09, no. 2 (November 1977): 49-50
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A NEW AUDIENCE FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION: THE OLDER ADULT
Richard Kalfus
AT a time of continued enrollment problems in college foreign language classes, there are signs of encouragement in an area that has long been neglected but is now gradually gaining influence—adult education. While daytime students continue to question the need for taking a foreign language, more and more adults, long past college age, seem to have no doubts about the value of studying a second language.
The foreign language department of the St. Louis Community College at Meramec has taken advantage of this positive attitude toward language study. Under the auspices of the college's continuing education division, the department, over the past few years, has developed a curriculum in conversational Spanish, French, and German. It offers a two-semester sequence in Spanish and French and a four-semester one in German (two beginning and two intermediate levels). Each class meets two hours weekly for twelve evening sessions a semester. Because of decreasing enrollments in the parallel language courses offered at the college level, these noncredit adult conversation classes are being staffed by full-time faculty. What began as a “necessary evil” (instructors who were used to teaching primarily college transfer students were at first indifferent to instructing adults in a noncredit course) has become both a “lifesaver” and a most rewarding experience for the language teacher.
Interest in the past three years has steadily grown, and conversation classes now average 25 students. Enrollment in the 1976 fall semester's beginning German class, for example, had to be limited to 32 participants, although it is extremely rare to have to restrict registration in any foreign language course at a community college. And for the past two summers, enthusiastic adults who were enrolled in the spring conversational German classes decided to continue lessons on their own by meeting weekly in each other's homes.
The foreign language teacher has found the adult conversation class to be an ideal setting for innovation. Since few textbooks are suitable for such mini-courses, instructors have been developing their own materials (e.g.,travel-oriented dialogues, shorter grammar lessons with accompanying exercises, and cassette recordings of pronunciation drills and conversational pattern practices). Meramec's two language laboratories are open during the school week from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and they are frequently used by the adult students.
Unquestionably, it takes time for the college teacher to adjust to the adult student who comes to evening school not only to acquire language skills, but to socialize as well—to relate, for example, past foreign travel experiences to an interested group. For many, taking a conversation class is like joining a club, and it requires patience and flexibility on the part of the teacher to create an atmosphere which is both academic and social. To satisfy those cultural, extracurricular needs of the adult language learner, some special programs for all conversational classes are planned each semester: an international food fair with students and staff preparing the menu; a spring Mardi Gras-Fasching festival with costumes, dance music, and student entertainment; and several evening showings of feature-length foreign films with subtitles.
The general success of these classes has prompted the foreign language department to explore other channels of communication with adults in the community. We have been aided in our efforts by a most interesting situation. To develop programs exclusively for senior citizens, the division of continuing education recently hired a part-time assistant dean who is also director of a new, federally financed housing project for retired residents of Kirkwood, Missouri (Meramec Community College is located in Kirkwood). The choice of a person with such a dual assignment was not a mere coincidence, since the community college is very interested in involving its faculty in various programs for senior citizens who constitute an unusually high 23 percent of the total Kirkwood population.
The building, which will open in December 1976, is only one of several planned for the future. This first development will house 125 senior citizens ranging in age from 57 to 82 years. The lower level of the building will be designated as a “leisure center” where a wide range of recreational and educational activities will take place. This is the aspect of the project which involves the foreign language department. A pilot program is scheduled for the fall semester of 1977, when foreign language instructors will bring their expertise to the senior citizens of Kirkwood.
The first course will be a team-taught culture and civilization class on France, Germany, and Spain. Three culturally relevant and diverse topics will be discussed: food customs, scenic highlights, and education systems. The class will meet twelve times for one and one-half hours a week, with alternating sessions devoted to a specific theme relating to one culture. Every fourth meeting will be conducted by all three teachers and will focus on cross-cultural comparisons. Audio-visual materials will be used extensively (i.e., slides, records, tapes, and travel films). Although the course will be given at the housing project, it will be open to other senior citizens of the community for a nominal fee.
Should this project be as successful as anticipated, other classes would be offered by our department. Some possible programs:
- A ten-week conversation class in Spanish, French, or German. Since such a class would be scheduled during the daytime at the leisure center for the less mobile senior citizens, it would not draw students away from the already popular evening adult language classes taught at the college.
- Historical tours to ethnic areas in Greater St. Louis, Missouri, and southern Illinois where there are many German and French communities of cultural interest. The tours would be planned and conducted by a language teacher who would give several preparatory lectures on the history of the area to be visited.
- A foreign film series with discussions on various cultural topics led by a language teacher (e.g., growing up, the role of women, war and violence).
Since the enrollment crisis in foreign languages is far from over, flexibility is the key to survival in the years ahead. At Meramec, we feel that we are realistically preparing for the future by our willingness to fill new and broader roles in community college education. This would not be possible without supportive administrators who, aware of the plight of foreign language teachers, are always ready to give us the opportunity to implement different, nontraditional approaches to language instruction.
The author is Chairman of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at the St. Louis Community College at Meramec.
© 1977 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
ADFL Bulletin 09, no. 2 (November 1977): 49-50 |
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