1. Activity
1. Students read a literary
passage.
Principle
Literary language is superior to spoken
language: the study is limited to literature
and fine arts.
Our practice
We read texts written by ordinary people
related to everyday experiences (people
describing their families/houses).
2. Students translate the
passage from English to
Spanish.
If students can translate they are
considered successful language learners.
We used translation only on our first
classes but after reading and explaining in
English. Towards the end of our practices,
we use no translation at all.
3. Teacher and students
communicate in their native
language.
The ability to communicate in the target
language is not a goal.
Though we needed to translate at least
part of what we said in English, we used
and communicated in English all the time.
4. Students write out the
answers to reading
comprehension exercises.
Primary skills to be developed: reading
and writing/ little attention to speaking
and listening, none to pronunciation.
According to their level, we gave special
attention to speaking and pronunciation.
5. Teacher decides if an
answer is correct or not.
Teacher is the authority in the classroom.
Correct answers are very important.
After each activity, we checked all the
answers so they could get the correct
answer.
6. Students translate new
words from English to
Spanish.
It is possible to find native language
equivalents for all target language words.
Sometimes students suggested the
Spanish equivalent.
7. Students learn
correspondences between
English and Spanish.
Learning is facilitated through attention to
similarities between the target and native
language.
We pointed out that plural nouns, if
regular, have the ‘s’ added at the end as
in Spanish (chairs/sillas).
8. Students are given
grammar rules.
Learning the form of the target language is We taught them the structure THERE
important.
IS/ARE + NOUN.
9. Students apply a rule to
examples they are given.
Deductive application of an explicit
grammar rule is a useful pedagogical
technique.
Though there were times we were asked
for technical explanations, we always
presented grammar in context.
10. Students memorize
vocabulary.
Language learning provides good exercise.
Students memorized the vocabulary
indirectly through repetition in each class.
(activation of prior knowledge)
11. Teacher asks students to
state the grammar rule.
Students should be conscious of the
grammatical rules of the target language.
According to their age and level, they were
not prepared to learn grammar
consciously. Focus was on
communication.
12. Students memorize
irregular verbs in all their
forms (present, past and
participle).
Verb conjugations and other grammatical
paradigms should be committed to
memory.
Students learned indirectly. Never asked
to memorize.
Reference: Anderson, M. & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2011). Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching. Uk: Oxford University Press.

2. Reference: Anderson, M. & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2011). Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching. Uk: Oxford University Press.