designers oflearning experiences and not ,ustU teachers.S >5pence 2334"uoted in )ink 233:.


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The idea of designing signi/cant learning experiences that helpstudents to fully engage to pay rapt attention has transformed +elal&spractice. 6ecently he called us to excitedly report on his studentsJ5TACM test scores. They went from o#ice Cid to %ntermediate Cidduring the 234294: academic year. -e said it was a result of his gi#ingthem Rcan doS statements regularly re#iewing progress with themand seeing them catch /re and really push themsel#es. Watch thiscon#ersation he led recently with these high school students whoha#e studied Arabic for four /#e and six years >most of their progresshas come in the last year as theye caught the #ision of short@termgoal setting8

http899www.youtube.com9watch?#E;hBGctyb2dC

Case Study: Belal !oundeya

6eQecting on these results what do you feel youcould do to help your students more rigorously andmore e'ecti#ely pursue ac"uiring real pro/ciency inusing Arabic?


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Case Study: "yan #re$$


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Case Study: "yan #re$$-e is now an accomplished language learner but this is arecent de#elopment. -e found little success or interest instudying 5panish in high school but a trip to %srael whenhe was 4F aroused his curiosity and learning -ebrewe#entually became a passion. The path to pro/ciency in-ebrew howe#er was anything but smooth. At /rst he

was doubtful of his ability to learn e#en the alphabet buthe found ,oy in the ,ourney pushed through some hardtimes learned how to learn a language and went on tobecome one of -ebrew 1ni#ersity&s star students.


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Case Study: "yan #re$$

6yan&s dri#e to learn -ebrew has resulted in him de#elopingstrategies at #arious stages that ha#e helped him learn thelanguage both in connection with organized classes and on hisown. -e always carries a notebook with him and records newwords that he later studies. 6ecognizing that he was too

dependent on seeing -ebrew written he has worked tostrengthen his ability to understand and make connectionsthrough listening to -ebrew both in the news andcon#ersations as well as in poetry readings. -e has learned toembrace that fact that he will occasionally make embarrassing

mistakes and use such experiences as a tool for pushingforward in ac"uiring Quency in -ebrew. *isten to him speak forhimself8 http899www.youtube.com9watch?#El:n0$C=in23 0ou&ll /nd more at8

http899nmelrc.org9success@stories@ryan@gregg


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To understand better why these students may ha#e made moreprogress than is typical for students at this stage of study read 7irk+elnap&s RTowards !eep *earningS the /nal article in the )ebruary2344 AATA newsletter.

What brain plasticity insights help to explain the greater progressstudents make in content courses?

Brain Plasticity 2 1

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