THE SILENT WAY

This method was developed in the early 60's by Gattegno, which the teachers are mostly silent and use as their main teaching tools rods and charts. In this particular methor, teaching should be subordinated to learning and the students should be able to use the language for self-expression, which pretends to make them intependent people by relying on themselves. 

AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD

-          It has its origins in 40’s

o   Foreign language teaching is a process of mechanical habit formation, especially for those one who were in the army.

o   It came from Ferdinard de Saussure.

o   Listening and reading after the teacher. “repeat after me”. (as little children do when they say for the very first time “daddy”)

o   Use of drills: Mechanical oral exercises.

o   Teacher-centered.

o   Grouping of students: group, pairs.

o   Thanks to the WW2 advances in technology, new devices appeared, and it supposed an evolve in education (recorder)

o   Language laboratory: New technology caught publishers and text-book writers unprepared.

o   Prevent errors as they can remember.  (if communication is not affect, don’t correct  the children). 

SUMMING UP

-          Learning by heart.

-          Written exercises.

-          Probably students don’t know what they are writing about and why.

Mechanical exercise

-          Use of memory.

-          Should be dealt with first orally.

Usually, the mechanical exercise that are done in class are based on the use of memory, so the only way possible it’s learn by hard.

We’ve seen a video exposing how this method works, where the teacher has started with a presentation of the lesson (how it’s going to be developed). The second stage is the input, which the students are given the time to understand the role play. Then they must repeat after the teacher. As the sentences are very long, they are divided in parts.

Our pupils must see how we articulate our mouth; this will help them to learn the language. 

DIRECT METHOD

This method is based on:

1.                        Second language is the linchpin of the communication (not Spanish is allowed).

2.                        Vocabulary and sentences are focus on quotidian life.

3.                        Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression…

4.                         Grammar was taught inductively.

5.                         New teaching points were introduced orally.

6.                        Using demonstrations, objects and picture to teach vocabulary.

7.                         Listening and Speaking are set as the main aim of the lessons.

8.                        Correct pronunciation and grammas were emphasized

What are its main objectives?

What a teacher wants to get with this method is promote conversation and discussion in classroom using the target language, so the mother tongue is completely forbidden (Unless the students could benefit from it) in order to being successful in this aim, moreover listening and oral production becomes really important whereas translation and grammar rules are ignored.

How is a lesson like?

A topic, which is usually from real life situations, is presented in the target language and then we start to introduce the vocabulary, so they have to reap it whatever in chorus, whole class together, groups or rows. Imagination is the main key.

Using a huge range of resources will help out pupils to learn the concepts better. Check the following examples:

• ·         Songs
• ·         Games
• ·         Mime
• ·         Objects
• ·         Visual aids (charts, posters, etc)

GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD

The method we’re going to study has its origin in the way Latin and Greek is taught, and contains the following items:  

There are some aspects that characterize Grammar-translation method:

1                                          1. The use of the second language in class is reduced only to translations. The lessons are                         completely given in Spanish.

2                                            2.   If you want to learn the vocabulary, you have to memorize it out of a context.

3                                            3 .Listening and speaking has not room in the lessons.

                  4.  Grammar and syntax are the linchpin for everything related to English learning.

Actually this method is not valid for Schools, due to the lack of comuncation that presents,.

Acquisition vs. Learning / Introduction to Methods

It’s clear that Education is not the same everywhere; each place has their particular characteristics which are taken from their society and that are the reasons why the curriculum is adapted to that specific community too.

Krashen pointed the difference between acquisition and learning.

• ·   Acquisition is understood as the way people acquire the first language by processes and strategies.
• ·         Learning refers to conscious and guided knowledge of second or foreign language.

Acquisition occurs when we accept the language as a part of us and we don’t consider it something that must be studied or learnt, but a important piece in our lives, which that not occur with the foreign one because we treat it as a subject that must be passed and not something significant for our world. 

If you want to show a great range of language materials, based on a strong relationship between the practice and the theory, you must use a Language learning method, which consists of three levels:

WHICH METHODS ARE WE GOING TO READ ABOUT?

What do I need to become an English teacher?

First of all we must consider English is not our first language, so it’s very important to accept the idea of being student for our whole life due to the continuous changes and upgrades in both Education and languages. It’s obvious that the first one is developing by all the scholars that help to improve it day-to-day. But, how can English evolve? Actually it’s very simple to answer this question, because everyday new concepts are introduced in this language, most of them coming from technological fields such as social networks or media. So, an English teacher must have a double role in Education, one as teacher and another as student.

Not only that attitude is needed, but there must be other important things, for instance:

•          A perfect knowledge of what their students need to learn by knowing their interests.
•          Respect for any other culture, sex, opinion, and so on.

Besides, communicative skills are really significant, and must be composed by: 

Do you really want to teach English? Don’t miss these tips:

• .      Make room for English in your life. Listen to the radio, watch your favorite TV serial in V.O., read a book, write a letter, etc.
• .      Try to begin a file and start filling it with as much English stuff as possible, whatever songs, books, news, activities, games …).
• .   Methodology is basic for English formation, so look for activities, funny games, ICT resources…)

Take into account that English learning has specific procedure and follows the next sequence:

Foreign language vs. Second Language

These two terms are always confusing, maybe because we don't even have them clear in our mother tongue. Both are commonly used to refer another language that is learned at school, but actually they don’t have the same meaning. Let's have an example, their relationship is the same that ceiling and roof, they mean “techo” in Spanish, but there is a little difference that distinguishes them both.

• ·                The ceiling is the part that delimits the room in its upper zone.
• ·                A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building.

So, that’s the same as second and foreign, both refer to a language apart from our native one, but there is a little hint that separate them completely:

 We talk about a second language when we want to point a language that is useful for our quotidian life, for instance, in Ceuta, the muslin population has Dariya as mother tongue, which is spoken at home, and Spanish as second one, which is used for Education.

The foreign language is learnt for pleasure, not for the necessity of communication in our day-to-day.

In my case, my second language is English, which I use for reading, studying, watching TV and working, and Italian is a foreign language I am learning, because I don’t use it in my quotidian life currently.

To sum up, what we want to teach is a complete functional second language and make our students capable of managing in different situations, from using a social network to reading news on a newspaper, completely in English.