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.
I learned French, and then Spanish, quite easily in school. I excelled in my classes and continued to excel in my college French and Spanish classes. This continued until French 402, Advanced Conversation. Despite my 100%s in Advanced Composition, I still couldn't speak French in a conversational manner. Therefore, I have a different goal for my students. I don't just want them to get a 100% on a grammar/vocabulary test. I want them to have a much more rounded ability to communicate in the language, so that if any of them were to travel or study abroad, they can actually converse.
I didn't come directly to teaching. I spent several years as a full-time parent, then a part-time librarian. These two roles have taught me compassion and patience. As a parent to four very different children, I learned to value each child for who they are, which serves me well in the classroom. In my role as librarian, I encountered those who would become my students in their day-to-day lives and saw the struggles many teachers don't get to see, such as family and economic issues.
I actively encourage all of my students to keep going when they're struggling, acknowledging that learning a new language isn't easy for everyone and offering praise of what they've accomplished since they've been in my class. Additionally, the approach I take to unit and lesson planning means that students always understand why they're learning something and how it could help them become their ideal French-speaking selves (Ushioda, 2011), thereby increasing student motivation and lessening classroom management issues.
In order to meet the communication-centered goals for my students' proficiency, I generally employ Task-Based Language Learning. I take a backwards mapping approach to lesson and unit planning. I determine what broad (unit-level) and specific (daily-level) concrete, real-world task I want my learners to be able to accomplish, using the language as a tool to meet this goal, rather than mastery of a linguistic form as a goal (Ellis, 2009). These tasks are typically form-focused in nature, designed to require specific language that aligns with the textbook series Bien Dit. I then consider how best to break down the task into smaller chunks that students will put together in order to complete the task. I begin teaching these pieces with comprehensible input techniques that allow students to notice patterns (Krashen, 2017) as well as authentic resources that give students the language they need in order to complete the lesson task (Erlam, 2016).
For example, in a unit with a final communication goal of being able to order food in a French restaurant, we begin with discussions about favorite foods to introduce the vocabulary in an engaging way. I reinforce these small pieces using a variety of methods, such as movement, drawing, authentic music and videos from the target culture, to address multiple learning styles as well as build intercultural competence. Finally, my lessons and units culminate in a relevant task that students are able to complete entirely in the target language. In the restaurant unit, students research authentic Francophone menus and then create their own that is accurate to its location. They then order from a classmate's menu, adhering to a certain budget and/or dietary restriction.
As a teacher, I am working on developing a style that is wholly my own, but informed by research and current best practices. While my method is most informed by Task-Based Language Learning, I also use techniques from the Natural Approach, and Communicative Language Learning, especially Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), one of my preferred techniques. I have begun to introduce Content-Based Learning in my higher levels by choosing cultural and current topics to discuss in French.
My recent French 3 class explored healthy lifestyles in French, learning new facts and linguistic skills at the same time. Their goal was to make a public service flyer about getting help for various health concerns for our local Haitian Creole community, many of whom speak French in addition to Creole.
I spend a lot of time listening to my students and noticing not only what types of activities they respond to in class, but also what they're doing outside of class. I adapt all of my lessons to the students I have in the room at the time in order to align with that particular mix of intelligences. A Spanish 1 class with a lot of students who have interest in the arts would have a drawing assignment where they illustrate a comic book conversation, where a class with energetic students might do the same thing in a role-play where they get up and move.
My broader goal is to become a leader in the World Language department in my district with an eye to aligning our instruction to modern language teaching techniques. I'd like to show the teachers in my district that the textbook is a tool to support larger goals, not the goal itself; that real-world communication goals should serve as the backbone to our curriculum, rather than units based around a grammar point; and finally, that Communicative Language Teaching, and Task-Based Language Teaching specifically, can be implemented even in novice classes with little to no proficiency and in fact is a good fit for that very environment (Ellis, 2009). To this end, I built an in-depth website that will equip any teacher with the tools to build their own backwards-designed units. This can be an overwhelming process, but with guidance of this website, teachers will feel empowered to succeed.
Whether students or teachers, I use my experience and expertise to not only educate, but also to encourage and guide. My students know that I will give them the resources to be successful in using language and interacting with others in a culturally appropriate manner. My fellow teachers know that I will share my knowledge without judgment, especially in the realm of technology. I plan to continue to be an advocate for students and teachers as they progress in their proficiency journeys.