I thought chapter 16 was the most
interesting, I could relate to some of the information, and it will be very
helpful to me when I get into my field. One thing it talked about that I thought
would be helpful is the “10 commandments” for good language learning. There are
so many components that go into being a good language learner and a lot of them
are talked about in the 10 commandments. I think a teacher should go by these
when teaching students another language because it really tells them how to
make them feel more comfortable and competent in their new target language. Fear
is a really big characteristic that many first time learners experience when
starting a new language because they fear that they will make a mistake.
When I was learning Spanish, as a
second language, I was always scared to raise my hand and talk because I did
not want to make a mistake. I felt that my teacher did not do the best job of
making me feel comfortable in the classroom to participate and work on my oral
production of Spanish. Due to the fact I was never comfortable in my Spanish classes,
I never developed the second language that was intended. If my teacher had used
something like the 10 commandments than she could have helped me and other
classmates become more comfortable in the classroom to express ourselves and
become more fluent in our target language. If teachers do not start their year
off with “commandments” or ideas of how to help their students become good language
learners, then what can they do later on in the year to help their students
succeed?
Also, I found the information on how to
teach strategies in the classroom to be helpful. It is really important to
engage your students in your lesson for the day. Students learn much more when
they are interacting with other students and they are engaged in the activity. Students
learning a second language especially need to be interacting with others
because it is one of the only ways they can improve their language skills. When
they speak out loud and talk with the teacher or other classmates, they are
able to get feedback and corrected which helps them improve for the future. How
can you teach a classroom full of beginner students a new language without getting
them engaged in activities and interacting with their peers?
I am currently in a classroom with two
year olds and I have found that the best way for them to learn is through hands
on experiences. They have been working on their colors, so we do art projects with
them using the color of the day. Whenever I play with puzzles with them or toys,
I constantly ask them what color a certain piece is or what number is on that
toy, so that they are learning while playing. For younger children, they are
not always aware that they are actually learning something while playing and
that is sometimes the best way to do it.
All of the principles discussed in
chapter 4 were also closely related to everything discussed in the other two
chapters. It was more principles related to how students can be successful
learners in the classroom and then be able to bring it outside the classroom. All
of these should be taken into account when I become a teacher for students
learning a new language. One of the biggest factors that go into how a student
learns is the way a teacher teaches and what track they take to teach their
students.
My biggest challenge becoming a teacher
will be to accommodate all of my student’s different needs into my lessons. It is
necessary that every student is taken into account so that no one slips through
the cracks and begins to fall behind because you did not accommodate them.
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