Journal on "The Miracle Worker"

As we teachers experience every day, learning can be achieved with all students, regardless of their limitations, if enough patience and strategies are used in the process. This is the main idea presented in "The Miracle Worker," a film where Ms. Sullivan, uses rather daring approaches to help teach Hellen Keller, a blind-deaf girl, since she felt Hellen had the same potential any other child had, even if her parents could not see it.

Ms. Sullivan's approach to teaching was mainly based on Behaviorist theories, since she used a system of stimuli and reinforcement of concepts (such as forcing Hellen to repeat an action if she did it wrong, and constantly reinforcing the "alphabet") to obtain the desired responses (in this case, learning and speech). Ms. Sullivan also reinforced discipline very heavily, unlike Hellen's parents, because she knew Hellen would be able to learn if enough efforts were put into teaching. In the end, the constant repetition of concepts (as dictated by the Audiolingual Method), helped Hellen reach a "breakthrough" in her education, which is when she utters "wah-wah" several times as a sign she recognized the water. [There is an interesting controversy about the movie's climax, which can be read here].

Another theory that can be useful in analyzing the film is Piaget's theory stating that learning occurs in ordered stages, which correspond to certain ages and through which we advance as we go along. As Vedat Kiymazarsian states in "A Discussion of Language Acquisition Theories," Piaget states that the first stage involves understanding the environment (ages 0-2), then understanding the symbols (ages 2-7), then performing mental tasks and using language (ages 7-11), and finally making abstractions (after age 11). This model applies in the movie as well, because although Hellen was not an infant, she did have to go through those stages all over again, as if she were a newborn, because she had to learn a whole new language and a new way of understanding the world around her through her eyes. As we can see in the film, her first step was learning to touch and feel her surroundings, she then started learning sign language, and then she advanced to the next stage of using language. This cognitive theory is closely related to Piaget's ideas, because it sees learning as a process that does not necessarily have to be broken up into individual parts, since learning is a "holistic process."

I believe almost every ESL or L2 teacher can relate to Mrs. Sullivan, because we are usually very dedicated to the cause we believe in, which is teaching children another language through a combination of strategies and perseverance, so that every child can understand and exploit his/her potential. Specifically, I think similar challenges to the ones she faced can be seen in our classrooms every day, because we are confronted with students whose attitudes are negative and/or difficult and hinder their ability to learn and progress, and so we must find ways to deal with these situations (even though, of course, we do not resort to corporal punishment or force, as Ms. Sullivan was allowed to do).

In the end, however, just like the movie presents, the ultimate satisfaction comes from knowing that our hopes for excellent results will be achieved eventually, despite the difficulties we may face and despite those who doubt our utility.