Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Ahmad Abdallah
Teaching is the center of my life. I love to learn and interact with people and share knowledge and skills. I believe in the power of education to change people’s behavior and attitude for the best. Education creates a powerful mentality that’s capable of achieving anything humanity needs. If I can do one thing in the world and for the world, I’d create an equal quality learning opportunity for everyone. This is how we change the world for the best; end poverty and hunger, end wars and conflicts, and have world peace.
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My language teaching philosophy stands on three pillars. The first step is selecting the right language topics/themes for students (input) that they will learn. The second is designing the best learning environment “classroom” and/or “Learning Management System (LMS)” (the channel). Third, selecting the appropriate methods to measure the produced language (output) as an evaluation mechanism is important. This full cycle represents the language acquisition process the student goes through to earn the necessary language skills (reading, speaking, writing and listening) that she/he needs to communicate with others.
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The first step towards achieving a successful learning process is to choose the right language topics/themes for students. This includes selecting the appropriate books and materials, designing visual aids and realia, developing supplementary materials for teacher and students, and so on and so forth. This step requires planning for a particular group of students at a certain level. It’s important to communicate the planning with the team, and document the process for future projects. Personally, I like to divide language topics into communicative themes. Each theme contains a number of competencies. Each competency represents a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Acquiring a new competency enables students to communicate in a new domain.
The second step is selecting the right channels to communicate the language with students. A traditional classroom setting is the best method for teacher and students to meet to practice the language. Beside, utilizing the right technology like LMS’s Moodle, Schoology, Canvas or others is extremely helpful to maximize the language acquisition for students. Having a fun and enjoyable class is important to create a safe learning environment for students. Learning a language should be based on fun activities and tasks that make their purposes clear to students. This makes learning the language at its highest standards.
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Last but not least, measuring the learnt language using the right methods is critical for many reasons. First, selecting the right method of evaluation for the practiced language skill (ex: speaking) makes learning the language purposeful. Second, adults like to feel they progress with the language, which increases their motivation to study harder. Thus, selecting the right evaluating method shows them where they were and where they are at the time of the test. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is a powerful method to measure speaking ability. It’s also a good method because that’s the standard test most government agencies use when hiring.
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I strongly believe that the teacher should be resourceful with games, activities and ideas. The teacher should be an excellent role-player. She/he should be able to communicate with different groups of people at different levels. The teacher should rely on using only the target language that the students are learning at the time of class when she/he teaches. The teacher wears different hats and plays different roles; the role of the teacher, facilitator, trainer, coach and even student. A teacher should be fun and make the classroom a fun place that students love to attend. The teacher should always bring language and culture together in an authentic and purposeful way. The teacher should expose students to language to make learning meaningful and to increase their chances to use the language in the classroom and outside. Teacher should believe in her/his students as adults who learn differently than children. Thus, knowledge and skills taught should have an immediate use, easy to measure, and contribute to a whole picture the teacher and students are drawing together. The teacher should believe in the power of technology as an effective tool to communicate language with students for language practices; especially when language is taught as a forging language (ex: Arabic taught in the US). I believe that my teaching skills have been developed to meet with all what I’ve mentioned here. My diverse work experiences with Peace Corps, University of Montana and other programs along with the training and education I have received have all shaped the way I teach.