The first time I taught Spanish was in a girls’ private school in the outskirts of London, in a village called Chertsey.
During my presentation in class I realized that some girls pulled funny faces and struggled to grasp what I was saying.
In that precise moment I understood that I had to suit my expression to their level, so that they could really interact with me.
The only way we all could understand each other, we all could communicate, was by speaking the same language. Spanish was not the clue.
It happened to be much more complicated and enriching than just a mere linguistic code.
Moreover, the fact that I have spent many years of my life learning (second) languages helps me to better understand how to work with students.
It helps to know in advance their expectations when learning a language, and it also helps to think how to get there easily.
Experience tells me that there is no point in memorizing lists of vocabulary or grammar charts if I am just not able to start a conversation in the target language.
That is why we need to teach students how to learn to use the tools, how to communicate.
Teaching by principles is the motto defended by a cognitive approach to teaching. Those principles are mainly related to mental and intellectual functions,
and they inform the way I understand how languages are to be learned and taught. Therefore, all those principles should work together to lead my teaching
task to the goal of communicative competence. It then becomes necessary a focus on how language is used under the criteria of fluency, authenticity and meaningful contexts.
By making the right strategic investments, students will be on the right track to develop an autonomy that will allow him/her to control his/her own process of learning
-an autonomy that simultaneously relies on the interactions with others.
Languages are undoubtedly the most effective way to communicate ideas with people, to express thoughts and feelings and, last but not least, to learn from different cultures.
For these reasons, language could not be considered as mere grammar rules, but as a question linked to the nature of the human being, to how one expresses oneself and how one’s
cultural perspectives are shaped within a given context.
As an instructor, my responsibility is to involve students in the learning of Spanish, letting them know both what I expect from them and what they are achieving through the course.
In this matter, instructors should also be a guide in evaluating the process, resolving doubts and providing meaningful feedback to make them get to the stage of self-correction.
Only when this happens can they become independent learners -which is the point of it all. Students should be, indeed, the main figures in class, increasingly gaining control over
their own process of learning. The instructor’s main role has to be to foster a suitable environment so that the student feels comfortable and willing enough as to communicate with others
-thereby playing that active role in class. Only in this way will they gain confidence in their own process of learning a language, a culture and so much more.
Teaching means taking risks, constantly reassessing one’s approaches, and innovating. But teaching also offers the possibility of growing as an educator and, ultimately,
as a human being. Let us not forget the social responsibility teachers hold, instead let us enforce our own beliefs and principles to take that responsibility to the highest level.