I think to be effective in teaching a language, the teacher must be, first and foremost, enthusiastic. I have had a variety of teachers from different backgrounds and with different levels of proficiency and focuses. In my experience, the classes in which I learned the most were the classes taught by teachers who enjoyed teaching and speaking the language. I can honestly say that i only had one teacher who was not interested in the subject matter, and seemed only to work for the paycheck. This class being a lower level university class, I don't think it slowed me down as much as it could have, but I still believe I did not learn as much as I should have in that class.
As far as the type of learning instruction, I think the cognitive-code method is the most useful for new speakers to learn as it focuses on what the student knows and applies it to new vocabulary, grammar, and concepts. One characteristic of this method mentioned in the book is the teacher's ability to promote "creative use of the language." I think this is vital to new language learning because it provides the student with an outlet for the knowledge they have gained through studying and reading, and allows them to apply their understanding in a new and potentially helpful way: creatively. This creative approach will broaden the students grasp on the new language, and will also give more opportunities to learn by introducing new concepts and also applying new structure and vocabulary.
I believe that the amount of time spent speaking in the target language by the teacher should correlate greatly to the level of the class. In my SPAN 401 class, for instance, I think that speaking to my students only in Spanish would not be beneficial to them this early on. That is why I usually speak to them in Spanish and then translate my own words to English, so that they can hear the English they are familiar with and apply it to the Spanish they are learning. As a student progresses, however, I think it becomes more and more important for the teacher to speak in the target language more exclusively. At the higher levels of language learning, I think the teacher should speak exclusively in the target language, and also speak less, encouraging the students to speak more.
I really like what you said about enthusiasm. I think that most of us went right into talking about differnt teaching methods. I agree that a teacher must love their subject and want others to love it as well. We will be much more successful if we can engage students through our own enthusiasm. I also liked what you said about speaking less in order to get students to speak more. Practicing is the key to learning a language and lessening lecture time will encourage student speech.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more that enthusiastic teachers are usually the ones you learn the most from! I also like what Caitlin said, that most of us just jumped right to the teaching methods described in the chapter (I know I did) but you considered one of the most effective teaching methods, enthusiasm, which does not appear in the chapter we just read.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying what you teach definitely has an effect on how well your students do in your classroom! I think that if your students know that you don't care about the subject matter, they aren't going to care either and theyll lose focus real fast. Being enthusiastic not only puts extra emphasis on important things you teach, but it makes it more interesting for everyone and just an overall better environment for everyone to learn.
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