Aprenentatge: a final reflection       

                                 

If I take a look the unit of work that I carried out during the Practicum, I would have to say I have learned a great deal from Aprenentatge, many of the concepts discussed throughout the modules have had an influence on me.

Looking at the different modules in Aprenentatge, I would cite Module One as the most inspiring, and more specifically how to approach teaching a secondary school class (which is also covered in various modules): teaching through competences and trying to make it as task-based as possible. I had never paid much attention to the different competences and how to incorporate them in the classroom. I was very traditional in this aspect. While I never religiously followed a textbook in my classes, the course book was my main source of classroom material and guide to the lessons. I never considered a different methodology. All the modules in Aprenentatge have, in some way or other, placed importance on constructivism and this was a totally new concept for me. The idea to provide real-world, case-based learning environments, focus on knowledge construction rather than reproduction, foster reflective practice, and support collaborative learning are just a few of the concepts which I had never really considered but do now very much reflect upon when preparing classroom activities. Even such simple concepts of seating arrangements have much more of a focus in my classes.

Taking assessment as the main focus of a unit of work also had never occurred to me, but it is something to which I give much importance now. Never before had I sat down to think of what I want my students to achieve at the end of a teaching unit, simply taking the progress test at the end of a unit as a guide to students’ progress. The focus of most unit tests is strongly grammar based and gives little importance to communication skills, especially oral communication skills. I feel if we want to improve language learning in Spain, and the level of oral communication, the method of assessment has to be completely overhauled and give much greater importance to oral communication in testing. If communicative skills are not given importance within summative assessment it will be very difficult to improve students’ competence in this area.

Oral competence was a big debate within the classes as it is such an important area but one in which many students have a poor level. Class size of schools in Spain obviously does not help the problem, but the article concerning the interview with Paul Seligson was most interesting and offers a few solutions to the problem: constant repetition of frames, both in class and at home (he also suggests the possibility of setting oral homework) and making oral communication as the main bulk of assessment, as previously mentioned. A worthy suggestion, I feel, was the reduction of the syllabus and streamline strategies. I think both teachers and students would welcome this with open arms, it is more important to get students to practice a few structures and know them well, rather than make sure they have been introduced to all the forms of the passive and conditional. “Less is more”, I like this quote and is something I’ll take away with me as a teacher.