Week 3 is still in its early stages, but I feel like sharing a story with you.
As I have already said in one of my posts, reading about Computer Assisted Language Learning, language labs, voice recognition and analysis software and all that made me go back in time and remember how we learned this almost 30 years ago. There were no computers or language labs at college back then, so we had to rely on our ears, our teachers’ excellent pronunciation and their patience to correct us.
I remember one particular teacher who was, in a way, a trailblazer then. He was already using CALL, only it was a different kind. We could call it Candle Assisted Language Learning. Yes, he would have us take a candle to class and he would give us a list of words beginning with “h” that we had to read aloud in front of the flame. Then he would check our pronunciation just by looking at the flame – did it move, should it have moved? The first time he did this, we thought he was crazy, but it worked - we learned. And then other strange things followed: there were mirrors, physical exercise, endless repetitions, trying to speak with small objects in our mouth… I can’t remember it all.
Good thing we don't have to do this anymore. Things have changed and there are now so many different types of activities, software and resources to learn those skills. What I’m trying to show with my story is that sometimes we have to be resourceful, too. That teacher was quite peculiar, but he certainly was resourceful and I thank him for his efforts.
Thank you, dear Luisa for sharing this lovely story. Teachers used to be resourceful and they still are, somebody just invented the computer and now the students want us to use it, don't they. Let's still continue being creative and resourceful.
ReplyDeleteGood night ( it's almost 11 PM here in Finland)
- Sinikka
Yes, we keep talking about resources but the most important one is in ourselves. If we are truly resourceful, inspired teachers, we will know what to do with technology and even when that is not available.
DeleteDear Luisa,
ReplyDeleteThe word 'resourceful' is a significant word for us as language teachers. We should be very creative in the way we teach this foreign language.
I am happy that this class introduces me to many teaching resources that our English teachers haven't got it 20 years ago.
Keep sharing Luisa
Imas
Hello, Imas.
DeleteYes, creativity is very important, and I'm thankful we have now so many tools and resources that help us be even more creative.