My journey through the four courses of this certificate program has been quite enlightening. I have thoroughly enjoyed the new information, reflection, activities, and processing involved.
In the first course, we learned quite a bit about language learning theory. Although I have taught language before and have a masters degree in education, I had not specifically studied the history and development of theory related to language learning in particular. It was enthralling and I learned a lot that will most definitely impact the approach I use in my classroom. We also learned about adult learners and their characteristics. I had studied this in some depth before, but it always surprises me how significant a role learning plays in the lives of adults, whether they recognize it or not.
Skills became our focus in the second course, where we learned, among other things, specific techniques for teaching listening, speaking, reading and writing. I discovered so many useful ideas and I made significant connections between the modalities and needs and progress assessments. Learning about the modalities, planning for activities and assessments was an essential part of my development as a language teacher.
We spent our third course with a focus on grammar and vocabulary. Although I didn't expect to, I enjoyed learning about the most effective ways to teach grammar and vocabulary. I learned many new ideas I intend to implement in the classroom with my future students. Through various exercises, we learned about planning, presenting, and practicing grammar, how and when to use error correction in an effective way and many new strategies for teaching vocabulary. This course was incredibly important because it dealt with an issue that many of us may avoid - dealing with grammar!
I anticipate the upcoming course will provide us with opportunities to synthesize and apply our prior learning and experiences to planning, presentation, and instruction along with assessment within a larger scope of an entire course. I am looking forward to the challenge of using my newly acquired knowledge in combination with previous experience to create better learning experiences for language learners.
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