On this page, you can find the assignments I did in week 4.

 

Assignment 4.1

 

The classical method

 The classical method is also known as the grammar-translation method. This method focuses on teaching grammar. The grammar rules were the most important things to learn. Next to that, the translation from the second language to the native language was important. This method does not pay attention to communication.

 

The series method

This method teaches learners directly a series of connected sentences that are easy to understand. The sentences that are used are short. An example:

 I walk outside. It is raining. I need an umbrella. An umbrella will keep me dry.

 

The direct method

This method came to exist after the series method. In this method people believe that learning a second language is similar to learning a first language. A lot of interaction is used. Grammar and translation are not that important. The use of the second language is the most important. People needed to learn to communicate in this language.

 

The audiolingual method

This method came to exist during World War II. Soldiers of all the different armies needed to understand the language of their enemies and allies. Pronunciation was important too. If you wouldn’t understand a word because of wrong pronunciation, this could lead to terrible things. Important in this method was repetition, memorisation, pronunciation and learning vocabulary in context. Grammatical explanations weren’t important because communication was the main goal.

 

Suggestopedia

This method was developed by Lozanov. He believed that we could learn better if we were comfortable and relaxed. Therefore, he thought all classrooms should have comfortable seats and classical music in the background. This would make us relax and that would make us learn better.

 

Source: https://www.englishclub.com/tefl-articles/history-english-language-teaching.htm

 

Assignment 4.2

When I was in high school, we mainly used the classical method, also called the grammar-translation method. We had to learn a lot of vocabulary lists from the second language to Dutch and some of them from Dutch to the second language. We were also taught a lot of grammar. The tests were always full of grammar and vocabulary exercises. In the books we used, there were a lot of different exercises and skills as well but we didn’t do those a lot. We did some of them in class but when we had to study for the test, we only had to study grammar and vocabulary. But we didn’t just use the grammar-translation method. Sometimes, we used a bit of the communicative method as well. We used this method when we were practising with sentences and conversations. In the books, there were these mini-conversations and we had to act them out. And from time to time, we did listening and reading exercises as well. These exercises actually acquired us to understand the language because we had to answer questions about the audio and text fragments. I think the listening and reading parts belong to the audio-lingual method. I think this because the reading makes pupils learn vocabulary from context and the listening is good for pronunciation.

 

In my graduation year, we mostly practised reading because the finals were about reading. We also had to make a listening tests, write formal letters, do orals and make vocabulary tests in order to get good grades at the end of the year. This shows me that reading, listening, writing and speaking were all tested before we left high school. I think we could have been tested on speaking more in earlier years. I rarely had orals before. I think it would have been better for a lot of kids if they have had practice with orals before their graduation year.