Words

I recently heard an interesting Radiolab Podcast that gave an interesting story about creativity in teaching. The podcast discusses the ability of words to determine the way we view the world. "We meet a woman who taught a 27-year-old man the first words of his life, hear a firsthand account of what it feels like to have the language center of your brain wiped out by a stroke, and retrace the birth of a brand new language 30 years ago."

The first story is about a woman teaching sign language to a 27-year-old who had never in his life experienced language. He had never previously had the opportunity to use words to communicate with anyone else. This created a significant obstacle for the teacher. How could she teach him, explain the concept of language to a 27-year-old deaf man who had never exchanged words with another human being? How do you explain the idea that words represent objects or ideas?

Without spoiling the ending, I'll let you know that the teacher used a very original idea to teach this man, and understanding words changed his whole view of the world.

Creative teaching can do wonderful things. I'd like to be able to do that.