Carrie leads us in a communicative activity that is very hands-on!

Communication is obviously the ultimate goal of language instruction. Although the 5 C’s are intertwined, one can argue that without communication, the other four are relatively pointless. The Teacher Seminars participants spent a good portion of today considering the importance of the three modes of communication: Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational. We dove deep beyond the surface and explored the benefits and challenges of each of the modes, and discussed how to integrate them, equally, within meaningful classroom contexts. Teachers are charged with setting up meaningful, relevant situations that will allow students to communicate in a variety of ways, from reading an excerpt from a novel or short-story, to preparing and presenting a “how to” speech, to spontaneous conversation with another person. Throughout our discussion, we explored lists of countless “authentic” sources, and teachers were challenged to add to their lists.

 

Throughout the Teacher Seminars course, the participants have been taking turns teaching a “Micro-Teaching” to the rest of our group. The activities and lessons have been as diverse and varied as the participants themselves. They have been interesting, meaningful, and relevant. We have been introduced to Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu, as well as French, German, and Spanish. Today, among many other useful and relevant topics, one of our colleagues (Chris) shared with us how he uses authentic texts in his Spanish classes. A few members of our group have already purchased these texts through Amazon!

“I get so much out of our discussions, both the spontaneous ones and the ones precipitated by the [professional] readings. Our group is so diverse and that creates a wealth of experience and knowledge that is most interesting to me. I am glad that you are having us do the micro-teachings, as it has been amazing to see all the different styles, ideas, strategies, and expertise among us. I was really put into the position of the students when learning the languages yesterday and that is an important place to be every now and then to be reminded of their struggles and frustrations in second language learning.” - Laurie, high school Spanish teacher from Illinois