EPISODE 23: “WHERE ARE YOUR KEYS?”: an Interview with Evan Gardner
I promised this podcast to some very supportive folks, so I will post it. But just give me a second here.
Evan Gardner addresses some pretty big stuff in this interview. Big stuff. “Where Are Your Keys?” covers far more than you think. You’ll need to really listen closely, and perhaps multiple times, to catch it all (and we haven’t even made Part Two yet!). When he talks about the emerging role of the Language Savior in revivifying indigenous languages, or the Twenty Language Child, or the emerging cultures of WAYK-style teachers, really think about what this means. As a mentor and self-identified “coyote teacher” myself, this has got me looking at and reexamining everything in my toolkit, and seeing a whole ‘nother side of the rewilding renaissance; a rebirth and revisioning of coyote mentoring culture itself.
I think I have a new motto. “WAYK UP AND LEARN, REWILDERS!”. Enough of schooling; let’s truly take back our own ability to learn anything in the world, as easily and quickly as playing a game!
The original podcast description, for new folks:
“Where are Your Keys?”
Evan Gardner, who rewilds in Molalla, OR, has made a breakthrough. But does anyone even feel ready for it? Over a period of years, he pieced together all the most effective language-learning techniques into one, seamless whole; a game called “Where are Your Keys”.
Everyone knows about the epidemic of endangered indigenous languages, all over the world, and yet linguists and teachers continue to use old, academic and schooling methods, that for those many of us who studied foreign languages in school and college, we know they don’t work. We never achieved fluency, and we struggled to learn them. For those that did gain some mastery of their chosen language, they did it by actually traveling to its home and immersing themselves in the culture.
But how do we do that for languages on the edge of extinction, with one 90 year-old fluent speaker left? How do we create the experience of immersion, as best we can?
Evan has the answer. So far, he has struggled with getting the message out there. Since “Where are Your Keys?”, by its very nature, creates not students, but Teachers, he knows in only a matter of time the game will spread like wildfire, as Teachers make more Teachers. But will it happen in time to save the endangered native languages where you live?
Chinuk Wawa at the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde
American Council on the Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Testing
Revitalizing Your Language, by Leanne Hinton
A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander
March 5th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Hey Willem! interesting podcast for sure!
I am indeed not sure if i understand the whole thing, also sometimes the microphone seems to drift away and everything sounds really soft. I listen to the podcast on my mp3 while working outside and missed a lot interesting conversation because of cars and planes and city noise.
gonna think on it….
March 5th, 2009 at 9:26 am
I enjoyed hearing this interview and would like to learn more, especially about the specifics of how the game works. Is the best bet for really learning it to figure out a way to have a workshop with Evan, or something like that?
I live in Sitka, Alaska; the Tlingit people are still a significant part of this community. It’s my understanding that there are still quite a few native speakers in the region, and significant work being done to try to preserve the language, but it’s still at risk. In any case, I am interested in learning Tlingit, and, while there are classes offered through the local university branch (which unfortunately have not worked with my schedule), it seems like this game could be of great help with or without the class.
March 5th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Matt:
At this time, connecting up with Evan down here will probably work best. I’ll also podcast more on this subject, and we’ll look into putting together a website to disseminate some of the foundation understandings of WAYK.
timeLESS:
Sorry ’bout the audio - Evan talks quiet! I’ll get him to speak up next time. I’ll also do another podcast in the meanwhile about the implications of all this, to really flesh out the major insights.
March 9th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Very Interesting -
Is there anywhere to learn more about the 100 or so teaching techniques mentioned or how to play the game “where are my keys”
Thanks,
March 9th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Craig-
Keep following the blog here, we’ll continue to try to figure out how to make the “where are your keys’ game available. We have a problem of scalability and early adoption right now; Evan and the students he has brought to fluency number quite few, whereas interested people wait scattered far and wide across the globe. For a viral, person-to-person game to spread, it must spread via people interacting with each other.
I have considered posting videos, etc., but I dont’ know if those could actually replace a person for teaching the game.
In any case, as soon as we have an idea, we’ll post it here.
yrs,
Willem
March 17th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Willem & Evan, the phenomenon of mental exhaustion at the end of a session is the natural consequence of the intense learning that comes with Beginner’s Mind. When a person finds themselves slightly outside of their comfort zone, their brain switches to a mode where they 1. don’t know the limitations of the context - what is impossible, and 2. become open to learning a great deal very fast.
This is an idea I learned about from the paper linked below. It is talking about computer programming, specifically pair programming in the context of Extreme Programming, which is a type of Agile. As you seem to know, computer programming in a team is largely about creating and sharing language. By having a mentor teach a student for a short time, and then student become the mentor for a new student, information flows around the team extremely quickly.
I am eager to learn more about Where are Your Keys.
http://dougstewart.info/downloads/PromiscuousPairingAndBeginnersMind_ArloBelshee.doc
March 18th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Thanks for the link! I’ve actually met Arlo, and sat in on several Agile conversations with him and even a team meeting or two, but I never read this article. I funny oversight on my part!
I also appreciate your eagerness; we’ll get more information out as soon as we can.
yrs,
Willem
June 15th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
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