My Beliefs

English

English is as essential as indispensable concerning the importance it has as a world-wide phenomenon. Learning a second language provides learners opportunities to achieve personal goals and reach professional growth. Over the last years, there was a demanding necessity to make big changes in the Colombia’s education system. One of those changes was English as an important element in the educational community. It is evident that our country is more aware of the importance of the linguistic proficiency of English in our society.

Learning

Knowledge can be socially co-constructed and learning can occur at any time and at any place. When learning a foreign language, more contact with the second language is needed to engage learners in the second language culture and to provide them a conscious linguistic construction. In the learning process, the language exposure in a foreign language instruction only takes place in the classroom or at home and it may be quite limited or restricted. The sources, the opportunities, the materials, the methodological strategies, the context are effective components to support the learners’ needs.

Teaching

Teaching is commonly seen as a challenging but fruitful activity no matter the scenario or the kind of public. In the process of teaching, the role of the teacher has been minimized to give more leadership to students. Teaching is the act of maximizing the students’ performance in their learning process. Different conceptions have come up to define the teaching profession. Harmer, J., (2007) stated that some teachers talk of themselves as orchestral conductors because they lead directly the pace and the tone of the conversations. Some others see themselves as actors because they have to be part of a continuous role-play and others feel like gardeners because they are planting the seeds that they will watch grow. I think that the main concern of teaching is supervising and guiding learners’ learning process by creating settings in which learners can play their own role at their own rate.

Language teaching

Language teaching is a multifaceted process in which the interrelation of the different components allows humans master a language. I consider this process as a holistic system due to the interdependence of its components.  Crucial factors like motivation, willingness, environment, interaction, engagement among others, play a significant role in the whole process.