In my opinion, an effective language teacher uses both the Total Physical Response and the Grammar-Translation Methods in order to effectively teach his/her students and combines it with parts of the Audiolingual Method. In every single beginning language class I have ever taken, the teacher has always used the Total Physical Response method. Not only is it the most helpful by actually showing students and imitating what the word being taught means with your actions, but I have always found that I remember it much easier - when a teacher has acted out the verb or word being taught, it is usually easiest for the students to decipher the meaning and learn it without the teacher actually telling them the meaning in English. One of the elementary level Spanish teachers that I observed in Education 500 would use this method in every class; she would play Simon Says in Spanish with the kids in order to teach them different verbs and commands, and even to teach them vocabulary. The students would remember these commands, and then the teacher would occasionally let a student lead the game and say the commands on their own. This not only taught the students words, verbs, and phrases without telling them the meaning in English, but the students were confident in their abilities to use commands in Spanish on their own. This method is one of my favorites and one of the most important because it encourages the students to think about what a word could mean rather than the teacher simply giving them the definitions.
As important as the Total Physical Response method is, I also think that it is important to teach students grammar (Grammar-Translation method). The second teacher that I observed in Education 500 loved to use this method - she would often print out a short, paragraph version of a famous story (such as The Boy Who Cried Wolf or The Three Little Pigs) and would tell the students certain keywords and verb definitions, such as comer/comio and lobo for The Boy Who Cried Wolf. After reading the story once or twice with the students (in complete Spanish), she would then have the students translate the entire paragraph into English, or would have the students write a summary of the story in Spanish in their own words. At first, I was skeptical of this method and did not think that the students would learn much, but I was wrong - some of the elementary students had learned to conjugate ER verbs in the preterite tense just from one lesson and continued to do so whenever they would have to write a summary! I thought that was a great way to subconsciously teach students how to conjugate and get them reading - it enabled them to learn words and phrases that they probably would not have learned for a few more years taking language courses. The Grammar-Translation method can seem a bit boring at times, but I believe that in any foreign language class it is completely necessary to learn the grammatical rules of a language in order to fully learn it. The one part where I disagree with the Grammar-Translation Method is that I believe speaking, not just reading and translating the language, is the most important part.
This teacher also combined the Grammar-Translation Method at times with the Audiolingual Method - she rarely spoke in English except to give the students the few definitions they needed before reading the stories she gave them. Although they were very confused at first, after a few classes they soon learned at least the basic meanings of what she was saying. I don't completely agree with banning the students' native language from the class, particularly if they are in a beginning language class; I believe that English should be used when explaining words or definitions and that as the students progress in their knowledge of the language, the native language should be used less and less and the teacher should increase the amount that they speak in the language being taught. It is so important for a teacher to teach most of the time in the target language - whether the teacher says something in the target language and repeats it in English for the students to understand or just teaches the lesson completely in the target language. Jumping into the language and not being afraid to completely immerse the students in it is important, though it does depend on the level that the students are at for it to be the most effective.
I definitely remember when I first began learning Spanish (6th grade) the games that we would play, like Simon Says, to learn phrases. While it definitely helped me remember "toca la cabeza", it bothered me that I didn't know that it was a command rather than a present tense verb. I didn't learn that it was a command until second semester of freshman year. It all made sense then, but it bothered me that I hadn't known it to begin with.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the target language should be spoken most of the time, but I also think that when describing grammar rules it can get too confusing in the target language, so the native language should be used.
I really like what you wrote about using the Total Physical Response method, especially in lower level classes. I find that students often "translate" the meaning of a word into English and then understand the command, for example. This creates hesitation and requires less flow when thinking from one language to another. It is much easier in the long run for students to "just understand" the word with really translating it back and forth. Even though this is much easier said than done, it is still possible. Like you said, with your teacher using the target language and pointing to get the translation across, it is possible to use this method in the classroom even in beginner Spanish language classes.
ReplyDeleteI agree that translating constantly can be exhausting, but sometimes it is necessary for certain types of learners. It should not be the only method to teaching a language, but there are definitely moments when it should be incorporated. Other than that, I think that defining words through motions or pictures is very important. In my classroom sometimes we play bingo with new vocabulary. Students only draw pictures on their score cards and have to recognize the picture when they hear the Spanish word. It is a great way to start the recognition process rather than the memorization process.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, teaching the target language is essential if you want your students to learn a lot from your class. I also agree with you that you can't exactly ban the students' native language because that will just result in confusion and disinterest overall. Once students reach a more intermediate level of language learning, you can ban the native language but it is important to give the students a foundation before you force them to use the target language all of the time.
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