TESL 0100- Unit 3- Reflections

In this unit, we looked deeper into our English knowledge. Even though I've learned English based on grammar and have been practicing it all the time, when I was reading Bolitho, R., & Tomlinson, B. (2005) , I found that there are some grammar questions that I am unable to answer. As I have noticed, many native speakers (could be any language) cannot address grammar points of their speech and it is really hard for them to remember all the points. It could be related to their method of learning; like a child who learns a language by just listening, and she/he can speak it with correct grammar, but if you ask for grammar points there is no answer. I think the hardest part of teaching, not English only, is to teach grammar. It is important that you know how to teach grammar to a person who might not know the grammar of her/his native language. My question is, could anyone who does not know all grammar points be an effective teacher?

Through the lesson, we learned about Communicative Language Ability.
Hedge (2012, p. 46) lists the following key components of the communicative language ability as identified by research: Linguistic competence, Pragmatic competence, Discourse competence, Strategic competence and Fluency.
This lesson helped me to have a better understanding of my language knowledge and awareness needs as a teacher. Below you can see my action plan for the future.

Area of Need	Action to be Taken	When
1.  Expand my knowledge of grammatical terms	Find good grammar books and online resources	Over next 6 months
2. Expand my knowledge of ESL vocabulary	look up for my vocabulary gaps in ESL and find their definition	January 2019
3. Expand my knowledge of teaching	Reach out my PLN and ask for advice, look for ESL volunteer opportunities	Ongoing

Resources:

Hedge, T. (2012). Teaching and Learning in the language classroom. Oxford: OUP.

Bolitho, R., & Tomlinson, B. (2005). Common Areas of Difficulty. In Discover English (pp. 7-18). Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Limited.