At present we know that our brain is plastic, it continuously remodels itself, sometimes within a remarkably short period of time (these biological changes are the result of outside experience); certain intellectual functions are restricted to one cerebral hemisphere; emotion is a primary catalyst in the learning process; memory is not stored in a single location in the brain or static or unitary; there are multiple intelligences, different learning styles and emotional intelligence.
It is obvious that we cannot continue using the same methods as those of our ancestors´ believing that all our students learn the same way.
The great challenge is to create new resources which accelerate the acquisition of the language making the most of each student´s abilities and strengths.
8 comments:
We have to change the way we deliver instruction because we are losing too many students.
If education is a right, motivation is a must.
Oh this is so true, Maria! It's so important to meet students where they're at and address their individual learning styles. I definitely agree! :-)
Great! The more of us working on it, the easier it will be to change
the paradigms. = )
I am working on a project that will enable learners ( and teachers if they are interested) to get reinspired in their language learning by seeing that by doing things a bit differently they can start to reconnect with the awesome powers we all have as humans. www.strategiesinlanguagelearning I am still refining it but there is enough there already for interested people to get a sense of what is coming. A lot more I can tell you! :-) Andrew
Thank you for your comment, Andrew. It´s great to know that you are working on such a project. I´ve just watched the welcome video and I couldn´t agree more. Looking foward to checking out the rest. = )
María, it's great that you are exploring this issue in-depth. I've always been a very motivated learner of foreign languages, so I've made it my own priority to stay engaged and interested. I think learning a foreign language is a very personal undertaking and people have different reasons for doing it. If those reasons are strong enough, the learner will stay motivated. That said, it ALWAYS helps to introduce variety and keep it interesting. Thanks for continuing to push on this topic -- it's fascinating. Paul
Thank you, Paul Morin! Teachers can´t expect students to stay enganged and interested on their own, or take this for granted. Sometimes the reasons people have to learn are not enough, they know they have to study but don´t feel like it. It´s our job to keep them motivated and in high spirits. = )
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