3554. On Making Our Students Think of Their Own Learning

We teachers must think some points out, even more if we are starting a new school year. 

I was thinking that for learning a second or foreign language with success, we learners have to find our own unique pathway to success. And each learner has his or her own way: what works for me may not work for you. 

And we teachers in the classroom or online have to facilitate to find that unique way to success in learning that language. 

Henry Douglas Brown is one of the authors that say this same thing: find your own way of learning! 

We teachers have to plan lessons but we should think of helping our dear students find their own learning ways. 

Each learner learns in a more or less different way. 

On individual tutoring sessions we can assist our students in this way. Those tutorials are crucial. Because we may be making those students think of their learning processes. 

When I taught kids we had those tutorials. Better if male teachers talk with male students and the same for women.  

Also we could dedicate one unit to learning strategies and activities that make our students think all this out. 

Otherwise we could dedicate one lesson, only one, if we are too busy to cover a curriculum or program. 

Otherwise we could dedicate the first minutes of each lesson to tackle these learning strategies, as a warmer into the lesson. I personally do this latter option. 

If we devote some time to these topics, we may be making rapid progress concerning our students’ learning. 

So let’s teach how to learn. 

Also we could start some discussion among our students about how they learn, how they carry out such and such activities, how they study, how they work. In that way we teachers will even learn from our students and we’ll get surprised at how they proceed… 

This nice discussion can be in their mother language, if they speak the same one, or otherwise in the target language – better if this latter case. Let’s bear in mind our students are making up their life learning, and they stay in a crucial stage of their lives… 

So as to finish: we have to foster autonomous learners: it’s them who are learning and ultimately we teachers are facilitators of that learning, together with actual teaching and actual presentations of the topics in the classroom or online by us teachers: our students do need we teachers would lead them along their learning and along the lesson, but leaving some margin to their own learning ways. Have a nice week.