LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS In Spain, we usually say “La experiencia es un grado”, which means “experience is a plus”…experience is sometimes, even more important than formal education. Many of the things I ha

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LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS In Spain, we usually say “La experiencia es un grado”, which means “experience is a plus”…experience is sometimes, even more important than formal education. Many of the things I have learnt as a teacher were not learnt at the university, but from the practice of the teaching, as well as the practice of being a student of foreign languages myself. That really helps me to understand what the real need for the student is. When I define the basic content, context and order of the materials of each course for a student who starts learning Spanish from the scratch, I start defining the concept of ‘function’ or ‘what the student need the language for as A MUST’. A standard person would need a limited number of functions in the every day life, let’s say, to meet people and say hello and goodbye, to ask and understand instructions if he needs to go somewhere, to spell the words and to pronounce the words properly, to ask for a ticket in the bus/train/plane, to answer the phone, to ask the price of any article, to explain the symptoms of a disease, etc. Obviously, the function of the language is related to other components of the course program like grammar, lexicon, and type of text or language. All the elements have to be defined in such a way that the student can be able to use oral and written skills to communicate. The overall objective is, if the student is already living in our country, to allow his/her language integration as soon as possible, attending those personal situations that can be important. As an example, one my students is already living with her Spanish husband and she is currently learning the language. Her husband enjoys to talk for hours with friends about certain subjects like the weather or his dogs as they live surrounded by many of them in a natural environment. She needs a specific type of support of her every day’s life, so we use as much time as we can to learn the lexicon she needs related to animals, plants, land uses, weather, etc. If the student is learning a foreign language as a part of the curricula, the issue is much easier as the content is already prepared by the standard course or school so the student provides the material to me and I support his/her learning process and skills with his own content and similar type of material, and I also help her to improve the oral communication practices. Again, content, context, function and person…all is related and has to be designed in a tailor made course.

27 окт. 2014 г., 9:44

Исправления · 1

Corrections in red. Stylistic suggestions in blue.

LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS

In Spain, we usually say “La experiencia es un grado”, which means “experience is a plus”. Experience is sometimes, even more important than formal education. Many of the things I have learnt as a teacher were not learnt at the university, but from the practice of the teaching, as well as the practice of being a student of foreign languages myself. That really helps me to understand what the real needs of the student are.

When I define the basic content, context and order of the materials of each course for a student who is starting to learn Spanish from the scratch, I start by defining the concept of ‘function’, or ‘what the student needs the language for as A MUST’.
A typical person would need a limited number of functions in the everyday [1] life, let’s say, to meet people and say hello and goodbye, to ask and understand instructions if he needs to go somewhere, to spell the words and to pronounce them/the words properly, to ask for a ticket for the bus/train/plane, to answer the phone, to ask the price of an article, to explain the symptoms of a disease, etc.
Obviously, the function of the language is related to other components of the course program, like grammar, lexicon, and type of text or language. All the elements have to be defined in such a way that the student will be able to use oral and written skills to communicate.
The overall objective is, if the student is already living in our country, to allow his/her language integration as soon as possible, attending to those personal situations that may be important. As an example, one my students is already living with her Spanish husband, and she is currently learning the language. Her husband enjoys to talk for hours with friends about certain subjects like the weather or his dogs, as they live surrounded by many of them in a nature environment. She needs a specific type of support for her everyday [1] life, so we utilize as much time as possible/we can to learn the lexicon she needs related to animals, plants, land use, weather, etc.

If the student is learning a foreign language as a part of the curricula, the issue is much easier, as the content is already prepared by the school or designers of the standard course. Thus, the student provides the material to me, and I support his/her learning process and skills with his or her own content and with similar type of material, and I also help him or her to improve the oral communication skills.
Again, content, context, function and person… everything is interrelated and has to be designed as part of a tailor-made course.