2071. Pushing students up to learn positively



If you’re a non-native teacher of English and you’re trying to create and make up an atmosphere where English is the vehicle language, and you shift to Spanish a few times, so as to explain something a bit more complex, I’d tell you to go back to English, to hold the immersion up. 

You can have a group of beginners or false beginners. 

I would tell you to use English all the time. The point here is that you’ll have to explain with given words, 
by using the whiteboard, 
by using real objects (realia), 
drawings on the board or posters, 
worksheets, 
cognates (similar words in both languages). 

Thus the teaching and learning will be a slope or gradient upward. / Photo from: cow-eating-on-round-top-hill-mike-mcglothlen fineartamerica com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3675. What I Do to Plan Lessons I Wish They Be Efficient?

  Lesson planning, you asked? You, like I do, may think that that is essential to teach efficient lessons. You may also be a second or foreign language teacher.  Today I’m telling you something of what I do, just in case it helps you out.  When I sit to plan a lesson, first I think about my dear students and what they do need, and perhaps also what they may be expecting. And then I specify a couple of aims and write them down at the beginning of the lesson plan, at the top.  Even sometimes I let my students – and I teach adults but the same may be applied to teenagers I guess – know what those two goals are – also for them to become more aware and more involved in the class. The more I get them involved in their own learning English, the more they will learn, sure thing!  So I first think how things are going on my lessons and try to solve those possible problems.  And the body of the lesson plan includes stuff where I have my students speak a lot, a lot, a lot. They have and need to p
Read more

1930. The necessity of compromise

Image
We have freedom, tentatively, and by principle. First premise.  However if I skip any compromise, I can't use my freedom.  If I compromise with someone about something I must fulfill it, right?  Albeit some people think that getting married for example doesn't entail to live with your spouse for the rest of your life, I'd say that compromise is for all the lifetime of one of the spouses however. I do know many marriages that have lived together until death of one of the spouses. / Photo from: compromise-settling-our-differences-in-agreement-thumb. howtodateinlv wordpress com
Read more

3676. To Improve Our Lessons: The Importance of Lesson Planning

  On the last post I told you some practical things on lesson planning which hopefully might help you out, my dear colleague teacher, or you may be a prospective one, or a novice or rookie one. There may be several different situations and circumstances.  As well right here and now I join in some way all the victims of recent floods here in our dear Spain – it has been so terrible, as you may have learned from the news. Poor people, and I pray for them as well. It’s been the worst natural catastrophe of the century in Spain. A lot of volunteers are helping out there.  Let’s carry on with our usual work.  Lesson planning is so paramount so as to have better and efficient lessons in class. And the teacher may pass on so much – if he or she is well prepared and mature. The students have to hear good English in class: a lot from their teacher – better if they are native speakers, otherwise we have to set an example and learn more and more, plus they can listen to class audios and watch cla
Read more

1701. Debating

Image
Something that can be interesting is to make our students engage their minds to solve problems; to think, in other words.  We can include texts with substance, either historic, biographic, ethics, philosophy, thought, science and technology… Besides, in that way we’re preparing them for their future. School is preparation for adult life, isn’t it?  As well we can organize debates: we split up the class into two groups, we let them prepare their arguments by speaking in their native language (L1) if they prefer so, and then, we dedicate the rest of the class to give turns into the big conversation.  It’s worth to try.  The speakers will speak in English (the L2), and try to convey and express their positions, opinions... We can let other students intervene. It’s interesting and sound, in the process of learning and acquiring English. / Photo from: students’ presentations. www rhodeisland edu
Read more

2430. How Babies Acquire a Foreign Language

Image
Babies start to speak about one year and half, but since week number eighteen, the baby in mom’s belly can produce sounds.  After birth babies listen the same to their parents and adults in general a zillion times, and these adults repeat the same word or phrase, and the infant starts to repeat and pronounce those words, or short phrases, not full sentences.  You, father or mother, can take advantage of this phenomenon to make your children speak in English.  In general terms, infants and young kids have their brain forming itself, and at that point of time is when those children can acquire a language – adults also can acquire a language though; you can see the label or tag about acquisition and adult learners. / Photo from: mom-and-baby francesiacussi com
Read more