WANG, Yijen
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| This seminar was designed for students who are interested in second/foreign language teaching and learning. We learned about various language teaching approaches from both theoretical and practical perspectives. As students were encouraged to practice their critical thinking skills in this seminar, all viewpoints were welcomed and accepted. I tried to make a comfortable environment for students to share their experiences and exchange ideas through group discussions and peer work. During the semester, we practiced how to create teaching materials and design classroom activities based on the different approaches. The students also gave teaching demonstrations based on the techniques they had learned in the course, and I was very proud to see the students developing their teacher beliefs of language and pedagogy. By observing the students’ class contribution, I believe they can be good teachers in the future if they choose to. Their creativity and critical perspectives on the teaching methods also shows their capacity to become good leaders in the future. | ||||
– I wanted to be in the position of “teaching” English instead of “learning” it –
Having spent 1/3 of my life in the U.S. and having received education both in Japan and abroad, I was deeply interested in the differences in education between Japan and other countries and decided to enroll in “First Year Seminar B 76” taught by Prof. Wang, Yijen (Assistant Professor, School of International Studies).
At SILS, the First Year Seminar is a required first-year course that allows students to take basic seminars in a variety of fields. In this course, you can learn about “Second Language Teaching Methods. For me, getting a second language (English) was not an easy task. I thought that maybe there was a more efficient way to learn English, and I wanted to be in the position of “teaching” English instead of “learning” it. It was at this time that I happened to come across the Basic Exercises.
In this course, you will mainly learn how to teach a second language. We learn about 10 teaching methods in class. Here I would like to introduce a teaching method that I found particularly interesting. It is called “Desuggestopedia“. The main purpose of this teaching method is to spur student learning. Examples of this include putting up unique posters in class, playing music, and motivating students to learn a second language. When I myself attended a local school overseas and was learning English as an ESL student, I realized that I was learning English through this teaching method at the time, with colorful walls, posters to motivate students, and music played by the teacher during class.
There are many opportunities for students to exchange their opinions in this class, and although it is a small class of about 10 students, students’ opinions are always exchanged. There is an atmosphere where students’ opinions are respected, and everyone is actively exchanging ideas. Also, the atmosphere is very homey, and you can often hear the students laughing.
The interesting part of this class is that you actually conduct your own 25-minute class. The number of students, their level, what materials to prepare, what language to teach, and which teaching method to use to get the students to learn, all give you the opportunity to structure the class freely and actually do it. I truly believe that no other class offers such an interesting and valuable opportunity.
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This article is written by…
KAWAMURA, Sota
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*This article is current as of January 2023.
*This course may not be offered every semester.
