Question:
truly apologize if this is an inappropriate place for this! In 4
4 weeks I will be going to teach Englsih in Poland on a volunteer basis.
The kids will range in age from 8 to 15. Although I have taught at the
college level, I have NO EXPERIENCE teaching English as a second
language. ANY suggestions on what I should read? Any practical sugg-
estions for lesson plans? The general approach I should take?
Answer:
I double-highly recommend any of the books by Stephen Krashen. His basic
thesis is that foreign language COMPETENCE is not so much learned as
acquired. (There's a qualitative difference between learning the ins and
outs of a language's grammar and the learning to be a competent
speaker/writer). He's been active in the foreign language field for about
20 years now, and has an extensive body of work published.
I also suggest learning from your colleagues in Poland. Many many many
years ago, as I traveled around Europe as a student vacationer, I was
impressed many times by the foreign language skills of the Eastern
Europeans I met from Czechoslovakia and Poland. Their instructors should
have some good tips, then
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