Teaching Philosophy

What do I believe about teaching and learning foreign languages? 

The essay below presents key principles that I use to guide my language teaching and also explains how I carry out those principles in my classroom. Who I am as a language educator, and how I support my students' development, is a result of my own language learning and language teaching experiences, my continued professional education through the MAFLT program and beyond, and my commitment to self-reflection.

My guiding principles which I discuss below are:

• lessons should be learner-centered and collaborative

• tasks should develop real-world communicative skills

• content should be authentic and relevant to students

• assessment should foster reflection and continued growth

• the learning environment should be supportive yet promote autonomy