miércoles, 9 de mayo de 2007

Discussion topics and projects (Hedge)

4-How important are the explicit teaching of grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary in your own classes?

They are very important! I can not rely all the time on textbooks, they are just a kind of guide, it isn’t that students follow the book and learn without any kind of intervention of the teacher, on the contrary, most of the time they feel rather lost with certain books, that’s why depending on the book, teacher’s participation is crucial. I remember having worked with a book which had a lot of very interesting topics and activities to work with, but as regards the cycle of learning it didn’t respect any step, it would jump from a very controlled activity to a very free one! Of course this perfectly shows that it is difficult to rely on textbooks and that teacher’s explicit teaching should always be there so as to clarify students’ understanding of the language
5-A group of teachers on an in-service training course listed the following as the most important qualities a teacher needs to have:
-sense of humour
-self- confidence
-sensitivity to learners as people
-ability to build rapport
-ability to be methodical
Do you agree that all these are important? Would you add any others?
Of course I do!! The most lovely one is the one that makes reference to sensitivity to learners as people, we should never forget that our students before being students are human beings, people, who have feelings and emotions. I think I would like to add one, I don’t know if it is a capacity or not, but anyway, I think we “teachers” should have the capacity to trust our students, to be always there, next to them walking along this path of learning, because if we do not trust them, how can we make them believe in themselves!

3 comentarios:

Gladys Baya dijo...

Don't the books you work with explicitly teach language forms, Natalia? I'm afraid I can't clearly understand why you equate "teaching with a book" with "not teaching language systems explicitly"...

Puzzled,

Gladys

Maria Lorena Recio dijo...

Naty, I agree with you in the last question about our role as teachers and "funny" teachers. Sense of humour is essential to create that bond you need with the learner.
About "teaching explicitly", I don't know if I understood correctly, do you want to say that you need to have grammar or vocabulary on the book as charts, formulas or something of the sort?.

Norma dijo...

As regards, the explicit teaching of..., I also think it important- if we are to teach them to communicate effectively.There comes a time in the teaching of a language when it is required. As for the second part,trust is essential. Besides, why shouldn't we trust them?
Naty, keep writing. I promise to keep answering.
Love,
Norma.