The use of L1 and L2 in class.

“I also enhanced my understanding that there was a difference between using translation as a method and using the L1 system as a reference for students, a facilitator”. (Isabela) I believe that this statement says it all. I agree with Isabela that translating a word in class in order to help students learn better is not a big problem, the problem is to translate every sentence; every word. Otherwise the purpose of learning English and practicing it would be lost.

I have been working as an English teacher for almost 13 years, and before working here at the Casa I worked in a school where Portuguese and English could be in the same sentence, but simple commands were spoken in English; on the other hand, big sentences could be “mixed”, for example: Ana, você trouxe seu homework? (For kids and juniors). And if students did not understand a word; teachers could speak English-Portuguese-English in which we called “sandwich”, for example: flats-sapatilhas-flats. So, when I started working at Thomas I thought that no matter what E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G should be spoken in English even if students did not understand a word. And one day, I was being observed by an experienced observer and my students were learning clothes; most of the class did not understand the word “sweatshirt” they got confused, they kept asking me “teacher, but and sweater? Is it the same? And coat?” and I gave my best to explain it; I showed them the pictures, but they did not get it. So during our post, she told me “Vivian, if your students don’t understand something and you explain it over and over; it is ok to say: sweatshirt- casaco because we could see that they were confused”.

Later on, we talked a bit more and from that day on I understood that a thumbs-up for translation is when it is used in class in order to help students learn the language, but quickly. However, what is the purpose of teachers speaking Portuguese in class? Students do not receive much input and the more Portuguese in class teachers speak the more students will speak too.

Another issue is, how much should teachers speak in class? Well, this is a tough question but I prefer to ask how much should students speak in class? Since, students are in class to learn, to produce; they should participate more, speak more; they should be there not only as a receiver but as a producer too. If teachers speak all the time, students can get bored and they will receive only the input and their output would be poor. I believe that there must be a balance between TTT and STT.

Before teaching grammar, teachers should think what approaches to use in class; if they are effective and what tools to help achieve their goals. Jeremy Harmer says that the vast majority of students of English benefit from a teacher-mediated focus on specific language forms, but why and how? I believe that when he mentioned this, he was giving the example of two approaches: deductive and inductive, strategies to facilitate our students’ learning process and the role of the teacher in class.

To start with, these approaches are very distinct from each other. In a deductive class, the teacher introduces and teaches the concept and then students do a task according to what they have learned. There is no time for them to come up with their own conclusion about grammar rules; in other words, teachers spoon-feed them. Another issue is that the class is very teacher-centered, which means that the teacher speaking time is very high and there is no interaction between teacher and students.

On the other hand, the inductive approach is the opposite of the previous one. I use the inductive approach in my classes because it guides students to notice the grammar and they come up with the rules by themselves; I give lots of examples to enhance my explanations; I drill and model the patterns before asking individually. Using it gives more opportunity for the students to practice the language and remember the pattern later. For example; my Junior 3 is learning present continuous, but I did not introduce the grammar by explaining it; I showed some pictures; then I asked: “What is she doing?” some of them answered and others did not; however, we practiced a lot until everybody had understood. I asked them to choose one action, draw and write about it. Later on, some volunteers showed the pictures to their classmate. The class asked: “What are you doing?” then the student answered: “I am____”. By the end of the class they were able to understand the meaning of present continuous and how to write accurately.

Furthermore, not only do I have to choose which approach to use, but also the activities, materials and other tools too. Jeremy Harmer suggests that we need to offer a varied diet of exercise to our students. While planning a lesson, I always keep in mind that my classes must be effective. I always think about activities that increase my students’ knowledge and how they can benefit from the exercise.

However, how should I plan classes in order to classes be effective? As my students are beginners, I use the straight arrow lesson procedure; first, I engage them; for instance, I show pictures and ask them to tell me the words, then I drill by saying different voices. For the second step, I present a dialogue and they have to practice listening and reading, listening and repeating and then role playing. Finally, I activate their schemata, so I ask students in pairs to create their own dialogue using the grammar point presented and the vocabulary learned.

In conclusion, effective classes are those that let students think and come up with their grammar “rules”; teachers should let their neurons connect by themselves instead of spoon-feeding them because when teachers make students “discover” the language and the grammar point and use it in a context; they will remember more than those who only memorize patterns and structures.