Sociocultural Model Of Learning A Second Language

By the age of 17 I decided to become a teacher. Even though my mom, who is a teacher, has always been a role model for me, she was not the reason why I decided to study this program. For three years I was sure I wanted to be an actress but suddenly things changed and I had to choose another thing to do “for the rest of my life”. It was difficult to decide but as I had some language facilities (probably because I consider myself histrionic) and I wanted to work with people this program seems to be perfect. As students we are constantly criticizing how our teachers teach us without considering the methodologies they applied, how much time they spend adapting material, planning, etc. Is simple, if the activity is interesting for us and we remember

Instead, is to be able to use the language and create own learning like the “Sociocultural model” views it: “language as a communicative activity in which the social context is central”*. This model is basis for learning a second language because we learn it through social interaction. This is related to the “Interactional theory” in which the learner communicates with a more advanced speaker. This other speaker is a helper for the learner at the interaction time. In this case, I am going to be that more advanced speaker and what I have to do in the classroom (in order to help my students) is to speak slowly, make emphasis in key words, say the same things (like instructions) in different ways, use simple grammatical structures, paraphrase, etc. This is to communicate a clear message and help them to understand another language without translating word by word.

In order to carry out a specific approach it is important to have a clear design to focus the planning in certain objectives. I want to help my students to develop oral communication skills, to diversify methods and forms of classroom practice, to increase learner motivation and also to improve overall target language competences. This will be organized depending on the course and the level. For example, if the course is for young learners I can use topics about things they already know and they comfortable to talk about. Use chants and colorful

Materials help students to see the content with their eyes, to touch it with their hands, and listen it with their ears. By this I mean that materials support the content understanding by using the senses to make it meaningful. is more than just listen the teacher explaining or copying from what is on the board. This is for them to use their bodies and minds in order to help students with different learning styles. The materials have to be specific and contextualized according to the class but also students’ needs. An example: If I have a really good game that I used with students from a private school I cannot guarantee that will have the same effect in students at social risk, maybe what the others students consider important and fun will not be the same for these other