September 15 post

The article that I particularly enjoyed this week was “The end of CLT: A context approach to language.” I found this extremely interesting because I completely agreed with it, yet it was a concept I had never thought much about. In many of my TESOL classes here at ISU I have learned that CLT really can be formed to work in any context. I never thought much about the term “context” but after reading this article I am realizing that this term is something to be noticed. I agree that CLT should be a part of the teaching process, but teachers absolutely have to adapt their lessons based on the context of the class. I think that this idea was also a major theme in Chapter 3. The chapter continually mentioned that a set-in-stone lesson plan, materials, and syllabus, was a bad idea because students could very well change this plan. I think that, although the textbook did not say this, they were also touching on this idea that context is extremely important. For example, they showed many examples where a teacher would disregard a student comment because it was getting off task or was irrelevant, therefore cutting off a learning opportunity. I think it is important to remember that as an ESL teacher the context in which you are teaching very often strays away from the lesson plan because to your students, everything in America will be new.

I also liked that the chapter dealt with maximizing learner opportunities. Obviously this is extremely important, but I think that once you actually get in the classroom it would be easy to miss one of these opportunities. For example, I am an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant at the ELI and I found myself often times trying to get back on task. However, as I read this textbook and the more I think about all of my past experiences, I am realizing that sometimes straying away from the lesson will actually teach the students more. I found the examples very interesting and a good way to put the entire lesson into a context.