Blog #3

I believe that using the target language in class is essential for students to learn not just the language and the rules of the language but also learn how to communicate with the language. It’s important that students use the targeted language in the classroom because some students only hear the language in the classroom. The majority of high school classes only last 60 minutes, which means most students only have a chance to listen to the targeted language 5 hours a week. This is why teachers should use as much of the targeted language as possible for the majority of the time.

Brigid M. Burke gives an excellent example of how important using the targeted language can be in the introduction of “In the classroom promoting communication in the target language with and among students”.  In this introduction the student who is blind folded does not realize she is in a Spanish class until the students have to read their homework answers out loud. During the whole class the main language is English, even the instructions are given in English. This connects with my point that if students learn how to create sentences in Spanish this does not mean that they are going to be able to communicate in Spanish. Another thing we can see in the introduction of this article is that the teacher is using the grammatical translation method which is in my opinion is not a good way to learn a second language. This is because students only concentrate on the English translation rather than concentrate on the Spanish language.

Some obstacles teachers run into when using the target language in the classroom is that most of the students, especially students in Spanish one do not understand you when you speak in Spanish. This is why it is very important to talk slowly and to try to use as many cognates as possible so that the students have a general idea of what you are talking about. Another obstacle that all teachers have is to not give up and just translate the instructions or lectures because once the teacher starts doing that the students will not even try to listen to the Spanish because they know the teacher will translate whatever the instructions are. Other strategies teachers can use to overcome these obstacles include.

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        1. Group work using the targeted language

·      2.  Using technology like Skype to get someone who is a native speaker to talk to the classroom.

·      3. Incorporating the culture in the students every day lives.

·      4. Use reading materials made for native speakers.

·      5. And the most important thing is to make your students have fun while they learn the new language.