I believe that in order to fully educate a person, one must grant that person the freedom to learn, to create, to speak their mind and to make mistakes. The number one goal in my teaching praxis is to reach a student-centered, constructivist kind of learning, where students are given responsibility for their own learning. Great learning can only happen in a well-managed, structured, and safe environment. Specific rules and procedures must be made clear on the first day of school and continue to be modeled throughout the entire school year.  Students should be aware that they have rights as well as responsibilities as a member of the classroom and school community. 

 

I believe in great lesson plans! A lesson is only as good as the planning that went into it. Being a great foreign language instructor isn’t just about articulative competence but also involves being able to plan lessons that meet well-articulated goals and objectives. I believe that a truly great lesson is one that is enjoyable, hands on, and multimodal.

 

I believe that language can not and should not for any reason be detached from culture. Language and culture should therefore be taught as an integrated whole. Inasmuch as, learners should engage in a variety of activities that involve repetition, reading and discussion of what they read, memorization and vocabulary retention, written work, etc., these activities should not be taught independently from culture.

The main goal of all my language classes is effective communication. To attain this goal, I use different activities that involve listening and using visual clues to obtain meaning, creative writing as well as brainstorming and organizing ideas, textual analysis: reading texts and scanning for the main points, role playing activities that require speaking with a partner or partners using gestures and facial expressions, choral repetition and mechanical drills to ensure comprehension and retention of grammatical structures and vocabulary. These activities help my students a lot and as a result they are to communicate effectively with confidence.

 

Learning a foreign language can be hard and requires a lot of determination and tenacity.Each student is unique. Each student enters the open doors of a classroom with hopes, dreams and aspirations.My hope is to welcome these dreams and provide students with the motivation to persist!