Potential of Learning Foreign Languages: An Educator's Perspective

I strongly believe that each one of my students in my classes has the potential of learning a Foreign Language, such as English. This conviction comes from my own experience, as former child and as a teacher.

While I was a child I had to face the situation of having to learn Italian as foreign language to go to school and to learn some Sesutu (Lesotho Language) so I could be able to play with those few kids around the place where I lived. My language learning experience at the beginning was rough but with time it got better. Social interaction was a key factor that allowed me to achieve learning.

How do you facilitate social interactions in your class? Give specific examples.

 There isn’t a fix system to make students to interact with each

In this type of activities there is a lot of interaction, because students have to practice together and all of them need to learn the same song and be aware of the meaning of the same song.

 Usually with my high school from first till second year students, I make them write short stories about what they did during their summer vacation, winter holidays or weekends.

Each students writes a little bit about his personal life so a single purpose which is to share with a classmate which will do the same, each students after listening to their classmates they have to ask each other a question (ex: which was the most exciting part of your holydays), helping to them to use previous information and interacting.

During my first years as a teacher, I taught kids facing a situation of social vulnerability, kids that didn`t feel appreciated or valued; learning any subject for them was like a waste of time, a set of similar questions prompted every time I wanted to teach them something

Before trying to answer to their question :(Why do I have to learn English if I am never going to travel abroad?) I had to be as real and honest with them as I could.

When that question was asked to my, 2 years ago during a 4th year high school class I stopped my class and told them that I wanted to share the story of the man with of Hawaiian shirt.

I told them that there was a man who lost his father at age 12, who had to leave his mother´s house and family in the country side to be educated by strange people in distant city. I told them that his world changed drastically that he couldn´t be close to his love ones and that one of them had gone away forever.

I told them he decided not keep studying at age 16 and decided to work and face the hardships of being a miner to make some money for him and his family.

I told them that at age 20 one a boss, who admired this man´s hard work, offered him the change to travel abroad having to face a different culture and