TESL 100 - Unit 5 reflection

Unit 5 discusses the history of the methods used in language learning throughout history. It is important to know the development of the methods and how they came together to make the methods that we know today. From the classical method (teacher-centered which focuses on memorization and translations), all the way through to Discovery learning and more, it’s important to know that these are what came before (Brown & Lee, 2015, Ch.2). They all have positive and negative assets that are important to consider. I have always been a teacher who has a more learner-centered instruction as I find that it keeps learners interested, motivated and generally more involved in their learning (Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 45). I try to find ways that the topics and strategies discussed can apply to them and have them also make the connections. For example, I had a student ask me what is the point of learning to make predictions and that they thought it wasn’t a skill that they needed. However, through asking them questions and getting them to think about their own day to day, some learners suggested that they make predictions during movies or even for things as simple as what are we going to be doing today at school. Helping them make those connections was more profitable for them. I also combine strategy and topic-based learning in my planning (Brown & Lee, 2015, p.49-51). When I plan, I choose what strategy I want to work as well as the topic that I think would work best with that strategy. This allows me to have my goals and my objectives right away when it comes to lesson planning. In my own classroom, I find project-based learning is a great way to get learners (especially kids) involved in their learning and have them enjoy it. In the classes that I mainly use projects, I no longer have issues of classroom management that I need to deal with.

Brown, D. & Lee H. (2015). Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.