3581. Can an Adult Learn a Language When He or She Is Getting a Bit Older? The Answer Is a Qualified Yes!

 Some of my students have lately improved a lot, and I notice it on our dear online lessons. I teach English as a foreign language. I teach grownups. And they are autonomous learners, so also when we finish the school year at the end of May I guess they will continue learning that marvelous language on their own. 

An autonomous learner is the one who really and truly wishes to learn. If he or she is learning English, they will carry out a series of activities. Namely they practice the four language skills: listening, reading and writing. 

Did I say four? I did. Well, one of them also practices speaking by replying to himself when doing exercises as if he was answering on the class to several people. Even I sometimes do it myself, when learning that language! It is not some crazy speaking alone, to myself! 

For example some months ago I used to dedicate some daily minutes to a C1 English book. C1 is advanced but not the top, which is C2. And when the speaking activities came up, I used to mentally answer those exercises… and I noticed my fluency somewhat developed, believe me. 

And how do I notice those students have bettered? Well, in a series of points. 

They show more fluency when talking. 

They utilize more accurate grammar and they say more things in an accurate way. 

They have more lexis. I guess they use some words they’ve recently learned. 

And I feel they are more secure when they intervene on the online lessons. I’m happy with them. Well, with all my learners: all of them take classes so seriously. 

Last but not least: on the classes all of them contribute to the conversations umpteen plus zillions of times. Have a nice week.

Comments

Surbhi Singh said…
I also found your article on studying quite helpful. I could take it into account for my advising students. After my commenting on your post I'll re-read your pieces of advice again. Thank you very much.
TheTuitionTeacher in Delhi and Lucknow. Home Tutors in Delhi | Home Tuition services
Monday, June 21, 2021
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3678. What to Do to Have Nice Discussions in Class

  I’m an English language teacher. And I consider that my dear students would speak in that language is the main goal, don’t you think so?  They often say sentences in class, if they are at a low level of mastering English. My higher-level ones intervene for longer and we hold nice discussions in class. Definitely I have to have them all of my students would contribute to the class for longer than mere sentences. I must have them speak for rather long.  Some years they have prepared oral presentations to speak for some minutes … or the whole lesson sometimes.  Definitely also it’s not the same to say just sentences than to have some conversations or some discussions.  Lately more than before this current school year I can observe that the textbooks we’re utilizing help out a lot.  By the way, I teach adults and when I ask them, well, I try and ask tactfully, because obviously they have their privacy.  Moreover if we wish we would have discussions in cl...
Read more

3679. If You Still Have Disruptive Problems in Class with Your Students. Some Ideas

  One issue every teacher thinks of from time to time, or perhaps often because that teacher may have that kind of problem, above all if he or she is beginning their career as a teacher, is how to manage classroom behavior.  Today I’m trying to say something, apart from what I’ve written so far on quite many posts. You may find more under the tag or label management of the class .  The main point I think is important is to have the clear idea that both the teacher and his or her students are in the classroom to work, as said in plain English. They come to the schoolroom to work. The students to learn, to learn by working, and their dear teacher to teach them and help them become full and honorable persons.  So the main concern of their teacher ought not to be classroom management, but how to have those dear people to work and learn.  Nevertheless if some problem comes up in class, some behavior problem I mean, that teacher might say or show something, depending ...
Read more

840. Are you eager to learn a language?

Image
One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “One difference in favor of good language learners? I believe a good learner does wish to learn, for example English or Hindi or... This is a remarkable and clear trait of that person. He or she makes good use of any situation where they can speak, or practice in general. He offers himself to some South Korean gang in an ice-cream parlor to help them with their poor English, so as to order some ice-creams of this or that flavor... albeit in the end the assistant-girl also did speak English – this happened here in Granada, near Alhambra palaces. This learner takes notes in his diary or smartphone in English. And he likes to do so. He takes advantage of being on a British Airlines plane to talk to a flight-attendant in English. He listens to something recorded in his iPode, while traveling by bus. He’s not lazy and speaks only in his L1. He does use English, and not only in the cases where it’s totally necessary...
Read more

1454. Bullying

Image
Teacher B said to teacher A, “Bullying. In a school of the south of Spain where I worked for some unforgettable years we used to cut off any nuance among the students, when a few of them for example started on and teased one specific kid.  We on one side called the victim kid to talk with him and also called his parents – his tutor did this latter thing. The idea was to have the kid relax and retrieve information from him about the bullying actions he had suffered.  On the other side we summoned the suspected authors of the bullying, also to talk with them. We asked them some questions to learn about what could have disturbed the kid victim.  We then, on following days, invigilated the play ground in a more focused way.  Plus in those students’ classes we spoke about friendship and comradeship.  Close to all the other classmates did know about these actions of bullying. Even the authors could receive some kind of punishment (more hours...
Read more

839. Learning to learn

Image
One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “A teacher of math, literature, English... cannot confine his work to pass on, to teach, information, knowledge, math operations, the theoretical part of English..., but he or she has to teach their students to learn; to learn what? That information, knowledge, linguistic competence for communication... Obviously it’s true that the teacher for example tells his students about historical deeds, their connection to our present history, etc. The English teacher’s mission is not just to teach English but also to teach how to learn English, and this latter thing in a practical way: aimed at communication. The point is not to teach information about the language but to teach to use English for communication between, among people. Within this context, moreover the teacher’s role is to better his students, and he himself too. The first showing or sign of this bettering of the student is the learning itself, the fact ...
Read more