A, day one of the #AtoZChallenge

Here we go! Today is the first day of my AtoZ challenge. The theme is my teaching life and teaching tools.After 20 years of teaching(no fooling), I finally have the opportunity as well as the resources to actually guide my students towards Acquisition.

 Language Learning is really about ACQUISITION

not teaching grammar.

  The manner of use of a particular language is not the structure of the language itself. Trying to teach via a grammar syllabus, attempting to make data from individual languages fit into preexisting categories is very confusing to language learners because inevitably many of the rules contradict themselves. 

    When we are teaching for acquisition, we are striving for authentic communication. WE engage our students in stories, current events and music. The language being used is about communication(questions and responses in the target language), not 'repeat' after me. The students become the center of language learning instead of passive depositories of knowledge. At first, the language learner is in a passive state, they are just trying to understand what we are saying. Then with experience, they achieve an active state where they can start to use the language after forming their own hypotheses. In a recent paper, Dr. Stephen Krashen states "meaning is built up gradually, a little at a time, as we encounter the word again and again in comprehensible contexts. Acquiring vocabulary from context is the way we have acquired nearly all of the thousands of words we know in our L1 and L2(s), not direct instruction."

So how do we teach for acquisition? 

Provide lots of comprehensible input! Scaffold the vocabulary lexicon you draw from. Throw away the lists you used to have students memorize. Lower the affective filter by creating a stress-free classroom environment where it is safe to make a mistake. Offer corrective feedback when the learner is ready(I have a checkbox for students to indicate whether they want it!)

"All that is required of activities in comprehension-based classses is that the activity be interesting and comprehensible." Dr. Krashen


A presto,

p.s. Join my our #virtualPLN on Facebook!


#AtoZchallenge