5. What is our fundamental purpose as
language teachers?
To develop intercultural awareness?
To promote higher-order thinking skills?
To support progress in core classes?
To boost performance on standardized tests?
To enhance vocabulary & grammatical knowledge?
To provide a fun environment?
To have a correct answer for every blank?
6. “The goal of language teaching is the
learners’ ability to
COMMUNICATE
in the target language.”
(Celce-Murcia, et al., 2014, p. 8).
8. Example: German 1 Board Game
◦Activity: Students roll dice to determine where in the city
they will go and how they will get there. They move the
game piece & ask/answer each other about it at each turn.
◦Communicative Function: Interpersonal: Asking &
Answering Questions
◦Vocabulary Theme: Places around town & modes of
transportation
◦Grammatical Focus: Prepositions & dative case of nouns
◦Cultural connection: Could lead to a lesson on famous
German landmarks:
9. Example: Spanish 2 Embedded Reading
◦Activity: Students read a series of texts in Spanish
about the Tejana pop star Selena, all telling the same
story, but each with more and more detail.
◦Communicative Function: Reading: Understand main
idea & a few supporting details of a familiar text.
◦Vocabulary Theme: Duties & leisure activities
◦Grammatical Focus: Auxiliary verbs & Infinitives
◦Cultural Connection: Life, death & impact of Selena
10. Example: Spanish 2 Cultural Notes
◦Activity: Students copy and study target-language notes
about the Day of the Dead. Later they answer target-
language multiple-choice questions about it.
◦Communicative Function: Reading: Understand main idea &
a few supporting details of a familiar text.
◦Vocabulary Theme: Celebrations – Day of the Dead
◦Grammatical Focus: Passive voice using “se”
◦Cultural Connection: Cultural Comparison of Halloween and
Day of the Dead.
11. El Día de Muertos
El Día de Muertos se
celebra en muchas partes
de México, especialmente
en el estado de Oaxaca.
(Wa-ha-ka)
¿Dónde se celebra el Día
de Muertos ?
A. Valencia, España
B. Lima, Perú
C. La Habana, Cuba
D. Oaxaca, México
12. What have you done/what could you
adapt to be more communicative?
13. Work Cited
Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Snow, M. A. (2014). Teaching English as a second or foreign
language. Boston: National Geographic Learning, Heinle Cengage Learning.
Editor's Notes
Imagine
A music student who only studies the score, but never practices.
Another who only practices scales and arpeggios, but never performs a song.
Can these truly be called musicians?
What about someone who can predict every play the NFL quarterback is about to call, but hasn’t picked up a football in years?
Someone else who can beat anyone at a free-throw competition, but refuses to play an actual game?
Can these truly be called athletes?
Likewise,
What about…
A student who can conjugate verbs perfectly, knows perfect grammar, and has perfect pronunciation, but is incapable of holding a real conversation in the target language?
A student who always has the right answer on a worksheet or test, but can’t understand a menu well enough to order food without assistance?
Can these students be considered proficient in that language?
Yet very often, my classes have been structured to hold this student up as the model for other students to emulate.
These are all good goals, but in my view, they are at best secondary to our fundamental purpose.
This can seem self-evident or even trivial, but I know there are many times when I have realized that communication has taken a back seat in my classroom for one of these other goals.
An authentic act of communication can be considered a performance much in the same way as a concert or an athletic match.
What does it take to build students’ knowledge and skills to successfully perform a concert, game? Are there strategies that we can adapt to our own needs?
Just like in sports or music, there are the things you’ve got to know in order to be able to do what you want to do.
Focused drill is necessary in order to build foundational skills and apply foundational knowledge, but it is not sufficient by itself to ensure a successful performance.
Conjugation/vocabulary games, crossword puzzles, worksheets, etc.
I would argue that these are necessary, but not nearly as necessary or necessary as frequently as we often think.
Students’ confidence and poise must be built through simulation of performance circumstances: dress-rehearsals, pre-game scrimmage, etc.
We must provide our students with opportunities to simulate real-world language use.
Students know that all the drills, practices and run-throughs are worth it because they have the big game to test themselves; they have the concert to prove how well they can do.
What real-world opportunities do our students have to use the knowledge and skills they have acquired in our classes?
