Rocío decided she wanted to try something new on Tuesday. She changed the groups from intermediate and advanced to Spanish speakers and non-Spanish speakers. She said that it was because she wanted to work on translation exercises and that translation is going to be very helpful in those students learning English grammar. So I guess we are going to warp through time and live in the era of the grammar-translation method.
I just don’t know if I agree with splitting the groups up in this manner. In my group, which now consists of Vietnamese, Chinese, Laos, and Farsi speakers, we picked up right where they left off in the “intermediate” book. Unfortunately, a couple of the non-Spanish speaking students were previously in the more advanced group and became increasingly bored today because the subject matter we were covering was too basic for their skill level.
One of the biggest issues that I have been struggling with involves translation. I just don’t think, especially at an advanced level, that words and concepts should be translated into the L1. It was incredibly helpful when I was in a Spanish language class where the teacher only spoke in Spanish. What I find interesting is that I haven’t had nearly as big of a problem with the students constantly translating for each other in my new group. It may have to do with the relatively small number of same-language speakers, but I am not sure.
I do know that when my group consisted of about 90% Spanish-speakers, that other 10% felt left out at times. The look on those excluded students’ faces made me sad and frustrated at the same time. I have no desire to exclude any student from learning, and I think that by having “private” conversations (during class) in non-English, that is exactly what has been happening.
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