Describing Learners

Saturday, June 6

Federico Arteaga C. TEFL Diploma, Centro Colombo Americano 2009

Session objectives  To celebrate language.  To explore what learning has meant to

teachers and elucubrate on what it means to students.  To share knowledge on metalinguistics and learner strategies.  To develop a sensible system that allows students to make sense of their own language learning process.

Thoughts on your learning  What was your first meaningful

learning practice?  What was your first meaningful teaching experience?  When you were learning, what were your favorite resources?  Now that you’re teaching, what are your most used resources?

Thoughts on your learning  When you were studying, what were your

normal complaints about the process?  Now that you’re teaching, what do your students normally complain about?  Do you recall keeping a sort of record of your progresses during your training?  Do your students keep ANY kind of record in the course of their lives?

Thoughts on your learning  What kind of student were you?  What kind of students do you have?  What is something you learned how

to do by yourself?  What do you wish you had learned to do by yourself?  Do you know about anything your stundents have learned on their own?

Promoting autonomy (Sarah Cotterall)  The course should reflect the learners’ goals

in its language, tasks and strategies.  The course tasks should be explicitly linked to a simplified model of the learning process.  Course tasks should replicate real-world communicative tasks (or provide rehearsal for such).  The course should promote reflection on learning.

Developing autonomy

Learning to learn how we learn.

Developing autonomy

Teacher dependence. Ineterdependence. Independence.

Alternatives to journal writing  Short statements describing current states

(Facebook “what’s on your mind?” Twitter “what are you doing now?”)  High and low (reflections on the events of the day, the week, a class, etc.)  A yell-out board (uncensored, anonymous exhaust pipe for students).  Telegrams, strings of lies, bumper stickers, semaphor signs.

THANK YU Federico Arteaga C. asmodeus.cama@gmail. com