Chapter 3- Maximizing Learning Opportunities
It is important to use teaching materials, teacher agendas and syllabuses to organize your classroom. However, you cannot solely rely on these for the best authentic learning experiences. In order to give learners an authentic experiences the teacher has to be able to work outside of their lesson plan. This also means letting students be active learners, by asking questions. Choice, product, process, and meta-process questions are ones that normally occur within a classroom. Display and referential questions are generally focused on by L2 learners.
Throughout my years on schooling I have experienced almost every type of classroom as a learner. Most of the time I prefer classes that enable you, as the learner, to ask questions, not only of the the materials but of the teacher. Most of my general education classes really stayed away from questions and only now that I am taking Major classes, that are much smaller, am I able to feel more free to ask and answer questions. As a teacher we have to look at our classroom and see what environment best helps them. It is always good to prompt and question students, but with language learners it is a lot harder to get them to feel comfortable to ask and answer questions. I think that the micro-strategies are a good way to get learners to have more authentic learning experiences and help them view the relevance of the material. If you can get learners to connect with campus, local, and global community then the learners are really taking learning into their own hands. I believe that this can also bring about great appreciation for learning. This can especially help L2 learners because it will make them feel more connected to their community and possible create a deeper understanding of their target language.
