I'm signing for a new house with my new wife today (second house, first wife) and we're super excited. I'm still trying to get the hang of corporate training . So far I'm focusing on: 1. Showing people that the lecture format they've seen their entire life is a super inefficient way of learning, 2. No one here is going to give you permission, so just implement the smallest version of the plan as quick as possible. 3. Good communicators treat people like humans regardless of the setting. And I finally beat the main story of witcher 3. Damn that's a good game.
I'm still thinking through it so forgive me if I'm a little rambly. I ask people to write a lot of documentation. I talk to these people pretty regularly and for the most part we have really fun casual conversations. When I ask these people to write, they start using "essay english", saying things like "when one finds themselves facing the dilemma of an angry customer..." This stuffy language creates a barrier of formality - it's not only hard to understand but it's boring and not engaging, so it usually goes in one ear and out the other. The same thing happens when I ask people to teach or present. If I ask that person to explain something to me, we'll sit down and have a conversation. They'll stop and check to make sure I'm still with them, they'll look at my face and see if I'm getting it, they'll make jokes and tell me about quirks. If I ask them to do something formal like "teach" they'll make power points and stand at the front of a room with an invisible wall between them and the learners. Once again, we have distance and boredom. In both of these situations, people are treated a bit like machines - data is pushed out for them to consume, it's a very soulless form of education. I try to push people to stop teaching the way they were taught, through formal lectures and essays, and start teaching the way they learned, through conversations, experiences and laughter. In this way, all education is a human dialogue where one who knows is trying to make a genuine connection to one who doesn't. The stronger this connection, the better the learning. That's the idea at least.
Thank you very much for sharing this. As an aspiring teacher, I appreciate this kind of an insight when I can't get far beyond my own brain. As far as you understand: do you think this somewhat-informal approach to teaching is irreconcilable with formal language? In other words, do you think you could have an alive, conversational session of teaching using the kind of a language that takes place in more typically-academic settings?
I don't think it's irreconcilable I just think formal language is, in many cases, a detriment to itself. The goal of language and the goal of learning to to create a pool of shared meaning. Through that pool of shared meaning we can bond and grow as a group. The formal language used in "essay english" is often only used because "that's how essay's are supposed to sound". The goal of the information shifts from trying to share knowledge to trying to sound right - the latter helps no one. Formal language has a stigma of "if you don't understand this, then you are dumb" which usually makes people who don't understand feel unsafe. You can create a dialogue in any language so long as every participant feels safe - so you could have a dialogue in formal language, as long as you make sure everyone understands the language while you're talking.
Good point. There's a place for any kind of language and a time to use it. Academic speech belongs in academia, and slang belongs in the group of origin.you could have a dialogue in formal language, as long as you make sure everyone understands the language while you're talking.