Mismatch

I really loved that Kuma brought up the fact that mismatches in the classroom can be beneficial. If we are able to realize that they exist, mismatches can be used to spark terrific classroom discussions on language, culture, personal histories, and other topics that can cause mismatches in a classroom. Some of the most meaningful discussions I've engaged in in my life have stemmed from misunderstandings. They can help us to understand why there are such differences between people, places, things, and ideas, as well as the differences in our own life. I was so glad to see Kuma realize that and share it with us in his text, instead of just telling us to avoid and correct mismatches whenever possible.

CLT?

I have seen my fair share of TESOL theories over the course of my ISU education, but I have always been a big fan of the Communicative Language Theory. It has just struck me as the most practical and applicable of the approaches. I firmly believe that the main purpose of any language class, be it ESL for ELLS or high school German, is for students to leave with the ability to utilize the language that they are learning. To that means, CLT has always appealed the most to me. Other methods, such as the direct translational method or the reading approach may have useful applications, as pointed out in our article for today, but I do not feel that they should dominate the class. I will always try to make sure that my students are fully able to utilize the language concepts that we cover in class.

Reading reflection

I really liked the fact that our book discussed the purpose of a teacher in his or her classroom. It made me think about how I want my students to remember my course. Was it nothing but vocabulary practice? Was it a safe place to make mistakes? Was it critical that every assignment and sentence spoken be flawless? I want my purpose as a teacher to be an assistant to my students. I want to be able to guide them gently, but not weigh them down with so much pressure to be perfect that they fall under it. The role of supporter has always been the most important role that a teacher can play to me, so I really hope I can live up to that role in my own career.

learning styles

I have only observed in one ESL class over the course of my education here at ISU, but I have attended many language courses myself, and witnessed non-native English speakers' growth. In my Japanese classes, we used a variety of methods to learn different ways of speaking, sentence structural elements, and vocabulary words. We did a lot of play acting in different situations so that we could practice recently learned concepts in a safe environment. This worked really well for me, since it was a chance to practice in a realistic way and practice feeling out the concepts we had learned on paper. However, I know that this was not the most effective way for all of my classmates to learn. A lot of them used flashcards for vocabulary and other concepts, some used writing to explore the language, and others used other methods, I'm sure. I don't think there's any way to standardize language learning so that it's the best. Every learner has a different style, so we need to account for variety and flexibility in the classroom.

Blog Post 1

Ideally, I would like to teach in a university environment. I want to teach students who really want to learn, and will work hard to do so. I also like teaching older students, as I don't get along well with younger children. I think TESOL is a really important topic to understand since our world is becoming more and more global by the day. We must consciously be aware that not every person we encounter will be a native speaker of English, and we must be able to accommodate non native speakers' needs and help them with their English skills. I would really like to be able to accommodate each of my students according to his or her native ethnicity, and I am hoping that this class will help me to do so. Every culture is so different that I feel we need specific instruction in order to successfully deal with all of the different cultures we will encounter in our teaching careers.