Parlez-vous français?
Two weeks of intensive French study at the Alliance Française in London has not made me fluent. I booked for the course when I expected to be leading a management development programme in francophone Africa in November. Alas the funding for the project is uncertain for 2008 and so the programme is on hold. I think it was still a good use of time but not the exceptional answer to my hesitant ability. What it has made me consider are the variety of learning styles.
Another course I am taking is the City & Guilds ‘Delivering Learning’. At least, that was its title when I signed up in September. With government restructuring to ensure all tutors are properly qualified, the course is now aimed at people who want to end up teaching in further or higher education. So it’s not such a good fit for me. Where it is useful is to help me think how do people learn in a professional or organisational setting?
We all know that we learn better in some situations than others. For some, the visual dominates with books, PowerPoints and flipcharts. Others learn more through auditory stimuli of listening through conversations, lectures and soundtracks. And then we learn through feel and touch and doing – the kinaesthetic. So another three letter acronym – VAK. Last week the lecturer added an R for reading and (w)riting! Like most concepts, the world is in reality more complex and we learn through a variety of stimuli, although with our own preferences.
For me, the French course was too much auditory and listening to fast conversations. But more importantly, how does that relate to my own training practice? Do I rely too much on PowerPoint and handouts? How can I incorporate more of the kinaesthetic for learners who find touch and ‘doing’ helpful? Lego and Wikki-Stix come to mind. How they are incorporated in discussion of appraisals which I’m facilitating in a network meeting in November will be interesting!
Meanwhile, some French revision is called for – BBC videos this time! A bientôt!
