Teaching Philosophy

 

 

           Language learning is a lengthy journey. If we compare it to running a marathon, learners will be the runners and teacher the coach. Much as we wish, we are not the powerful game changers that decide the fate of our students, but more the facilitators that provide guidance, supervision, and assistance in a language classroom.

 

           Being a facilitator, my goal is not to teach whatever I know best, but rather what my students need the most. A need analysis at the beginning of a language course will provide me with a lot of the information I want to know about my students, such as background, needs, goals, and learning styles. Knowing all that will help me develop the most suitable lessons and techniques to assist students with the learning process.

 

           Second language acquisition (SLA) is a complicated cognitive process that is mediated by a variety of individual and environmental factors. It is essential that language teachers familiarize themselves with the relevant theories so that they know what to expect in their teaching and what pedagogical techniques they can adopt to better facilitate the learning process.

 

           I believe that input is the single most important concept in SLA. All factors considered, learning will not happen without the learner receiving some kind of input. Authentic input and modified input are both beneficial and necessary. Authentic materials are valuable in that they provide learners with input that accurately reflects how language is used in real life. For example, I used the well-known John Lennon song, Imagine,  in Lesson 2 to let students see how he expresses hopes and wishes. While trying to keep my teaching materials authentic, I sometimes feel the need to fine-tune the language to make them more comprehensible. For instance, I replaced a few difficult words with easier ones in the Forbes excerpts I had students read in Lesson 3, so that they could manage the processing load in what was meant to be a communicative task.

 

           Among the other factors that impact the success of second language learning, motivation is believed to be a significant one, and one that teachers can tamper with. I resolve to promote intrinsic motivation in students by making language learning a fun and pleasant process. Globally speaking, I will try to create a friendly, tolerant, and supportive learning environment in which learners feel secure, cared for, and not afraid to take risks. In my teaching at the Community Language Program (CLP), we spent the whole first lesson playing games to learn about each other. For specific activities, it is important to choose interesting and relevant topics that students can relate to, or, if the topic is not a choice, to design the task in a way that generates fun and stimulate active participation.

 

           Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. Informal assessment, which can virtually happen anywhere, anytime in a language classroom, is a crucial component of my portfolio of teaching techniques. The best way to examine the learning process, outcome, gap, and potential of the students is to observe them in class. The language they use to answer a question, communicate in a group work, and complete a task, are all points of assessment. I will also employ formal assessment such as unit tests sparsely for the same purpose.

 

           During my work at the CLP at Teachers College, I have benefited a lot from observing fellow teachers, receiving feedback from experienced observers, and conducting a mid-term survey to seek feedback from my own students. I value opinions from my supervisors and my students equally, because they enable me to see my strengths and weaknesses in very different lights.

 

           Being a language learner myself, I know that the success of learning will ultimately depend on factors that are internal to the learner, such as motivation, age, aptitude, and so on. However, I do believe that having a good ‘coach’ will make this life-long journey less onerous and more enjoyable, and I strive to be that coach.