My experience of learning French at Language @Leicester:
This semester I took my first French class because I was planning to go to Paris this summer. The class took place every Thursday evening for two hours over a period of 10 weeks and I wrote a diary for each week (see appendix 3). Our teacher’s name was Sonia Alba, a young female PhD student who was a native French speaker. There were 25 students mainly from China and Europe in the class who had no previous experience of learning French. We sat in rows with the teacher at the open end behind a table mainly standing at the front of the board.
Sonia believed that teaching is done by doing, therefore she made us complete many activities in the classroom which may cater for kinaesthetic and social learners. However students’ needs and learning styles vary and some auditory or visual learners may prefer learning through other methods such as lecturing instead (Harmer, 2006).
Sonia mainly taught using Test teach test approach where she first tested us on the new target language to see what we already know. She then taught us what we do not know which is very efficient and then re tested us again for further practise (Harmer, 2006).With this approach I managed to learn many vocabularies related to everyday activities, family members and how to give directions in a short space of time.
Observing and participating in the lessons allowed me to pick up different teaching methods and see how students including myself respond to them.
For instance I liked how Sonia always did a recap on the previous lessons in the beginning of each lesson. This helped us remember what we learnt and was helpful to students particularly those that missed the sessions.
Sonia always made us work in pair...
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...conclusion, attending French classes made me realise how difficult it is to learn a new language no matter how motivated you are. It also made me have more sympathy for my summer school students who would be taking beginner English classes. In addition it gave me insight to some of the challenges students might face learning a language such as staying motivated. Besides, it made me appreciate the importance of giving a purpose for activities and clear outline for my lessons.
However unlike my French teacher, I will drill and recycle the target language more often with my students so they can improve their pronunciation and speaking skills. I will also give my students a clear outline with all the aims of each lesson stated. In addition I will carry out some assessments regularly in order to motivate students to revise the materials and to monitor their progress.
learned the different methods of teaching with a diverse class of exceptional students. I have
Learning a language is quite possibly one of the most difficult and time- consuming endeavors a person could ever undertake. Therefore, it comes as no surprise, that a limited number of second languages are taught in schools across the western world, and languages are sometimes failed to be passed on to children growing up in a different country than their parents did. Even in Canada, an officially bilingual country, only 15% of Canadians speak English and one unofficial language (Statistics Canada 2008) and in America, only 21% of the population is versed in two languages (Logan, 2003). It has become apparent that there is a need for Canadians and Americans to learn a second language. For a country to survive, it needs to rely on other countries as there is no one country that can produce within it’s borders all the means to meet the needs of it’s people. Furthermore, with the threat of international terrorism, the economic crisis and environmental ruin looming above countries all over the world, governments and organizations need to work together to come up with solutions. These cross culture collaborations would not be possible without the ability of even a few people present to speak each other’s languages. Conversely, by remaining monolingual, skills and knowledge will become concentrated only in certain countries and as the transfer of knowledge will cease the rate of human advancement will slow. This report intends to discuss the interpersonal and personal benefits of learning a second language, and investigate different ways of learning. To accomplish this, I have conducted secondary research into the interpersonal and personal benefits of learning another language. These particular areas of research were cho...
One of the most important insights of a lesson plan comes from the students. We went into our third observation on March 2, 2018 to discuss how the students think the first lesson went. We asked many groups and gained some great insight. The first question we asked to each group is how the lesson went and why. The students all stated that think it went well, or it went was fun. They
What strategies would I use? Giving me the chance to gather data, meet individual learner needs, to pick and choose how different strategies work. It lets me have control and showed me how I could change the class by giving assignments, asking questions, and following lesson plans for each day. What a unique experience. Teaching values and morals, meeting the needs of
I remember moving to a new school and not knowing the language. Students helped me learn French and it seemed so hard at first. Sometimes, students did not always teach me the nicest things to say, such as profanity, but everything was fun and new. Teachers were very nice and understanding due to the fact that I ...
...ed student engagement and academic achievement in my classroom. I know that I am a better teacher, mentor, and role model because of these experiences.
The education process isn’t uniform, and there are many modalities by which this education can occur; some people learn better by reading, while other may prefer listening, or a demonstration. It is essential to assess learning style and preference, to ensure that the information
Being abroad is a wonderful learning experience. “There is no better and more effective way to learn a language than to be immersed in a culture that speaks the language you are learning” (“10 Reasons…”) If the student is learning French, they can go abroad to France, Belgium, or even Canada and they’ll have ...
When I use to go into classrooms I was more of an observer and just blended in, but now I am starting to see myself with authority in the classroom. This experience also teaches me about the major difference that just a single grade can make. While working in the kindergarten classroom we are focusing on learning the alphabet, but in the first grade classroom we are reading books that have multiple sentences on a page. Therefore, as I continue on in this program I will understand how to best use what I am being taught to help those that I am teaching. As for my personal teaching philosophies I am learning how I want to make sure I get across to all of my students. In my elementary school, students who were struggling, including myself, were pulled out of the classroom to receive the help they need, but now I see how the idea of an inclusive classroom can be so much more beneficial. Keeping all of the students in one classroom and fitting the lesson plans to fit them all will allow the students to flourish with all different types of learners. In conclusion, I feel that this experience is better preparing me to become a teacher because it is exposing me to an actual classroom instead of just reading about
Teaching strategies of a foreign language class have evolved from a long history of useless methods that do not fulfill the goal of language acquisition. The main goal of a foreign language class in terms of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards is that the students be able to communicate using the foreign language. Communication refers to the student’s ability to converse with a native speaker of the language that has been studied. In the past, it was assumed that students must first learn the rules of grammar and then use those rules to construct sentences and communicate, but there have been several linguistic theories that have refuted this methodology.
"Maximizing Study Abroad." The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). University of Minnesota, 21 July 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2011. .
Teaching students a language that is foreign can really be challenging for students as well as for the teachers. The dynamic rule for implementing instructing in a diverse class to English-learners is to use resourceful life skills such as diligence, hard work and patience. There are also methods that are involved in teaching English as a second language that can be creative for the teacher, yet beneficial to the student. First building a strong foundation that is essential to English learners will promote the language acquisition process. To do this teacher’s should always start with preparation. Advance preparation is essential in order to provide necessary adaptations in content area instruction and to make content information accessible for second language lear...
I realize that not all students learn at the same rate or the same mode so I will vary my teaching techniques so that all my students can learn. It is crucial to not leave students behind or learn...
During observations, I saw a lot of different methods to teach, control, and mold children. Most of the things I observed I liked, only in one class did I see something that made me uncomfortable but even then I was not too unsettled. The classes I observed all showed me applications of ideas that were discussed in class but they added their own twist on to it or they merged multiple ideas to suit their needs and make for a better learning environment.
however i remember feeling frustrated with the language barrier this understanding of the importance of communication and my interest of French and Spanish culture has inspired me to study French and Spanish at university. at least if one day i would become a mother i wish that my children will speak English and French.