Education needs to be framed within learning practices that contribute to students’ cumulative learning. If we are not promoting active learning practices, we are doing a disservice to our students.
- It is critical to expand courses targeted to small groups of students together with a mentor/faculty/staff on a regular basis. This course content should ask critical questions, engage in targeted writing assignments, collaborative learning, and not simply memorizing statistics or data. Students should be encouraged to apply their learning beyond the classroom by working on projects that can be linked to their communities. Students should also be trained to draft and prepare projects/reports targeted to specific audiences, so they can fine tune their reasoning skills.
- Assignments should connect key concepts and questions with evidence and empirical observation, and should provide students with a sense of excitement—that should come from finding answers to important questions—instead of a being a burden to them. While students can benefit from well-planned curriculum and well-written textbooks, educators need to realize that it is crucial that students explore as many as possible outside the classroom life experiences, participate in national and international experiences (meets, conferences, etc.), because this is how they can develop a better understanding of the diverse world that they live in. Assignments should combine two key goals:
- Learning to resolve a problem, and
- Sharpening one’s own understanding.
- Scholarships and internships are yet another way to encourage realistic first-hand learning. If students can be provided with opportunities to gain experience in a work setting—preferably something related to their interests—where they can be supervised and coached by professionals in the fields of interest, students will acquire self-confidence and will be able to appreciate the real life value of their career interests.
- My personal experience as a teacher is more in the field of humanities and social sciences. Teaching a foreign language (Spanish, in my case) involves explaining an elaborate framework of cultural background of history, art, geography, and civilization to my students; in order for my students to absorb the linguistic nuances of Spanish, they need to be able to connect with the deep contextual understanding that weaves through the societies where Spanish is spoken. Teaching Spanish to my students is not simply forcing them to memorize a colossal list of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions, but to guide them through the cultural history that shaped the language in Spain and outside Spain (in Latin America, where Spanish is the official language of 21 countries that were all colonized by Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries). I rely less on printed textbooks, and more on easily accessible and free authentic cultural materials (films, online journals, online blogs, etc.) that I integrate into all my Spanish courses. Sometimes I integrate online learning activities into my courses. My goal is to create opportunities where students can facilitate, interact, debate, and learn from an online community. I also encourage my students to participate in Study Abroad experiences, which is the best way to combine what they have learned in class and apply it in a global context. Study Abroad experiences heighten students’ motivation, promote self-reflection, promote contextual understanding, and encourage self-direction.
- In addition to Study Abroad experiences, I also encourage students to find internship opportunities where they can apply their knowledge. For instance, a Spanish major might work as a translator for court hearings, or might work with a publishing company that requires someone with knowledge of Spanish. Proficiency in a foreign language and in-depth knowledge of other cultures are essential components of success in today’s international marketplace and when I teach Spanish, I plan my curriculum keeping this in mind. I make sure that my students are aware that with a major in a foreign language, they have the ability to demonstrate more cultural awareness and sensitivity for other cultures.
- Acquiring linguistic proficiency can be the means for you to develop the following skills:
- Capability to interpret cultural issues fluently and analytically,
- Significant command of grammar and vocabulary,
- Advanced questioning and responding proficiency,
- Advanced capability of translating documents,
- Ability to systematize detailed information,
- Acquiring phonetic proficiency in another language.
- Educators and schools need to emphasize the fact that classroom educational knowledge must be supplemented and enhanced with practical experiences as they foster innovative, critical and analytical thinking, and allow students to develop deft communication skills, so that they are able to face complexity and ambiguity, applying knowledge in unfamiliar situations. Education can no longer be just about memorizing and taking standardized tests, and if our educational system doesn’t engage students actively and doesn’t train students to adapt their minds to new learning situations throughout their lives, then we are not doing our job.
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