Student Name: Xingxing Song
Revisited Teaching Philosophy
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” This Chinese proverb reflects my experience as a learner of the English language. Inspired by these early experiences as a student, as well as various professional developments and training as graduate student of teaching Chinese Language major, I now emphasize the following elements in my teaching to help my students acquire Chinese as a foreign language:
Clear goals, defined syllabi and dynamic lesson plans
I prepare goal-oriented syllabi to keep the courses on track, aiming for students’ progression in both oral communication and literacy. The goal-oriented syllabi are balanced and made flexible with instructional adjustment when new situations, problems and challenges arise.
Teaching culture through thematic content and collaborate with other teachers from other subject areas
Developing cultural understanding is as important a goal as developing language proficiency. “Chinese Culture” presented the diverse cultural perspectives, the social practice, and products of Chinese speaking societies. In studying the culture, teachers need to teach not only the history and geography of China, but also the Chinese people’s philosophical perspectives, their way of life, and contributions to the world.
In order to promote cross-cultural awareness and appreciation of Chinese language, I place learning in context, exposing real-life situations to students, using Internet technologies, language videos and cinema, and having students living or working in Chinese speaking environment. For instance, students may learn Chinese table manners and eating habits through field study in places such as Chinese restaurants or grocery stores, and may obtain more cultural information by browsing authentic Chinese websites.
I also incorporate thematic cultural content such as literature, history, architecture, common daily practices, habits and beliefs in my teaching, foment classroom discussions and encourage students to participate in cultural events. In order to provide professional history, art, music or geography lessons, and language teachers need to collaborate closely with other teachers from related subject areas, learn from them and discuss with them before designing lesson plans.
Student-Centered and Meaningful Activities
I believe that teaching should take into account students’ needs since motivation and attitude are important factors for students learning a foreign language. Teachers should provide communicative and collaborative activities in which students can construct their learning instead of merely receiving knowledge from teachers. With a student-centered approach, students can build their language skills through interactions with other students in a task and content base. As a teacher, I should engage each student in the learning process and be in the role of a facilitator rather than just a ‘transmitter’ of knowledge.
Instructional Technology
Technology can help a lot in the area of multiple intelligences. Multimedia materials easily available on the Web offer students with different learning styles and abilities a range of options to learn in the best way they can (Dickinson, 2000). The Web is finally making a huge amount of original language resources available to foreign language students. It is the teacher's job to plan meaningful tasks in which the students access those resources and find answers to problems.
Friendly, supportive learning environment
It is important to provide students with a friendly, supportive learning environment, I can help reduce their learning anxieties and therefore boost their learning progress.This philosophy is based upon my personal experience and on Krashen’s “affective filter hypothesis”, which states that anxiety, stress, or tension may hinder a learner’s ability to learn (Krashen, 1982).When students are relaxed, they will be able to focus on learning.In addition, when they have no fear of embarrassment or negative criticism, they will be more willing to express their ideas and participate in class.Thus, it is my goal to create an environment in which students feel comfortable to learn.
Differentiated Instruction
Teachers should not use a “cookie cutter” approach in which one mold fits all. Each student comes to the class with different experiences, learning styles, interests, preferences, and needs. A good teacher should consider these differences and provide various activities, curricula, and assessments to meet these different needs. I design different types of activities to help students with different learning styles. I conduct individual meetings with students who need help. I schedule tutoring sessions with low-performing students, and I design accommodated assessments for students with special needs.
Reflection on teaching
I firmly believe that a good teacher needs to constantly reflect his/her own teaching. Followings are three ways that I usually use to reflect on my teaching: 1) Teacher diary
After each lesson I write in a notebook about what happened, describe my own reactions and feelings and those I observed on students. And then I pose questions about what I have observed and tried to give my answers. 2) Recording lessons; Video or audio recordings of lessons can provide very useful information for reflection. I may do things in class you are not aware of or there may be things happening in the class that as the teacher I do not normally see. 3) Student feedback; I often use this way to do reflection. Teacher can ask students what they think about what goes on in the classroom. Their opinions and perceptions can add a different and valuable perspective. This can be done with simple questionnaires or learning diaries for example.
Once you have some information recorded about what goes on in your classroom, I will THINK to have ideas for changes to implement. I will TALK to supportive colleague to find out how to do things differently. I will READ related articles, magazines or books to find out more information about certain topic/area.at last, I will ASK and pose questions to websites to get ideas from other teachers.
Become a lifelong learner and a plan for professional growth
I believe a great teacher also a lifelong learner. It is my goal to do the best I can and to evolve continually as a teacher after graduation. For this reason, I have consistently invested in improving my teaching in many ways: through application of student feedback mechanisms, participation in professional development programs and research into teaching. In addition, I have been a volunteer teacher of STARTALK program for the past summer and I am currently a volunteer lead teacher of Rockville Chinese Sunday School. On one hand, through its workshops/seminars and publications, I have been exposed to a lot of emerging technologies in the fascinating field of second language acquisition and teaching foreign languages and how they relate to the needs of foreign language teachers and learners. On the other hand, I am constantly learning from my colleagues, from my students and from my own experience. This is what fuels my enthusiasm for teaching Chinese: each class presents new opportunities for mutual growth in how we understand language and culture. This is also evidence that I have initiated effort to collaborate with colleagues and other stakeholders to advocate for k-12 foreign language learning.
Another key point for becoming a lifelong learner is that teacher should find a good reason/rationale to constantly support their passion for teaching language. For me, the rationales for foreign language teaching are that I see the benefit of it.
1) Second language study benefits understanding and security in community and society
The benefits to society are many. Americans fluent in other languages improve global
Communication, enhance our economic competitiveness abroad, and maintain our political
And security interests. (Center for Applied Linguistics 2004)
2) Second language students score higher on standardized tests and benefits academic progress in other subjects
Strong evidence shows that time spent on foreign language study strongly reinforces the core
Subject areas of reading, English language literacy, social studies and math. Foreign language
learners consistently outperform control groups in core subject areas on standardized tests,
often significantly. (Armstrong & Rogers 1997)
3) Second language study promotes cognitive development:
Language learners show greater cognitive flexibility, better problem solving and higher order
thinking skills. (Hakuta 1986)
4) Second language study promotes affective development
Children in effective early second language programs show overall gains on standardized tests of basic skills, and derive additional cognitive, social, and affective benefits. (Taylor-Ward, 2003)
Drawing from my knowledge of teaching Chinese and personal experience as an ESL student, I have come to the conclusion that, regardless of one’s teaching backgrounds, a teacher needs to keep an open mind about the different teaching approaches, methods, and techniques.I believe that as I gain more knowledge and experience in teaching Chinese Language, my teaching philosophy will continue to evolve for the better.
References
Dickinson(2002),Technology That Enhances Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence.
Stephen D Krashen(1982), Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition
Center for Applied Linguistics (2004): Why, How, and When Should My Child Learn a Second Language? http://www.cal.org/resources/pubs/whyhowwhen_brochure.pdf
Armstrong, P.W. and J.D. Rogers. (1997). Basic Skills Revisited: The Effects of Foreign Language Instruction on Reading, Math and Language Arts.” Learning Languages, Spring. 20-31.
Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of language. New York: Basic Books. http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/khakuta/research/publications/
Taylor-Ward, C., J. (2003). The relationship between elementary school foreign language study in grades three through five and academic achievement on the iowa tests of basic skills (ITBS) and the fourth-grade louisiana educational assessment program for the 21st century (LEAP 21) test. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Louisiana State University.