Since my childhood, I have had an interest in exploring cultures that were different than my own. I thought this need to learn about other cultures was motivated from when families from different countries moved into my childhood neighborhood. One family had left Viet Nam and I wanted to learn everything about their culture that was so different than my own. I thought mostly it derived from my willingness to engage and communicate, even though most of the children were relatively fluent in English. To me this what I consider important in being successful in learning, to progress with cultural competence and having a motivation to continue learning.

As a teacher, I believe my ideal role is that of a facilitator for students learning new information about language. Preferably I would want students to be active participants in their learning. I know I have learned best not just by being passive, such as listening to a lecture or recording but through interaction. For this reason, I tend to gravitate toward communicative learning method of teaching instead of using rote memorization and repetition in audio-lingual method. I think doing an activity with use of target language makes forming associations more accessible. Also using authentic materials in CLT makes it seem more useful in real world of one’s own community and more opportunities to practice outside of the classroom. I found this the case when I took my first class in Latin in high school. Since Latin is not regularly spoken, the teacher had to find opportunities in which students could practice use of it outside of the classroom. Some opportunities for hearing Latin included attending mass at a Catholic church in nearby DC in which the service was entirely spoken in Latin and a field trip to the national arboretum in which names of plants and flowers were written in Latin.

Another aspect of teaching that I find most important for successful outcomes is. Every student comes into the classroom with different life experiences and motivations for taking an ESL class. Some may be doing it for a major requirement for graduation or others need to become more fluent in English to apply for a job. It is important for the teacher to determine their basic knowledge of their native and target languages to make sure the lessons can be tailored to those needs. It would be beneficial to determine any obstacles to learning including dyslexia or autism and learning preferences. Assessment and feedback can also be used throughout lessons if there are obstacles in the students progressing in the objectives or goals of the lesson and therefore make subsequent modifications.