Teaching Philosophy

The process of teaching requires as an ever-present element the outcome of learning. Therefore, a successful teaching leads to a successful learning and furthermore to the mastery of the needed skills and proper tools to perform a certain task. Now the mastery above mentioned would not come to be a reality if the during the course of the instruction the knowledge was not presented in a simple attainable fashion which is why I consider myself a coach but most of all an entertainer. Since my field of work is in the Teaching of Spanish and English as a second language, I value teaching as a life-long impact process through which language competency and proficiency is encouraged; there is no doubt that acquiring a second language is equivalent to broaden one selfs horizons and positioning oneself in an advantage situation over those who are monolingual. Which is why when setting goals for my learners I take into account what is that they need to know the most on order to use the language in a more practical way. Language then, becomes a tool to be used not only for critical thinking but for problem solving situations as well. Since as I aforementioned, language is meant to be a tool, and the best way to get the most out of it us utilize it as much as possible, for it is very well known that practice makes perfect, the more you use the target language the more proficient you will be. Therefore, I am a strong supporter of the teaching methods who encourage acquisition and realization of language for practical purposes. Creativity is one of my best assets and it is actually what drives me to implement the most up to date and effective methodologies, without disregarding what the former ones have to offer. I personally favor those which address the context as a key element for acquisition, and get the students to work in groups since constant interaction and mutual contribution enhances the chance to see how language functions in a real life situation, and builds up until there they can feel confident enough to use it for communicative aims.

As for the assessment process, I strongly believe there has to be a clear and consistent connection between what is being taught and its evaluation, taking always into account that the acquisition of a target language is meant to be a inclusive process, which is to include all of the skills that make up a language. Therefore, the assessment must be just as inclusive. I, myself have a preference of both reading and speaking skills over writing and listening, understanding is what I value the most. The ability to convey the message even when it is not grammatically perfect is what I look for, because bottom line, what is acquiring a language but a trial and error development.