The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality, and Foreign Language Learning Paperback – March 20, 2000

At the beginning of this refreshing and helpful book, David I. Smith and Barbara Carvill write,"We will respond to various notions of what foreign language learning is all about with three simple assumptions and three related questions in mind. The first assumption is that, as we go about our educational tasks, we work with an implicit or explicit picture of the kind of person we would like to see leave our classroom. We seek to have some effect, however slight, on the learners who pass through our care; we want them to develop in a certain direction. The first question, then, is this: What kinds of persons do the proponents of varying motives for doing foreign language learning want their students to become?"Our second assumption is that it is not adequate to view language learning simply as a self-enclosed end in itself, something that can take place without reference to an outside world or to the speakers of the language studied. As foreign language educators, we are, among other things, enabling learners to come into some kind of relationship with speakers of the target language. The second question, then, is: What kind of relationship to members of the target culture do advocates of these different motives have in mind?"Our third assumption is that sharing a world with fellow humans who are created in God's image and who are linguistically and culturally diverse has something to do with the reason for making foreign language learning part of education. The time-honored habit of dividing the world into members of our culture, on the one hand, and lesser beings of inferior importance on the other, is not ... consonant with a Christian worldview. This leads to the third question: Does the motive under consideration honor the stranger as one created in God's image, as one who hopes, thinks, suffers, trusts, and weeps, and whose sighs and laughter are just as audible to God as our own?"These assumptions and questions are part of the framework the authors develop in the service of their overall vision for foreign language teaching and learning--"being a blessing as a stranger and practicing hospitality to the stranger."They root their vision in an interpretation of the Babel story in Genesis, the story of Pentecost in Acts, and other Biblical passages, that emphasizes God's delight in diversity and God's sovereign disapproval of imperial arrogance (as demonstrated, for example, by Babel's builders). With special attention to a 17th-century educational reformer I'd barely heard of, Comenius, Smith and Carvill show that a humane and God-centered understanding of foreign language instruction has deep roots in Christian intellectual tradition.They go on to apply their three assumptions and three assumptions in a review of the various reasons currently used to sell foreign language learning--appealing to "The Entrepreneur," "The Persuader," "The Connoisseur," "The Tourist," "The Escapologist," "The Revolutionary." There are redemptive aspects to all of these motivations, but mostly they are oriented around "profit, pleasure, and power" for the learner, rather than developing the capacity to offer healthy hospitality and to be a sensitive stranger.The last third of their book considers ways to apply their insights in the classroom. I loved the case study of using the history of the anti-Hitler White Rose movement in wartime Germany, as well as a Bonhoeffer poem, as ways of conveying even very basic German language instruction in a powerfully humane context. The whole book is like that--a thoughtful and fertile reflection that applies directly to my own situation as an expat (a stranger) attempting to build a hospitable English-language classroom.

There is a need for more to be written on the gift of the stranger in organizational, family, and cultural life. The stranger is often feared for many reasons. We teach our children 'not to talk to strangers.' While the importance of safety cannot be minimized, we must ask what we lose in our organizational, personal, and cultural life if we are excluding of the stranger who comes to us. By welcoing the stranger, we may be opening to new ideas, new perspectives, and new relationships.

This is a lovely book drawing attention to something often lacking in Christian discussion (sadly): hospitality. I enjoyed reading it for class and it's revolutionized by outlook on how I treat people, especially people who don't speak English or are of another culture.

Excellent book! A must read for anyone working internationally or with internationals.

Good

How does Christian thought relate to foreign language teaching? At first thought, this question may not seem pertinent. Why would one's theology influence whether they used Krashen's model of language learning, Total Physical Response drills, or any other method or theory?The Gift of the Stranger answers these questions and others by applying the teaching of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible to these contemporary issues. The authors, both of whom identify themselves as Christians, argue that the biblical image of the "stranger" should be applied to language teaching. The added dimension of ethics and morality is a significant contribution to the field. The book argues that language teaching should prepare students to participate appropriately in the foreign culture as a stranger and to welcome strangers from this culture when they come to the student's home area.In addition to the biblical case studies, the authors also present fascinating historical notes on Christian language teaching programs throughout the Christian Era.I recommmend this book to all language teachers, even if they do not share the authors' Christian background. The book can help teachers consider how their own moral and ethical philosophy influences their choice of teaching materials and methods.

Frankly guys, it doesn't matter whether you share the Christian faith of the authors, this is a book that challenges the reasons for teaching our children the languages of others. Crammed full of telling examples, it asks why it is that the way we teach languages assumes that what our children need most is the wherewithal to be be first rate consumers in foreign lands. Whilst the vocabulary of the commercial encounter predominates, the vocab of reconciliation is strangely absent. Even Dawkins in his tome, 'the Selfish Gene', stressed that if we want to experience life in a civilised society, we will have to teach our children to resist the self-centred imperative of the selfish gene, and given that selfishness is what makes capitalism function, this fresh approach to teaching foreign languages is not just different, one might argue it is long overdue.One example to highlight... the ability to speak the language of the stranger enables one to be a good host but just as importantly, it enables the individual to be a good guest. The teacher in the classroom is the host to the pupils, but the pupils must also recognise the fact that as guests, they themselves bring something to the classroom encounter. It is in the encounter that progress is forged and this book will encourage all teachers, not just language ones, to reflect on why they do what they do and perhaps thereby to become better teachers.