My ABC book

My ABC book
By Katherine Velásquez
8-847-2119

-A-
• Approaches, methods and
techniques
Techniques
Methods
• This was a very interesting
topic in our class. I was able
to learn how each one of
these terms are interrelated
and that the approaches are
the bases for learning, then
we select the method we will
use to implement it and finally
the techniques that will help
us obtain the goal as ESL
teachers.
Approaches

-B-
• Brainstorming was a
technique we used and I
realized how important it is for
our students in order to share
their ideas and come up with
a fast response as we did in
class. It is so relevant because
it allows students to obtain
meaningful learning by
understanding their own
ideas and the ones from their
classmates.
• Brainstorming

-C-
Communicative
Language Teaching
• This approach was impressive to
me since it allowed me to
understand that communicative
competence not only refers to
oral communication but it also
deals with written performance
on the second Language. With
this approach our students can
focus on learning English for
interacting with peers rather
than the form of the Language.

-D-
• The direct method is important
for the scope of our second
Language classes since it was
one of the bases for the
audiolingual method from which
we obtain so many teaching
techniques we use nowadays.
This method was based in a
total immersion in the second
Language, avoiding extrinsic
explanation of grammar. In spite
it is no longer used, it
undoubtedly set grounds for the
new teaching trends we studied
during the course.
• Direct Method

-E-
• ESL (English as a Second
Language)
• Even though this is a term we
see every day, sometimes we
do not have a clear idea of
what it is about. English as a
second Language is the way
we acquire English when it is
not our native Language. It is
important to have a clear
understanding of this term
because in that way, we can
decide what focus we should
give to the planning of our
classes.

-F-
• This term is imperative in my
teaching experience since it let
me see what my role as teacher
should be. A facilitator is a
person who provides tools for
the students to acquire learning
on the Language. As the word
says it itself, this is a person who
facilitates knowledge. In my
opinion, that must be our goals
as teachers, to make it easier for
our students to learn English.
• Facilitator

-G-
• Grammar Translation Method
• This is one of the first methods used
for teaching second languages
and its importance lies on the fact
that it helped us realizing the need
of having communicative
competence at the time of
learning a new language. It is
based on mere translation and
grammatical rules and completely
avoids immersion and
understanding of the Language.
Despite it is no longer used since it is
not consider effective, there are
some things that we can take from
it, for example the fact that we
must have some grammar bases to
be able to write a text properly.

-I-
• In my opinion, Content-Based
Instruction and Content and Language
Integrated Learning (CLIL) are the
future of teaching ESL. These two
approaches are centered on providing
context and meaning to learning. Our
students will be more willing to practice
and speak a second Language if they
find it interesting. The best way to make
it appealing for our students is by using
trendy topics depending on their
different characteristics. I found the
word instruction as the most relevant in
this term because, as teachers, we
need to be prepared to apply several
instructive techniques based on the
content and context of our students’
lives.
• Instruction, Content-based

-K-
• Krashen, Stephen • It is impossible to talk about
Theories and Practice for TESOL
without mentioning Stephen
Krashen. His theory on Second
Language acquisition and his
hypotheses opened the door to
a whole new set of possibilities
to understand how we learn a
second Language and, in the
same way, introduce new
methods in order to facilitate
the learning process of our
students.

-L-
• Learner-centered teaching of a
second Language is important
because it prompts students to
participate in their own learning
by giving them the means to
create or decide how they
prefer to learn. Giving our
students the chance to take
part on their acquisition process
motivates them to gain interest
on the Language. In this case,
the teacher acts as a facilitator
of content.
• Learner-centered instruction

-M-
• Meaningful Learning • The term “Meaningful Learning” is
especially important here because,
in my opinion, it is the key to
acquire a second Language.
Seeing a Language in context
makes us be interested on it. If we
like music in English, in German or in
French, for example, we will be
inclined to learn that Language just
because we like it. The same
happens when we have to teach a
second Language. We need to
make that process meaningful to
our students by using methods and
techniques that result interesting to
them. Likewise, we need to
consider the hobbies and interests
of our students whenever we will
prepare a lesson.

-N-
• The Natural Approach, developed by
the aforementioned Stephen Krashen
and Tracy Terrell is a beautiful
approach to second Language
learning which intends to induct
learning in the smoothest way
possible without forcing the learner to
produce until he/she feels confident
enough to communicate. I use the
word “beautiful” because it creates a
perfect environment for the student
who will feel free from the stress of
being forced to do something he/she
does not feel ready to do. I believe
that it can be applied in our teaching
experiences by avoiding
overcorrecting our students and
letting them feel comfortable in a
second language environment.
• Natural Approach

-O-
• Objectives
• The word objectives was chosen
because it is important to know
which are the final objectives of
our lessons and so, prepare
them accordingly. Sometimes,
we are not sure of what we are
trying to reach when we
prepare a class. By setting the
objectives and what we expect
from our students vs. their actual
capacities, we will be able to
prepare a suitable class in which
both, the teachers as the
students will end up happy with
the results.

-P-
• PPP (Present, Practice and Produce) is
an interesting teaching approach
related to Task-based learning, which is
frequently used to teach English as a
Second Language in which the
teaching process goes through these
three phases. First, the teacher presents
the topic, then comes the Practice
stage in which the students will work
with the material in order to understand
it and finally in the Production phase
they will be asked to communicate in
the target Language by using the
Language learned during the lesson as
well as their prior knowledge. The
disadvantage of this approach is that,
sometimes, the students do not comply
with its objectives since they are not
really familiarized with the second
Language.
• PPP (Present, Practice and
Produce)

-R-
• Realia
• Real objects that help making
learning meaningful are really
important in the acquisition of a
second Language. This is why
we, as teachers, must work hard
on preparing lessons that are
interesting to our students and
that allow them to interact with
their environment. Using
different types of materials and
items bring their attention to us
and motivates them to
participate in class.

-S-
• The Silent Way was a teaching
method in which the teacher had
small or no participation in the
class, acting as a provider of
information who does not make
corrections, while the students are
the ones leading the learning
process . Even though it has been
criticized because there is no
meaningful learning because the
students cannot know whether they
are doing it right or wrong, it is a
significant contribution to most
recent methods in which the
teacher gives tasks to the students
while he observes and takes notes
on the things that can be
corrected.
• Silent Way

-T-
• Task-Based Learning • This approach is relevant in my
opinion because it is centered in
the assignment rather than in the
fact that the student is actually
acquiring a second Language in
the meantime. The task, however,
must be meaningful for the student
in order to catch his attention. This is
an approach we use in our
classrooms in one way or another
but that can be improved if we
decide to follow a different method
to do things, for example,
contextualize the task in our cultural
environment so that the students
can talk about something they
know, instead of learning about
snow and other things that do not
happen in the place they live in.

-U-
• We need to contextualize
Language for our students and
to do this, we must know how
they will use it in their everyday
lives. This is why there are so
many branches of ESL; for
business, for travelling, for
medicine, etc. In my future
teaching experience, which I
intend to have in University level,
I think this is going to be of great
importance since I will have to
teach people pursuing diverse
degrees and coming from so
many different backgrounds.
• Use of language

-V-
• Vocabulary • Providing vocabulary in our
teaching experience is key for our
students’ learning process. Either if it
is done explicitly by providing lists of
words, or through readings, the fact
of giving input to our students so
they can increase their knowledge
is imperative for their development.
As teachers we must always
remember that the brain of our
students is increasingly thirsty of
learning and that they will always
be more engaged in things they
like, this is why we must customize
the vocabulary we provide to their
needs.

-W-
• Helping our students to learn by
making them participate in
workshops is a wonderful way to
practice their newly acquired
skills. As teachers, workshops
should help us to verify how well
was our class since the students,
when talking to each other, will
show their proficiency in the
Language. In my future
teaching experience I expect to
use many workshops in the
practice of the materials
provided in class so that the
students can immediately put in
use what they learn.
• Workshops

Thank you for visiting My ABC Book!
The acquisition of a
second Language will
only depend on how
committed you are to
do it.