Posts Tagged e learning
About Teaching a Second Language – Take Away the Frustration
Speaking with colleagues about teaching a second language always raises an interesting debate. Looking at French as a second language, a common response that many students give is “I hate French!”. To avoid being unrealistic, we must ask ourselves if rigidly following each strand of the French curriculum offers an organic process of intellectual growth, or if it presents an awkward and rushed approach, bounded by unrealistic goals.
One thing that I have learned about teaching a second language is that students take French for a variety of reasons. They are either pressured by government, school, or parents; and some are even self-motivated. Some students are pushed into French classes kicking and screaming, others jump at the opportunity to learn a new language and its cultural appreciation.
A French teacher must not only push high-achievers to new levels, but this teacher must use the appropriate teaching techniques, in conjunction with the curriculum to model the Core, Extended and Immersion programs, to ensure struggling students a chance for achievement. A better understanding about teaching a second language comes organically from experience with each class more easily than from studying pages from curriculum documents. When it comes down to it, we teach ’students’, not ‘curriculum’.
In high-school French, culture is integrated into the classroom in differing amounts by various teachers, depending on the students in the classroom. The time of introduction and breadth of cultural teachings is heavily dependent on both the strand of French education, as well as on a teachers interest and ability to integrate culture into lessons.
One thing I have learned about teaching culture to a second language is that you have to make it fun. Many teachers simply assume that if they are teaching a bit of culture instead of grammar, that it is inherently fun, simply because it is not grammar. This is simply not true. The way cultural teaching is received by our students, especially in applied classes is solely dependent on the delivery. We must make sure that we appeal to all learning types when we deliver this material.
Many students also experience disenchantment in their language capabilities while learning a second language. This occurs because most of their time is spent hammering out grammatical concepts that are a requirement of the curriculum, rather than spending time focusing on real life applications of the language. Thus, they cannot conceptualize how the language could affect their lives. Many students learning a second language have a much better understanding of how to conjugate the verb ‘to be’ over how to ask for help, or how to engage in a simple conversation with someone from another country.
Learning about teaching solely through focus on curriculum expectations without taking time to explore practical links can drown even the top student in the sea of French curriculum. If we learn about teaching from our students instead of our curriculum documents, we will ultimately be better at motivating new language learners to embrace second language learning for the long haul.
Do not forget to check out the link in the resource box below. I’ve got a great free report that details my experiences so you can learn from them.
Tags: curriculum, e learning, education, learning, levels, parents, program, programs, school, special, student, students, students learning, study, teach, teacher, teachers, teachingRelated posts
Advantages & Disadvantages of Online Education That You Must Know
Online education has become a popular channel for many students to pursue their degree. The fact shows that most online students are successfully complete their degree program but 40% of them failed. Most of online students are pursuing their degree online because they are seeing many advantages of online education that can benefits them but the 40% that failed do not aware of the disadvantages of online education that cause their failure. In order to avoid you to become of one the statistic of failure in online education, you must first understand the pro and con of taking your degree online before you make up your decision to earn your degree through this online channel. Here are the major advantages and disadvantages of online education that you must know:
The Advantages of Online Education
In today’s busy lifestyle, most people have no time to go back to school even they have intention to get more degrees for career advancement, job promotion or simply to learning something new. This is where one of the advantages of online education will benefit these people. Online education is able to provide you with a flexible learning environment from any location as long as you are offered with internet connection.
With a proper time management, you can easily plan your online learning sessions to fit into your busy schedule and follow your own pace of study to complete your degree program. Another key advantage of online education is you can attend the online classes from your comfort home or any location that you find convenient to you. This also means that you can enroll into any online degree program offered by any universities around the world as long as they make their degree program online. With that in mind, you do not need to worry about unable to find a degree that can’t meet your career or lifestyle requirement.
In general, you can complete a degree online in shorter period of time if compare to the same courses offer in campus-based programs. Unless you purposely delay your courses due to fail to proper manage your time. In term of tuition fee, although it’s not always true, but in general, online degree programs cost less then campus-based degree programs as most of learning materials are in downloadable format and the credit hours required to complete an online degree program is comparatively less. Hence, you could save some money by taking your degree online.
The Disadvantages of Online Education
The advantages of online education can become the disadvantages if you are not the right candidate for online education. The flexibility of planning your own schedule in online education could be the disadvantages for you if you are a type of person that can’t manage your time probably between your work, family and study. If you are this kind of person, a pre-plan schedule may fit you well, letting yourself to study at your own pace with your own schedule may causes you fail to complete your degree program.
As most of online learning materials are in text format, if you are not comfortable with this format and prefer to listen to the lecture instead of reading it. Then, it will become the disadvantage for you and you need to reconsider your decision before you choose online education to be your degree pursuing channel.
Are you able to communicate well through chats and discussion forum? You must understand that these media are the key communication channels in online learning environment and you must be able to adapt to it else it will become a disadvantage for you.
Summary
By understanding the advantages and the disadvantages of online education, you will have a better understanding on how these factors will affect you if you choose to pursue your degree online.
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Graduate Schools
If you have obtained a Bachelor’s Degree, but would like to continue your education, you will want to apply to a Graduate School. Graduate degrees in the U.S. come in two forms: Master (MA or MS) and Doctorate (PhD). Both options require students to perform research and concentrate their studies on a particular subject of choice. Graduate Schools expect students to be well-prepared in their field and be able to direct their own courses of study to some measure, with the advice and input from faculty.
Students most often choose to attend Graduate School in the traditional manner on a campus, where learning experiences are shared with colleagues and faculty. This gives the student a fuller experience in their formal education. Online Graduate Schools, however, are becoming a strong force in the academic world. Online educational experiences compare favorably with campus-based schools, with the option to communicate with classmates and faculty through online classroom discussion and email.
Most colleges and universities offer a full range of disciplines in their Graduate School programs. Business schools are among the most popular of Graduate Schools. Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Doctorate (PhD) degree students can choose to focus on specializations in business, such as management, accounting, marketing, technology, communications, risk management, etc.
The field of Education is another of the major subjects offered at most Graduate Schools. Here, too, are many options. Students of Education can concentrate on specific subjects (i.e., literacy, reading, mathematics, sciences, etc.). They may take teacher training at various levels (early childhood, elementary, middle school, high school, college), as well as education administration, education leadership, library resources, and assessment of curriculum and instruction.
Psychology, behavioral sciences, and counseling are much sought after degrees offered by Graduate Schools. Technology, engineering, health, liberal arts, nursing, religion, and sciences also top the list of commonly chosen degrees.
Making the decision to attend Graduate School and continue your education takes some planning and preparation. There is much research to be done. Choosing among colleges, admissions tests, and expenses are all factors to be explored by the potential student. Undergraduate and graduate school offices can be a great help with decisions about degrees and courses. Counselors can guide your search and help you with planning, choosing from degree options, finding funds, and preparing for admissions tests. Many Graduate Schools offer preparation and practice tests for GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, and other admissions examinations. Additionally, a great deal of information about Graduate Schools can be found on the Internet.
Tuition costs are a huge factor that can affect your decision to continue in or go back to school. Finding money for graduate school is more difficult than finding money for college, but there is money out there. Funding in the form of scholarships, grants, state and federal aid and loans, and low-interest loans can be found fairly easily. Schools, the Internet, and local banks can be helpful with finding information about educational finances. Some companies offer education options for their employees, which should be investigated.
Tags: accounting, business school, college, colleges, colleges and universities, course, courses, curriculum, curriculum and instruction, degree, e degrees, e learning, education, educational, for college, graduate school, grant, grants, high school, instruction, internet, learning, learning experience, levels, loans, marketing, middle school, money for college, nursing, of education, online, online class, online education, online graduate school, online graduate schools, program, programs, research, s degree, scholar, scholars, scholarship, scholarships, school, schools, science, special, student, students, study, teach, teacher, teacher training, training, universitiesRelated posts