English Didactics I

 Hello again! ✋ As you may recall, we have been talking about group presentations of multiple intelligences.  Let's see which ones we have already discussed: Visual-spatial intelligence ✅  Logical-mathematical ✅  Bodily-kinesthetic ✅  Linguistic ✅  Musical intelligence ✅  I don't remember if I said it before, but there are nine different types of intelligences. That means we have four left to check.  So here we go! For starters, let's look at the intrapersonal intelligence group's presentation. The group was formed by Alexia, Andrés, Noé and Giselle. They defined this intelligence as the capacity of self-reflection, to be aware of strenghts and weaknesses, feelings, and tought processes that constitute self-knowledge.  Among the benefits of possessing this intelligence are: Reflect and evaluate your inner feelings Gives you a greater compassion for an understaning of your own Allows one to understand and work with oneself ...

 Howdy! This day we will review what our classmates and I presented about the multiple intelligences of each corresponding group.  I remember that on the first day, group 1, which consisted of Daniela, Nathaly, María and Miriam, participated. They talked about visual spatial intelligence.  Visual-spatial intelligence is frequently defined as the ability to properly perceive the visual environment and/or conduct transformations and changes on perceptions, develop mental representations of visual input, and use the representations to accomplish actions.  I remember them mentioning a few careers that require this intelligence, but the one that stood out the most for me was the career as a choreographer. I had never really thought about the fact that they have to be aware of the space around them and take it into account for the dancing moves they are going to do.  As an activity they did something very fun and that applied very well what they explained. It was...

 Hello and welcome to a new blog post! This week we were talking about multiple intelligences. The truth is that I already knew about this topic. Some time ago I read a book about it; what I didn't know was that there was a new intelligence, but I will detail that later. So read on. The psychologist Howard Gardner was the one who elaborated this theory of multiple intelligences and personally it is very interesting. He proposed eight intelligences which are: 1. Linguistic intelligence: the ability to use language in all its expressions and manifestations. 2. Musical intelligence: the ability to perceive and express oneself with musical forms. 3. Logical-mathematical intelligence: ability to solve mathematical calculations and to put into practice logical reasoning. 4. Kinesthetic bodily intelligence: ability to express ideas and feelings with the body. 5. Spatial intelligence: ability to perceive the visual and spatial environment in order to transform it. 6. Intrapers...

HIYA! 👊 How have you been? How did your midterms go? Hopefully well. So, we finished our first register, yay! Now we start the second one and we discussed the Collaborative Approach. What is this about? We can say that it consists of three parts or methods: it is Community Language Learning, Task-based Learning, and Content-based learning. You remember that we covered Community Language Learning previously, right? It's about working in groups, creating connections between students so they can gain self-confidence. Then, we have Task-based Learning in which roles are assigned to each of the members of the group; they must work as a team in order to overcome the tests or obstacles together. The third is Content-Based Learning, which is about being able to teach any content with our peers. As for the activities I remember we did some game that had something to do with the UN. We formed groups and each group represented an imaginary country. Ours was named Blue Lulu. Believe me w...

Howdy! The time has come to test our knowledge! Ba bump ba bump 😬 The good thing about this day is that we were able to do a review before the quiz. We formed groups to present and talk a little bit about each method. It actually helped a lot to remember important points of each one.  The GTM is the daddy of the methods, the DM is the mommy and the others are her children. Audiolingual is better known as Army Method. In the Silent Way we use visual aids. In TPR we use the body quite a bit (memory association). Suggestopedia tries to help you relax with music so you can concentrate fully. Community Language Learning is based on learning in a group, with your peers. Wow, so much information! I guess I didn't pay much attention because I got a little confused in the quiz. 😩  However, this is only the prelude to the partial. Cheer up!

Hello my people! Well, we come to the last method of the first register which is (drum roll) Community Language Learning.  In this method, you learn with your group. It's all about community; your tribe or your fam supports you. They are there to back you up.  It is characterized by being focused on speaking; also that none of the material is prepared, everything flows naturally. Authentic material is used, for example:  One of the activities we did was to talk about a certain topic we have in common and record ourselves on our cell phones. From that recording we can take out topics to study such as grammatical structures, verbs, gerunds, etc. If we make an analysis using the  SWOT  method we will get: Strengths ✊ Students improve their vocabulary and pronunciation Weaknesses 👎Difficult for people who like to work alone Opportunities 👌 Improve social skills 👌 Learn about interesting topics Threats 💀 You may get distracted 💀 Difficulties dealing with time...

HEYA! It's a good day to keep learning something new!  This time we talk about a method called Suggestopedia, yes like Wikipedia haha. Not fun... 😐 right, my bad.  Well, this method emerged in the 70's and is somewhat related to yoga and psychology. Its creator was Georgi Lozanov, who believed that students learn quickly when they feel relaxed, interested and positive. For a person to learn fully, he or she must be well in all senses; the person has to be totally concentrated in order to learn. Basically, suggestopedia is about teaching while your brain is stimulated by music; relaxing music is best.  We did quite a few activities that day. First we formed groups and talked about music we listened to in our childhood. I remember that my dad had recorded a lot of children's songs on a CD and played them on a CD recorder for my sister and me.  I still remember some like Susanita tiene un ratón, un globo dos globos tres globos and songs by Enrique y Ana.  Then we ...

Here we go again! This time, we were able to learn about a new method called Total Physical Response or TPR. James Asher, its creator, developed this method for students to learn a language through physical activities. The stronger the memory association, the more likely it will be retained in the memory.  It´s like the muscle memory in some way; you associate certain movements to actions, words or phrases. Be careful here: it is preferable that they are short commands so that they are easy to memorize and it must be something that has meaning, not something irrelevant. If we make an analysis using the  SWOT  method we will get: Strengths ✊ It's a fun way of learning, specially for children ✊ Good for learning new vocabulary Weaknesses 👎 It is limited 👎 Certain languages might not be suited for this method Opportunities 👌 No great preparation is needed from the teacher 👌 Class size isn't a problem Threats 💀 It may cause some displeasure in students, specially introve...

  A new day, a new topic to learn! This time we learned about The Silent Way method, founded in 1970 by Caleb Gattegno.  According to this method, language learning can be enhanced in three main ways: 1. Discovery rather than teaching  2. Problem-solving in the target language 3. Use of physical tools Here, it is believed that the more the teacher helps, the less the students learn and that progress is way more important than perfection. Some other features that characterize it are: • Start with familiar sounds • The teacher offers help only if really necessary • Students must pay attention to the teacher • Errors are part of learning Some of the techniques used include:  ✔ Sound-color chart ✔   Rods ✔   Word charts ✔   Physical objects  We were able to experience learning with Cuisenaire rods. The teacher provided us with these rods and gave us instructions to create sentences, allowing us to learn about grammatical structures. Each rod had a dif...

 1... 2... 3! 🎉 We move on to the third method which is the Audiolingual Method, a.k.a. Army Method. During WWII, the soldiers needed to speak their allies or enemies' languages asap, so that's how the Audiolingual Method was born. It emphasizes the teaching of listening and speaking rather than reading and writing. Its main principles are: • Separation of language skills into listening, speaking, reading and writing • Uses dialogues as the principal means of introducing the language. • Emphasizes some practice techniques such as: mimicry, memorization and pattern drills Also, there are some techniques that can be applied with the Audiolingual Method: ◻ Repetition drill ◻ Substitution drill ◻Q & A drill ◻ Transformation drill We did an exercise with each of these drills. For the repetition drill, the teacher asked us to read a dialogue and repeat it several times. For the substitution drill, with the same dialogue from earlier, we changed some words for their synonyms and...

  Second topic here we come!  The second method we learned in class was the Direct Method, a.k.a. Natural Method, which was established in Germany and France around 1900.  Its main purpose is that learning a second language should be like learning the mother tongue for the first time, which is why it is known as the natural method. For this reason the classes are very participative: the students share orally, there is spontaneous use of the language, there is no translation between the mother tongue and the target language. Its purpose is to enable students to speak the second language fast, the faster the better.  And we can also notice how this method works a lot with the communication between students; we could say that this method is student-centered.  Some of its characteristics are : • The class was conducted in the target language only • Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized • Speaking and listening comprehension were taught If we make an anal...

Hi there! First lesson of the semester, yes! In this class we will be talking about language teaching methods, specifically English.   The first method we discussed was the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) proposed by Karl Plotz.  Basically, in grammar-translation classes, students learn grammatical rules and then apply them by translating sentences between the target language and the mother tongue. The GTM derived from the classical method of teaching Greek and Latin. Two main goals of this method are: 1. To enable students to read and translate literature written in the target language. 2. To further students' general intellectual development. Some of its characteristics are : ᛫ Classes are taught in the mother tongue ᛫  Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words ᛫  There is no attention given to pronunciation ᛫ The r eading of difficult texts is begun early ᛫  Long, elaborate explanations of the intricates of grammar are given If we make...