Page:Adapting and Writing Language Lessons.pdf/94

Rh for learning courteous non-verbal concomitants such as facial expressions, gestures, and body postures.

The grammatical structures that are of interest in this lesson are: (a) equational (is, are') sentences with no verb, (b) 'this' vs. 'that!, (c) 'my' vs. 'your.'

Since the first of these is exemplified in every line, there is no occasion for practicing it in relationship to something with which it contrasts. The second and third points, with respect to their 'symbolic' and 'iconic' representations, are perfectly clear to a speaker of English, since the Telugu demonstratives apparently correspond closely to English 'this' and 'that,' and the possessive pronouns precede the nouns they modify. From the 'enactive' point of view, however, there is still exploration to be done. This might, for example, be accomplished through the use of substitution drills in which the student is given nouns, possessives and demonstratives as cues, and has to decide which slot of the model sentence he should put each cue word into. Such drills could either be done as pure linguistic manipulation, or accompanied by appropriate pointing actions.

If the lesson is adapted in this way it can lead to such occasions for use as the following:  Hand to an Indian colleague each of a set of tools, as he asks you for them. Observe and use any gestures or other expressions of courtesy that are appropriate in this situation. Outside of class, learn the names of two objects that you want to be able to talk about. Teach these to your classmates tomorrow. 