ENGLISH DIDACTICS I

Hi there! Welcome back to my blog!  In this entry, we are going to review the Community Language  Learning Method. If I were to define this method in three words, I´d say: together, speaking, and flow. This method is based on the idea that students learn with and from other peers, that´s why they need each other in the process. This method doesn´t require lesson planning which allows the session to flow and gives the students and teacher the chance to integrate interesting topics, however, there's the risk of not handling time well. Since talking is essential, it is better to use this method with advanced-level learners. Something that caught my attention and I think works pretty well is the use of authentic material, such as podcasts, movies, maybe some speeches, or music because I think that is the best approach to real-life speaking and that is what sometimes students lack. When we are too accustomed to workbooks and only workbooks we don't have a close idea of real English.

 Hello! Welcome back! So, in today´s class, we learned about the Suggestopedia method, which stimulates students´ brains by playing relaxing music (barroque and classical back in time) in the background while they do activities. Suggestopedia was first proposed in the19709´s by Georgi Lozanov an expert on psychology and psychiatry. He strongly believed that the learning environment was of huge importance. Students who are in a relaxing, interesting, and positive environment, learn more quickly, to his mind. I personally believe that it can work in specific activities because it promotes creativity and concentration. However, as discussed in class, we shouldn´t over-rely on this method because it can turn out to be a distractor instead an incentive if used the wrong way. We talked about the Affective filter, which indicates that for students to learn, they need to be totally ok. If a student is hungry, emotionally unstable, sleepless, or in any other negative circumstance, it is harder

 Hello, it is nice to be back!  Today we reviewed the Silent way Method. We started by arranging 10 rods in a shape and gave each one a specific sound from the IPA, depending on each rod color. I will show below our masterpiece!  :D Then, we made the respective SWOT analysis for the Silent Way Method and entered a new topic which is the Total Physical Response method (TPR).  I had a blast! this was the most dynamic class so far. I learned that James Asher was the founder of the TPR, and it involves body movement to establish deep connections that remain in our brains for even decades! like the songs of our childhood, and some games in the classroom that up to this day, we still remember. The TPR also uses short commands so that the student after hearing the phrase over and over again, will eventually internalize it and produce it. Last but not least, one of the most important traits of this method is how playful and dynamic it is and how it makes students feel successful. I really enjo

 Hello there! It is nice to say hi again!  This February 14, we didn't have our Didactics class; nonetheless, we were advised to update our blogs and well, we also shared a great time with our friends. This was the most special Valentine´s at University. I brought some personalized cards for everyone, with some cute keychains in them, Miriam brought cookies, Daniela gave us all alfajores and Jonathan gave the girls some flowers. It was really nice. Here are some pics:

 Hello guys! I´m more than glad to be posting again, this time, sharing my outputs about the Silent Way Method. To be honest, yesterday when I was reading the PPT, before the class, I was just intrigued about how we would develop this topic because     I had never heard about it and couldn't figure out how it worked. I was curious and today it turned out to be an interesting method. So, some highlights of today´s class are the following:  The silent way was founded around the 1970s by the Egyptian, mathematician and educator Caleb Gategno who believed that discovering was better than teaching, the method encourages the use of physical tools like rods, and the teacher´s role was left out to a point of exaggeration, and everything was carried out pretty much silently. We even joked that this method is the adopted child because it has more things in common with the D.M. rather than the GTM. Some important aspects are: Colors are essential in this method. Sounds as well. Physical objec

Hello! It´s nice to see you around. Today I want to share with you the third method we´ve studied so far, The Audiolingual Method. This method dates back to the WWII period when the armies needed to become orally proficient in the languages of their allies and enemies as quick as possible. To do so, soldiers would orally teach phrases to other soldiers and they would hear and repeat them over and over again until finally got it right.   This method emphasizes listening and speaking skills through dialogs and different drills, consequently writing and reading might not be students´ strongest skills. Besides, the audiolingual method discourages the use of the mother tongue in the classroom, and error correction is required in this case. Some of the techniques used in this method are: Repetition drill: to teach the lines of a dialogue. Substitution drill: to change the cue. Question-and-answer drill: changing sentences from affirmative into negative or interrogative form. Last but not lea

 Hello! It is nice to have you back! Today, I will talk about one of the most interesting methods to teach English, in my opinion. I am referring of course to the direct method.  This method is based on a lot of spoken and listening practice. Back in the times, scholars wanted to replicate the natural way of learning a language, and thought of teaching the target language as a first language, just as babies do, through listening and speaking practice. There was almost inexisting presence of the mother tongue, and they based all the classes on spontaneous communication. Unlike the GTM, the direct method is more student-centered and error correction is not as important as in other methods. Grammar rules were taught inductively, which means that students would learn them in context, by practicing or listening to dialogues, for instance. Some of the pros of the direct method are that students are more likely to be proficient at speaking and listening, which are everyday skills, they can co

 Hi everyone! Welcome to my first topic-related entry. Today I will share my insights on the Grammar Translation Method.  As we discussed in class, this method is born due to a huge necessity back in time (1850), which was to make people aligned with power. Since not everyone used to know the languages of the expanding empires throughout time, they needed people to understand so they used the GTM as a way to convey messages. The most commonly translated pieces were literature, bible passages, poetry, and music, which are all forms of art, but also laws were spread through this method.  Some characteristics of the Grammar Translation Method are that classes were taught using the mother tongue, which means that even teachers who were not very proficient orally could teach with this method. There was special attention to writing and reading, in fact, those were the 2 dominant skills that students developed, and of course, as it is stated in the name, grammar was its core, and was taught d

Hello there! This is Nathaly and I´m more than glad to welcome you to my Blog! I´ll start off by telling you a little bit about me. I love cats, English, and coffee. I´m really passionate about English and I truly admire teachers, I feel inspired by the way they taught me, so I really feel that being a teacher is a great profession. My mom is a teacher and I always wondered what was behind her classes and why it seemed so easy for her to explain and make people understand concepts and engage. I´m quite excited now that I´m taking English Didactics because many things start to make sense.  I feel really attracted to interpretation, that´s the area I want to grow in; however, I am open to the experience of teaching English. Actually, I worked as an English teacher all last year long,  teaching 5-11-year-old kids, it was very empirical, to be honest, I loved every activity in the classroom, loved the kids and how week after week they showed improvement, that was rewarding, but handing in