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New Ways Of Learning A Foreign Language
Zosia Barańska
Zosia Barańska
Learning a foreign language should be both a pleasure and an educational activity. Unfortunately teachers and students as well seem to have forgotten this basic rule (which also happens to be true for any other school subject). You don't have to be a scientist of any kind to discover that we learn quicker if we a/ have a target and b/enjoy the process and the goal.
I've been learning English for 6 or 7 years, having attended 5 different English schools and I've just passed the CAE exam so I think I'm the person entitled to talk about difficulties in learning as well as able to suggest solutions to certain problems which plague the learning process. I was lucky to meet a teacher with whom learning a language was easy and pleasurable. I want to present her and my own ideas mixed together as we share the same way of thinking.
I've made a small research among people who learn English (they were on different levels, from elementary to so called upper-intermediate). I asked them what helps them and what hinders them while learning. These are the most common answers:
What helps me in the learning process:
· a variety of different exercises
· teaching another person/preparing exercises for other people
· organized or spontaneous discussions and debates
· watching films in the original language version
· reading articles
· writing letters in English to a pen-friend
· word games
· the possibility to chose: a course-book, the level of the course, my own targets, own topics for discussions/debates
· creative teachers
What hinders me.... :
· a badly chosen course-book
· predictable, monotonously schematic lessons
· lack of discussions/debates
· "I'm a teacher and you're supposed to listen! I teach, you learn" – attitude of a teacher
· a school syllabus treated almost like the Holy Scripture
· the same exercises for all students, no chance for choosing individual/personal goals
· no practical usage of English throughout the course
· focusing on grammar and forgetting about the rest of language skills
· “all work and no play”
So now let me analyze all of it step by step and I hope that the end conclusions will be obvious.
Course-Books
I know very few people who find their course-books interesting or at least satisfying. Most of them use such expressions to describe them: boring, too easy, too difficult, stupid, childish. At this point you would probably say that there is no way to choose the one course-book that would fit all students in any group. But there are at least two ways to do it:
Bring to one of the first classes 5 or 6 different course-books (which level should be similar but preferably not the same). Let all the students skip through the books, say a few words about each book and then let them decide. They can choose one of the books or decide that they prefer to have exercises copied from different books (an average course-book with a complete set of accompanying workbooks etc. cost about 100zł now so it would be even cheaper and the variety of exercises would be greater).
Bring 5 or 6 different course-books and let every student chose his/her book. They're the ones to use them so it should be their choice!
One of the most common mistakes made by teachers is that they base the majority of the classes on course-books. Why? These books are usually grammar-centered and that means that two elements are prevalent: grammar theory and exercises to practice discrete, de-contextualised structures. Meanwhile, people aged of 16 or 17 can easily read texts and draw their own conclusions. If they have some kind of a problem they'll ask the teacher or their friends. Why should they do exercises on Conditionals if they make no mistakes there when for example they have problems with choosing correctly whether to use a or the? You can always ask them to do these exercises at home.
School Syllabus
Most of the learning process is best when happening naturally - especially in learning a foreign language. When we read an article we find new language structures and rehearse other, well known ones.
Treating the school syllabus as the Holy Scripture is ridiculous but unfortunately we cannot avoid it altogether. So my suggestion is to give one copy of the obligatory syllabus to every student. They should read it at home so that you can discuss various ways of dealing with it and on the basis of the discussion prepare a schedule of tests. All students appreciate the situation in which they know as much as the teacher and they can (if they want) have a great influence on how lessons shape.
Learning Grammar
First of all every student has his/her strengths and weaknesses. One does better on Conditionals and another on Reported Speech - so why not use their skills? Ask everyone to write his/her language problems on a separate sheet of paper. Then collect all of them and start reading out - Kasia picked "time clauses" so she prepares an exercise about time clauses. Don't forget to give a clear deadline and decide who will get the exercise from Kasia. Everyone should have at least one exercise to prepare and one to receive and do. You can repeat the procedure as often as you want and I can assure you that the effects will be surprising!
Personal Goals
People don't learn for teachers or parents. They learn for themselves. They have specific, personal targets they want to achieve. At the beginning of a school year ask everyone to write what they want to improve and how they want to do it. If classes are small (up to 15 people) the teacher can discuss these personal goals individually with every student while the rest can think about topics for debates. If the class is bigger the teacher can ask the students to make another copy for him/her to be able to later monitor the progress. This should be done at least twice a year.
These are some personal goals prepared by my friends on the English camp:
Reading
- two articles (one chosen purely for its informative value, the other as the ground for a later group discussion)
- a novel by Roald Dahl
- 3 poems
Developing Vocabulary
- prepare a small dictionary with new words from the reading part
Developing Speaking Skills
- take part in a debate
- prepare a workshop for other people
Writing
- a review of a film/a book/an article/an exhibition
- a poem/a limerick
- find a pen-friend and start exchanging letters with him/her
Listening
- listen to 2 Beatles’ songs and write down the lyrics
- watch a movie without Polish subtitles
Speaking
- prepare a workshop about interpersonal communication
Students learn things they want to learn and not things they are forced to learn. They learn more and they have none to blame for failing. Schools in Poland don't pay much attention to the independence of the students. They prefer the easier way which is unfortunately not the better one. In two or three years’ time the students will have to choose whether to end their education or continue at the university or another tertiary education institute. How come they can make such choices if throughout all school years they were told what to do and how to do it? How can they make such important decisions if they are not aware what their personal targets are?
Interesting Lessons
Make lessons interesting – well, it is easy to say but far more difficult to make it happen. What are the criteria of the something that people call "interesting"? First of all this book/film/lesson/ should not be obvious or predictable. An element of surprise should be present. Secondly we should have the feeling that we're not wasting our time. And last but not least: it should involve all our senses and our imagination and be pleasant.
I used to go to an English school where all lessons looked the same. Our teacher was too conservative to change the mode of teaching; moreover, he could not stand any form of criticism. We used to do a few grammar exercises, then we checked them, then he read one chapter from his favourite book - "Biography of Roald Dahl" and then we repeated all activities from the beginning. It was really tiring. I've been able to think of a number of ways to occupy these 45 minutes in a different manner.
Word games
According to an English saying: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" so teachers should not be afraid of playing games during the lesson. They are useful as they help to learn new words and correct spelling, to recycle vocabulary from previous lessons, to practice thinking quickly - and they're funny.
- last letter becomes first letter
All you need is a ball. The teacher throws it to one of the students and says any word e.g. "cat". The student who got the ball has to think of a word which starts with the last letter of the word -e.g. if the word was "cat" he has to think of a word starting with "t" and throw the ball to another person.
- a long, long word
A teacher finds a very long word in the dictionary, then writes it on the blackboard and gives students approximately 3 minutes to write as many words as possible using letters from the long word.
- what is...
You need a few dictionaries. Give them to groups of students and ask to choose one word from it and three definitions (only one should be correct!) After a few minutes they read the word and these three definitions and other students have to guess which definition is correct.
- categories
It's a team game. A teacher gives a category e.g. "living in the city" and one team starts saying all words related to this category, meanwhile the other team has to do some task - e.g. translate a verse of some well known song. As soon as they finish the first team stops saying words. Then the roles change.
Workshops
The best way to learn is to...teach. It gives way to practical usage of English with a meaningful purpose. Every student has his/her hobbies and interests. They should share their knowledge with other students - using English, of course. At the beginning of the school year the teacher can ask all students in the group to decide on the topic of his/her own workshop. The important thing is to make it practical. It cannot be a lecture of any kind but it can contain some theory. During the English camp I attended I have learnt how to write good English stories (we wrote one together and then we made a great play out of it), how to communicate non-verbally, how to paint sunsets and dance Latin dances. People learn to understand and give instructions in a foreign language , they expand their vocabulary and improve their speaking skills. It is not only language training but also one happening on a psychological plane, geared toward the personal development. Moreover, students find out that being a teacher is far more difficult then they thought at the beginning.
Discussions/debates
We need language to express our feelings, ideas, points of view. Discussions and debates are very dynamic, it's a quick exchange of arguments and counterarguments. Their greatest advantage is that they help remove the speaking block which people so often have. People get emotional when talking about controversial things and they don't think about possible grammar mistakes they could make. The topics for the debates and discussions should be chosen by students but a teacher can suggest some if she wants. I can assure you that some of them will come spontaneously during the lessons. A teacher can also give some articles to students as a way of preparing the ground for the future discussion. As for the debates a teacher should remember to give both sides some time to prepare their arguments. The important thing to remember is that during the debate there are only few people talking and the rest is listening and then they give the verdict.
Listening practice
What really gets on my nerves are these stupid dialogues recorded on tapes. You listen to some boring conversation about sport and then you say who said this or this. It's really difficult to concentrate on something you're not interested in. If I don't like politics and I hear an interview with one of the politicians on radio I simply turn it off or I change the channel; if students are not interested in what someone is saying they stop listening. Listening skills are very important but we can listen to songs and write down the lyrics, we can watch a film without subtitles or listen to some English jokes or a poem.
Speaking
One of the most important things is to speak English all the time! An English teacher will never be perceived as one by the students if she/he speaks mainly Polish and from time to time throw at them a few words in English. It's better for the students to get used to the fact that Polish is forbidden during these classes and that a teacher simply doesn't understand this language. After some time they'll start using English even when talking with other classmates.
These are only few ideas that a caring teacher can use during English lessons. The rest is just a matter of his/her attitude and of the students’ attitude towards learning and toward each other.
After some time a teacher following the suggestions will discover that teaching comes naturally, grades are better and she/he doesn't feel tired of looking at the watch to check how much time remains until the blessed school-bell finally rings. And one more thing: what's so great about being a teenager is that our heads are full of new ideas. People are only people and it's true that they're more enthusiastic about their own ideas than about the ideas of other people. So let the students be the teachers for themselves, help them if they need you, control their progress but don't think for them, don't make decisions that they should make. It's hard at the beginning because it changes the whole tradition of our school system where the roles were simple: teachers teach, students are being taught. But yet it's worth trying.
To all teachers: remember that what students do at school is just a small percent of their learning process! So try to encourage them to watch films in English, read magazines and find a pen-friend with whom they can exchange letters in English. Give as much information as you can about various tours, work and travel programmes – it is no less important part of the teaching process.
I've been learning English for 6 or 7 years, having attended 5 different English schools and I've just passed the CAE exam so I think I'm the person entitled to talk about difficulties in learning as well as able to suggest solutions to certain problems which plague the learning process. I was lucky to meet a teacher with whom learning a language was easy and pleasurable. I want to present her and my own ideas mixed together as we share the same way of thinking.
I've made a small research among people who learn English (they were on different levels, from elementary to so called upper-intermediate). I asked them what helps them and what hinders them while learning. These are the most common answers:
What helps me in the learning process:
· a variety of different exercises
· teaching another person/preparing exercises for other people
· organized or spontaneous discussions and debates
· watching films in the original language version
· reading articles
· writing letters in English to a pen-friend
· word games
· the possibility to chose: a course-book, the level of the course, my own targets, own topics for discussions/debates
· creative teachers
What hinders me.... :
· a badly chosen course-book
· predictable, monotonously schematic lessons
· lack of discussions/debates
· "I'm a teacher and you're supposed to listen! I teach, you learn" – attitude of a teacher
· a school syllabus treated almost like the Holy Scripture
· the same exercises for all students, no chance for choosing individual/personal goals
· no practical usage of English throughout the course
· focusing on grammar and forgetting about the rest of language skills
· “all work and no play”
So now let me analyze all of it step by step and I hope that the end conclusions will be obvious.
Course-Books
I know very few people who find their course-books interesting or at least satisfying. Most of them use such expressions to describe them: boring, too easy, too difficult, stupid, childish. At this point you would probably say that there is no way to choose the one course-book that would fit all students in any group. But there are at least two ways to do it:
Bring to one of the first classes 5 or 6 different course-books (which level should be similar but preferably not the same). Let all the students skip through the books, say a few words about each book and then let them decide. They can choose one of the books or decide that they prefer to have exercises copied from different books (an average course-book with a complete set of accompanying workbooks etc. cost about 100zł now so it would be even cheaper and the variety of exercises would be greater).
Bring 5 or 6 different course-books and let every student chose his/her book. They're the ones to use them so it should be their choice!
One of the most common mistakes made by teachers is that they base the majority of the classes on course-books. Why? These books are usually grammar-centered and that means that two elements are prevalent: grammar theory and exercises to practice discrete, de-contextualised structures. Meanwhile, people aged of 16 or 17 can easily read texts and draw their own conclusions. If they have some kind of a problem they'll ask the teacher or their friends. Why should they do exercises on Conditionals if they make no mistakes there when for example they have problems with choosing correctly whether to use a or the? You can always ask them to do these exercises at home.
School Syllabus
Most of the learning process is best when happening naturally - especially in learning a foreign language. When we read an article we find new language structures and rehearse other, well known ones.
Treating the school syllabus as the Holy Scripture is ridiculous but unfortunately we cannot avoid it altogether. So my suggestion is to give one copy of the obligatory syllabus to every student. They should read it at home so that you can discuss various ways of dealing with it and on the basis of the discussion prepare a schedule of tests. All students appreciate the situation in which they know as much as the teacher and they can (if they want) have a great influence on how lessons shape.
Learning Grammar
First of all every student has his/her strengths and weaknesses. One does better on Conditionals and another on Reported Speech - so why not use their skills? Ask everyone to write his/her language problems on a separate sheet of paper. Then collect all of them and start reading out - Kasia picked "time clauses" so she prepares an exercise about time clauses. Don't forget to give a clear deadline and decide who will get the exercise from Kasia. Everyone should have at least one exercise to prepare and one to receive and do. You can repeat the procedure as often as you want and I can assure you that the effects will be surprising!
Personal Goals
People don't learn for teachers or parents. They learn for themselves. They have specific, personal targets they want to achieve. At the beginning of a school year ask everyone to write what they want to improve and how they want to do it. If classes are small (up to 15 people) the teacher can discuss these personal goals individually with every student while the rest can think about topics for debates. If the class is bigger the teacher can ask the students to make another copy for him/her to be able to later monitor the progress. This should be done at least twice a year.
These are some personal goals prepared by my friends on the English camp:
Reading
- two articles (one chosen purely for its informative value, the other as the ground for a later group discussion)
- a novel by Roald Dahl
- 3 poems
Developing Vocabulary
- prepare a small dictionary with new words from the reading part
Developing Speaking Skills
- take part in a debate
- prepare a workshop for other people
Writing
- a review of a film/a book/an article/an exhibition
- a poem/a limerick
- find a pen-friend and start exchanging letters with him/her
Listening
- listen to 2 Beatles’ songs and write down the lyrics
- watch a movie without Polish subtitles
Speaking
- prepare a workshop about interpersonal communication
Students learn things they want to learn and not things they are forced to learn. They learn more and they have none to blame for failing. Schools in Poland don't pay much attention to the independence of the students. They prefer the easier way which is unfortunately not the better one. In two or three years’ time the students will have to choose whether to end their education or continue at the university or another tertiary education institute. How come they can make such choices if throughout all school years they were told what to do and how to do it? How can they make such important decisions if they are not aware what their personal targets are?
Interesting Lessons
Make lessons interesting – well, it is easy to say but far more difficult to make it happen. What are the criteria of the something that people call "interesting"? First of all this book/film/lesson/ should not be obvious or predictable. An element of surprise should be present. Secondly we should have the feeling that we're not wasting our time. And last but not least: it should involve all our senses and our imagination and be pleasant.
I used to go to an English school where all lessons looked the same. Our teacher was too conservative to change the mode of teaching; moreover, he could not stand any form of criticism. We used to do a few grammar exercises, then we checked them, then he read one chapter from his favourite book - "Biography of Roald Dahl" and then we repeated all activities from the beginning. It was really tiring. I've been able to think of a number of ways to occupy these 45 minutes in a different manner.
Word games
According to an English saying: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" so teachers should not be afraid of playing games during the lesson. They are useful as they help to learn new words and correct spelling, to recycle vocabulary from previous lessons, to practice thinking quickly - and they're funny.
- last letter becomes first letter
All you need is a ball. The teacher throws it to one of the students and says any word e.g. "cat". The student who got the ball has to think of a word which starts with the last letter of the word -e.g. if the word was "cat" he has to think of a word starting with "t" and throw the ball to another person.
- a long, long word
A teacher finds a very long word in the dictionary, then writes it on the blackboard and gives students approximately 3 minutes to write as many words as possible using letters from the long word.
- what is...
You need a few dictionaries. Give them to groups of students and ask to choose one word from it and three definitions (only one should be correct!) After a few minutes they read the word and these three definitions and other students have to guess which definition is correct.
- categories
It's a team game. A teacher gives a category e.g. "living in the city" and one team starts saying all words related to this category, meanwhile the other team has to do some task - e.g. translate a verse of some well known song. As soon as they finish the first team stops saying words. Then the roles change.
Workshops
The best way to learn is to...teach. It gives way to practical usage of English with a meaningful purpose. Every student has his/her hobbies and interests. They should share their knowledge with other students - using English, of course. At the beginning of the school year the teacher can ask all students in the group to decide on the topic of his/her own workshop. The important thing is to make it practical. It cannot be a lecture of any kind but it can contain some theory. During the English camp I attended I have learnt how to write good English stories (we wrote one together and then we made a great play out of it), how to communicate non-verbally, how to paint sunsets and dance Latin dances. People learn to understand and give instructions in a foreign language , they expand their vocabulary and improve their speaking skills. It is not only language training but also one happening on a psychological plane, geared toward the personal development. Moreover, students find out that being a teacher is far more difficult then they thought at the beginning.
Discussions/debates
We need language to express our feelings, ideas, points of view. Discussions and debates are very dynamic, it's a quick exchange of arguments and counterarguments. Their greatest advantage is that they help remove the speaking block which people so often have. People get emotional when talking about controversial things and they don't think about possible grammar mistakes they could make. The topics for the debates and discussions should be chosen by students but a teacher can suggest some if she wants. I can assure you that some of them will come spontaneously during the lessons. A teacher can also give some articles to students as a way of preparing the ground for the future discussion. As for the debates a teacher should remember to give both sides some time to prepare their arguments. The important thing to remember is that during the debate there are only few people talking and the rest is listening and then they give the verdict.
Listening practice
What really gets on my nerves are these stupid dialogues recorded on tapes. You listen to some boring conversation about sport and then you say who said this or this. It's really difficult to concentrate on something you're not interested in. If I don't like politics and I hear an interview with one of the politicians on radio I simply turn it off or I change the channel; if students are not interested in what someone is saying they stop listening. Listening skills are very important but we can listen to songs and write down the lyrics, we can watch a film without subtitles or listen to some English jokes or a poem.
Speaking
One of the most important things is to speak English all the time! An English teacher will never be perceived as one by the students if she/he speaks mainly Polish and from time to time throw at them a few words in English. It's better for the students to get used to the fact that Polish is forbidden during these classes and that a teacher simply doesn't understand this language. After some time they'll start using English even when talking with other classmates.
These are only few ideas that a caring teacher can use during English lessons. The rest is just a matter of his/her attitude and of the students’ attitude towards learning and toward each other.
After some time a teacher following the suggestions will discover that teaching comes naturally, grades are better and she/he doesn't feel tired of looking at the watch to check how much time remains until the blessed school-bell finally rings. And one more thing: what's so great about being a teenager is that our heads are full of new ideas. People are only people and it's true that they're more enthusiastic about their own ideas than about the ideas of other people. So let the students be the teachers for themselves, help them if they need you, control their progress but don't think for them, don't make decisions that they should make. It's hard at the beginning because it changes the whole tradition of our school system where the roles were simple: teachers teach, students are being taught. But yet it's worth trying.
To all teachers: remember that what students do at school is just a small percent of their learning process! So try to encourage them to watch films in English, read magazines and find a pen-friend with whom they can exchange letters in English. Give as much information as you can about various tours, work and travel programmes – it is no less important part of the teaching process.
Source: iatefl.org