RATE Issues

From mother tongue to tip tongue. A didactic strategy based on reading

by Silvia Munteanu, Liceul Pedagogic „D. P. Perpessicius”, Brăila

Key-words: Tip Tongue, didactic strategy, foreign language teaching, literature, bilingualism

Abstract

In this paper I aim at presenting Tip Tongue, a new didactic strategy invented by the French professor Stéphanie Benson. This method of teaching foreign languages consists in reading stories in which the book character (as well as the reader) starts from his/her mother tongue and is gradually exposed to more and more complex structures of a foreign language, to 100% in the last chapter. It is a concept which gives confidence to the learner and facilitates the acquisition of a foreign language in a pleasurable way, thanks to literature.

1. Introduction
Tip Tongue is an innovative, lively and satisfying method currently used in the teaching of foreign languages, based on the concept created by Stéphanie Benson (professor of English and Didactics at Université Bordeaux-Montaigne). In 2015, Tip Tongue was awarded “The European Label of Foreign Languages”, which rewards excellent pedagogical projects regarding the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Tip Tongue is also the name of the novel collection coordinated by Benson, including many books which she authored.
The idea first came from her children, who are bilingual (Stéphanie was born in England and later moved to France) and who were in the habit of mixing words and grammatical patterns from both languages (I also saw this at my nephew – who was born in Canada, Quebec and lived there for 13 years and who would often say: Qu’est-ce que ç’aude?, Dă-mi fourcheta! etc).
Thus, the author embarked on an experiment – she brought her 5th graders a book to read entirely in English. Some students were reluctant to the idea of reading 100% in English, fearing they might not understand the plot. So, Benson decided to create books which allow students to get progressively into the story and into the foreign language. The feedback was highly positive, and she has written 30 novels so far. In the novels of the Tip Tongue collection, the readers start from what they already know (their mother tongue) and get confidence in gradually acquiring new linguistic foreign facts, with no stress. The author creates a story and, in order to find out what happens next, the reader has to surpass certain obstacles (including linguistic ones). The empathic connection with the characters motivates them, and reading for pleasure comes naturally, with no effort (see Mancaș, Aniela et alii, 2013, p. 102).
The books in this collection are designed according to 4 reading levels (for students aged 8-16, but not only), according to The Common European Framework of Reference:
8-10 years – A1 Introductory
10-12 years – A1 Discovery
12-14 years – A2 Intermediate
14-16 years – B1 Independent user
Stéphanie Benson’s recommendation is “Learn a foreign language through literature!” She states that a child learns his/her mother tongue through literature, as well, be it written or oral. Parents read or tell stories to their children starting from a very young age and thus the brain integrates linguistic structures naturally, which can later be used as a basis for communication.

2. Linguistic strategies
The novels move progressively into English (or German, Spanish) and enable the reader to have a real linguistic journey. The heroes of each story travel into a foreign country and experience an exciting adventure among characters who speak English (or German, Spanish). Just like in real life! The reader does not need a dictionary; the characters and the narrator are there to guide him/her. The stories focus on the strategies which the hero has to adopt in order to understand or to make himself/herself understood. The characters of the books resort to different tips to communicate, in a natural way, which gives confidence to the reader. The foreign language is used progressively, to 100% in the last chapter. At the beginning of the books, the foreign language is only present in dialogues and it gradually slips into narration. There are numerous strategies suggested by the characters so as to facilitate comprehension: miming (Oh, “born”. A baby, explained Kiera, mimând actul de a legăna un copil. And he grew up here, continuă ea, ridicând mâna / Can’t we…? zise ea și se poticni la cuvântul „a dezgropa”, așa că mimă actul de a săpa./ Moira îi explică lui Hannah prin gesturi ce anume dorea), error correcting (He don’t speak English, interveni Hannah. He doesn’t speak English, o corectă Lorcan.), marking differences in grammar usage (Parcă folosirea lui „can” în loc de „must” a produs un anumit efect. Hannah își amintise în ultima clipă. „Can” pentru a cere permisiunea, „must” pentru a da un ordin.), synonyms and lexical explanations (He can’t speak, răspunse Lorcan. When you’re dumb, you can’t speak./ Dark. Night. With the moon and stars and no light.), emphasizing grammatical structures (Wishes can be as dangerous as buried treasure, she added, remembering how to compare two things.), resorting to familiar phrases (That’s false, protestă ea, amintindu-și de exercițiile „true or false” de la ora de engleză. / Cum se zicea la „război”? A, da, „war”. Ca în „World of Warcraft”, jocul video despre care vorbeau prietenii fratelui ei.; Tom știa ce înseamnă Rent a car – A închiria o mașină. – Văzuse asta pe niște panouri publicitare din aeroport; Cuvintele left și right le învățase mulțumită GPS-ului.) etc. In order to elucidate the story, the protagonists have to decode the language spoken by the people who surround them, and they manage it surprisingly well. By taking real linguistic bath, by plunging into authentic language, into the culture and civilization of the place chosen as a setting, the reader gets pleasure and self-confidence in reaching a better level of foreign language learning!

3. Benefits
In what follows, I will present some ideas extracted from a series of videos (see the links in the webography) with Stéphanie Benson, which prove the many benefits Tip Tongue has:
• Learn with literature – The reader is empathic with the characters in the book, because s/he feels all the anxiety of the heroes, resonates with their feelings and is overjoyed by the fact that the characters manage to cope with all the obstacles encountered in their adventure. The use of the Romanian language (in our case) reassures the reader, since s/he knows its vocabulary, its pronunciation. The mixture of languages can sometimes create confusion, so the introduction of the foreign language has to be integrated progressively.
• Tip Tongue in the family – If parents read these novels in the family, the children are even more thrilled, since they are very surprised to see their parents speak a foreign language (except for bilinguals). They can read together, play vocabulary games with words from the book, imagine different endings etc. This brings the foreign language into the homey atmosphere and makes learning more pleasant and stress free.
• Tip Tongue in class – Bilingualism can be a real support when learning a foreign language. This allows students to memorize things better and to understand the pattern of the new language, by comparing and contrasting the two languages (e.g. see below an example regarding the order of adjectives in English and in French) or Când suntem mici, nu înțelegem tot ce spun adulții, dar e de ajuns să-i auzim vorbind ca să ghicim ce înseamnă fiecare cuvânt. Apoi învățăm să conjugăm verbele și să facem acordul adjectivelor – cel puțin în limba noastră, pentru că în engleză adjectivele nu se acordă.

 • Audio books – All the books in the Tip Tongue collection come with an audio version, read by comedians using accents specific to the countries visited. Very often, a young language learner is scared by the fact that s/he does not know how to pronounce certain words. The fact that each novel has its audio version is essential. When the reader sees and listens to the word at the same time, the brain makes graphic and phonic correspondences. S/he understands that we read not only to comprehend a text, but also to be able to speak, to produce sounds. Parents and teachers do it naturally from a very young age with their children/pupils. Tip Tongue does the same, but with older children and with a foreign language. 

• Tip Tongue in the world – The books in this collection take you all around the globe (see the map below): to Argentina, New York, Spain, Germany, Japan, Ireland, Great Britain (Florimond à la recherche du Oxford Treasure; Moi, détective in London; Wiggins, Sherlock et le Mysterious Poison; Jeanne et le Fake London Manuscript; La Malédiction du Welsh Red Dragon; Valentin et les Scottish Secret Agents; Hannah et le trésor du Dangerous Elf), the USA (Alex et le Rêve de la New York Star; Love? in New York; Nouvelle Star in Hollywood etc).

4. Cultural aspects involved
Learning a foreign language does not only mean learning its grammar and its vocabulary, but also acquiring the competence of respect for the identity and culture of the others and that of tolerance for diversity. It is not only a linguistic journey, but also a cultural one, into the lifestyle of the people of other countries. For example, Hannah (Hannah și comoara elfului primejdios) travels to Ireland, explores the Irish folklore with the help of a Leprechaun – a magical creature in the Irish stories, in the shape of a little old man who likes to cause trouble – who has a buried treasure near Derry, finds out about the traditional British breakfast, which the Elf compares with the French croissants (Breakfast? Do you call that breakfast? Where are the fried eggs and the bacon, the sausages and the tomatoes and the mushrooms? Where are the fried potatoes? I thought the French were supposed to be good cooks!), dives into the Irish history (Trebuie să știți că de la sfârșitul anilor șaizeci până la sfârșitul anilor nouăzeci, Derry a fost teatrul unui război între Irlanda de Sud, numită și Republica Irlandeză, și Irlanda de Nord, care aparținea Marii Britanii. În regiune s-au dat lupte crâncene, memorabilă fiind „Duminica însângerată” sau „Bloody Sunday”. / Londonderry este numele pe care l-au dat orașului. În Republica Irlandeză se numește Derry.), finds out about the Irish climate (Irlanda era verde și vălurită, presărată cu ferme micuțe și oi cu lâna deasă.) and its geography (Derry is right on the border between the North and the South).
Other examples, offered by the eponymous character in Tom și secretul castelului bântuit take us on a ghost hunting journey to Scotland. The readers are presented the physical aspect of the Scots (La lumina zilei, părul ei roșcat era cu adevărat strălucitor, iar Tom observă că avea ochii verzi și o mulțime de pistrui.), their names (Robert McKenzie, Shona McAlistair, Akira McKenzie, Akira is an old Celtic name. It means anchor.), the traditional Scottish breakfast (Era un bufet cald, cu etichete în dreptul tuturor preparatelor: porridge, kippers – heringi afumați - sângerete, oatcakes, black pudding, sausages, grilled tomatoes, potato scones, bacon, fried eggs, potato hash, baked beans; Porridge e un terci din fulgi de ovăz pe care scoțienii îl servesc cald, dulce sau sărat. Poți să-l mănânci cu unt, smântână, zahăr sau sare, ba chiar și cu stafide, la alegere. Și dacă ai chef de o aventură, poți gusta haggis, un preparat din măruntaie de oaie cu fulgi de ovăz și condimente; după rețeta tradițională, amestecul se fierbe într-o burtă de oaie, dar astăzi se pregătește mai degrabă ca un cârnat), its geography (Regiunea era plină de lacuri) or climate (Snow often makes you see things, said James. That’s why the Scots believe in ghosts. Because we have lots of snow; Era frig, cerul era plin de nori, apăsător și plumburiu.)
Famous landmarks, various lifestyles, local gastronomy, celebrations, geographical, historical and artistic aspects, these are things which the characters see and experience during their adventures. Each character dives into the cultural context of his/her destination. This thing confers an interdisciplinary character to this teaching method and thus, these books open the readers’ hearts and spirit! The reader visits various countries and universes, which allows for a real immersion in the respective culture and civilization.

5. Examples of class usage activities
In what follows, I suggest some examples of class usage activities, which involve all the four main skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking:
• Reading paragraphs / dialogues aloud
• Listening to the audio book
• Comprehension exercises – wh- questions
• Cultural capsules (make a short PPT or Prezi presentation of a cultural place/fact from the book e.g. Irish folklore, the origins of the Irish flag – Hannah și comoara elfului primejdios)
• Dramatization (of an episode or of the entire book)
• Adapting the novel to cartoons
• Writing a postcard to the main character
• Writing a sequel for the novel
• Double entry journals (students record their responses to text as they read) etc.
According to Sophie Behr, chief editor of the Psychologie positive magazine (Pouquoi ça marche? Parce que c’est positif et affectif!), “The researchers in the field of neurosciences have proved that […] in order for our memory to function at its best, our interest and curiosity have to be stirred. When we are focused on the reading, the new information is fixed in the neural channels naturally and with no effort. Being empathic with the hero who has the same doubts as the reader when speaking the new language, stirs the reader’s motivation and invites the latter to be creative, by finding his/her own mnemotechnic ways of learning the new language. Pleasure, motivation, empathy, creativity… these are the best principles of the positive education!” She continues by demonstrating the importance of the affective factors in the development of the cognitive skills: “Research has proved that positive emotions increase creativity and improve the ability of problem-solving. Succeeding in reading a novel whose last chapter is written entirely in a foreign language is something to be proud of, and this gives readers the self-confidence to continue.” (see https://fr.calameo.com/read/00169842909bfffe566aa).
In fact, some of these remarks were already noted decades ago. Thus, Charles Fries, a famous American specialist in the teaching of English, stated that “there are at least eight general aspects that will serve as a rough basis for a loose classifying of the ways of experiencing literature: 1. activity, 2. conduct problems, 3. background, 4. behind the scenes in character, 5. feelings of those in crisis, 6. personal emotion of the writer, 7. thought stimulus, 8. attention to the commonplace. They overlap and the same piece of literature may serve one type of experience at one time and another aspect later.” (Fries, 1966, p. 232). All these principles of teaching literature are still very modern.

6. A Romanian (journalistic) anticipation of this method
As to what our cultural history is concerned, we should mention the fact that the Tip Tongue method was somehow anticipated in Romania nearly 200 years ago, by the way in which newspapers and magazines were written back then. This fact is worth mentioning in this context, since one of the functions of mass-media is the educational one. I refer to the so-called “transition alphabet”, consisting in an inventory of letters taken both from the Cyrillic alphabet and from the Latin one, with a view to facilitating to the Romanian readers a gradual learning of the Latin alphabet (see, for instance, the book cover below). The progressive passage from the books written with Cyrillic letters to the exclusively Latin ones was thus achieved.

As a matter of fact, Ion Heliade Rădulescu was the one who had the idea of this method, using it in his magazine (see Dimitriu, 1999, pp. 825-826). This historical event could be considered somehow strange, since writing usually comes after speech, not the other way round, as it happens in this case.

7. Tip Tongue in the Switch Collection
Through the Romanian-English examples offered above, I have already recorded the existence of some novels from the Tip Tongue collection in Romania. In 2019, Booklet Fiction Publishing House introduced the SWITCH Collection on the Romanian market. For the time being, they only published Hannah și comoara elfului primejdios (together with a reading comprehension activity booklet) and Tom și secretul castelului bântuit. Judging from my students’ immediate interest in this type of books, I would say that this innovative method of learning foreign languages, which is already considered a successful one in other countries, is enthusiastically received in Romania, as well.
According to the respective publishing house, the SWITCH Collection has numerous advantages:
• gradual exposure to more and more complex English or other foreign language structures, following the progress of the story;
• the possibility of deducing the meaning of the new words from a familiar context, without looking up the new words in a dictionary;
• the acquisition a relevant vocabulary, which can be used in real communication contexts;
• the possibility of comparing and contrasting the two languages;
• the chance to learn English or other foreign languages by reading for pleasure;
• the captivating and clarifying illustrations facilitate the understanding of the text and help systematize the newly acquired language.
Thanks to this collection, reading in English sounds so natural! Here is what the main character in Tom și secretul castelului bântuit says: La fel stau lucrurile și cu limbile străine. Învățăm cuvinte ca atunci când eram prunci, numai că acum merge mai repede, pentru că am înțeles deja cum funcționează propria noastră limbă. Și, de multe ori, putem să ghicim ce ni se spune. Oamenii vorbesc și cu mâinile, cu expresiile feței, mimând ce vor să spună. Într-o bună zi, o să te trezești că poți spune „gata, mă descurc în engleză”. Tatăl lui avea dreptate – engleza nu era chiar atât de grea, câtă vreme nu te străduiești să înțelegi fiecare cuvânt. Thus, at the end of the book, when Tom is asked by the policemen: Do you want your father to translate? he answers: No, it’s OK. I can understand. And so can the reader.
What is more, this SWITCH reading helps students in preparing for the National Evaluation in the 6th grade. As known, in this exam, students are given two texts (on the same topic), one in Romanian and one in a foreign language. Starting from them, students have to prove their comprehension skills and solve mixed tasks, both in Romanian and in English.

8. Conclusion
Thus, even if it is a recent method, Tip Tongue already proves itself to be successful not only in France, Germany, Spain, but also in Romania. Interesting enough, considering that the French are so reluctant as regards linguistic loans, the recommendation of this method of learning by a French teacher and writer would seem rather curious. Nevertheless, such a didactic method is also justified by the linguistic reality itself, since the dynamics of languages frequently records mixed (interlinguistic) expressions in colloquial speech. As known, René Etiemble, the famous French sociolinguist, wrote about Franglais (Parlez-vous Franglais? – 1964) when researching instances in which English words were frequently inserted into French discourses. Consequently, this has led to similar further studies, involving other languages (e.g. Froumain, Romgleza, Spanglish etc.).

Bibliography:

Benson, Stéphanie, Hannah și comoara elfului primejdios, Traducere din limba franceză de Diana Morărașu, Editura Booklet Fiction, București, 2019.
Benson, Stéphanie, Tom și secretul castelului bântuit, Traducere din limba franceză de Diana Morărașu, Editura Booklet Fiction, București, 2020.
Dimitriu, Corneliu Tratat de gramatică a limbii române. Morfologia, Institutul European, Iași, 1999.
Fries, Charles, Teaching of English, The George Wahr Publishing Co, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1966.
Mancaș, Aniela et alii, Provocarea lecturii. Ghid metodologic de receptare a mesajului scris, Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, București, 2013.

Webography:

https://fr.calameo.com/read/00169842909bfffe566aa
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-Jv788tKTrSZoHYPtKl1zdIUBpM8F-OJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCWl22aq444&list=PLJv788tKTrSZoHYPtKl1zdIUBpM8F-OJ&t=2s&index=3
https://en.calameo.com/read/001698429efcfd3f12b0a

Biodata:

Silvia Munteanu has been teaching English since 2001. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and French and a Master’s degree in Translation and Interpretation. She is an author of scientific articles on the topic of traductology and English didactics. She has been involved in various Comenius and Erasmus projects: Teaching English through Games and Songs (2005) – London, UK; Developing Oral Fluency in the Secondary English Language Classroom (2012) – Exeter, UK; Integrating Technology in English Language Instruction with Teacher Education and Leadership Academy (2013) – an Edexcel Assured Programme – London, UK; Creativity Awakening with Pictures for Education (2014) – Olching, Germany (Grundtvig Workshop); initiator and coordinator of the Erasmus+ Project, Key Action K1, VET mobilities: New Horizons in Teaching. Training Future Teachers in accordance with European Requirements regarding Pre-schooling Teaching (2015-2016); coordinator in many E-twinning projects.