3248. Communication in the Classroom? Essential!


 
So we have that we second or foreign language teachers have to train our dear students to communicate in that target language, English for example.
Great Rebecca Oxford (1990) offers some learning strategies that are useful for communication, both by speaking and by writing – also by listening and by reading. For example: switching to the mother tongue; getting help; using mime or gesture; adjusting or approximating the message; coining words; using a circumlocution or synonym…
If we think of them they’re great for communication in English or any other language!
The point for us teachers is creating a nice atmosphere in the classroom where English is precisely the vehicle language for understanding among ourselves!
And here we’re referring to the grand language-learning-and-acquiring approach which is the communicative approach. Here we have to also consider the “Importance [which] is given to learners’ personal experiences and situations, which are considered as an invaluable contribution to the content of the lessons.” These latter words were taken from a website on the communicative approach: http://blog.tjtaylor.net/method-communicative/  
And so we could speak about the students’ learning and learning strategies in the classroom, maybe in English, if possible. / Photo from: Voyager 1 Gobierno de Canarias. I posted that picture of Voyager 1 because it still COMMUNICATES with us people on earth, after 40 years after its launching!

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