How to Teach & Learn a Foreign Language
Teaching a foreign language may seem intimidating, but it becomes easier if you think about the ways in which you would like to learn it if you were a student. Teaching and learning are symbiotic functions, so include your students in determining new teaching methods. Students typically like interactive, engaging work, as opposed to exercises from a textbook or repeated class lectures. Continuously introducing new activities will keep students interested in the subject matter. Teaching a foreign language is tough, so don't be too self-critical as you figure out what works best for you and your students.
Instructions
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Make a list of ways in which you might like to learn a foreign language if you were a student in your own class. Think from your students' perspectives, since they are the ones who are subject to your lessons. List such ideas as staging skits in the language, talking in conversations in pairs or small groups, playing games, such as Bingo, as a class and using computer games to learn the language in a fun, interactive way. Include traditional teaching methods, such as assigning vocabulary words to memorize using flashcards and giving lectures on proper verb-tense usage.
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Ask your students how they like to learn. They often have instinctual knowledge of how they learn best and can offer insight into their learning styles. Kinesthetic learners may suggest interactive games, such as playing Bingo, using assigned vocabulary words in class and filming themselves speaking the language as a homework assignment. Visual and auditory learners may suggest that you have the class watch television or movies and read children's books in the chosen language.
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Try a wide variety of your and your students' ideas until you find a combination that works best. Make sure that students are continuously absorbed in the language and engaged in their lessons. Being exposed to the language constantly is key to learning it, as is enjoying the learning process. Ask your students for feedback on classroom activities so you can continue to develop new ideas and make changes to existing ones to make them more effective.
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References
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