Perspective makes a difference. In previous courses, we had the opportunity to consider one particular skill or language function and build an activity or lesson in which we would guide learning experiences for our students. In last week's assignment, we had the opportunity to view the learning experiences from a more comprehensive perspective. The experience of considering the major, over-arching themes and objectives and then working downward was challenging, but instructive. It helped connect the ideas of flow that we discussed in our Grammar course to the idea of language learning in an entire course.
I suppose this experience made me more intensely aware that when we are planning the very specific elements of learning experiences, we also must always keep our learner's final objectives - through the design of main themes and focuses - within our sight.
I would like to take the opportunity to say that the University of Winnipeg program for teaching English as another language has been designed in a very effective way. It has encouraged us to look at the learning of language from many perspectives and provides opportunities to implement the ideas in detail. I am looking forward to the experience of the practicum, anxious to experience these issues in the classroom.
