Learning to Communicate right away

As a teacher, I believe that communication is one of the most important skills that students need to develop right away. Instead of focusing on grammar, reading, and writing in the beginning, I believe that listening and speaking should be more of a promenade focus in language learning. Learning how to communicate and speak right away in the L2 helps students build confidence in their language learning., enables them to express themselves, opens new opportunities and knowledge and opens them to new cultures.

Group Activities and Games in Learning

As a coach of recreational gymnastics, I believe that getting children active in their learning helps their development of language skills by applying what they had learned to real life scenarios and activities. I believe one of the best ways to do this is to do groups activities that involve learners to stand up and actively talk to their fellow learners in their L2 or complete an activity that requires them to work together with their peers. This not only promotes language learning through peers, but it also gives them the chance to use their language in a more activity and game based setting.

Create Magic while following the Curriculum

As a Disney Cast Member I learned how to make magic while following a strict guide lines when it came to rules, but it also taught me patience, understanding, communication, and scaffolding practices to help speakers of other languages understand character interactions. I believe that as a teacher, even if I am required to follow the curriculum or lesson plan given to me, I can also make the most of it and make learning magical.

Authentic Language Learning

In order to communicate outside the classroom, I believe it is important to help students engage I authentic language learning or real-life language learning. As a teacher, I understand that in most academic setting this may be difficult to do as there is usually a set In stone curriculum to follow with a designated textbook, but I also believe that it is a teacher responsibility to prepare the students for language use outside of the classroom. With my experience with teaching gymnastics and making magic at Disney, I believe I can incorporate activities and scenarios that give students moments to use authentic or real-life language inside the classroom.

Culture and Language Learning

I believe that culture plays an important role in language learning. In order to learn a new language, learners also have to learn about the culture in which that language comes from. Oftentimes the culture of a language is embedded into the language and I believe it is important for learners to make those connections. Not only will it help them develop their culture awareness and broaden their knowledge, but it will also help them connect more with the language and people who speak that language on a deeper level.