A New Ideology

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The history of teaching English as a second language is filled with many different ideas that have been proven effective over time. An ESL teacher’s ideology, therefore, cannot be a composition of merely one of these ideologies; it must be a mixture of all of the ideas that work best for the teacher as an individual. As I am a newcomer to the realm of second language education, I know that my ideology will change. I am sure that I will have to shift my ideas to accommodate different types of students and different schools’ missions for their students. In the next few months, I will begin my first formal experience in teaching ESL. During this time, my ideology will be constantly shifting in order to make it the most comfortable fit for me and for my new students. My own methodology is a composition of many ideologies from the past that I think would transfer into a modern-day classroom. Many of the ideas from the Direct Method (Brown 21) are found in my own ideology. In this method, students participate in large amounts of spontaneous oral interaction. In the Direct Method, teaching vocabulary includes using lots of pictures and demonstrations which help stimulate memorization. I would include these ideas in my own methodology because students can have real-world interactions with each other by using spontaneous language. This methodology also focuses on a natural, more inductive way of teaching grammar and does not include too many drills, charts, or memorization. The Direct Method attempts to simulate the way in which people learn their first language so it is a more natural approach to learning languages. The methodologies from the 1970s include many of the same ideas as the Direct Method. In Community Language Learning (CLL... ... middle of paper ... ... instruction in which the students should be more independent and take an active role in their own learning process. The student’s role is at first to absorb the English environment of the classroom and begin to participate meaningfully in tasks when s/he is comfortable to do so. As the student progresses, s/he should work cooperatively with other students and with the teacher. My methodology incorporates many ideas that I have developed through my new experiences with ESL students. I also include some ideas that I have read about that other teachers in the past have proven to be effective and important parts of ESL instruction. As I learn and grow as an ESL educator, my methodology will shift to meet my observations and the needs of my students. My methodology will always be changing to contend with the different challenges that I will face as an educator.

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