Arnell Thompson

Hello! As someone who is known for being quite chatty I believe that the ability to converse in your desire language is critical to understanding.

While it is important to know and comprehend grammatical rules and patterns, I find there to be a strong divergernce between how languages are taught in schools vs how they are spoken in the world.

I learned this first hand. I studied Spanish in school for over 10 years and had a very solid understanding of the language and grammar, however after spending 5 weeks in Chile as part of a Service Learning Program where I volunteered in a medical clinic, that was when I truly felt like I knew Spanish.

Learning slang, abbreviations, and common phrases that exist in the region/area where you’re studying is priceless learning and that’s something that I would try to recreate in lessons.

I would use methods such as songs, jokes, common phrases and media such as films or tv shows to express how English can be spoken and interpreted based on situational context.

I look forward to speaking with you all!