I found this article very useful for us as English teachers, it made me think about the purpose of the language learning process which according to the reading is “the ability to communicate competently, not the ability to use the language exactly as a native speaker does”, and also how can I help my students put their ideas into words. I know it’s a long process it requires time and effort but if our students are willing to learn they will have a good command of the language. We don’t want to speak as natives but we want to say coherent and understandable sentences, since our students aren’t immerge in the language we have to provide them tools that simulate this immersion, for example teachers always have to speak in English and ask the students to speak in English too, we have to do activities in which the students can create their own dialogues and at the same time they use grammar, vocabulary they already know.
For example in my job we do improvisations, we choose a topic and a couple of students to talk for a minute or so about it. While the students are developing the situation the rest of the group is taking notes about the mistakes they can hear, at the end of the presentation the teacher ask the students to say the mistakes and the correct way to say the sentence.
I also think we should follow the 10 guidelines to make communicative teaching part of our own instructional approach that the reading suggests:
1. Provide Appropriate Input
2. Use Language in Authentic Ways
3. Provide Context
4. Design Activities with a Purpose
5. Use Task-based Activities
6. Encourage Collaboration
7. Use an Integrated Approach
8. Address Grammar Consciously
9. Adjust Feedback/Error Correction to Situation
10. Include Awareness of Cultural Aspects of Language Use
Paola, always cite your source that way we can look for it if wewant to read it all.
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