A travel of reflection
through Technology-Enhanced Project Based Language Learning
DIANA'S INTRODUCTION
Hello! My name is Diana. I am 21 years old, and currently studying my 4th –and last- year of the Primary School Teacher degree (discover more about me in the video below).
My English career path as a student has been long. I started studying the language when I was 3, and I have been always really motivated and willing to learn more and more. At school, I remember learning with flashcards, playing games and singing songs in the English lessons. In fact, I still remember the lyrics of the songs, and I think that it is really positive and denotes that I was enjoying the learning activities.
Once I finished Primary School, I participated in some programs to study abroad such as a school exchange in the USA, a summer course in the UK and an Erasmus in Finland. Those experiences have helped me in many different ways, either personally and professionally. But specially, I would like to remark my learning process in attaining fluency and finding resources to make myself understandable in the foreign language.
My experience tells me that communication is the basis in every language relation. I have studied a lot of English grammar and academic English but when it comes to a conversation, I have had problems when being abroad. Thus, in my opinion, teaching English at the school should be focused mainly on communication. But this is not enough. There are many other things to take into account in the teaching-learning process. Therefore, to be a good English teacher does not seem an easy task…
As teachers, we are asked to have a huge amount of skills. According to the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages. A reflection tool for language teacher education (2007), we should consider several aspects as FLT (Foreign Language Teachers). I have selected some important competences that I want to achieve through this course and in the near future:
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A good teacher knows how to plan lessons. She can:
- Vary and balance activities to enhance and sustain the learners’ motivation and interest and to respond to individuals learners’ learning styles, etc. -
A good teacher knows how to integrate technologies into his teaching. She can:
- Organise integrative interaction in order for students to engage with ‘distanced partners’ in collaborative problem- and project-based learning. -
A good teacher knows how to assess. She can:
- Analyse learners’ errors and identify the processes that may cause them and provide constructive feedback to learners concerning their errors.
- Deal with errors that occur in class (both spoken and written) in a way which supports learning processes and communication. -
A good language teacher must know her supporting role She can:
- Critically assess his teaching on the basis of experience, learner feedback and learning outcomes and adapt it accordingly.
- Accept feedback from his peers and mentors and build this into his teaching, etc.
Having seen all the competences and having selected some of them which I think are essential, I can reflect on them to see where I am starting from. I think that I somehow know how to work following the project-based approach, but I have never seen this methodology applied to foreign language teaching. And neither I have applied it as a teacher in a school, so therefore I have not been able to reflect on my own teaching practice. However, I have no idea on how technology can help to learn a foreign language, and I do not know how to use it. Moreover I do not know to respond to the different learning styles, and make suittable activities for all kinds of learners. About the assessment, I know some kinds of formative assessment but I have never thought about how to apply it in a foreign language.
I hope that by taking this course, I will be able to understand some aspects –not all of them- that I have mentioned and also improve my teaching skills, specially concerning technology and foreign language teaching. Let's begin! :)
