- Thomas Paine
Whenever I am learning about a culture my first question is “what language do they speak?” because it is such a crucial component of a people’s identity that in order to understand one aspect you have to learn about the other. That is why everything we (my students and I) do in our Spanish class is done with the purpose of using the language for communication and learning, from an intercultural perspective. I also aim to create a safe inclusive environment where students are encouraged to express their opinions and contribute their ideas. These are core principles that I have followed in the past and wish to cultivate for the duration of my pedagogical practice.
Through my teaching experience, I have found that my students learn best when they see a practical application of the language they are learning to reach a personal or professional goal. With this in mind, I help them learn to communicate effectively by fostering situations where they are compelled to communicate in the target language as they would in real life, through structured and unstructured situations, and the integration of language functions with language forms to develop proficiency and help them become better at communicating, and by working individually and in groups. Cooperative work is especially important in my approach to instruction - I have used it and plan to continue on doing so - because it opens up opportunities for students to practice and improve their social strategies. For example, my beginner class played a game I call “Who am I? (celebrities edition)” to practice the function of asking for and giving personal information using the present tense. Every student received an ID card with a celebrity’s personal information (name, age, country of origin and occupation) which they assumed as their own, then they walked around the classroom asking the appropriate questions and providing answers in order to guess who their famous classmates were. Once they uncovered as many identities as they could, I asked some students to introduce one of their famous new classmates to the group by telling us his/her basic personal information. This is a way of having students go over the topic one more time without doing boring, nonsensical repetition drills.
My participation in the activity was to accompany students and assess their language use and interaction in Spanish through observation and monitoring. As I believe in giving students space to approach a communicative situation on their own and figure out a strategy to make themselves understood, I did not correct their mistakes (except when checking the accurate labeling of body parts) and provided little to no help during the activity as not to interrupt the flow of their conversations; though I was taking mental notes and revisited the points that needed clarification at the end. I must say that, in my class, students’ errors are welcome, as they are key indicators of how students are trying to make meaning and of their effort to construct knowledge in the target language. While I try not to over-correct my students, I do encourage them to practice self-correction and self-evaluation to monitor their own progress and evaluate the results of their individual or group approach to learning tasks.
Besides helping my students develop skills to use the language for purposeful communication, I fix my teaching efforts in encouraging them to see the world through the eyes of the native speakers, to consider their beliefs, attitudes, and way of life; thus, students are able to acknowledge that all social groups are rich in cultural complexities and diversity. As a way of achieving this, I use authentic materials to expose my students to representations of cultural identity to which they can connect by comparing, contrasting and reflecting on the meaning and implications of these representations in their own social group and how they can relate to their own identity. More specifically, my intermediate-high level class discussed a cultural topic like “quinceañeras” or Latin American countries’ eating habits. We worked in small groups reading an article and comparing what the text said with what they knew and with their own eating habits or come of age celebrations. Later in the lesson, I invited two friends from two different Latin American countries and age groups to share with us their perspective and experience on the subject so that students had the opportunity to deploy their knowledge and skills in order to relate to and negotiate meaning with native speakers while expanding their views and communicating in an authentic way. In a situation like this, I take the role of a spectator and let the “magic” happen; that is, I let students and guests do the talking and interact freely, coming in to help with language and to redirect the conversation when needed. We close the session with a final talk about their experience with the guests and how that encounter reaffirmed or changed what they knew and thought about the topics, and a short writing assignment where students reflect on those ideas.
For this kind of interaction and any other activity to be productive and fun, I put special emphasis on promoting a comfortable climate in the classroom that is attune to the varied backgrounds and levels of ability of my students; which is why I treat them respectfully as equally capable people and encourage them to do the same with each other. It is important to realize that learning a second language is a challenge on its own and students do not need nor benefit from the added pressure and defensive attitude that results from intimidation. So, I do not endorse students making fun of or correcting one another with hostility when they make a mistake with the language or have opposite views on a subject, and I am intentional about using collaborative learning and peer feedback as avenues for students to think cooperatively and have their voice heard and identities valued.