NOTICING

1.  Do adults and children learn an L2 in the same way and? What, if any, are the differences?

From my perspective no. Children learn more unconsciously, without specific purposes, structures or anxiety. Adults, learn with intrinsic motivation but with higher fear to making mistakes, therefore less confidence, more anxiety and less fluency in most cases.

2.  Can we teach a language or do people learn a language? What, if any, are the differences?

Both, to learn at same point you need somebody’s guidance or advice. The differences may lie on the context. You need to be taught a language if you are at school learning an L2, and you may learn, if you are learning English in England.

3.  How is language to be learned sequenced in your current teaching context?

From basic words to more complex sentences. Also from the needs depending on the age of the students. If the students are adults it will depend on their goals.

4.  What if anything can be learned by looking at past methodologies?

You can learn about the strengths and weaknesses of those methodologies, and what works for you as a teacher and for your students.

Elements of Medgyes’ Communicative Teacher

Teachers have always been pointed as responsible for having to fulfill many roles. Nowadays “The Communicative Teacher” has come into fashion and with it also a heavy burden. This new teacher should devote his or her time and life completely to achieve all the objectives proposed by the communicative approach.

This teacher must deliver a lot in and outside the classroom. This professional should know his/her students and what they bring to the class, their aspirations and expectations from the course, however, the educator  should not impose his/her own view of learner’s needs or aspirations. They are just there to make sure learning takes place. This point, as many others within the communicative approach, presents huge difficulties to the teacher   since the teacher is also a person who’s got a life and needs, and a vision of why he or she wanted to be a teacher, but if he or she will not be allowed to have a say or is not provided with what is needed to accomplish all the tasks asked for, this teacher will end up, at least, discouraged.

On the other hand, the communicative teacher must be set up with a big set of qualities. He or she should deliver equally to the diversity inside the classroom, stimulating all students to participate, but still keeping control of what happens in the class. This supernatural being should also pay attention to meaning and form, be cultured and resourceful. Finally this approach, as many others lately, states that education should be learner-centered, as if it wasn’t clear enough for the teachers’ depreciation.

The Communicative Teacher

Everybody agrees that education is very important yet not many are willing to make efforts for its sake (government, parents, even students).Most people live in a fantasy world and take too much for granted.  The responsibility of education should not just be positioned on the teachers but on everyone who is interested in education. Here the responsibility only lies on few, the greatest guilt lays on teachers, they must perform the magic; look happy even if they are tired, underpaid, or frown upon because of their career choice. It’s all about the students, but who thinks about the teachers and everything they have to go through?

Creativity

To be frank I never thought, consciously, of creativity as something as I was supposed to encourage as a regular basis. However, I do always ask my students to write stories and perform and record themselves, and I do appreciate when I see their interests and strengths through the different tasks because I can see them motivated  and shinning, which is what we basically want to achieve in our students, or at least me.

Interesting how the lecturer led everything, through humor. Would that be creativity? Not probably something encouraged at school, however, he managed to engage the audience and make his points.

Sadly many parents nowadays are sort of obsessed with their children turning into; doctors or engineers or lawyers, and stressed with the fact that their children do not like school or do not care about their marks. I think then that we as teachers could create different instances to show our students’ interests and strengths, then parents and students themselves will believe and promote these potentials.