71. What's an autonomous learner like?


Joe told us,

"I knew a learner of English, an adult, a teacher of English himself, who tried to improve more and more in the classes of English he attended at an institution of the university of Granada; and to get the most of the classes, basically to practice speaking. The group was small.

The teacher, a British lady, based in Granada, for quite some years; she was an experienced teacher, who somehow cunningly or cleverly promoted speaking. I said 'cunningly', well, you understand what I mean, like wisely - Don't get me wrong.

This lady knew an impressive amount of news, current ones at the days of the classes, for she had read -I suppose- Ideal, the local paper.

This student tried to speak the most chances he got, assuming he also wanted to let his classmates to intervene.

They were also assigned exercises to do in the class, mostly in smaller groups or pairs. They had a short time to decide the correct answer to fill out the blanks, or whatever type of activity it was.

He tried to focus and concentrate on the textbook, to read quickly but with close attention, in order to gain the gist of a text or otherwise some more specific information items. Sometimes he scribbled the answers on a notebook; other times he just read but avoided jotting down, in order to leave more time to understand and memorize the grammar patterns or the new words.

At home he revised some of the exercises, and tried to revise them and memorize the stuff.

Last, he tried to use the new words in his own classes, with his young students or into emails to prospective teachers of English. Finally, some other times he composed brief essays, by using the vocabulary.

After that he saved those documents in a computer file, for possible classes with advanced students."

Patio de los leones, in Alhambra (Granada).

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