A few weeks back we had a brief discussion of the Where Are Your Keys Program. Carla has looked it over and shares, for those who were following that thread:
Dear Ben,
I have been studying Where are your keys? (WAYK) online for a few weeks now. I haven’t personally seen what success looks like in the method, but they say they are reviving native languages with it, and the early conversations look pretty successful. People are using it to place out of college language requirements. They say it can get speakers all the way to ACTFL superior level. It’s kind of a cousin of TPRS, built on similar principles but with a way different approach. I still think that TPRS is better in brain-friendliness and personalization. WAYK is still worth looking at though, because it teaches people how to learn language, and how to become language hunters in their community. And every student is a teacher who can teach someone else what they know, which is very important if you are trying to rescue dying languages as they are, or if you are trying to create any community of speakers. (One of the principles is ‘we’ll all get there together. Another one is ‘it’s not how fast tou get there but how big a community you take with you.’) There is a universal speed curriculum only 10 pages long that acts as a loose guide to the path to fluency through intermediate level. These aspects of the game tap into what Daniel pink says motivates people: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Some similarities I see with TPRS are comprehensible input, seeking fluency, sheltering vocab but not grammar, awareness of the student as a human and fun. The biggest difference I see is with regard to speaking. With TPRS, our students start speaking from day one with simple answers like yes or no or proper names. With WAYK, students speak in complete sentences from day one. Before you dismiss it though, consider how they lower the affective filter. The game has a rule called mumble or close enough. You don’t worry about getting it right. You just copycat to the best of your ability. Accent will come along later. You also don’t worry about learning or remembering. Just copycat and sleep on it, and things will start to bubble up, sometimes in unpredictable ways. You’ll be surprised what you forget and you’ll be surprised what you remember. They keep their set ups simple and obvious so that things are 100% comprehensible, and they add language in bite-sized pieces. They have a rule called ‘no suffering’ so leaders are alert to how people are doing. You blow off mistakes (and celebrate successes) by calling out ‘how fascinating!’ as per Benjamin Zander’s poptech talk. And they build in rules for self-care such as take a break when you’re full, go to ‘the meadow’ if you need to, let people know when they need to limit the conversation or when they have gone over your head. Each of these is a technique in the game with its own ASL sign. Communication of needs is quick, so it doesn’t interrupt game flow, and the conversation stays just about 100% in the target language once people know the rules.
I’m going to try this with my Spanish club this year. If it goes well, I may try it with lists of concrete nouns in class too. If you are interested, I have collected some links. Can you imagine what would happen if kids mastered these techniques and started getting fluent in language, carrying a community of teenagers with them? The myth that language learning is hard, and only for a few elite would just fall away. Teachers and administrators would have to take notice. Such a thing could help ignite the revolution we are looking for. I know, I’m dreaming again. But when everyone on my Spanish team insists on the textbook in textbook order with grammar and translation centered tests every three weeks, and my administrators insist on standardization, I have to dream.
Carla