New Things

Back talking….  Difficult word but even more difficult to learn how to deal with it, isn´t it?
My whole life I have been taught in a traditional way and so I thought that the best if not the only way to bring back student´s attention was by pointing him out. But again in one of my TKT classes I realized that we must do it in a more subtle way in order not to make the student feel embarrassed and obviously to make him aware of what´s going on in class.
It´s very common to hear teachers say STOP TALKING, PAY ATTENTION or in more severe cases students are even asked to step out of the class. This without any doubt is pointing out someone.
Pointing a student out directly and I as one can assure you that instead of getting a good result out of it, it´s going to make it worse. Why? Well because most of the times the student is so distracted that it´s obvious he won´t know the answer. Not knowing the answer to something specially if the whole class is waiting to hear what you have to say leaves you with a feeling of embarrassment. The student might stop back talking but it´s also very probable that he might not want to participate at all.
I know it´s hard to deal with students who are constantly back talking, but in my opinion the best option is to try and bring back students attention in an indirect way. You know instead of asking him to answer something why not ask him to choose another classmate to do it. This way you´ll be sure that the student is going to pay attention and at the same time you´ll avoid leaving your student with a bad feeling (embarrassed).
I´m probably being very positive about this and I´m not sure if I´ll be able to apply it into my own teaching but as Ellen says “BABY STEPS CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE”.

Practice activities should not be omitted, because school might be the only place where students can practice language. Therefore if we for example avoid doing communicative activities only because some students don’t feel enough prepared or insecure about their abilities for doing certain task, we are only preventing them from overcoming their problems. As everything else there are certain steps to follow in this case different types of activities like controlled or free activities. We as teachers should know which activities to use according to our student´s abilities and their language level.

When I went to live to the US my knowledge of English was zero. My learning process was by total immersion on both language and culture. Very effective indeed but you have no idea of how hard it was. It wasn’t until I came back to Mexico and started taking English classes that I became aware of the how and why of things. In my opinion it is better to have prior knowledge of a language before being totally exposed to it.

A few weeks ago I learned that it is better to have students engaged rather than motivated students. Why? Well because a motivated student can easily become demotivated. In other words he can loose interest in class because the praise he is receiving just isn’t enough anymore. But on the other hand if you have engaged students you can almost be sure that they will be interested in class no matter what the topic is. Engagement can be done by creating a nice classroom atmosphere, by giving specific goals to students, by building their autonomy and confidence etc.

I think teaching is one of the hardest jobs because not only do you have to pay attention to your student´s needs but also to the most effective way to teach them that is the approach you use. In Mexico the most commonly used is the PPP. That is you listen and learn from what your teacher says. All students and teachers, I include myself, we´re all very accustomed to this approach and once you get use to something it´s really hard to try new things out.

On the other hand though TKT has given me the opportunity to realize that there is a wider perspective out there for everything we do and this obviously includes teaching!!

Speaking is one of my favorite language skills because it gives me great satisfaction to actually communicate with others in a language that is not my own. It is very challenging though, because when you are face to face or even you in front of a whole audience you definitely get the chills. One because of the way people will react to what you are saying and two because you are scared of making mistakes. This often happens to me and I do get embarrassed of it but at the end I realize that making mistakes is part of learning. So the next time you have to speak, please do and remember that you are not the only one who is going through this.

I find it really hard to concentrate on listening. But I found out that when I listen to things I like such as songs it is easier and not so boring. I practice different sub skills, I learn new vocabulary, I listen to different accents and I have fun. This is obviously something for you to practice listening on your own so that when you are in class you don’t find it so hard to do it. I my opinion the key to develop listening skills is to find out what you like and work out a way to apply it into it.

Reading is not only finishing quickly, it is definitely more than that. To me, it is like a door waiting to be opened for a whole new adventure. Not only do you gain knowledge, but also you have the opportunity to know different cultures and even places without traveling. But unfortunately it is not so simple. Reading involves developing different skills according to the type of reading you are doing. I really enjoy reading for detail but during the past semester I learned different sub skills and believe me they are life savers. When reading in another language I think it is a good idea to first focus on the whole idea of the text. Once you do this then you might want to work out the meaning word by word.

“Reading is a complex process” (TKT p.33) True, but once you get the hang of it I assure you will enjoy it!!!!

Throughout the years I`ve been studying English I`ve learned that writing is all around us and that it`s a very important skill too. We wouldn`t be able to avoid it even if we wanted to. As any other language skill it`s important that we dedicate time to it because sooner or later we will need it. Then of course we have to evaluate student`s needs. That is to say you won`t ask for the same amount of writing to a primary student that to a high school one. I am obviously not a very good writer but I`m working to improve this skill. A good way to do so is by using the writing process without skipping steps. At the final three stages you have to be very critical about your work. So get yourself a pencil and start writing!!!!!!

Functions are part of the language learning process, so it`s as important as any other topic. They are very useful to understand exactly what the speaker is trying to say depending on the context they are used in. They also give you an idea whereas to use formal, informal or neutral language. Some students prefer functions than grammar but in life we will face things that we don`t really like but that we will have to do anyway.