World Language Teacher

Developing Your Skills as a World Language Teacher

Nearly every country in the world requires that a student not only have a basic knowledge of a second or even a third foreign language, but that a student must also be able to converse, read, and write in other world languages.  The United States, however, does not promote this belief as strongly as other nations.  Of course, high school students are required to take a semester or two of a foreign language, usually Spanish or French, in order to graduate.  And there is usually a foreign language requirement in most undergraduate college programs.  But how much do the students really learn?  Do they ever really find the material compelling at all?  Learning a foreign language goes far beyond learning the words that make it up.  There is a history and a culture behind the language that demonstrate its importance to the countries that speak it.  It is the responsibility of the teacher of the world language to embrace the culture and history of another language and share the knowledge in an attempt to captivate students.

First hand experience is the key to truly appreciating a world language.  By taking advantage of one of the many immersion programs abroad, a world language teacher can develop his or her skills, and be able to bring real life knowledge and experience to the classroom.    By taking the time to participate in this hands-on type of continuing education, a teacher will not only improve his or her world language skills, but he or she will have an opportunity to experience the culture firsthand – the sights, the smells, the sounds.  A Spanish teacher experiencing the day-to-day life in Madrid, where the language is natively spoken, is the ultimate experience to take back to students.  A teacher immersing him or herself in the foreign culture will allow him or her to better understand the conversational and idiomatic nuances of the language.  A French teacher interacting on a personal level with native Parisians will be able to impart his or her knowledge on to the students with expertise.  For a world language teacher taking part in an immersion program, he or she will grow to understand and appreciate the culture: the history, the art, the archaeology, the architecture, the food, the people, and the language.

For the instructor of world language, taking part in developmental training programs and seminars is another way to supplement his or her experience.  In these courses, instructors provide teachers with new insight into teaching methodologies, help to enhance teachers’ knowledge of the world language, stimulate improvement in teaching standards, and help teachers to develop more interesting curriculum that will serve to hold the interest and facilitate the learning process in students.  This is accomplished through seminars, role-play and testing.

A teacher of world language has a formidable task in the United States.  Not only is he or she faced with students who do not necessarily believe they need to learn a second language such as Spanish or French, but he or she is also faced with educational systems that do not advocate their own students being multilingual.  It is commonplace for most Asian and Western European students to not only learn English, but to really know it.  And in most countries abroad, students often know three or even four languages.  Being multilingual allows a student the opportunity to explore other literature and other cultures, and provides a multi-dimensional educational experience.  That is why it is so important for teachers of world languages to step up to the plate and arm themselves with the experiences and knowledge that will allow them to impart the excitement of learning about non-American cultures and languages on their students.  By studying abroad in immersion programs, and continuing their educations by attending workshops and seminars developed specifically for them, world language teachers will have all the tools to make learning a foreign language interesting and compelling.    www.foreign-languages-school.com

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