Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The teaching of languages is something that has always intrigued me; I find it incredible
that people can go from a set amount of information regarding their own language, and double or
even triple it by looking into and learning from other cultures whose own experiences with
languages are so vastly different. To be able to act as a catalyst so that others can learn about
languages and culture both drives me and dictates how I believe language should be taught.
I believe that classroom learning should simulate real life, and should provide
opportunities for students to use the language as they would in future settings. To perpetuate that,
I believe in fully immersive and conversationally driven learning. The classroom setting should
emulate and frequently reference the culture of the language, so students are surrounded by the
language and culture from the moment they enter. When being introduced to a language, students
need immediate and frequent exposure to allow them to reproduce the language and get used to
hearing and trying to understand it; to that end, I also believe most of class, from the very
beginning, should be taught in the target language. When students begin to grasp concepts, they
should be given chances to solidify them and advance through conversational practice with each
other, actively using the language rather than trying to actively memorize it, to build up a real,
Most problems with language learning, I believe, can be worked through in this way.
Linguistic anxiety, for example, is very prevalent is classes with frequent testing*1, and can be
caused when students use languages infrequently or outside of realistic context. When students
have a chance to communicate with other students at their level, they can overcome that with the
feedback given immediately when they can understand and be understood by others at their
being boring for students. When you bring communication into it, however, students can see the
writing for more than a method for presenting book reports and summaries. An activity Ive
worked with is to allow students to write out a few questions they could ask any of their
classmates, then pair off with them. In their groups, they take turns asking questions and writing
out what their partners said, as in an interview. This can give students an opportunity to be
introduced to conversation slowly, while integrating writing; and it can go further from there
with similar activities allowing for deeper communication between students. That
communication can build into more communication, and can give students a chance to work
away their anxiety and really learn a language so it can be used as theyd like to use it.
The role I play in that is to facilitate learning by guiding students with authentic and
realistic input which they can then use in practice, and to keep students motivated so they can
keep moving forward at a good pace. Students can work with what theyre given, so as a teacher
its my job to give them the most useable information for them to build off; for that, I believe in
using relatable materials that could frequently be seen in the culture being learned about. Input
should begin with things that people are constantly exposed to, and should become narrower as
necessary as students peer into different topics; besides that, students should be guided to
material they can use specifically for their own linguistic interests. This ties into motivation;
when students feel as though theyre achieving their own personal goals, they can remain
motivated to learn more. On top of that, I believe enthusiasm and encouragement in the
*1ONWUEGBUZIE, A. J., BAILEY, P., & DALEY, C. E. (1999). Factors Associated with Foreign Language
Anxiety. Applied Psycholinguistics. Retrieved Nov. & dec., 2017.