MY PERSONAL ENGLISH TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS METHOD

It has been a while since i first started learning how the languages teaching procces had been developed since it was started to be structured .

I first joined university and realized after the first week of our TEFL trainning having reinforced it, that it is a complex process but easy at the same time , as mayority of the  learning is based on our natural acquaring system.

Communication is the aim of every single kind of language ( verbal , non verbal..) .

This is why i am basing by methodology on the communicative approach . 

As long as we manage to communicate , no matter if there is any mistake, error.. there is a kind of succes in our acquisition process.

I am not going to forget about different theories which teaching proccess has been based on, but using them more as specific activities  ( silent method , grammar based one ...)

My methodology has everything in common with Oxbridge one, but i would be more  flexible on the structure of lessons , and leave more space for the teachers and students personal creativity .

Always balanced between producing skills like writing , oral development would be my main priority and it would occupy the mayority of time in my lessons .

Dynamics is one the main stamps of my method .

Two C´s, Communication & Creativity .

First step ; develop an specific group based methodology, by analyzing the group characteristics ( number of students, interests, habits, background, motivation , reason of being there, personality, interaction and relationships between them )

After this , building a whole process syllabus would be the next concern .

Specify in a document, the main aims for the group divided into different categories such as ; vocabulary,  grammar, communicational situations ...), also individual aims if required.

After defining the main  goals, i would specify the more concrete ones for short periods of  teaching procces , in order to keep the evaluation alive and close to the main syllabus .

Activities ; here it is where creativity comes to live . Every kind of activity can take place .

Indoor , outdoor , real social situation, roll playing, flashcards , new technologies ( internet , chats, international friendships ) , language exhanges interacting with the city life....

Use of books : the use of a textbook is not excluded as long as it does no reduce the dynamicism of the lessons . It could be perfectly used as a guidance or reference but never as a stablished methodology.

Evaluation : as a part of the teaching/learning procces, evaluation would be a priority .

Analyze of their common mistakes, errors , and corrections according to the level of the group and severity of them. Lower levels would have more flexibility as they may need more space and time to express themselves and correction could be an stopper barrier.

Material : i would use a combination of new technologies and classic materials based resources , such as internet, social networks ( facebook, twitter...) , audiovisual materials ( tv, press , music ...), and real social and interactive activities ( social tea, go shopping, supermarket, guitar , acting ....)

Planning:  every single teacher would have his/her personal planning notebook  . It wil content the main syllabus, short therm aims and contents , and weekly timetable with space for planning and writing the day to day activities and info.

On top of this methodology, i would use my personal creativity, personality and way to communicate , in order to get the students involved into the language and activities.

I would share my personal experiences ( always balanced to keep the distance between us ) , trying to engage them .

My personal skills as an artist tha i am . Music , guitar , creativity to write activities and my personal experience in boy scouts and children lessons in order to build up an original , funny and entertaining time for them.

English as the only language : i do believe the more in touch you are with the language you are learning, the more you acquire , so eventhough i am spanish native , i would keep english language as the base for not only the lessons but alos my conversations and relationships with my students.

Student are the main stars of the lessons , so their speaking time is a priority , rather than my personal speech. Not only the conversations that happen with me and related to the topics but also the ones that suddenly happen between them . I would never interrupt as long as it happens in english .

No exams as a daily evaluation is supossed to happen . 

Review & recap : these would be another important elements of the method as repeating  does help in acquaring a new language . We could do it anytime , but not necessarily in every single lesson so there as long as we keep it as a priority , there is always flexibility .

We can do it verbally or use and specific preplanned activity for it .

Another great idea i took from Oxbridge into mine : Rotation of accents . I think is great and it does help in developing students understanding skills , being exposed to different accents ( native, non native ) . we would keep a rotation or at least quite often bringing another person to the clasroom for an specific activity . It would depend on the resources.

Grades for evaluation : interlanguage , mistakes and errors have a proper systemised permission . Being more flexible for the lower levels but also properly corrected on higher ones . 

As a recap, my personal teaching method would be based on the communicative approach . Never excluding any kind of other approaches such as grammar based , audiolingual ones. But mainly focused on the conversation as a main target fot students development.

Creativity as the main ingredient for the day to day classroom life .

Remember C&C ( Communication & Creativity ) as the two icons of my proposal