FIRST ENTRY ON LEARNING TEACHING

STUDENT AWARENESS ON HOW THEY BEST LEARN

First of all, we, as teachers, have to be aware of the diversity of students we have. We should know that in our classrooms we have mixed-up students; they have different backgrounds, needs, expectations, strengths, challenges, and objectives.  The first step we can take is a needs assessment in order to get our student´s real needs, expectations, wants, and goals. After getting and analyzing the data, we can have a clearer view of our class. We can prioritize the needs that seem to be more important and let our students know about it. Besides, we have to realize we have different individuals, and that every single student is unique. So we must have a variety of activities and tasks related to the different learning styles and multiple intelligences.  If the learners do not know what kind of learner they are or what intelligence/s they possess the most, we can also administer a test for them to realize the kind of activities in which they can learn more effectively and efficiently. This can also help our students go beyond and try different sources and activities on their own in order to master the language. To sum up, we have to be guides and facilitators who only guide the process, give advice, and ideas. The students are the ones who learn by themselves; in other words, they learn by trying, making mistakes, correcting mistakes, trying again, and producing the language effectively at the end.

ERROR CORRECTION

I would try to do it in a very smooth and friendly way so that my students don’t feel embarrassed or criticized. Besides, it could be a good idea to talk to your students since the very beginning and let them know that making mistakes is not bad or negative. On the contrary, let them know that making mistakes is great because it is the only way to learn and better our English skills. However, the specific way you correct your students vary depending on the context, the kind of activity (Listening, reading, speaking or writing), and the time we have to do so. For example, when giving opinions, instead of cutting the flow of the speakers interrupting with the right word, phrase, collocation, or pronunciation, you can wait until they finish the idea and then, you paraphrase his opinion correcting the mistakes.  Let´s imagine the student says, “I go yesterday to Guatemala”. You might repeat his idea by saying, “Nice! So you WENT to Guatemala YESTERDAY .” Another example could be when having a mini presentation, a role play or an impromptu speech. It is a good idea to take notes in a notepad, and give feedback and the end of the activity without mentioning names. But if you have already built confidence and rapport among the class you could also be specific and personalized error correction so that they realize about their own mistakes. As I said before, instead of correcting mistakes the way we were taught when we were at school, look for more friendly ways of doing it. Smiling while correcting is a good idea, if you do it in a friendly and positive way. 
What about testing? Well, testing is a good tool in order to check the progress of the learners. It is a excellent way to identify mistakes and provide feedback. However, it is not a good idea to rely on it. Sometimes, our student´s needs go beyond a grade. They want to communicate using the target language; they want to be understood, no matter the "mistakes" they could make. We should remember that a number (a grade) sometimes does not reflect the reality regarding our student´s learning progress.            

TEACHING TEENS OR LARGE CLASSES?

Teaching teens or teaching large classes? It is a good question. What do I consider more difficult? Well, both cases are equally challenging since in both cases we have to think out of the box in order to make our lessons interesting, useful, and meaningful. However, they have differences and similarities. Some differences are that in large groups we have very different interests, while in a group of teens the interests are similar (but not the same). Another difference is the flow of your lessons, and the way you teach; I mean, most teens are very active and they like creative and active activities. Moreover, most of them posses previous language of the target language; that´s why, they don´t like spending much time on basic stuff. On the other hand, in large classes, we find diversity of ages, and as a result, a diversity of likes and dislikes. Some people like moving around all the time, while other prefer being sitting down all the time. We have to be careful with this since some activities that might be fun for some people might be embarrassing or disgusting for others. What about the similarities? Despite you are teaching teens or a large class, you know that every single person is different from one another. So we must pay attention to different learning styles, purposes, moods, and the like at the same time. This is really challenging in both scenarios. Besides, in both cases, students want to feel they are making progress, to feel they are not wasting their time, and money. So this means we have to be clever and adapt our lessons to their real needs and interests. We must bring meaningful real-life lessons to the classroooms; it doesn´t matter you are teching teens or large classses.      

Venn Diagram