Is there a 'best' way to learn a foreign language?

If a complete stranger were to ask me this question, I would tell them to immerse themselves.  Move to the country where the language is spoken.  Well, it isn't that easy to just pack up and ship out to a new country and 'immerse' yourself.  However, given my previous experiences with language learning, those have been the most productive and useful learning situations.  I didn't start learning (really learning) my second language until I was 16 and went on an exchange.  I had been taking French for 5 years prior to my exchange but I can tell you, there was no quality input given to the students.  We did a lot of grammar translation and memorization.

Now, as a language teacher, I am more aware of what students should be learning and how they should be learning their second/third language.  I would agree with the value of quality input and ensuring that we expose learners to as much as possible.  Would I go so far as to say that there is no place for grammar?  No, I would not.  If it were a complete immersion style classroom/environment, yes, I could see how you would not have to explicitly teach grammatical concepts.  However, given limited exposure to the language, I still think that you can teach grammatical concepts in context.  I am not saying to teach the rules as a whole (boring) lesson but there are many ways to help students discover why the language is as it is.

For me, I want to understand.  One of the frustrating aspects of being an older learner is that you come with a wealth of experience and background in your mother tongue and ideally, you would like to be able to communicate with L2 natives at the same level as you may in your L1.  My beginner students are equally frustrated with this as well.  They want to communicate complex ideas but do not have the tools necessary to do so at an early stage.  For me, I crave to understand the rules so that I can apply them.  Why? Perhaps it is my personality, I am not sure. When I took an Arabic class, the teacher was teaching us vocabulary words related to a particular letter of the alphabet.  I then asked a specific question as to when we could use a word, and wanted to hear it in a sentence.  I then asked about the grammatical concept related to it.  She didn't (or couldn't) answer me.  I didn't want to be learning random words which were of no use to me.  I quit learning Arabic a couple of classes later.

If we even go back 20 years, we didn't have exposure to all of the authentic resources that we do today.  Teachers had textbooks and audio cassettes to use in their classrooms.  With the internet and accessibility to authentic sources, we are able to provide our students with more quality input.  This is a huge advancement from our own learning experiences.

I think feedback is one of the most important pieces of learning.  I am not talking a grade either.  I want quality feedback, comments, advice, ideas on how to improve and what I need to do.  Feedback is an exchange between the learner and the teacher/facilitator so that meaningful experiences happen and the learner can move forward in the direction he/she wants to.

Perhaps you may not agree but these are my thoughts..

MOOC on the brain

Perhaps being so eager to start the course and absorb as much new information as possible was a hefty thought.  The first day, I went through all the materials until my eyes couldn't take it anymore.  I fell asleep only to spend the whole night dreaming of Instreamia and having new words floating at me from all directions!  Luckily, I slowed down a bit and now the information has had time to soak in!

I guess what I like most about Instreamia (from what I can see on the demo and what was presented in the EdLab video) is the information that is given to students when they are writing that is catered to their learning experiences.  There is automated feedback.  For example, check the gender, conjugate the verb, etc.  These are things that I try to teach f2f students but it takes so much time to get them to have an inner voice when proofreading (if they actually take the time to proofread).  Being able to have this 'help' pop up to guide the students, in my opinion, would be very helpful to making them be a bit more independent.  If it provides a simple explanation as to why it needs to be corrected, it should also help them to gain a better understanding of the grammatical concepts.

I have taken some time to play around in the demo course but I need to do a little bit more to see if I can find all the hidden gems.  My husband was watching me one night (and doesn't understand Spanish) and his reaction was: "Wow, that is fast.  How am I supposed to learn that?"  I let him watch over my shoulder and sure enough, after about 10 stops, he was able to pick the correct words.

We'll see what week 2 brings and what new insights will find themselves floating through my mind in the middle of the night.

Exploring the MOOC experience

Here we go, creating a blog.  I must admit, I have only ever done this for online courses that I have taken in the past and I have never made it a habit or part of my daily life.  I hope that by taking the LTMOOC, I will write on a regular basis and not let the blog fall down on the priority list.

Coming from Saskatchewan, Canada, I was not surrounded by many other languages besides English.  It wasn't until I applied to do an exchange in with a student from Quebec that I really fell in love with language and learning a language.  Moving to Quebec really opened my eyes.  I thought I was a strong French student because I received good grades.  Getting off the plane and not understanding my host mother quickly taught me that I had a lot of work to do.  My head hurt for many weeks but by the end, I was speaking French and there was a purpose: so I could make friends and be a normal high school student in a francophone setting.

After my exchange, I sought out learning experiences that would take me back to Quebec.  I did several summer programs and finally decided that I wanted to help people learn the language so I became a French Immersion teacher.  Post-university I took a backpacking trip.  At one point I found myself in a train car with an elderly Spanish couple who didn't speak French or English but were extremely friendly.  8 hours later, I had decided that I would put Spanish on my list of languages to learn.  I started learning Spanish in my summers when I wasn't teaching French Immersion.  Eventually, I was able to start teaching beginner Spanish at the school where I was working in Saskatchewan.

Learning languages always took me to the places where the language was spoken so you could say that my sense of adventure came from learning the languages or perhaps it was the sense of adventure that made me want to be in a place where I couldn't really understand anything.  I eventually moved to Kuwait to teach Spanish, French and English at an American International School.  I was so excited that I would be moving to a country where I would have to struggle to learn a new language.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed to learn that English is widely spoken making it very difficult to learn Arabic.  As I approach the end of year 8 in the Middle East, my Arabic is still in a deplorable state but I try my best when I am able to find someone who will entertain me or try to teach me.  Teaching at AIS in Kuwait introduced me to the International Baccalaureate program where I fell in love with their educational philosophy and approaches to teaching and learning.  Teaching the IB language programs really helped change me as a language educator.  I am now in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  My husband teaches Physics at an international school here and I am teaching online Spanish for Pamoja Education and I am also working as an independent World Languages consultant with some schools in the area.

I love learning and I am always trying to see where I can learn something new.  Teaching online has opened my eyes to just how much is out there and it sure helps when you are an international teacher because f2f PLCs are often hard to come by as are professional development opportunities that won't cost you an arm and a leg in travel expenses!  I would like to learn more about social networking for professional development purposes; blended learning and how to be a better educator and keep up with the fast-paced changing times that we live in.

I enjoy spending time with my small children (1 and 3 year olds) who keep me quite busy and entertained.  I like to read, bake and spend time outdoors.