IS COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) THE BEST?

CLT was born in 1980s and it has been considered as one of the best approaches to learn a foreign language. It is based on the principle that it is necessary to develop the communicative competence. This is the ability to use appropriately the language they are learning, in a real social context. For that reason, it always tries to develop the full range of skills. Some linguists contended that communicative competence comprises grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence.

The practices developed in CLT must take into account:

1. A significant amount of pair work and group work is conducted.
2. Authentic language input in real life context is provided.
3. Students are encouraged to produce language for genuine, meaningful communication.

The advantages of this approach are well-known in our context but we can´t forget that there are other approaches and methods which can be used in our learning process and they also offer lots of benefits. Despite these ideas, there are many teachers and experts who disagree with CLT and they continued carrying out teaching practices using some older methods. It is not possible to discredit any method or approach; however we must have a clear set of principles which orientate our work.

What do you think about CLT? Do you use it or do you prefer another approach?

Hepl our Planet

Every day each one of us can do little things for help our planet. We can make small things for big changes. We can do the difference together. Many products which use in our home can contribute not only to harm the environment, this affect our health. Symptoms such as disturbance, anxiety, depression, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbance, nervous and many more can be the result of these chemicals.

Looking after the planet and our health is easier than we think; making small differences at home can have a huge effect on the well being of the world. We only have to follow simple tips:

• Ride a bicycle: according recent studies in UK the most significant innovation in trasnport.


• Wear only natural clothes: Use clothes made from organic cotton. Conventional farms use chemical pesticides and fertilizers.


• Use rechargeable batteries.


• Use non-toxic and natural household.


• Eat organic: choose food free of chemical products.


• Use recycled paper

There are other ways for save our planet but they aren't on the list. It doesn't mean you shouldn't do them. I only give you some ideas to reduce ecological impact, and save some green by increasing efficiency while retain it.

USING MATERIALS

Materials are the best tool for teachers, imagine an English teacher without materials trying to get the attention of their students without implements only doing gestures, speaking in an unfamiliar language to their students. Now we not only have a marker and a board, we have many useful tools that we can make with our hands and if you don’t want to create them, you should dive in the technological space.

What are the most common materials we know or use in our daily life? We have dictionaries, box of rods, picture packs, course books, Cds, and also some teachers have access to a computer with internet of course or, a laptop, a video been or in the worst case a Tv could be a nice tool for you.

In my opinion, working with some materials is very important to motivate students, to increase their abilities because we are teachers no magicians, so we need some helpful tools to develop our students skills. I have learnt that not all the materials are perfect for all students, we have to select previously according with the task or ability or the aim that we want to achieve. In my school I have some materials but the real problem is that I have to adequate them to my linguistic goals.

Finally, I can say that we are in a new era where a teacher must be updated to the tendencies. We have a big challenge that is to innovate in our methodology and way of teaching. Only with creativity and knowledge we can make a difference or a point of reference for other teachers that haven’t change their paradigms. We have many opportunities to innovate and fulfill our students needs, and designing new materials is a good start.

What about you? What kind of materials do you use to get success in your class?