By 2008, I attended couple of teacher trainings
arranged by CTA. I learned some teaching techniques. In 2008 I attended a
training by Mrs. Vyjayanthi Raman (PUSD), and Dr. Kumar (SJSU).
Dr. Kumar explained the basics of language
education. He talked about Language skill vs Literacy skill, the challenges of
teaching Tamil to the kids in the diaspora etc. That was exciting. We need to
learn this. Got interested in learning more on language education. Mrs.
Vyjayanthi told us a story in French without using a single word in Tamil or
English. We all could understand that story. How was that possible. She said
that technique was called TPRS.
So, I have two things to learn; basics of
language education, and TPRS. I am sure there is more to it. These two ideas
were appealing to me and I felt these are very relevant to us.
Where do I start? Need to learn from the books
and other resources. Which book shall I read? Dr. Kumar mentioned some of the books
he wrote, and one of them is Beyond Methods.
I bought this book and started reading. I got the
idea somewhat. I am a software developer by profession and I could read and
enjoy technical books. But, this was my first book outside my area of expertise.
In addition, my English knowledge is limited. So, it was not that easy for me
to grasp the full idea from this book. I had to read few times. Then I
understood the basics. My favorite chapter in this book is Maximizing Learning
Opportunity. This is a great book.
Mrs. Vyjayanthi talked about TPRS. So, I bought
the book on TPRS written by the developer of this method. Wow, we can teach so
much language just using stories! This is great! We don’t need to put the kids
through the drill of memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules, and doing all
those worksheets, etc? Much better then!
This is an easy reader. I did not have to read
multiple times. I understood the concept, ideas, and the technique. Still there
was a question in mind. If I use this method, how do I know the result will be
good? What language education research/study supports this approach?
My search continued. All along I had one question
in my mind. I spent about 10 years learning English in school. I could not
speak English at all. However, some of my neighbors, even those who did not go
to school, could learn Hindi in about 12 months after they moved to Bombay. How
is that possible?
Another book by the same author is:
This is a good book to build conversation skill.
But, looks like it is more suitable for teenage and adult learners. Sure, we
can customize it to young learners.
I continued to read more books. I came across a
linguist called Dr. Stephen Krashen. So, I read about him and his work. He
talks about 5 hypothesis of language acquisition. That was the first time I
came across the phrase “Language Acquisition”. His hypothesis came close to how
we acquire our first language. This also answered my question above. So, I read
the following book.
This is a small book with lots of technical
details. I read this with patience. I understood something now. This is the one
I need to understand and follow more. This approach is not without any
criticism of course. This alone is not going to solve all our problems. But,
explains the concepts, gives an approach, and some techniques. I am sold on
this. Dr. Krashen talks highly about TPRS. I remember TPRS from Vyjayanthi’s
training and the book. So, I went back and read TPRS book again. This made lots
of sense. When I watched Mrs. Vyjayanthi’s training video again, I heard lots
of principles of Krashen in her talk.
There was one thing I missed from the TPRS book
when I read it first time. In the introduction the author tells why he
developed this technique. He says the TPR method developed by Dr. James Asher
is great, but students get bored after few months doing just actions. Oh, there
is something called TPR? Interesting. Let me read about it. So, I checked out
the book from the library.
I was pleasantly surprised to see how much
research went into this field using psychology. I started believing I
understand a little about language education. I also started believing and
agreeing we are doing it all the other way so far. This is the reason I could
not speak English even after learning the language for 10+ years in school. The
students in our Tamil school are also in a similar situation. We need to change
it. What should we do?
These books convinced me that this is what I was
looking for and it confirms to the belief of how we acquire a language
naturally.
This book is very similar to the Language
Acquisition book mentioned above.
Agreed that all these authors will talk only
their side of the story and support only their own theories, obviously. So, I
wanted to know about the popular methods out there and unbiased opinion of
those methods. So, I read this book:
After reading this book, I was convinced that
Krashen’s comprehension hypothesis though under criticism by other scholars is
the way to go for our need. Came across another similar book that gave the
opinion of another language expert in a similar way.
You can pick and read the books depending on what
you believe or what you want to believe about language education. As N. S
Prabhu says there is no one single best method in language teaching. Decide
your goal, and pick the approach that helps you reach that goal, and use the
techniques of that approach. One cannot really say here is one approach that
you can take and teach a language for every situation.
Few other books of interest are:
There is a belief that Homework is important. We all believe too.
Alfie Kohn claims in this book that the homework is an additional burden that
does not add any learning value.
I am not sure if I agree with this or not. But, the fact that
Finland, one of the top countries in education does not give any homework (or
very little) makes me believe Alfie may be right.
In another book The Schools Our Children Deserve, Alfie also claims
the tests are not worth the time and investment. I agree with this
completely.
Again Finland does not give tests until the age 16 and they are in
the top in the world! How is that!
Instead of formal testing, I prefer to do formative assessment.
Now that everyone talks about how great the education in Finland is,
I wanted to find out all the wonderful things they do. They must be working
very hard to be in that position, right?
It is quite contrary. They do less and achieve more. They start
Kindergarten at the age of 7, they give no (or little) homework, no test
until age 16, lots of freedom for teachers, etc.
Wow, How is that possible. So, I wanted to understand. I read this book.
I understood what they do. Still not convinced with the plan and the
result. Still puzzled. So, wanted to know what they do in their classrooms.
So, I read this book, and I think I understood.
Less is more.
Student Centered.
Lots of fun
Learning by Doing.
No micro level standardization of curriculum. Plenty of teacher
flexibility.
And more.
I still can’t claim I understand Finnish education completely; my
knowledge is only though books and youtube. I am really interested in
visiting Finland and get the experience in person.
One of the primary characteristics of Progressive Education is Learning
By Doing. You can read this book (not my favorite though) to understand the
concept.
Need to engage students with interesting and challenging projects. This
book gives lots of ideas for different ages and different skill levels. A good
resource.
While searching for interesting games, I came across this book. I just
bought and started reading. Don’t have much comments on this yet.
This book gives plenty of ideas to use flashcards to teach a language in
a fun way. Used some of the activities. This free book is a good resource
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