Five Valuable
Lessons Learned in 2016
By
María de la Lama E.
One of the things I’ve really enjoyed through my
teaching career is that our classes provide indeed the best opportunity to find
out about how people learn foreign languages.
As reflective teachers, every day we have a chance to see how new generations incorporate new
techniques to their learning style while
keeping, at the same time, those
techniques that have proved to be effective when dealing with a foreign
language. Let me share with you my observations
on how students seem to react in class when dealing with: communication, error
correction, usage of textbooks and the acquisition of new words.
To enhance communication, bringing the real world into the class does pay off. By engaging the
teaching and learning of a foreign language with the written media, TV,
literature and music, the learning of a foreign tongue becomes a fun and
interesting experience which makes the desire for mastering it sustainable
through time
1. To communicate is still the most important goal for our
students. No grammar exercise, reading or writing activity can produce in them
the thrill to engage in a real communicative situation. Being able to connect in
a foreign language is one of the most powerful sources of motivation.
2. Error correction: When correcting mistakes, students seem to prefer the teacher not just supply the
correct form, but to guide them in discovering and solving their mistakes on
their own. By the same token, our students seem to prefer us to furnish them
with strategies to learn on their own rather than being
spoon fed with language knowledge. It’s
important to reject a still unfortunately common idea: that the very manner in which we learnt (many
years ago) is the best way for our students to learn. We can realize how wrong
this idea is if we consider that today most of our language learners belong to
the Y generation.
3. Using the textbook: A recipe that never fails is to constantly innovate
the way we do things in class. As I said many times to other colleagues, “predictable”
teachers who tend to stick to a textbook seem to have more difficulties to
connect with their students affecting their rapport with them. The idea is NOT
to stop using the textbook but to use it in a creative way. It’s incredibly
boring for students to know that after exercise A, the teacher will continue
with exercise B and C... This can be done by inserting in the lesson plan
activities based on different sources; much better if they are authentic
materials.
4. Learning new words: Teaching collocations has given way to a more
effective way to improve the vocabulary of our students. Thus, instead of
providing them with a set of new words, even if they belong to the same
semantic field, students seem to learn more easily a new word if this word is
learnt with the words that usually go with
it. Thus, instead of “wine” students can learn: red wine / a glass of red wine,
etc. In this manner they do not only
increment their vocabulary but their recalling of new words seems to improve.
Most importantly, the learning on collocations contributes to their fluency.
5. Pronunciation: the ugly duckling? Quite contrary! Adult students, in particular,
highly appreciate the teaching of pronunciation since they need simple
explanations, rules and demonstrations of how the phonological system of the
language being learned works and what are the main differences with their own
native language.
BIODATA:
DE LA LAMA,
MARIA, holds a Master´s Degree in Applied Linguistics and Bachelor´s Degree in
Theoretical Linguistics from the University of California; MBA Universidad del
Pacífico. Current Director at Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad
del Pacifico.
