How are you going to revolutionise L2 teaching?

Hello everyone. First of all, I wanted to write this personal reflection after having started my
internship in ESO and Bachillerato. Now I see more clearer than ever what I want or don't want
to do as an L2 teacher, and these reflections have led me to consolidate the idea of the
revolution I want to propose.

First of all, I understand that we have to follow a textbook and a syllabus established by the
educational law, since in each course we have to reach a certain linguistic knowledge.
However, not all children will reach it in the same way, since each has different learning styles
and needs, so we cannot go from one exercise to the next as if by the end of the book our
pupils will be completely competent in the language. Therefore, the basis of my revolution is
to tailor it as much as possible to the individual students and their needs and interests, using a
mixed methodology and approach and asking them specifically about aspects of their interests,
aspirations in the subject, needs, etc..

First of all, the exercises in the book are often not motivating for the students, as they are
often outdated and even the readings are on topics that are not attractive to them (at least in
my experience). The book should only be a guide and support for learning, not the only way of
learning. Therefore, the first part of my revolution would be to use the book only as a guide to
the knowledge to be imparted throughout the course and adapt it so that the learning is
totally significant for the students, starting from their own personal tastes and interests, and
thus fostering their intrinsic motivation. I would do an initial questionnaire (which I have done
for my internship) to find out their interests and reflections on their level of English and
opinions of the subject, in order to adapt the class completely to them. For example, we are
now in the 3rd year of ESO teaching the vocabulary of climate change and they have told me
that they like the videogame and now series The Last of US, so the theme of the essay of the
unit will be something related to this videogame that motivates them so much and is close to
their own experience. I want to use their favourite series, films, books, video games, songs, tik
tok videos, anything that is close and meaningful to them to teach them the language and to
show them that learning English is ultimately a tool for communication and, moreover, we can
have fun learning it. In addition to learning oral skills through these we can learn other crucial
aspects such as culture, vocabulary or grammar. For example, we can learn the use of the
Present Simple in routines by making a "get ready with me" tik tok video.

I am not advocating the use of only one inductive teaching style (e.g. inductive instruction) or
the use of only one active methodology (even if it works). I think the key is not to stagnate and
to find a balance, using each approach and methodology at the most appropriate time and
place to extract the maximum possible benefit for particular learners.

As far as writing skills are concerned, I think that correcting the essays and handing them to
the students with the corrected errors will not change them, most of which are already
fossilised. I think that we should look at the priority 1 errors in class together, as in most cases
the same errors are repeated by a large number of students. What I want to do is to show on a
slide the most serious mistakes of all the essays and discuss together why they are incorrect. In
this way the students will not feel attacked (the mistakes are not named) and they can reflect
on the mistake, which will avoid fossilisation or reverse it, as well as improve their
interlinguistic reflection on the language.

In terms of oral skills, I seek to create a friendly atmosphere, where they feel safe, and
encourage them to share their opinions on real issues close to them that I think they might be
interested in and that are controversial. For example, yesterday we discussed to topic of
tattoos and I introduced them to the word "biased" and today we discussed the cosmetic
surgery operations of the instagramers they were following to learn the vocabulary of
medicine. I argue that students learn the most when they are active subjects in the process
itself by interacting orally with each other, debating, doing projects or collaborative activities.

I want the students to see me as a mentor who listens to them and is approachable, I want
them to share their opinions and visions about their learning processes, about what could be
improved, what topics to talk about, what are they interested in... I want them to see that the
subject of English is not something stagnant but that we can improve it together, that we can
adapt it to them and to their specific needs.

The last aspect I wanted to mention is the use of punishment. In the traditional classroom, the
roles of teacher and pupil were very much marked by the hierarchy of power and respect for
authority (the teacher). This idea was reinforced by the use of punishment when pupils
misbehaved or did not do their homework, but its use also generated a feeling of apathy in the
students and the classroom atmosphere. It is true that I have experienced difficult situations in
conflictive groups, but I really think that punishment is never the solution or, at least, not
traditional punishment. I think that positive reinforcement is the best solution, i.e. if they
behave well during the week, Fridays are play Fridays, and you can play the game of their
choice for the last minutes of class. However, if they misbehave during the week, they will not
be given that option on Friday. With this technique I have seen how the class itself is the one
who talks to the student(s) who caused the problem, encouraging them to behave better the
following week. Therefore, avoiding the use of conventional punishments is also part of my
revolution.

In conclusion, my revolution is based on adapting and using the different strategies, styles and
methodologies of L2 teaching to the class and to the students in particular. I advocate that we
cannot get stuck in the use of the book and we must go further, starting by asking the students
what motivates or demotivates them in English and their personal tastes, so that we can
modify the teaching to their specific interests and needs. We must also adapt our assessments
to this, prioritising the communicative use of the language and giving constructive feedback
continuously. We should not let traditional roles and norms dictate the way we teach, but
neither should we become obsessed with a particular active methodology without attending to
the opinions and specific needs of our students, thus finding a balance. It is true that this is
difficult, hard and extremely demanding work, but I believe that like all revolutions, effort
always pays off and that I can change many students' views and feelings about English with
these ideas.