©@ ‘@ K. “C~ 3, INNOVATION ABSTRACTS i" i j tS Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation a “ ye "INTERACTIVE ERRANDS": TOOLS TO ENHANCE THE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE OF ESL STUDENTS Rationale We all understand that people who leave their native countries have difficulty adjusting to the language and customs of a new land and are likely to have a hard time locating and using community resources. The inconvenience and frustration these people experience can be prolonged and debilitating, depending upon how well individuals and systems within the host country respond to their needs. Educational institutions such as community colleges bear a unique responsibility for assisting with the adjustment processes of these newcomers. The time students spend with instructors in a community college classroom, however, is clearly insufficient for them to develop complete "communicative competence." Such communicative competence, including the ability to exchange meaningful cognitive and affective information in a full range of circumstances, can only be acquired via natural, genuine personal contacts. The out-of-class world is a rich but usually under-exploited resource for the acquisition of this competence. Procedures Several out-of-class assignments at Austin Community College are employed specifically to enhance communicative competence among ESL (English as a second language) students. Because they require the initiation of contact with outsiders, these assignments are called interactive errands. Students are sent into the surrounding community on interactive errands to build up linguistic, sociolinguistic, and informational capabilities which can ease their adaptation to life in the United States. Among potential interactive errands are "idiom searches," "human bingo," site visits, and team "quests." Idiom searches are activities in which students take a list of English expressions and get two or three native speakers to explain those expressions and give examples to contextualize their meanings. Site visits and team quests, instead of sending students by themselves, dispatch them in groups to gather facts about historical locations and community organizations. Human bingo is frequently used at professional education conferences as a "mixer" to get people to meet and learn a few facts about each other. It requires participants to get the signatures of several individuals who fit a number of descriptions revolving around a common topic. The task is considered complete when participants have gathered enough signatures to fill up a row or column on their bingo cards. Ideally, interactive errands are introduced, conducted, and evaluated in a purposive fashion. At Austin Community College, a three-part process is followed to capitalize upon the advantages of the method. In-class orientation An in-class orientation process precedes each interactive errand to equip students with the necessary confidence and competence. Generally, the ingredients in such an orientation are vocabulary, question- asking etiquette and terminology, grammar, cultural features related to the topic of the errand, and an opportunity to practice asking and answering questions with each other. For a "human bingo" sheet dealing with the topic of food, for example, the instructor might lead students through the following sequence of activities before sending them to collect signatures: 1. Exploring the meanings of "outdoor grill," "food processor," "chili dog," and other unfamiliar terms appearing in the sixteen cells of the signature card. 2. Explaining the advisability and mechanics of setting the stage before posing questions to strangers or casual acquaintances. (It’s probably not a good idea to accost a stranger with, "Hi. My name's Abdullah. Have you ever used a doggie bag?") A i, Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712