Gibbons - Ch 1 & 2 by Jenna Fudge

I found this reading to be very interesting. I felt these to chapters were full of very valuable information. I am excited to learn about how to best teach second language learners in my future classroom. The first chapter sparked my interest when talking about the different views of learning (empty vessel and progressive). I have learned about these two views in previous classes and have never really found myself fully agreeing with either one of them. I was excited to see that this book is offering an alternative to both of these views. From what I have read about this third view so far I find myself agreeing with it. I think it is very true that "while we are all biologically able to acquire language, what language we learn, how adept we are at using it, and the purposes for which we are able to use it are a matter of the social contexts and situations we have been in."

I am excited to read in the future chapters how this learning view will be applied to how we as teachers should teach second language learners. Chapter 2 covered a little bit of this in the ideas about classroom talk. I never realized how important the role of talk in learning is. It does make sense that actually having to speak the second language will enable the student to process the language more deeply than when they are just listening. I thought the use of group work was a good idea and thought the principles for making sure the group work is effective were very important. I also thought this chapter contained many good ideas for group activities that I can use one day in my future classroom.

I think I will be learning a lot from this book. I am excited to see what the next chapters have in store. So far I have found it to be very useful and informative. I am looking forward to learning more about how to best teach English language learners.