Advice to all language teachers - from a former student

[GermanFrench]

Hello,

I'm going to try to keep this brief. But first of all I'd like to give you some helpful advice (because I think it's the single most important thing for learning/teaching a language, yet often neglected).

I'm 23 years old, now and graduated from my school's French major with 8 A's and 1 B on the 9 written tests during those 2 years, a while ago. French 'major' because here in Germany we have to choose 2 majors in the last 2 years of school.

I'm not trying to tell you how conceited or ****************y I am ;), but the thing is: I used to always get D's in French, in the 8th grade I was actually about to fail in French and in the 9th I started with another F ;-(.

The reason, why I ended up getting good grades in the end was, that I started being interested in it. So I'd learn it at home..listen to French (hip hop) music..try to understand it...translate it...chat online with girls from France or from Montréal ;-) and so on..and that way I really did not perceive it as 'studying', but really just as having a good time.

But in school...even though I WANTED to improve my French badly..we would always just read boring texts about history..or (try to) discuss politics, etc. watch videos about French history...and I really couldn't concentrate on it because - mind me, it was really boring to me (a 18-19 year old student).

I know, you have to teach certain things about French/English history, etc. but I suggest, that you keep it to a minimum. Teach as much about it as you have to, but not more...if you choose to watch a video (in French) in class, better find a video on a topic, that'll make students want to listen. The other day I saw a report(exp?) about Brazil on TV5(French channel).

I really enjoyed watching it and Im sure most students here would have enjoyed watching it, too and would have TRIED to listen instead of trying to sleep in class ;). Actually, I remember an English class, where we read a text about Brazil and everybody was paying attention to it..probably because Brazil seems to be fairly popular over here, whereas I think it's not as popular in the US...

but I hope you get my drift. It's not as easy as I make it sound, I guess, but if you can find and are allowed to use some material for your classes, that they'll be interested in, it might not turn those students who hate languages in the first place into language addicts ;), but I'm sure it can help a great deal (especially with those who actually do want to learn the language, but also with those who aren't that interested).

Picture yourself going into class with a video/DVD, that students will really be interested to know about, they won't be sitting in there waiting for the bell to ring, but when the bell rings they'll be disappointed it's over (at least some of them ;)). I think different cultures/countries are often of interested to students..for example we once watched this video about Québec with all the winter sports going on and one of the students was really hyped about it after those lessons were over and said something along the lines 'I would really LOVE to go there, I might even learn French for that lol'.

Hope some of you make use of those tips

P.S.: I still see that in myself..im trying to improve my listening comprehension skills so I watch the only French tv channel we have here and most of the time..its really boring and I cant get myself to watch or listen for too long..but then they air a report(exp?) about Brazil or Montréal and I really want to know about those places and it really catches my attention and Im listening without having to try hard, at all

[clickjobs.com]

I agree with you. Most of the cases it is the boring lessons that do us in instead of interactive and interesting lessons.

[Mr. H]

Well, in Europe, students have many more school hours in the week. Here in the states, my students have less than five hours a week. The expectation is that they will spend an hour of their OWN time working on homework and studying... this, as we all know, is not happening in most cases. Students in Europe are introduced to language at a much younger age, around 10 or 11, getting them years ahead of the students in the states. So, comparing the two systems is much like the whole Apples and Oranges. The subject may be the same but the system isn't.

As language teachers we need to organize ourselves as to the overall goals we want our state-side students to reach... Yeah, the standards are nice and all if not VAGUE beyond all reason. I can include all of the standards pretty much EVERY DAY in EVERY lesson.

Competence... that is the over-arching goal, yes? Ok, there is too wide a degree of competence. There is not enough time in the week to get these students learning and keep them on task when they are at home. I propose we teach language like any other academic subject while expecting the same results as any other teacher of a core class. The great thing is that we would have an edge. We can teach language in a manner that is cross-content. We can include EVERY subject that our students have in their core classes within language classes, be they English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, etc...

Perhaps we need to stop thinking that our subject isn't worth as much in the real-world as the core subjects because we reinforce the other subjects. There are many teachers in History and English who team up to teach a particular subject... i.e. they teach something in History and then they write about it in English. There is no reason we, as language teachers shouldn't seek out that kind of support for our own subjects. In doing so, we should expect the kid who aces all of his other subjects and is doing the bare minimum in our classes to step it up... It's all in expectations. We have to set them high. Our students are capable... they're just not pushed enough. They tend to fall into laziness. This is an important time in their lives psychologically, socially, physically... why not channel some of that energy into work like they do in EVERY OTHER "DEVELOPED" COUNTRY??

[A True Teacher]

Sir,

In all sincerity I would definitely have to agree with the young man. I too am an English teacher, and I find that most of the English teachers around me tend to think more about what bulk of work has to be done, rather than having the kids become interested in what they have to do to a point that the teacher's role is more of a guider. Yes, you do share some good points, but I would have to disagree that most of the students are not interested in English (or whatever language for that matter) because they are lazy. Like Science or any other subject, it is our responsibility as educators to teach them the strategies that they need to carry forward into the real world......but do it in a way that would make it more meaningful.

I think that our biggest problem in teaching is that we assume that the kids don't care about the subject. But, what many of us need to consider, myself included, is that it is a matter of how we approach the subject. I have learnt through trial and error about my students' attitudes towards English. In the first term one particular class was very satisfied with the fact that they were getting close to nil. In the second term I changed my tactics and my attitudes. And low and behold, they are the ones who encourage me to work with them. This term, I am trying yet another cluster of strategies. If I may brag, up to now my once uninterested and lazy kids are one step ahead of me.

Whoever is out there reading this take my humble advice. One of my dearest lecturers in Methods in Teaching English said to me that it is not about what amount of work you have to complete in whatever amount of time. It is achievable once you know your students' capabilities and once you are willing to try new things that will allow them to blossom. Once they have grasped a concept, completion of the syllabus falls right into place. I find that some of us as educators need to turn our nostrils to the wind and inhale deeply before we think of students as underachievers.

Then again, what works for me may not work for you. Once I had a negative attitude towards my kids. And with a lot of self searching and researching I have turned them around. I have learnt a lot over the year and I am gladly applying that knowledge. Nothing is hopeless. Some will take what we give and run, others will continue to lie down, but the young person makes a whole lot of sense from where I am sitting. Why give them boring things, get to know thier interests and work with them. Remember we are codependent and training them to be able to live in the world out there (as cruel as it may be). You may find that you will become the student at times.

Please don't mark them as damaged. Before you do, make sure that you can say that you have tried your best by them. And young man, I for one appreciate your advice. I have been doing such and I find that my tasks at the end of the day are so much easier. I love teaching English! To those who I may have offended, my regrets, but maybe we need to search deeply within ourselves.

[Mr. H]

I'm only saying that we can't make it all fun and games, learning a language is a LOT of work! In my class we play a lot of games and the content is not only cross-content, but relative to the students in their daily activities. It's not like we can watch TV5 every day and watch DVDs. I am not there to baby sit, I am there to TEACH. To TEACH, I need students to understand grammar and vocabulary. I incorporate games and try to make it a little more fun than a lecture. The nature of the subject is interactive.

I have been a language student, I remember what it is like to sit in a class where the teacher talks at students. Here's the deal. I know that I needed a lot more work on grammar than I ever received. I want to make sure my students are prepared to enter into a competitive learning environment when they get to college. I am not there to facilitate a play-date. I am in class everyday so that my students can LEARN. They're not going to go into the real world and have their boss entertain them so they don't fall asleep or decide not to go. Students need to be able to make the transition from childhood to adulthood in a very short period of time. School isn't all fun and games. Some of it has to be serious and students will have to work to achieve, just like anything else.

When we get to French III and IV we can begin to explore different topics and even watch videos, but until students have the frameworks (grammar and vocabulary) how can we expect them to be productive with a video??

[JRSFD]

I'm only saying that we can't make it all fun and games, learning a language is a LOT of work!

There's your problem!

Visualise: a mother is sitting with her baby on her lap. She points to a chair, and says "chair". She points to a fridge and says "fridge". Throughout this strenuous process, the baby is doing the same thing. He points to a chair and says "chair", and forms that association in his mind.

Does his mother start off by saying "okay baby, let's learn some grammar!"? No! She just does what comes naturally, and makes sure the baby is interested. When the baby's diaper is full, he won't learn any language, because he's preoccupied with the problem at hand. Once the problem is solved, he can be interested in learning again, et cetera. The grammar actually comes naturally to him as time progresses, as I'm sure you people who learned a language before the age of 12 must already have realised.

However, when a language teacher (this is a generalisation) sits his students down and points to words on the board, makes them read books and watch videos, the students are preoccupied with other things. A student will generally be thinking, "va te faire enculer toi!" instead of learning.

I'm interested in languages, and I've tried courses, tutoring, classes, and such, but I've found that BY FAR the best way to learn is to 1) actually be interested, and 2) find interesting things! As a specific example, what got me interested in French was a song, and what got me interested in Dutch was a friend, and what got me learning Norse was sagas from my childhood.

Imagine that! and please, put it to good use.

[Mr. H]

...but at SOME point we have to teach the kids the RULES of grammar???!!!!!! They aren't in class long enough for us to teach through immersion. At SOME point we have to teach them the rules so they can self-teach!!!! I want my students to be FULLY prepared to speak. They learn through a VARIETY of methods, but they also have to learn grammar. I would fail them if they were to speak a language, make mistakes and not know why. I am teaching them cross-content skills while teaching them grammar. They are learning formulas and abstract thinking. Grammar is the BASIS for most languages. To leave it by the wayside is (idiotic) Irresponsible!!:mad: