Living in a city where people normally holiday can be confusing: you don’t quite know if you’re ‘coming or going’… 😀
I’m slowly settling in to my new life in (another) ‘paradise city’, and restarting work as well, despite the idyllic surroundings… (Focus, Fatime, focus! 😀 :D)
AND am back to thinking about just how much I love teaching SKILLS as well –in general, and in ELT in particular. <3
Instead of just amassing raw knowledge of a field (or living on some sort of a ‘knowledge-first’ kind of diet e.g. ‘grammar McNuggets’, a la Scott Thornbury), what works better is stoking a learner’s genuine CURIOSITY in a skill.
The reason, in my opinion, is that this then tends to lead to some healthy ‘TINKERING’.
By discovering what actually works in practice and what doesn’t, often provides a student with the ORGANIC FEEDBACK needed to keep moving towards their practical goals (such as a better IELTS score in one of the four skills tested)…
…until they may even become ready for (some) theory (e.g. explicit grammar or vocab teaching).
Having ‘dabbled’ in the thing, they may become more INSTRUMENTALLY CURIOUS to learn more about its fundamentals, to consolidate their skills learning.
But rather than making such ‘systems’ (=grammar and vocab) teaching a default starting point, all this has to be emergent and needs driven….
… which will also more closely resemble our XXI century realities and increasing focus on acquiring skills ‘Just-in-Time’.
What do you think my favorite color is? And what’s yours?
#showmehow #skillsfirst
#ieltsteacher, #IELTSTeacherTrainer, #IELTSTeacherTraining, #ELTskillsteacher
