ESL Teacher Reflection 4

I thought the reading for this week, Sabrina Peck’s article Developing Children’s Listening and Speaking in ESL was very interesting.  Before this we have talked about different methods of language teaching like communicative approach, grammar transitional method, and total physical response, but we had not really talked about using song, poems and drama for ESL teaching.  When I initially started reading the article, I thought that songs and skits might not be beneficial for all ESL learners, especially the more reserved and analytical students.  Even if a student is outgoing, when you are first learning a language the new experience can be scary and students are afraid to make mistakes when speaking aloud in class. 

As I continued to read and think about my own experiences, I realized that there are ways to incorporate songs, drama, poems, and stories into the lesson plan that can benefit all students.  Peck noted that even if a student is not participating verbally, they are still benefitting because they are listening to their classmates and they will chime in when they are ready.  That was a concern I had with using songs and skits in the classroom, but she made a good point and I do believe even if students are not speaking, they are still listening and comprehending.  Thinking back to my Spanish classes in high school, we actually used many songs and skits to learn and reiterate new vocabulary.  Even though I am a more analytical and reserved person, I still found the use of songs and skits advantageous to my learning of the language.  Sometimes I was slow to participate at the beginning, but I listened and when I did it made the new material easier to learn.  Even today I can remember the songs we used to learn the alphabet and prepositions.  We also had movements to go along with the prepositions song so we could associate the words with the directions. 

Although I am not an arts person, this article made me want to implement the use of songs, poetry, and drama into my future teaching context.  Moving around and singing not only makes learning fun, it helps the new knowledge and vocabulary stick with the students.  I also found it interesting when Peck said using songs and chants can also help teach about the culture of a language.  In my future classroom, I would most likely use short songs and skits.  I would use songs with movement to teach new vocabulary.  I would use skits because they give students the chance to improvise and it can help them learn to negotiate their way through a conversation in an unfamiliar situation.  I thought all the suggestions Peck offered in this article for developing children’s listening and speaking in ESL would be useful, but song and drama are the two methods I would most likely use in the future.