Communicative Language teaching emphasizes learning through communicative interaction among learners in the classroom. But in addition to providing opportunities for communicative language practice, successful teaching involves creating favorable conditions for language learning to take place. Drawing on observations of experienced teachers and conversations with them about their practice, five core principles effective language teachers refer to in their teaching will be discussed and the classroom practices that reflect these principles in action.
Opportunities for professional development are essential if language teachers are to maintain their interest and enthusiasm for teaching and to help them update their professional knowledge and skills in a field that is characterized by frequent change. 10 strategies for teacher development will be discussed that address different aspects of professional development. Examples will be presented to show how to identify goals for future learning and growth as well as procedures for implementing professional development as language teachers.
As language teachers we understand that, to serve the needs of our learners, we need to create an environment which most closely resembles actual use of the target language. In attempting to achieve the ‘optimal’ learning environment, we have variety of resources and tools available – all provide different and varied access to content. We may not have been aware of the term, but we have always ‘blended’ in order to provide as rich a learning environment as possible for our learners. In this session we will consider how blended learning can help achieve the ‘optimal’ language learning environment. We will examine the criteria and factors which could help you choose the appropriate ‘blend’ for your students and we will also consider your role and your students’ role in blended learning instruction.
