Teaching & Learning in a Pandemic: Spring 2021

Teaching Foreign Languages During A Pandemic

By Allison Lodge

LEARNING TARGETS

At the end of this lesson, readers will be able to describe the importance of learning or continuing to learn a foreign language amidst a pandemic.

2. At the end of this lesson, readers will be able to describe the difficulties of teaching a foreign during a pandemic and understand how these impacts affect learning a foreign language:

Students have access to technology and while teaching virtually it is harder to monitor the use of technology during the virtual class.
Assessments, such as speaking, are harder to administer effectively because before online classes students were not allowed to have notes for assessments. Now students have plenty of notes to use on assessments.
Trying to keep the students engaged and make sure they have a proper understanding of the foreign language is another difficulty.

YOUR OPINION

Click on the '+' button in the bottom right corner and include your opinion on why it is important to teach a foreign language during a pandemic!

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Foreign languages are very important for people to learn. It exercises the mind by learning a new language and it helps develop even more communication skills. The ability to know a foreign language is also very important because then people can have the ability to communicate with different people from around the world.

In the era of technology, foreign languages have become critical in order to communicate with each other. One is able comfortable communicate with another if foreign languages are continued to be taught and learn, whether it is on your own or at school.

SCENARIO

Jamie

Jamie's teachers have emphasized the importance of learning a foreign language. Jamie has taken a foreign language class before and thoroughly enjoys it. Jamie talks with her penpal every day via email and text with no language boundary. Jamie also is able to communicate with the exchange students at her school easily.

Jimmy

Jimmy's teachers have never emphasized the importance of learning a foreign language before. Jimmy has also never have taken a foreign language class before and struggles to communicate with a penpal that he got from his class and exchange students that are at his school.

COVID-19 and Teaching Foreign Languages

Researchers have emphasized the importance of teachers to continuously teach and push their students into learning foreign languages, especially amidst a pandemic (Piller. 2020 and The British Academy. 2020). During the COVID-19 crisis, another crisis has emerged from it and that is the "multilingual crisis" (Piller, 2020). There is a multilingual crisis because in this time period where international communication is very important and crucial to help fight the pandemic, not many people are able to communicate with different countries because not as many people know foreign languages. This is considered a "wake-up call" because it is crucial to learn foreign languages (The British Academy, 2020).

INTERVIEW

For my interview, I interviewed my high school foreign language teacher. Her name is Fatima Zahraoui and she teachers both Arabic and French, levels III and IV, at Tallwood High School. I had her as a teacher for both French III and French IV as well as Arabic when I attended Tallwood High School. During the interview we discussed the what was difficult and what was easy about teaching a foreign language amidst a pandemic as well as why it was important for students to learn foreign languages during a pandemic.

Three Takeaways From Interview

Students have access to technology and while teaching virtually it is harder to monitor the use of technology during the virtual class.
Assessments, such as speaking, are harder to administer effectively because before online classes students were not allowed to have notes for assessments. Now students have plenty of notes to use on assessments.
Trying to keep the students engaged and make sure they have a proper understanding of the foreign language is another difficulty.

This is the most recent picture that I have of my teacher since the interview was a phone call. This picture was taken at my high school prom in 2019.

During the interview, Fatima Zahraoui, explains how it has been difficult to teach during the pandemic. She says that it is hard to know fore sure if the students are properly learning the language because they consistently have notes and technology throughout the class and possibly even through the assessments.

CONCLUSION

Teaching foreign languages has become very crucial since the start of the pandemic and continues to grow even more so the more that countries continue to work together. International communications rely on others learning and teaching people these foreign languages. However, it can be very difficult to teach foreign languages amidst a pandemic. It is also very important for educators to be able to adjust during times like this to better educate students and help them strive in learning or continuing to learn a foreign language. Teaching a foreign language is very difficult due to the fact that teachers have a harder time monitoring the students and actually understanding if the students are learning or not.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

What is the most important reason for people to either continue to learn a foreign language or learn a new foreign language?

a. It develops communication skills.

b. It is fun to learn a new language!

c. You have the ability to communicate with others from around the world and make international connections

d. You may have better job opportunities.

Ms. Pat believes that it is important for all students to learn foreign languages and it should be mandatory, while Mrs. Jack believes that it is not important for every student to learn a foreign language and should not be mandatory. Why does Ms. Pat, a teacher, believe it is important for students to learn foreign languages?

a. It develops communication skills

b. It helps students gain more knowledge

c. It is a fun way to learn and develop a new skill

d. There are better job opportunities for those who know a different language

Answers

REFERENCES

Pandemic a wake-up call on language LEARNING decline across English-speaking world. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/pandemic-a-wake-up-call-on-language-learning-decline-across-english-speaking-world/

Piller, I., Zhang, J., & Li, J. (2020, September 01). Linguistic diversity in a time OF crisis: Language challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved March 22, 2021, from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/multi-2020-0136/html

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