Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Meredith Domaleski
EDUC 206
27 October 2017
Research Paper
and assuring that they have implanted an impact on their lives. With a diverse group of teachers,
students are given the opportunity to find their interest by being exposed to different content
areas. It is necessary that a secondary education major is prepared for teaching 9th grader (which
is most likely where first year teachers are placed) find that specialty about themselves and their
content area that will hook their students for the remainder of the year. Most importantly, a
relationship must be formed An English teacher may spark your classmate to becoming the next
Shakespeare, or your history teacher will discover the next president of the United States, and
foreign language educators will open students eyes and make them pursue in world travels.
Second language learners best serves as the role model who can enrich ones cultural
perspectives. Learning an additional language opens a new world of traditions to one, which
could lead to developing personality by adapting those traditions, and the passion to discover
more through travel. Foreign language educators have this idealized situation where they can
incorporate out of school activities that put the grammar and vocabulary of a language into
practice. However, many schools are disposing all of the foreign languages taught in school other
than Spanish and ESL which correlate with one another. The reality of it is that teachers of
A questionnaire that took place in Budapest consisted of 301 participants that were
students of several schools in the region (Dornyei, Noels 425). Students were given a
questionnaire that asked for their opinion on how positive they felt about different elements that
occur in a foreign language classroom. The high results were: likelihood to make friends with
foreigners, and feeling like they are being educated of something (Dornyei, Noels 430). The
elements that fell on the least likelihood of expectations of learning a foreign language were, the
passion to travel , be more knowledgeable, and finding usefulness in a future job with a second
language The main cause that contributed to the failing of foreign languages in secondary
schools is because students are not becoming more knowledgeable. (Dornyei, Noels 430). The
next step is to find what can be done to help western european languages survive in the high
school curriculum.
Looking back on experience, I know that the only classroom where I felt fully engaged five days
a week was my French class. Throughout all four years of studying this language I have realized
that without the use of a proactive and passionate teacher, I would not have found where I
I had recently spoken to French teacher in high school-Madame Corrao, and our
conversation consisted of what techniques, practices, and materials she had brought into our
classroom that brought success for her first level learners. Madame Corrao responded,
The first step is to adapt to your students. Not every class that you teach has the same dynamic
as the last. Every class has their own distinct personality. Creating and modeling respect is
always important too. This way each student feels and realizes they are important to the success
of the class as a whole, and a little bit of humility in each student and the teacher is the way to
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go. Another thing to engages students comes from the teacher-their passion to teach. With the
lack of a teacher who loves the subject they teach, the students wont find the passion to learn the
required to fulfill this promise. I remember throughout my four years of having Madame Corrao
as my French teacher, she utilized the following: Learning through song, our French readers
that followed French families, learning historical facts, playing calm French music while testing,
competitive games for PRIZES, rewards systems, not being monotone while teaching, showing
your love of learning to your students, technology writing a grant for iPads and showed you
Duolingo on your phones, researching in the computer lab/library with friends, and challenging
you to do your best on tests, quizzes and homework, and giving real and sincere reactions to
the quality of work presented. I believe that Madame Corraos pedagogy is significant to me
college career in secondary education is because I repeatedly replicate her teaching ideas into
my own lesson plans. Her impact did not just remain in the classroom. Emphasizing on the
importance of inspiring students, I can speak from experience. Referring back to the importance
of enriching oneself into other cultural perspectives, I had began to take action into finding the
experience of this. Madame Corrao and I had established the French Honor Society of our
school, marking each chapter with a ceremony recited in French. We had organized a charity for
a boy with brain cancer, and also coordinated a trip to see Les Miserables on Broadway. My
peers were thankful that this was organized because it was different from a classroom setting.
Any foreign language teacher is resourceful to a students high school career, because there are
perfect scenarios where 9th graders can be inspired to understand other countries cultures.
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Although I had been gifted with a talented teacher for French, foreign language
departments in high schools across the world have been progressively decreasing. More schools
have been turning away from European languages like Italian, French, and German, and
emphasizing a higher regard to ESL learners who are Spanish native speakers, and vice versa.
Although several careers in the United States require a knowledge of the Spanish language, it is
still important to branch out with other languages to see what is being offered. This all traces
back to the success of a teacher. Without a teachers obvious passion to teach the forgotten
Acquire Knowledge
What causes the motivation to learn a foreign language? In French is the language of
Love and Stuff: student perceptions of issues related to motivation in learning a foreign
language, writers of this article discuss Gardners two of the learning orientations in order to
orientation occurs when the learner is studying a language because of a wish to identify with the
culture of speakers of that language (Williams 505). This is important to know as educators
because as the standards state, we are required to incorporate not only the content of the
language, but the cultural environment that surrounds the language as well. If a student is in
search for a new way to communicate, then they will be motivated in the classroom. However,
this is when the students who lack motivation fall under the instrumental orientation of learning.
Instrumental orientation includes a group of factors concerned with motivation arising from
external goals such as passing examinations, financial rewards, or furthering a career (Williams
505). These are the students who will perform little to no effort in classroom discussions, but
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strives to make it by. As students are becoming more and more disengaged in the cultural
classroom, the language department in schools across the world will fail to see improvements
So what can teachers do to maintain the life of foreign languages? A second language in
the secondary education curriculum has been often neglected by administrators and supervisors
when teachers are stuck on the issue of motivation. A lack of motivation directly contributes to
Devise a Plan
Over 200 Foreign language teachers who teach English in Hungary were given a list of
necessary elements needed that a teacher must create and practice in their classroom. The
teachers were asked to read over them, and decide which three elements were more important
than the others. Once the questionnaire was finished, the researchers of this project selected
which elements teachers consistently chose, and created the Ten Commandments that teachers
will follow in order to successfully keep engagement amongst the students. The Ten
Commandments are:
8. Try and fill the tasks with personal content that is relevant to the students
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10. Familiarize the learners with the cultural background of the language they are
Once this fundamental background is established and observant for the students, teachers
should also take students to cultural out of class excursions that surround their foreign language.
This will help grow a better understanding, and put the language into practice. Role playing can
also be effective as a classroom lesson. Students must be put into the lives of the specific
foreigner, and given creative tasks that will inspire them to want to learn more of the language.
Overall, the first step comes from the teacher, and it is their choice if they are accepting
of facing challenges. Students must be reassured that they have a trusting relationship with their
teacher, and also a voice in the classroom that will allow them to look into further discussion.
Works Cited
Clement, Richard. Language Learning 44:3, September 1994, Pp. 4174. Language Learning
44:3, September 1994, Pp. 417448 Motivation, Self-Confidence, and Group Cohesion
in the Foreign Language Classroom. Language Learning 44:3, September 1994, Pp. 417448
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/39366021/1994-clement-dornyei-noels-
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GKC9M5WEmjfEcj1StczWVEjwn8%3D&response-content-
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Drnyei, Zoltn, and Kata Csizr. Ten Commandments for Motivating Language
doi:10.1177/136216889800200303.
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Williams, Marion, et al. 'French Is the Language of Love and Stuff': Student Perceptions of
Research Journal, vol. 28, no. 4, 2002, pp. 503528. Academic Search Elite, EBSCO,
doi:10.1080/0141192022000005805.
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=6f9946bf-9399-47ed-8074-
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