4. What experience do you have of learning a second or foreign language? How would you characterize the teacher´s teaching method? How effective did you find it?

The biggest experience I have of learning a second language took place the first time I went to the university. I was so nervous because I was going to start my major “Licenciatura en Idioma Inglés Opción Enseñanza”. It was a new world for me since I did not know that much about it. Neither did I have any knowledge about English, nor did I know any of my classmates to ask for some help. Whenever I had to attend English classes I felt pretty frustrated because I did not understand what the teacher was saying.

On the other hand, I characterize the teacher´s teaching method as excellent. Now that I have some knowledge about different methods I understand better what he did for us to get what he said in English. He carried out different methods such as THE DIRECT METHOD. He never spoke in Spanish because he wanted us to associate meaning and target language directly. In order to do this, when he introduced a new target language word or phrase, he demonstrated its meaning through the use of realia, pictures or any object in the classroom; he never translated it into the L1. When I asked him something in Spanish, he said “sorry, I do not understand what you are saying”; in that moment it was so stressful for me. Nevertheless, that was how I was learning because I had to look for the right words to convey my ideas. He also used THE TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD. When we did not understand a word, he made some physical movements to show us what that word meant. For example, in order for us to understand the meaning of “jump”, he performed the action. Then, we got it without translation. We got it through physical movements.

I consider that the teaching methods my Basic English teacher used were pretty effective. For example, in my case, I did not know almost anything about the language, but thanks to his way of teaching or the methods he used I learned a lot. Also, he had all the characteristics of a great teacher. He was very flexible, enthusiastic and inspired enthusiasm, inspired confidence, and the most important is that he was very patient when it came to cope with his students´ mistakes. He gave me very good bases for the next English level. That is why I find his teaching methods very effective. They worked for me.