The authentic environment that Harry and Billy created is quite successful for us to emerge into the learning context—how to order at a restaurant. They also set the example for us how to order dishes in advance as a main teaching part. And students can clearly follow the way after teachers’ instruction. I deeply enjoyed learning in the form of role play since it gave us the opportunity to practice speaking with our imagination and creativity.
However, after today’s lesson, I’m still confused about what the better way to teach speaking is. In fact, the phrases, vocabulary, and patterns we learned in classroom for different situations are quite different from outside contexts. Maybe the best way to learn speaking well is in the “authentic” environment.
Of course the best way to learn speaking well is immersed in an authentic environment. Since English is taught as a foreign language, students seldom have the chance to use the target language after leaving the classroom. Therefore, we are obliged to provide students with such a learning environment in our class. I think Billy and Harry set a very good example here.
Comment by Alice — May 3, 2007 @ 10:14 pm