We as language teachers have the singular task of teaching a discipline that requires extensive practice, application, analysis, reflection and energy. Failure to update and modernise methodology can gradually leave us lagging behind. This is a brief guide to ensure that, even in a difficult teaching environment we maximise our students’ learning experience.
Planning progressions
In our approach to themes and vocabulary, it is important to lay a lexical foundation to facilitate language acquisition. There’s little point talking about dates, addresses, telephone numbers or the number of rooms in a home if your students haven’t thoroughly mastered numbers. Before presenting any topic, always leave ample preparatory time to introduce foundation themes that will make the process more meaningful for students.
Incorporating integration
Teaching vocabulary themes and grammatical topics will have little lasting linguistic impact if the lesson does not have adequate content integration. Everything we teach should be tied to something else to reinforce connections. Studies have shown that doing isolated lexical themes like animals, the house, or food result in minimal acquisition. Instead, applied linguists encourage integration. If teaching a topic on animals, one can also discuss geography (Where do these animals live?), physical description (what do they look like?), social disposition (Are they aggressive or shy? Are they gregarious or solitary?), biology (Is this animal a mammal or a reptile?) and so on. One can also explore other language structures or practice those previously learned (Do you like crocodiles? Which is your favourite animal? Do lions live in Asia? – No they don’t. They live in………. – negation).
Grappling with Grammar
Teaching grammar is a delicate manoeuvre. On one hand we have required structures that must be covered within clear deadlines. On the other hand, by explicitly teaching grammar, we reduce the meaningful acquisition time that students have to speak, express ideas and listen to those of others. I find that one of the most effective methods of teaching grammar, particularly to younger children (7th & 8th grades), is to briefly present the grammatical item to students so they see what it is you are doing. Once you have demonstrated how a given rule is applied, you should initiate production as soon as possible. The goal is not to confirm that students have understood the concept. Some students take a while to fully internalise grammatical concepts and this is normal – not a sign of slow learning. In addition, some students will quickly master the mechanics of a grammatical concept but will quickly lose this grasp as well. Why? This is because the grammar lesson was essentially discreet. Lasting grammatical competence requires meaningful production. So, rather than present a topic then give simple practice exercises, present and then initiate dialogue. By allowing students to express their own perspective immediately after the a brief demonstration, even while making mistakes at first, the grammatical structure becomes useful, salient and necessary and this in turn forces the student to actually incorporate the concept into his or her speech to make him/herself understood. After extensive communicative practise with the grammatical item, one can then assign homework or class activities in subsequent lessons to enable students to refine their technique.
Activating awareness
If you have ever realised one day that a word is spelled a particular way in your native language after years of being oblivious to that fact, you will be able to relate to the notion of awareness or “noticing” in language acquisition. Too often, we as language teachers simply teach grammar lessons and language without allowing students to think critically and observe carefully their own discourse as well as that of their peers.
Strategies for increasing awareness should be included in lesson planning whenever circumstances will permit. Foreign language learners are most successful when they increase their linguistic awareness or sensitivity to the morphology and phonology of the language. Even among beginners of all ages, this can be achieved. One can design games that foster linguistic analysis and attention. For example, games can have students earn points for accurately identifying the linguistic errors made by an opponent. These errors can be phonetic, lexical or grammatical. Increasing your students’ awareness gives them a greater sense of involvement in their own learning and will make your job a lot more pleasant and effective in the long run as awareness increases exponentially in learners once that process has been activated and sustained.
Facilitating fluency
Oral fluency in foreign language learning remains one of the fundamental shortcomings of our educational system. Certainly, the standard curriculum in Jamaica and other countries across the region and the world leaves little room for developing oral fluency in the classroom. Yet, this alone cannot explain why our students remain so limited in their ability to speak fluidly and meaningfully in their foreign language. It would seem that there are two factors to consider – the teacher’s competence and the teacher’s readiness to make oral communication a mainstay of each lesson. Many foreign language teachers around the world face the same dilemma when they begin their profession. They have made the transition from student to teacher, but are not necessarily comfortable enough in their foreign language to speak fluently. Now in a position where they believe they should be above and beyond mistakes, they become reticent to speak in class due to insecurities about their own oral production. They therefore turn to reading exercises and choral repetition, using them as crutches to feel they have provided the students with oral practice without risking their own discomfort of having to practice what they preach. This kind of fear is somewhat understandable. No one likes to be wrong in front of his or her students (and this is the case in all disciplines). Indeed, the burden of teacher as the model and source of knowledge is a heavy one and some of us are therefore reluctant to show our imperfections. This mindset is crippling and will prevent the teacher from doing his or her job well. The first step to addressing this is to remember that no one is perfect. Native speakers, even the most refined, do sometimes make lexical and phonetic blunders. It is therefore more than acceptable for a foreign speaker to make a mistake. Furthermore, students who are intimidated by the language find much comfort in knowing that even their teacher can sometimes have a linguistic lapse. It is, for them, an inspiration to see their teacher speak well, make a mistake, acknowledge it, show what was incorrect and move on. Never forget: children are much more astute than we would like to admit. They know when their teacher is frightened or when they are being short-changed. Speak to your students in the target language as much as possible. This rule is to be applied even when giving instructions – pages numbers, stand, sit, silence, turn around… Don’t forget that WE the teachers are the sole language source for most of our students. To refuse to speak to them primarily in the target language is to deny them the chance to really learn. Language teaching leaves little room for insecurity. Both students and teachers must be willing to take risks together.
Connecting the dots in comprehension
It is an evident truth: listening comprehension is, for most language learners, the hardest skill to acquire and master. It is therefore incumbent upon as language teachers to work on this skill regularly. In the absence of adequate audiovisual materials, every effort should be made to train students as often as possible. Listening comprehension is arguably the only skill that students cannot really refine without assistance. There must be a constructive medium in which students can negotiate listening to develop their oral comprehension. Listening at home to CDs can help, but, particularly in beginners and intermediates, listening comprehension must be approached with the guided hand of the teacher with carefully planned documents that present old, recent and unknown material. The same should be done with written material. Old material reassures students as they read; recent material challenges them; unknown material develops their ability to negotiate meaning. Instead of having students listen, listen then listen some more in blind desperation, we can craft our texts so that that they train, refine and develop students’ comprehension skills. Every topic and arguably most lessons should incorporate all four competences whenever possible.
Positive production
Students are to produce in the language. Even if our external exams have minimal requirements in this regard, we can still make every effort to ensure that our students are able to express themselves orally and in writing. At the end of every themed lesson or unit, students should be provided with the opportunity to write and speak holistically on the topic by incorporating all the grammatical items involved in the previous lessons. “Holistic” production exercises should incorporate material from previous lessons. This further strengthens connections between different aspects of the language and also enables students to revise while learning new material. If your students have already covered topics concerning, the home, family, animals, and foods, craft an assignment that will oblige them to speak about all of these topics in a personalised way. While practice communication should not be too closely monitored for errors (as the key at that stage is practice), post-lesson projects should be closely evaluated for explicit mistakes that could become habitual and consequently detrimental to the acquisition process. Students should also be encouraged to be creative. It is okay to play with expression as opposed to only relying on what they have been taught. This builds their autonomy and dexterity – essential qualities to achieve near-native competence.
CASE STUDIES
Below you will see an example of how a theme can be exploited in the classroom:
| THEME |
QUESTIONS INTRODUCING LINGUISTIC CONCEPTS |
TARGET LINGUISTIC COMPETENCES |
RELATED THEMES |
PRODUCTION AND COMPREHENSION EXERCISES |
| Animals | What is this?How many _______ do you see?
Where do ______ live? What do they eat? What do they drink? What do they look like? What are they like? Is it a mammal or reptile? Have you got one? Which animals are similar? Is it a carnivore? Which would you like to be? Which one do you prefer? It isn’t a ____, it’s a ______ Has it got feathers? Fur? Hair? Scales? Is it a marine organism?
|
DifferentiationLocation
Enumeration Identification Description Negation
|
GeographyBiology
Description Reporting Art Natural sciences Anatomy
|
IdentificationDialogue
Design/Drawing Letter Tale/Story A skit
|
To actually make some sense of these ideas, create a convincing lesson that incorporates all the pedagogical considerations previously outlined. Be sure to provide for ample oral, written production and comprehension-building exercises in your lesson. Ideally, your lesson should provide content inclusion from other subject areas, disciplines and themes. Diversifying content exposure is a sure way to facilitate language acquisition.
Choose one of these topics and brainstorm on your own or with a colleague to see how much you can harvest from the theme you have selected. Plan within the realistic constraints of time and materials at your school.
FOOD
TIME
HOUSING
TRAVEL
CLOTHING
HOBBIES
FAMILY
SPORTS
Enjoy!
