Reflection # 3

What is my learning style? I think I’m mainly an auditory learner in the sense that I learn by discussing or listening to discussions. I’m also visual because I find that graphic information such as graphs and pictures help me understand and memorize. In terms of multiple intelligences (I took the test several years ago), I’m first of all verbal with logical and musical sharing the second place. When I learn, I like words, patterns, rules and making logical connections. I learn by listening, talking (even if only in my head, because I think in words), classifying and analyzing info and connecting pieces.

My teaching style is eclectic. On one extreme, I like teaching patterns and “rules”, but I like them only to be used as tools that enable us to manipulate info on our own. For example, the way I use and teach grammar (any language grammar) free learners from grammar dependency and rotten memorization by giving “tricks” that can be applied to a wide range of situations. For example, conjugation in romance languages is essential and usually boring, but I like to show the common aspects of conjugation so that learners can decide by themselves how to conjugate any given verb or how to determine to which category a given verb belongs, even when we don’t know a verb. By knowing certain rules (or “tricks”), and depending on the language, a person can determine if a sentence (or paragraph) is referring to the past, the present or the future; if it’s referring to one or more people, if it’s a command or a wish, etc. So, I teach “rules”, but in a very creative way so that they can be used creatively. I also like using a variety of materials and settings: magazines, role-playing, writing, music, TV shows, etc. I like using “listen and repeat” which is traditionally a very boring method, but I use rhythm and music to make it fun and to help with memorization. For example, I like teaching the Spanish vowels a-e-i-o-u using the “clave” beat (this is the base of the Son Cubano music) and having students clap or use pencils or whatever to create the rhythm. In order to reach students with different learning styles and also to present information in more than one way and have them repeat, practice and use the language without making it boring, I like using as many different resources as I can, even drawing (not in my list of talents J) and coloring.

Learners’ believes. When students disrespect languages it’s very difficult to have them learn. However, teachers can help them see the language from a different perspective, so if they think the language is unimportant or even “stupid”, that there’s no point in studying it, etc, the teacher could show that learning it can at least be “kind of fun”. When I was doing my student teaching at a middle school, there was a boy, Daniel, who was taking Spanish because his father forced him to. He reacted to this imposition by NEVER speaking in class, not even to answer to role taking. He had spent the whole first semester sitting in Spanish class silently and expressionless. Then during the second semester, I took over and started doing games, having them move around, taking them outside the classroom for some activities and they were having fun! One day Daniel wanted to take part in one of our games (a kind of Bingo that you fill out with the answers you get from others) but sadly, he didn’t have the background necessary to do the activity. If I had been his teacher from the beginning of the year, I believe that he would have gotten involved with the class and would have forgotten about his “revenge- against-dad strategy”.

When I get students (or parents) with negative believes about languages, I tend not to preach, but to try to “get” them somewhere they may care, either “hooking” them with the fun or somehow validating (accepting) their resistance and letting them know that despite their dislike or their lack of “talent” (“I don’t like Spanish” or “I’m not good at languages”), they can still “pass”, and hey, who doesn’t want to pass? Many times, my approach is “don’t worry about you not liking Spanish or about you not being good at it, just do it one step at a time with my help, and you’ll pass”, “It’s fine, don’t worry, I’m the same way with math and algebra, but I still passed”, “even if you forget everything you learned here, don’t worry, just learn it now, I understand, I forgot all my math too”. By validating their fears, disinterest and/or lack of linguistic talent, and just having them focus on the present, teachers can (many times) get reluctant students engaged. After all, not everybody likes all subjects and not everybody is good at everything, that’s why there are so many theories on learning styles, personalities and intelligences.