Essay Assignment;

My Second

Language Acquisition Experience

Student's name : 33rd Kim(Kim Jungeun)

Teacher's name : Valerie Hamer

Essay Title : For successful second language acquisition

Tesol 33rd class

September 15, 2010

744 Words

<Outline>

Ⅰ. Introduction

-The purpose of second language acquisition

Ⅱ. Body

1. Traditional-modern classroom

-Successful factors of second language acquisition in modern    classrooms compared to traditional classrooms

2. Teacher types

-My English teacher as an involver

-My English teacher as an enabler

3. Effective teaching

-The best English teacher I've ever met

4. Learning styles/intelligences

-My learning styles/intelligences

-The importance of individual differences of second language     acquisition

Ⅲ. Conclusion

-My duties as an English teacher

Learning a foreign language is like getting a key to a new world with new culture and new people. Some people fail to open the new world as they've learned the language but don't communicate well. Though I started to learn English when I was in the 6th grade in elementary school, I was afraid of speaking English. After graduation of a university, 　I took the English speaking class of a foreign language institute and finally could understand the real purpose of learning English is not in understanding facts but in communication with people.

I met two English native teachers in the language institute. And both of them were trying to give various materials such as newspapers, pop-songs, movies and different activities like debating, group work, solving puzzles to students. Most of all, it was so impressive that they gave all the students chances to speak and spoke less than students. To speak a language fluently, of course I needed enough time to speak and I could get during the class. In traditional classrooms, I was just a passive learner and only good at listening and reading, but through this class, I've became an active learner and had confidence in speaking.

I liked my two teachers in the English speaking class but their teaching styles were a little bit different. Chad was a Canadian and had experienced much in teaching with good knowledge and techniques however he tended to focus on his favorite students and let students only answer to his questions. Hope was an American and she also had enough knowledge and skills for teaching. She was one of the popular teachers in the institute because she was so sensitive and considerate that she could know well about the mood of the classroom and make all the students active in speaking. I prefer teachers like Hope who enables students to learn for themselves and that is what we call "authentic learning".

After graduation, I　worked in a special education school as an English teacher and took the English speaking class. My favorite teacher Hope, her major was not related to English or English education but I learned from her not only English speaking but also attitude as a teacher. She was a good teacher in methodology and knowledge about English but especially People were fascinated by her personality-funny, honest, considerate and passionate. When somebody made a mistake, she corrected it with care and smile and told him or her that she also made lots of mistakes with Korean and that it's just a process of studying. To be a good teacher, the basic thing is to know the subject well and the most important thing is how a teacher treat their students.

Sometimes people ask me what the most effective way to learn foreign languages is and then I said to them "Learn through your interest". In my case, the most effective way to learn English is watching English TV series and listening pop songs because I　have visual and musical intelligence. But in the English speaking class, when the teacher gave me some critical topics and all the students discussed or debated about them, I was fully improved in writing and speaking. It means my strongest part among multiple intelligences is intrapersonal intelligence. Therefore for successful second learning acquisition, teachers should consider learning styles of each student and give them appropriate activities.

So far I've talked about my second language acquisition. As a learner and teacher, I could realized the importance role of teachers in second language acquisition ; conditioning classrooms, teaching styles, characteristics of an effective teacher, setting activities considering learner variables, etc.  For successful second language acquisition of my students, the first thing I have to do is to concentrate on this course more and do my best to know the practical knowledge and methodology.