The 10 Commandments For Language Learning

The document discusses concept learning and how it is evident when a student masters a concept, similar to seeing a lightbulb turn on. It states that concept learning occurs for students of all ages as concrete knowledge turns into abstract understanding. Complex concepts involve understanding how things interact in the world. Fostering concept learning involves inquiry, discovery, examples, questioning, and discussion to help students make conceptual leaps. Experience is also important for concept learning.

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The 10 Commandments For Language Learning

Uploaded by

Johanifa Indar Banisil

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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THE 10 COMMANDMENTS FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING

Commandment #1: Do not fear

As teachers, we should strive to lower our students’ inhibitions. Most will come to the classroom
with raised inhibitions and fears that will prevent them from taking the necessary risks that must
be taken in order to try out and test the new language. How can we do this? Incorporate
guessing games, communication games, role plays, skits and songs! Use group work as they will
feel more comfortable speaking in the TL with each other as opposed to being called on in front
of the class. Lastly, talk to them. Explain that it’s normal to feel some anxiety with something
new, and that it’s ok. Help them to feel comfortable to come and talk to you when they feel this
way. Have a list of strategies that you can give them that will help them take ownership of their
learning. Laura Lee of Señora Lee: For the Love of Spanish has written about the Fear Factor in
her blog and offers some great advice.

Commandment #2: Take risks

We need to encourage risk taking in the language! Praise students for their efforts to
communicate in the language no matter how rudimentary it is. Make sure to not correct every
error in the classroom or students will lose their motivation to try. Strive to only correct those
errors that interfere with learning or understanding. Give outside of class assignments to speak
or write and test out the language in non-threatening ways.

Commandment #3: Believe in yourself

Build your students’ self-confidence. TELL them that you believe in them. TELL them that they
have the ability to speak the language. TELL them that they are making great strides. TELL them
that you are proud of them. Many of our students simply do not get the praise they need from
home… we need to be their cheerleaders and lift their spirits! By the way… not only must we use
verbal communication, but SMILE and be receptive in non-verbal ways as well. Let the students
themselves make inventories of what they have learned or accomplished so far in the
course. Many times, seeing where you’ve come from and where you’ve managed to go will do
wonders for self-esteem.

Commandment #4: Get motivated

Remind your students about the rewards for learning the language! You can have them do a web
quest and report back to the class on what they have learned. Here is a great website to have
your students investigate the many benefits of learning a
language: http://languagelearningfacts.com/ You can also tell them about the jobs in which the
language will aide them, or have them investigate job postings on line that require a bilingual
applicant. Help them to see rewards beyond getting a good grade in the class or passing a
requirement for graduation. The Internet TESL journal offers some great insights into
motivation in this article entitled “Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language
Classroom”: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Thanasoulas-Motivation.html

Commandment #5: Love your neighbor

Promote cooperative learning in the classroom. Students learn and retain information better
when they share it with another. Get the class to think of themselves as a team. Have them do
small group work as well as work in pairs. Teach them, by being their role model, to cheer one
another on in the target language. Looking for ideas of how to get your students to bond? Fellow
SSS collaborator, Catharyn Crane, talks about creating good vibes in Spanish class in her blog
found here: http://www.solazucar.com/2015/07/creating-good-vibes-in-spanish-class.html
Commandment #6: See the big picture
Encourage your students to use right-brain processing. Help them to get the big picture by using
movies and audio in class. Read in class, do skimming activities, do free writes such as a diary,
and oral fluency exercises where you encourage speech without fear of correction. Help them to
see that communication and understanding is the goal… not perfect language.

Commandment #7: Tolerate the unknown

Tolerance is a word used a lot in today’s world… it’s something that our students are very
familiar with. Use this to your advantage and teach tolerance in the classroom… for
ambiguity. Help them to understand that it’s ok to not understand every single word. This is
normal and that they can still understand the message. Teach them strategies to figure out
meaning from context and to ask for clarification in speech. Keep explanations brief and don’t
be scared to use English to briefly explain or clarify something that is conceptual and difficult to
convey via the TL and comprehensible input.

Commandment #8: Be intuitive

Teach students to use their intuition. Praise them for good guesses. Help them to see patterns
in the language so that they can make educated guesses. You do not always need to explain
errors explicitly, but rather show examples of the pattern, so that the students themselves can
figure out the problem.

Commandment #9: Discover your mistakes

Do not always correct the mistakes made in class… let the students discover their own
mistakes. Ask the class if they see anything that needs to change. Have them peer correct a
writing assignment and give feedback to their classmates. Have them make a list of their
common errors and have them put the list in their notebooks to look at before turning in an
assignment.

Commandment #10: Set personal goals

Get your students to make goals for themselves beyond the classroom. Try to get them to commit
to a certain amount of time to devote to the language outside of class… whether through study,
oral practice, written practice or reading. There are so many options today for our students…
Skype, Facebook, educational sites on the internet, etc. Autonomous language learning ideas can
be found in The Interent TESL Journal article entitiled “Motivation and Learner
Autonomy: Activities to Encourage Independent Study”: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Nowlan-
Autonomy.html You can even have them make a contract listing what they hope to accomplish
each week. Check in with them periodically to see how they are doing and give them rewards
for their work… students LOVE extra credit!
Concept Learning: Seeing
the Lightbulb Come On
 DECEMBER 8, 2012
Concept learning is a type of learning that you can almost see happening. When a student
masters a concept, it is like watching a light bulb turn on. On the one hand, it makes it quite
simple to assess that student has mastered the concept; however, oftentimes it is getting
them there which is the real challenge.

Conceptual learning happens for students of all ages. It is the moment when something you
concretely know turns into something you abstractly understand. For instance, the first time
a child sees a dump truck hauling off rubbish and asks what happens to that trash, they are
approaching the precipice of some concept learning. If that moment is fostered with
questions such as “Do you think it goes into the ocean?” or “Do you think it goes into the
land?” the child might start to really think about where the trash goes, and start to
understand the concept of environmental waste.

Concepts become increasingly complex as we get older and experience life’s intersecting
interests. A concept in action such as government can generate thinking about concepts
such as taxation. This is what is referred to as a defined concept and its associated
concepts. In high school, students are expected to start developing this line of thinking.
Scaffolding acronyms like SPICE are meant to remind students to think about the Social,
Political, Intellectual, Cultural and Economic implications of an event in history helping them
to explore a concept and its associated concepts from an organized approach.

Complex concepts are the interactions and understandings that we develop about how
things work in the world and society. Doing business is an area where complex concepts
about accepted practices guide our trust in the system, but also give a form to the
boundaries from which innovation can grow. On one level, the world which we know is
increasingly abstracted into a web-based form allowing services and opportunities for social
and professional connections to come into existence. Pushing the boundaries of the concept
of doing business, and transferring it to an entirely new platform seemed like science -fiction
years ago, but is well within our conceptual understanding today.

The keys to successful concept learning are fairly straightforward. Inquiry and discovery are
at its heart. Examples and models are useful. Questioning and discussion often switch the
light bulb on, as well. Even a simple word can trigger the next great conceptual leap. Mostly
though, in this realm of learning, experience really counts.