The Grammar Translation Method

It was formerly known in classical languages teaching as the classical methods ages before. In this time, it is not limited only to classical languages but teaching in foreign language literature for students to be able to indulge appreciation when reading the literature themselves. The study using this methods not only for better understanding in writing and speaking of the target language (language students try to learn) but also influence students to go deeper and familiarize context of grammar of their own native language. It’s a method for improving and polishing students native and target language throughout their learning process. Even though students may not use the target language in their real life situation, it will still gives advantages such as cognitive learning exercises and making students more critical and intellectual in handling language learning.

There are sets of principals followed such as the objective of applying this method which I have explained above. Next the duty of the teacher and students are more into teacher centered classroom because teacher acts as the expert of target language thus obviously they hold the utmost authority while students more into absorbing sponge in the process. The processes of learning are by memorizing and deductive reasoning because students will be taught of some examples of grammar rules and using that knowledge in applying to other examples in language learning.  Moreover, they learn to translate the native language to target language directly such as vocabulary transfer. Students interaction and initiation to speak by nature is limited as more room given to teacher to students interaction. Here, the target language portray as more superior in comparison to spoken language, while culture influences reflecting the mirror of fine arts and consisting literature. In this method, it is by far for better for teaching vocabulary and grammar along with the primary skills of reading and writing.

 In assessing students learning and comprehension, evaluation will be done by writing tests and questioning of grammar and culture of the target language. Errors in language need to be remand quickly by guiding students to the correct answers or giving it to them directly. All this is to avoid consumptions of misunderstanding. Based on my experiences, learning languages such as Japanese, Korean and Mandarin using this approach matches well with my learning styles. I tend to learn better by memorizing and direct translation from one language to another maybe because that is how I have been trained to learn. I recall Asians people traditionally molded to learn using these kinds of learning styles and perhaps that is also part of the reason why this method fits in the learning of the target language. However, with due respects I believe that communication with the teacher and peers plays huge roles in facilitating one’s learning better in not only understand by in applying to the real life context.

In reality, you can maximize your language learning by daily practice in conversation you’re your friends because then you becomes more curious and motivated to really understand the cultural and knowledge aspects of the language itself. In learning language, what is the use of only able to cognitively understand the language without effectively using it in real life purposes of communication? Therefore, I am curiously questions, why do you have the need to study other language if you are not applying it to your real life? Is it just because of the requirement, why people did not consider of applying the languages they learn into practical use? Thank you J.

The Direct Method

The Direct Method

The direct method objective is to make students know how to make use of target language in communication by using instructions only. Even based on the name, it is a method of teaching using only the target language without any translation of native language allowed. Instead, to make students understand key concepts will requires a lot of teaching aid and demonstrations because it is believed to increase the effectiveness in using the target language by students in communication area. The method have been structured this way because to make students critically think in the target language. The roles of teacher and students are to communicate with each other like a partners compared in grammar translation method of teacher centre in learning process. Other than that, its students to student’s interaction as teacher directed the teaching.

In direct method students need to relate the meaning of the target language directly and in helping the process of learning, the use of realia, pictures or even pantomime brings great deal in teaching because we try to make the situations real. For example, grammar rules itself need to be discovered inductively and by generalization as an explicit grammar rule is not given. Students often use complete sentence in learning new vocabulary. As the language use in communication rather than writing, students daily speech include factors of understanding history, geography and culture about the target language when they practice interactions or conversations with the language. The type of assessment for this method is pretty direct as well as it only assessing the use of language and not the knowledge of the language. For instance, interview and oral speaking will be used as tests for student’s demonstration of understanding. Self corrected is applied whenever necessary.

Besides that, other techniques in teaching would be reading aloud, question and answer exercises, conversation practice, fill-in-the-blanks, dictation (listening to the conversation), map drawing and  paragraph writing. Upon my own experiences, I concern that this method can only be apply to students who have average and high proficiency language learning in order to learn the target language because at least they can associate better the meaning or examples the teacher trying to deliver with. Students with low level of understanding or experience would not benefits much from this approach as they did not have the enough comprehension of the meaning of the target language even if the teacher use modeling. It will be quite difficult for them to follow up later because inside language learning, the topics of grammar and sentence construction are connected to one another. It is like without background knowledge of information, would you yourself understand about what other people try to teach you about new concepts using the target language, except if you apply common sense in the situation. Would you?

Even though the method best fits students with high and average level, that does not mean that each of the techniques are not applicable. Look at the conversation practice example; I think it is very good teaching and learning skills for students with low achievement as it also gave them a sense of confidents to try to converse using the language. It makes learning more meaningful when you can apply it for real life situation too. It’s a technique that I believe people would like to adopt in learning and teaching especially to teachers who planning to teach language.

Spatial Intelligence

Spatial Intelligence

Spatial intelligence is where the domain of accurately perceive the visual world lies. Example can be drawn here is the late Steve Job, the creator of Apple. He started by imagining the I-phone in 3D before make it into reality. Students who learn concept by visual it first lies in this domain. In lessons, teacher could teach concepts using 3D pictures or by drawing in the white board to get the message clearer to the learners. Teaching materials such as You Tube, hands on materials such as realia would improve students with spatial intelligences to think and picture it in their brain. Not only that, they can remember it better with the sense of touch, hear, smell and taste of the thing that you want them to know provided using the materials that confirms the senses. They learn by seeing things so listening activities alone without other teaching materials is not an activity that will attract their intention much because to them if there is nothing to see might as they cannot perceive the information accurately.

That is why in teaching, teacher are advised to use as much as necessary teaching materials to enhance not only students learning but teaching skills as well. Activities or assessment that is good to corporate here will be drawing of concept maps with pictures; designing arts (as students can imagine the figurine in their mind well), creating creative products and others. Instead of having usual paper based examination or test, this could be may interesting to try out by asking the students to design poster and presents it though some educationist might challenge the broad ideas of this because of the assessment rubrics of how to assess the test (I need to say more research need to be done in this area and it is not my specialize to say this as well without much grounded information to back on, but nevertheless it could be one of the hypotheses that leads to this).

This could be factors intervene on to why teachers avoid using this concepts to teach. But, yes it will helps students to be more motivated in learning that need they to use their ability. There are some tips to help students with spatial intelligence to maximize their learning for example while taking notes instead of writing the whole sentences, what they can do is just write the key points of the sentence and draw the key points to helps to remind them of the important concepts.

 Moreover, try watching YouTube or any videos that demonstrate the concepts that you find difficulty to understand. Cooperate that with hands on exercises such as create the model of the chemistry and name tag it and put it in your study room. The reason behind this are firstly you imagine how the concept is then you lay down the foundation by making or create the model of the concept yourself and putting it in the place where you often look will increase your memory power more (as they say, the more you look, the more you can remember). For those who has started to searched what they want to do with their future, perhaps the ambitions that spatial intelligence may concern with are detective work (visual look of crime scene and evidence lies), painter (painting the visual look of scenery), actor (since imitation usually learned by watching how the action conducted), art craft (vase or statue that portrays the imagination) and others.

Music Smart

Music Smart

Singers are categories under musical intelligence domain as it is a domain where people with music smart where they appreciate and notice differences in musical tones, pitch and melody. Students who can use musical instruments well enjoy some music in their learning. When planning lesson plans for this group of students, it will be good to create classroom activities that can be associate with music and this applied to all subjects taught in school. Parts of classroom activities can be role play, create poem and songs that reflects learning concepts learned. Not only does it makes learning more interesting but allowing students to get engaged and motivated in taking part in their own learning process.

Music has been proved to be good influenced to students learning process as it simulates their brain to process the information. Especially in language literacy classroom, students can get involved mentally and emotionally learning poems with the aid of video of the poems or literacy. Music smart people can justify themselves in the learning environment with the music on since they learned best with music as well. Not only that, they can be really sensitive to different kind of music note, rhyme and rhythm that other people doesn’t pay attention much too. With this kind of sensitivity, people with music smart capable of tuning, playing the instruments the right way to get the right sounds and make born of new music or simply refine songs that they heard off. People born with this talent usually maximize their learning and go further to become someone who influence with music environment such as music coordinator, singer, pianist, guitarist, violinist, drummer and all the ambitions you can think off. They find most of their enjoyment with music and thus if you take a look around you, new music keep coming from the musicians as the inspiration is infinity without borders. That doesn’t necessarily means people with less music smart cannot appreciate music, they can thought like singing in karaoke or read books about music to improve one selves.

Music can inspire a lot of people with new dreams and imagination. Without music, life wouldn’t be so much adventurous and interesting because music being creates to add the colors in life. Can you imagine watching televisions or any media without sound or music in it; it would certainly be boring, dull and tiring. Music adds or pumps the energy of happiness, sadness, adventurous, challenge and anything you could think off by your experience. That is why people with music smart should be proud of themselves because by using their ability a lot of people can benefits from it. The way to enhance music smart learners are by making them more in love with the music and taught how to make the full use of their special ability. Teachers who found this skill in their learners should make efforts to bring forts activities that use music and make students aware of their own strength.

This way, not all of our students will only look at one perspective of must achieving the same dreams as others as being conceptualize by norms. What it means here are such all students nowadays to focusing on becoming doctors or lawyers instead of ambitions that required arts specialization. Students need to be more open-minded and think of other possibilities of becoming someone who is master in music if they know they have music smart in them. Our society should create this kind of environment so the young will not be limited by what are norms.

Interpersonal Intelligence

Interpersonal Intelligence

Interpersonal Intelligence tells us about a person who knows and understands why other people behave in certain ways like our counseling teacher and politician. Students with this intelligence have good social relationship among friends, teacher and community. Group work is always good advantage as they can manipulate it by interaction with their group members. Teacher can include activities such as problem solving or information manipulation to learners with this ability. It will be good to make student solve something events that happens and why it happens, more into discovery of learning as they will find it enjoyable to do so. Interpersonal students love group work and always participate in an event that requires working with other people. They can be good leader as well because they able to understand each of the member and build trust in them.

Moreover, they can accommodate and associate each other experience that explains to the group why certain things happens and what kind of strategy needed in order to solve a problem. But more importantly, how the teacher gives instruction on how to do the group work because unconsciously maybe the students goes to different direction as what the teacher intend by being a strong domain in controlling the group. That is why the more reason to give proper construction, it is no easy job though because of several factors to think of that might affects the entire group work from the learning objective designs. The example of the group work need to corporate with time management, materials needed and the rationale of each steps (this is especially for teacher’s to note down). As for students part, they need to be conscious of their own ability and how to maximize it without bring negative affluence intended, proper guidance is needed so they students need to asks their teachers and people around them. There is nothing to be afraid off because this skill is good when it put into good use. People with interpersonal intelligences will always reflects after the day has end and makes sure what they can do to fix or improve on the next day. Reflective activities such as writing a diaries and refection blogs help to regenerate their thinking skills better. Perhaps what teacher can do is modify their learning process for this group of people by make an assessment in a way they need to work in groups even for simple activities such as mind map because the process itself allows students to think creatively.

For future students, perhaps types of ambitions they can do or learn could be become a designer, fashion stylist and coordinator for those who like some creativity thinking in their life because they need to know what people in this era likes and what they concern with. If not, like what mention earlier, they can choose to be counselor or politician because to become one you need to know what people are thinking and it goes deeper into finding the relationship of the cause and effects of things that occurred. Anyway, the options can be find more, try Google it to help you find more ways to incorporate your life learning to the fullest. Sometimes, it is what you think that is matters than what other people judge you so make sure not to take account of people thoughts that you are abandoning your own need especially for interpersonal people because they tends to think and do too much for other people.