When we teach according to the standard of Communication and the research that says that Comprehensible Input is the way human beings acquire languages, we open up for ourselves in the act of teaching each day a wide expanse of possibilities. What possibilities?
Happy ones.
If something occurs during our instruction that is funny, we can laugh at it. If something is sad, since it’s all make believe anyway we can overreact to the sadness and laugh about it with our students. We can experience true interest in the classes we are teaching because each one is different throughout the day. We can marvel at how much our students are acquiring. We can enjoy watching them all succeed. (This statement only applies to students raised with CI from level 1, not to students who have experienced both ways of teaching.)
Isn’t it cool that we can experience life as it is, which means including happy emotions? As laughter returns to the tomb-like classrooms of miserable days gone by, as mirth returns, as community returns and we remember that life – including education – is not all about making the few look superior but helping all people realize their human potential, we grow as human beings.
Krashen’s hypothesis wins the game again because it reveals how people actually acquire languages and it also sheds light on a big secret that is out there for us as language teachers – we can be happy at our jobs. I really like that.