Kuma 3

In Chapter 3, Maximizing Learning Opportunities, I really liked the opening quote. "We cannot really teach a language; we can only create conditions under which it will develop in the mind in its own way." This quote really showed me that the students have to be committed and involved in order to acquire a language, and that it is not a one way job of the teacher. Before reading this chapter, I was entirely focused on the success of a classroom coming from making great lesson plans, having a structured syllabus, and being able to manage the classroom. I was putting all of the pressure on myself, and not taking into consideration that “learning is primarily a personal construct controlled by the individual learner”. I also really liked the quote by Dick Allwright stating that classroom instruction is “the interactive process whereby learning opportunities are created.” I think it is important to discuss with your students in advance that in order for the class to be successful, they need to take advantage and participate in these learning opportunities.

It makes sense that as teachers we should be making necessary changes to our lesson plans according to “how the lesson is unfolding”. I thought it was interesting when the chapter stated that as the teacher makes these changes, it is providing opportunities for the teacher to explain something in the target language. This makes for an environment when learners ask questions using the target language, and are creating potential learning for the entire classroom.

I liked the idea of the “built-in-syllabus”. I think this is something that I would like to try with my students, as it lays out important material, and the students can choose that they want to learn about. I think that this will make for an excellent learning environment because the students know from the start that they are taking part in the learning process by choosing what they learn. This will also help them to create their own path to learning.

I loved the quote that “textbooks should function as source-books rather than course-books.” All of my life in school the teacher has played the role of the 'information giver', and as students we played the role of basically memorizing the textbook glossary. Sadly, nothing more was ever expected of us. I believe that in language learning both teacher and student have to be in the learning process 100% in order for a new language to be learned.I learned alot from this chapter on how to go about preparing for a lesson in my classroom, and I will be using these tactics in the future.