Final Reflection

What was useful /not useful in terms of the classroom practice?
Looking at the course that have passed, I can say that the presentation that I had to do were very useful, because they made me think on my teaching practice and gave me hints to improve it, in relation to the different approaches that we studied.
Also, making a parallel between the approaches was very useful, because the comparison made me reflect on the positive aspects of each one.

What things you enjoyed/didn't enjoy?
I really enjoyed the readings. They were great! very interesting and motivating to read. Very useful! I also enjoyed writing on the blog, because it was an instance of reflection on the course. But I didn't enjoy posting comments on other blogs. Most of the times I had nothing to say, and I think that was a little bit forced. Reflecting on my process is OK, but commenting on others were boring.

What you think would improve this module, why?
I think that spending more time on studying the Communicative Approach would be great. Finally, that approach is the one that we want to apply, or at leats try it. So, I think is important to focus more on that. However, the knowledge of the other approaches is very useful too!

Developing our Professional Competence

I felt completely identified with the article, in terms of reflecting on my teaching practice and promising some changes for the next year. In my case, the resolutions that I make are in relation to the read aloud planning. I would like to have the time to prepare in more details the books that I am going to read. That is to say, write down the questions that I am going to ask, design pre during and post reading activities. Sometimes I do it, but I would like to do it with each book that I read.
When the year starts and I have to do lots of things, is very difficult to maintain the promise that I have done the year before. I am running every day in order to prepare all the activities and materials, but I don't stop myself to think on the read aloud. I know that I have the book in my classroom, so I can read it. This is very bad, because I know that if I prepare the read aloud, the students learn even more.
On the other hand, the school should give more hours for planning, because there is too much to do, and too little time.
Finally, I think this chapter is in a book on methodology, because reflect on our own teaching practice is part of the methodologies that a teacher applies for the learning process. When we reflect, we can identify the aspects that should be improved and the methodology will change.

Noticing

I have never heard about the concept of "notocing", but I can understand that is the process of paying attention to meaning and form, during the learning process.

Analysing my learning experience, I can say that during all the school years I was focused on form, only form. My teachers only tought me grammar rules and structures. Because of that, I could never understand anything in English in those years. I was not focused on meaning.

When I decided to follow the English minor at University, I focused all my attention on meaning. Then I realised that my tecahers at school didn't give me the appropiate comprehensible input that I needed to understand the language.

A communicative teacher for Péter Medgyes

Péter Medgyes talks about the communicative approach and also about how a communicative teacher has to be and whay she has to do in her practice.

According to the first idea, it states that is really demanding for teachers because the learners are seen as individuals, and so have to be treated in a particular way.

Talking about the characteristics that a teacher must have, he says that she has to be erudite and versatile, learner-centered, ingenious, confident and with lots of skills that make her be a super teacher aware of everything.

Appart from that, she has to be able to produce real interaction between students, focus on meaning and form, listen carefully to her students, create the adequate conditions to see that learning is taking place and to withdraw form her students.

This is a summary of the main ideas, but a communicative teacher has to be this and even more!!

The Communicative Teacher

I completely agree with the article!

All the theorists state that the Communicative Approach is the best way to teach, and also the teachers. But a few of them put the theory into practice. That's because implementing the Communicative Approach inside the classroom is not easy for a teacher. As Medgyes says, this kind of teacher must be a superwoman, beacuse she has to consider many factors at the same time, and also to be a "perfect person". That's why, most of the times, teachers have the objective of the Communicative Approach, but they don't do it.

Also I like what the author says about the textbook. That it is the safety for those non-native teachers teaching in a non-English speaking country. It is difficult, but I agree that the textbook is not necessary for teaching English. You can do many other things, that will take more time for planning them, but the resuts will be successful, I think.

Teaching creativity

What really called my attention from the video and what I have the opportunity to experiment it every day, was the fact that children have an extraordinary capacity. It is easier for teachers to subestimate our students, because we don't need to plan challenging lessons, but we have to be aware of that creative capacity and give them the opportunities to grow from there. We must help their inteligences to develop in a creative way.

Communicative Competence

1. BACKGROUND
1.1 Grammatical and communicative approaches: It explains the differences between the grammatical approach, the communicative approach and also integrates a thirs approach that is called the situational syllabus.
1.2 Competence and performance: it discusses the differences between competence and performance and introduces the the concept of communicative competence, which integrates the knowledge (competence) and the use of the language (performance).

2. SOME THEORIES OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE:
2.1 Theories of basic communication skills: it explains that those theories should be focused on meaning and oriented to develop the basic level of communicaton.
2.2 Sociolinguistic perspectives on communicative competence: it shows the importance of knowing how to use the language in context. That is called analysis of the ethnography of speaking.
2.3 Integrative theories of communicative competence: it explains that those theories must integrate the grammatical knowledge, the use of language in different contexts and how communicative functions can be combined.
2.4 General comments: it reflects about aspects that haven't been discussed about the theories of communicative competence.

3. TOWARD AN ADEQUATE THEORY OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE:
3.1 Guiding principles for a communicative approach: there are 5 principles that a communicative approach must have: 1. Integration of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and communication strategies. 2. Based on the learners' communication needs. 3. Meaningful communication interaction. 4. Basic communication aspects. 5. Teach about language and about the culture.
3.2 A proposed theoretical framework for communicative competence: integration of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence.
3.3 Implications fo a communicative approach to teaching: The activities must be meaningful and the teacher must have an activating role.
3.4 Implications for a communicative testing programme: the objective is to evaluate if the learner can demonstrate his communicative knowledge in a meaningful communicative situation.

Beliefs...

1. The main focus in a language class should be on meaning:
I teach in Kinder, so my lessons are mainly focused on meaning beacuse my purpose is that my students understand the language and try to produce some words. I really don't teach grammar. They learn the structures through listening to me, but in a very implicit way.

6. With new language learners, teachers need to be gentle and empathetic:
Being gentle and empathetic doesn't mean that you don't establish limits and rules. It means to generate an appropiate atmosphere to learn a second language, which is very important. The anxiety and the frustration don't collaborate with the learning process.

7. Because learners have differing learning styles, a teacher should give individual attention:
This is a very difficult task, but I am convinced that a good teacher must give special attention to each of her students. We are all different, and the perfect classroom doesn't exist. That's why we need to take the time to develop each student's abilities.

10. A teacher's feedback to the student should be given frequently:
I have seen in my students that they inmediately change their disposition to learn when I give them feedback. It is not a matter of positive or negative feedback. It is a matter of showing special attention to that student's learning process. If you need to give negative feedback, you can do it in a good way and the students will be thankful.

To sum up...

Here I am going to explain the main ideas of some methods:
The Audiolingual Method: it is mainly focused on oral activities, in where the development of pronunciation is very important. This is made by conversations, repetitions and pattern drills. Grammatical explanation is not important.

The Community Language Learning: it is based on the affectiveness between the teacher and the students. The learning methodology consists on the teacher translation of the learner's ideas, and the post repetition of those ones by the learner. The effectiveness of the method relies on the translation capacity of the teacher.

Suggestopedia: it is method that states that the learning process is successful when the learner is relaxed and feels comfortable. For this, music plays an important role in the learning process.

The Silent Way: it promotes that the learner has to create meaning through the manipulation of physical objects and the resolution of problems. The teacher is in silence most of the time, but guides the students to the solution.

Total Physical Response: students learn carrying out comands given by the teacher. They listen to the instructions and they do the actions.

The Natural Approach: in this method, the students received comprehensible input for a period of time and they don't say anything. Later, they are able to produce and to communicate in the language.

Audio-lingualism and Cognitive Code Learning

These two methods are part of the psychological tradition.
The Audiolingual Method is related to behaviorism, in which Skinner stated the concept of operant conditioning. The students learn through the reactions to stimuli. This method describes the learning process of a second language the same as the process of learning the first language: bubbling, imitation, formation of new habits, interpretation of the mother and final pronunciation. So, listening to the target language and repetition of structures are the heart of audiolingualism.
The Cognitive Code Method considers the learner inside a specific context, the student and his environment. The learner is the most important subject in the learning process, because it is considered as an active process where the learners can reflect about their learning. Rules are important, but the new knowledge has to be adjusted with the prior knowledge. Cognitivists think that making mistakes is very important in order to complete the process of learning.

Language Skills

It is difficult to identify which is my strongest and my weakest ability in my second language, because there is a lot to learn and, eventhough there are some skills that are stronger than others, I should continue learning on those.

However, I can say that reading is my strongest ability. I don't have too much problems when reading and I can understand most of the texts that I read. On the other hand, I think that listening is my weakest skill, but only referring to recordings, because when I listen to someone talking or I am participating in a conversation, I do not have any problem to follow it and to express my opinions or to answer questions. But when I listen to a CD or watch a movie, there are some parts that I miss, or don't understand.

I think the reason for this is that I have problems when I am not facing the person who is talking, or that the person who I am listening to is not talking to me.

To improve this skill I should watch more movies in English and also pay special attention to the lyrics of the songs that I listen to, and try to understand the meaning of them.

How did I learn English?

When I think about my experience with English, I inmediately think on the University where I studied for being an English teacher.

Of course I had English lessons at school, but now I realized that those lessons where absolutely focused on grammar. The listening, speaking, reading and writing skills were never taught, but at the end of the unit, we were asked to write something, to speak about a chapter of a book and to listen to a conversation and answer some questions.

At school, I felt very frustrated with English.

Then, I don't know why, I decided to took the English minor at University. I can say that there I learnt English, and I develop all the skills for being able to communicate in the language, and also I learnt the methodology to teach it.

Nowadays, I have been in touch with the language, because I have been studied the Master and also because I have been teaching English for two years to six years old girls.

Eventhough I learnt English according to the cognitive approach, now I teach it according to the communicative approach.