Here is the actual text of the Then and Now part of the 21st Century Skills Map, just to have it handy in the Administrator/Teacher/Parent Re-education category. Chris you may want to gently suggest to that verb conjugating mom that she take a look at this bad boy. Again, the link to this astounding text – and thank you again Ardythe – is:
http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/Skills%20Map/p21_worldlanguagesmap.pdf
Then and Now
The language classroom in the U.S. has been transformed in the last 20 years to reflect an increasing emphasis on developing students’ communicative competence. Unlike the classroom of yesteryear that required students to know a great deal of information about the language but did not have an expectation of language use, today’s classroom is about teaching languages so that students use them to communicate with native speakers of the language. This is what prepares them to use their language learning as a 21st Century Skill. Following is a chart comparing how language classrooms looked in the past compared to today.
IN THE PAST
- Students learned about the language (grammar)
- Teacher-centered class
- Focused on isolated skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing)
- Coverage of a textbook
- Using the textbook as the curriculum
- Emphasis on teacher as presenter/lecturer
- Isolated cultural “factoids”
- Use of technology as a “cool tool”
- Only teaching language
- Same instruction for all students
- Synthetic situations from textbook
- Confining language learning to the classroom
- Testing to find out what students don’t know
- Only the teacher knows criteria for grading
- Students “turn in” work only for the teacher
TODAY
- Students learn to use the language
- Learner-centered with teacher as facilitator/collaborator
- Focus on the three modes: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational
- Backward design focusing on the end goal
- Use of thematic units and authentic resources
- Emphasis on learner as “doer” and “creator”
- Emphasis on the relationship among the perspectives, practices, and products of the culture
- Integrating technology into instruction to enhance learning
- Using language as the vehicle to teach academic content
- Differentiating instruction to meet individual needs
- Personalized real world tasks
- Seeking opportunities for learners to use language beyond the classroom
- Assessing to find out what students can do
- Students know and understand criteria on how they will be assessed by reviewing the task rubric
- Learners create to “share and publish” to audiences more than just the teacher.
