Is it not true that our jobs are really about creating an environment for our students to become aware that they are beings who are capable when learning a language of experiencing joy, to be happy and secure and valued in the moments that they spend with us? Are those things not the real goal of our teaching?
Do we really want to go to work each day to fool people? Don’t we want to find and use a real method to do real work in a real setting with children who need our love and guidance in real ways in order to grow up? Don’t those kids need to experience at least some degree of happiness in their young lives at a time when happiness is not exactly the most prevalent quality found in today’s educational institutions?
We are blessed to be teachers, especially those of us who use comprehensible input, because it brings real and not false instruction.
Really, what are our goals as language teachers? To teach in the old ways? Or to teach in ways that gets results and bring hope to children?
How we teach rebounds back on us, as well.
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
