Successful Techniques
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The following is a list of successful techniques that I have observed in the Spanish classes at Jefferson Middle School.  These are excellent ways to incorporate speaking and comprehension skills for beginning learners of Spanish.

Speaking Skills
Students should be expected to speak Spanish at all times when they are in the classroom.
Students should ask for permission if they need to speak in English, however they should be encouraged to try to express themselves first in Spanish.  The teacher also needs to follow this rule.
Force students to communicate with their peers in Spanish.  Speaking in English should be looked down upon at all times.
Ask the students about themselves in Spanish.  Personal questions provide an opening for students to talk about something that they know a lot about.
Tell students not to be afraid of making errors when they speak because that is how we learn.  Make sure they know that you as a teacher also make mistakes.  Nobody is perfect.
Tell students that communication is the most important goal when learning a foreign language because this is the skill they will need if they ever travel to another country.
To enhance speaking skills, go over the homework orally in class.  This helps train the students' ear as well as give them practice speaking in the language.
It is a good idea to tell students to read their homework out loud to themselves so that they practice the pronunciation.  This way, when students read their answers in class they will not have to be corrected.

 

Comprehension Skills
Show students videos or have them listen to audio tapes with native Spanish speakers.   Give them a listening activity to go along with the video to check comprehension.   These activities should be done often to train the ear.
Ask students lots of questions.  If the student does not understand at first, repeat the question.  Be persistent and try to change the wording of the question or give an example of how to answer the question if the student has trouble understanding.   Do not just give up and ask another student. (i.e. �C�mo te llamas?  �Cu�l es tu nombre? - for what is your name?  You can also give a sample answer such as, "Yo me llamo Sr. S�enz")
If a concept is difficult to explain, try doing it in both English and Spanish.  If the students hears the Spanish first and then the English at least they are still hearing some explanation in Spanish.
When worksheets or explanations are written in English, translate them into Spanish as you read them to the students.  This way, they are understanding because they read the English, but they are hearing the Spanish equivalent.
When introducing new vocabulary, give examples in Spanish and let the students try to guess what the word means.  This may take a long time, but this way students are understanding the example first in Spanish and then trying to connect it to an equivalent in English. (i.e. aprender - to learn:  Nosotros aprendemos espa�ol en la clase del Sr. S�enz.)
Use as many cognates as possible, but do encourage students to make up words in Spanish according to the English word. (i.e. the wheel - el wheelo, instead of "la rueda")
Do not use literal translations.  When introducing new words, ask the students to guess but only take an answer that makes sense like something we would normally use in English. (i.e. the word "verdad" in Spanish can be literally translated to "true" however, in the proper context where this word would be used, it means "right" in English.  For example, "Vamos al cine, �verdad?" when translated literally would be " We're going to the movies, TRUE?"  However, we would not say this in English, we would say "We're going to the movies, RIGHT?")
Be as much of an actor or actress as possible.  Use body language to express what you are saying.  This way students can associate an action with a word.  In other words, use TPR (Total Physical Reaction).
For reading comprehension, stress to the students that it is not necessary to understand every single word of every paragraph in order to get a general understanding. Encourage the students to guess from the context and understand general ideas, not little details.
Another way to increase comprehension skills is to get students to think in Spanish.   In order to do this, it is important to tell the students to use the vocabulary they have in Spanish to form their ideas.  Students should not think of things in English first and then translate them into Spanish; they need to start thinking about how to say things in Spanish even though they have a limited vocabulary.

 

Writing Skills
Writing should be used as a reinforcing activity to speaking.  It is important that students are able to write the language, however they first need to understand and speak the language before they can totally understand and use grammatical structures and apply rules.  Homework assignments are normally written exercises to reinforce what was learned in class.

Teachers have many different philosophies about how they want the language to be taught.  In my research I decided to address two specific questions related to whether or not these techniques are the best for everyone.

Why teach Spanish with an emphasis on speaking and comprehension?

This can be a very personal choice depending on the knowledge of the language that each teacher has.   People who are fluent and comfortable using the language at all times will be able to use these techniques successfully.  People with more limited experiences with the language may feel more comfortable using other techniques. 

Some teachers believe that Spanish should not be taught like it is an adaptation of English.  The Spanish language has its own way of expressing ideas which cannot be translated literally from English.  For example, Spanish has many plays on words that do not make sense in English and vice versa.  This is one of the beauties of learning a foreign language because it is directly related to the culture that surrounds it.

If students are surrounded by the language without intrusions of English, their skills for thinking, speaking, and understanding Spanish will greatly improve.  This way of teaching helps to show students what kind of skills they would obtain if they learned the language in the actual country.

Is it possible to better prepare teachers to teach this way?

It is possible to help teachers become more knowledgeable about the language they are teaching.  This would call for a change in the requirements for foreign language teacher preparation programs.   If students preparing to teach a foreign language were required to spend a minimum of one year abroad and teach the language to native speakers during part of this time,   their skill level would improve allowing them to teach the language using these techniques.