Foreign LanguageLeidy Johanna Arizala

200615209

Education extends beyond the

classroom. Whatever their age, people

should be prepared for lifelong learning,

wherever they happen to be. 4-H

members and volunteers play a large part in an

education process which must address the needs of many

learners. When choosing a teaching

method it is important to know

the learners.

• What are their experiences, interests and goals? When youth are asked what they wish to learn, they may not know enough about a subject to form an opinion. However, if they are involved in selecting goals, they have a stronger sense of ownership. Youth learn best in an atmosphere of warmth and acceptance. They should be actively involved in setting goals and planning their learning activities.

• What are the different ways people learn? A visual learner may only need to see an item in writing to remember it. An example is a small child who looks at alphabet cards and can identify the letters. An auditory learner will best be served by having the information spoken to them or repeated by them.

• By hearing and repeating the 4-H pledge members may quickly learn to associate the words with the four Hs. Kinesthetic learners may need to touch items to determine size, shape, texture, ana weight. This allows them to compare and contrast elements as they learn. They can then internalize the concept.

Involving youth in different activities while they learn new material strengthens knowledge retention. This will create new experiences for them to share with others, which also reinforces the learning process. Consider some of the following learning techniques, some of which are traditional:

Teaching Methods

1.The Grammar-Translation Approach

2. The Direct Approach

3. The Reading Approach

4. The Audiolingual Method

5. Community Language Learning

6. The Silent Way

7. Functional-notional Approach

8.  Total Physical Response

1.The Grammar-Translation Approach

This approach was historically used in teaching Greek and Latin. The

approach was generalized to teaching modern languages.

Classes are taught in the students' mother tongue, with little active use of

the target language. Vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word

lists. Elaborate explanations of grammar are always provided.

• Reading of difficult texts is begun early in the course of study. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis. Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue, and vice versa. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.

2. The Direct Approach

This approach was developed initially as a reaction to the grammar-translation approach in an attempt to integrate more use of the target language in instruction. Lessons begin with a dialogue using a modern conversational style in the target language. Material is first presented orally with actions or pictures.

The mother tongue is NEVER, NEVER used. There is no translation. The preferred type of exercise is a series of questions in the target language based on the dialogue or an anecdotal narrative. Questions are answered in the target language.

• Grammar is taught inductively--rules are generalized from the practice and experience with the target language. Verbs are used first and systematically conjugated only much later after some oral mastery of the target language. Advanced students read literature for comprehension and pleasure. Literary texts are not analyzed grammatically. The culture associated with the target language is also taught inductively. Culture is considered an important aspect of learning the language.

•

3. The Reading Approach

This approach is selected for practical and academic reasons. For specific uses of the language in graduate or scientific studies. The approach is for people who do not travel abroad for whom reading is the one usable skill in a foreign language.

The priority in studying the target language is first, reading ability and second, current and/or historical knowledge of the country where the target language is spoken. Only the grammar necessary for reading comprehension and fluency is taught. Minimal attention is paid to pronunciation or gaining conversational skills in the target language.

From the beginning, a great amount of reading is done in L2, both in and out of class. The vocabulary of the early reading passages and texts is strictly controlled for difficulty. Vocabulary is expanded as quickly as possible, since the acquisition of vocabulary is considered more important that grammatical skill. Translation reappears in this approach as a respectable classroom procedure related to comprehension of the written text.

From the beginning, a great amount of reading is done in L2, both in and out of class. The vocabulary of the early reading passages and texts is strictly controlled for difficulty. Vocabulary is expanded as quickly as possible, since the acquisition of vocabulary is considered more important that grammatical skill. Translation reappears in this approach as a respectable classroom procedure related to comprehension of the written text.

4. The Audiolingual Method

This method is based on the principles of behavior psychology. It adapted many of the principles and procedures of the Direct Method, in part as a reaction to the lack of speaking skills of the Reading Approach.

• Teaching points are determined by contrastive analysis between L1 and L2. There is abundant use of language laboratories, tapes and visual aids. There is an extended pre-reading period at the beginning of the course. Great importance is given to precise native-like pronunciation

. Use of the mother tongue by the teacher is permitted, but discouraged among and by the students. Successful responses are reinforced; great care is taken to prevent learner errors. There is a tendency to focus on manipulation of the target language and to disregard content and meaning.

5. Community Language Learning

This methodology is not based on the usual methods by which languages are taught. Rather the approach is patterned upon counseling techniques and adapted to the peculiar anxiety and threat as well as the personal and language problems a person encounters in the learning of foreign languages.

“Consequently, the learner is not thought of as a student but as a client. The native instructors of the language are not considered teachers but, rather are trained in counseling skills adapted to their roles as language counselors”

6. The Silent Way

This method begins by using a set of colored rods and verbal commands in order to achieve the following:

To avoid the use of the vernacular. To create simple linguistic situations that remain under the complete control of the teacher To pass on to the learners the responsibility for the utterances of the descriptions of the objects shown or the actions performed. To let the teacher concentrate on what the students say and how they are saying it, drawing their attention to the differences in pronunciation and the flow of words.

• To generate a serious game-like situation in which the rules are implicitly agreed upon by giving meaning to the gestures of the teacher and his mime. To permit almost from the start a switch from the lone voice of the teacher using the foreign language to a number of voices using it. This introduces components of pitch, timbre and intensity that will constantly reduce the impact of one voice and hence reduce imitation and encourage personal production of one's own brand of the sounds.

7. Functional-notional Approach

This method of language teaching is categorized along with others under the rubric of a communicative approach. The method stresses a means of organizing a language syllabus. The emphasis is on breaking down the global concept of language into units of analysis in terms of communicative situations in which they are used.

8.  Total Physical Response

James J. Asher defines the Total Physical Response (TPR) method as one that combines information and skills through the use of the kinesthetic sensory system. This combination of skills allows the student to assimilate information and skills at a rapid rate. As a result, this success leads to a high degree of motivation. The basic tenets are:

• Understanding the spoken language before developing the skills of speaking. Imperatives are the main structures to transfer or communicate information. The student is not forced to speak, but is allowed an individual readiness period and allowed to spontaneously begin to speak when the student feels comfortable and confident in understanding and producing the utterances.

Teaching and Learning Strategies  In this area of the website you will find information on some of the best researched and the most widely implemented methods of helping all students to learn more successfully. The information includes a description of how the teaching and learning strategies work, where they have been applied, results, and where to find further information from experts in the field, books, websites, and other resources.

They have been demonstrated to be successful with students of all ages and ability levels, including those with various kinds of disabilities and those who do not learn in traditional ways. Following are links to different teaching and learning strategies, a description of how they work, where they have been applied, results, and where to find more information from individuals, books, web sites, and other resources.

Acelerated Learning

• Accelerated learning programs are geared toward teaching the whole person. They are multifaceted, encompassing a wide variety of creative methods and techniques based on current theories and research of how people learn best.

Action Research

• Action Research gives teachers the skills needed to work on problems specific to their classrooms and their schools. By using an actual research procedure, researching teachers can resolve their own teaching challenges..

• They learn how to ask a focusing question, define terms, collect relevant data, use an analysis process that rules out bias, and includes methods that yield validity and reliability. The findings become immediately applicable to their individual situations

Arts in Education

• Always among the highest expression of every culture, the arts teach us much about every historical period through its literature, visual arts, music, dance, and drama.

Today it is recognized that to be truly well

educated one must not only learn to appreciate the arts, but must have

rich opportunities to actively participate in

creative work.

Cognitive Coaching

• Cognitive CoachingSM is a form of mediation that may be applied to professional interactions in a variety of settings and situations with the intention of enhancing self-directed learning. It is a composite of skills and strategies, maps and tools and mental models and beliefs.

Cooperative Learning

• Cooperative Learning is one of the best researched of all teaching strategies. The results show that students who have opportunities to work collaboratively, learn faster and more efficiently, have greater retention, and feel more positive about the learning experience. Needless to say, this is not to say that students can just be put into a group and assigned a project to complete. There are very specific methods to assure the success of group work, and it is essential that both teachers and students are aware of them.

Democratic Classroom• Classroom management

has always been an important skill for teachers, especially new ones, to master. That term, however, connotes a top-down organization which has rapidly lost favor in recent years as more collaborative models have been developed. It is important of course to make sure students are "on task" in a fairly orderly environment.

Graphic Tools• In our present highly

visual world where images on television, billboards, videos, as well as in most publications abound, there has been a related impact on how we teach and learn.

• Utilizing an increasing variety of ways to reach students of all different learning styles, teachers can help their students to understand complicated concepts and remember them better by helping them to master graphic tools both by hand and on computers.

Instrumental Enrichment

• As there is growing recognition that intelligence is not a fixed, static, structure, but an open, dynamic system that can continue to develop throughout life, many schools are incorporating programs to develop these capacities more fully. Pioneering work continues, but the research is already in. Intelligence can be taught and learned.

Literacy• The ability to read is

unquestionably a most basic skill for academic learning, yet there continues to be much disagreement among educators on how best to teach this critical tool. In the US, the primary emphasis of the Reading Excellence Act and Reading First is that all children will be reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

• At the present time, however, it is clear that because of the enormous diversity of students' backgrounds and abilities, there are many who still find reading a challenge beyond that level, into middle school and high school.

• You will find in the articles and resources below many suggestions for helping students at all levels to become more successful readers, and we will continue to add information as it emerges from research and practice.

Resources Teaching

• The rich diversity of today's society is clearly evident in many classrooms today. It is no longer enough to educate some of our children. Schools and learning environments must work for all and must reflect the cultures of the communities they serve.

• Horizons for Learning has always had a strong multicultural and international foundation and we continue to learn much from our communication with other countries and the different cultures within our own. We invite your comments and contributions to this site.

• The rich diversity of today's society is clearly evident in many classrooms today. It is no longer enough to educate some of our children. Schools and learning environments must work for all and must reflect the cultures of the communities they serve.

Multicultural Education

• New Horizons for Learning has always had a strong multicultural and international foundation and we continue to learn much from our communication with other countries and the different cultures within our own. We invite your comments and contributions to this site.