Teaching
the Language System
What I have come to realize
in my teaching practicum
By Claudia Elena Mora-SandÃ
Pre-Service Teacher, School of English
Faculty of Social Sciences
Universidad Latina de Costa Rica
Monday, April 5, 2016
Post 251
Chapter 6 of Harmer’s (2007) book, “How to Teach English,”
talks about the teaching language system. As all teachers know, students learn
in different ways, but there are some things about language that should be
taught in a certain way.
Chapter 6 states that there are some important things we
language instructors should know about the teaching process. There are many
examples to mention, for instance, the difference between inductive or
deductive approaches since those things are essential for the students to find
things out by themselves. Harmer (2007) insists on the different ways of how to
go about controlled practice, where the students learning process is handled by
the teacher, like choral or individual repetition. It is also important to know
about the three types of mistakes there are in language learning, and to take
into account that we cannot correct our students every time that they make a
mistake since they would feel threatened and embarrassed, and they would not
want to participate in class activities anymore.
In my opinion, now that I am teaching in real life as
part of my teaching practicum, I have noticed that everything that this chapter
says is true and applicable to my context. Everything regarding how a specific
topic is taught does take place in my classroom, for example grammar and the
basic formulas (subject + verb + adjective), pronunciation with repetition,
vocabulary with flashcards and pictures or even oral communication classes and
the role plays. The chapter seems to be a good illustration of how to handle
learning in the classroom.
In conclusion, we cannot skip any detail of teaching a
specific thing in the language classroom because those ways, or bits of
information, are essential for the learning process and
the way how students acquire knowledge.
Reference
Harmer, J. (2007). "Learners." how to teach english. Person Longman.
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