Looking at the positives of this statement it shows that these women really care about what spiritual input they are getting, after all most of them ran the Sunday School every Sunday...and when they didn't, they were away. The negative comment that could come would be towards those who aren't involved in any service in a church [especially one that might involved not being in a sermon] and use not being fed as the reason. In these cases the statement becomes an excuse for not serving.
Why do I mention this, well for one it's an interesting diversion/lead into the topic of teaching within the church, it also allows me to mention my friends blog piece about taking responsibility for being "fed" but most importantly to mention that desiring God, desiring teaching isn't a bad thing [which can come across sometimes].
In the world of English language teaching many changes have taken place in the methodology of how lessons are taught. In the past there was a formal sitting down, reading and translating a text approach with very little focus on students actually being able to use the language or communicate but instead knowing the rules of the language and as such being able to answer questions about the text.
If we look at teaching within the church we can see similar comparisons, a text is read, a teacher then instructs the students on new or unfamiliar words and explains the translation. the students sit there and perhaps write notes with no certainty that they are listening or absorbing the information. The students leave the lesson, head home and probably don't use this knowledge till the next lesson, at which point the process is repeated.
Some students love the methodology. They learn the rules and can recite them at will [or command of the teacher] they study at home all the time, they translate text after text and can't understand why other students don't enjoy or find the lessons engaging.
Others hate the methodology, they don't engage, although they want to learn the language they just can't manage to put up with the lessons and so they give up. Stop attending the lessons and go away with a small knowledge of the language never to expand it.
[maybe you can see some similarities, if not then either your church is using a varied teaching approach or maybe you find the methodology engaging]
So what are the key characteristics of EFL communicative methodology used today and how can we translate them into the church.[In no particular order]
1. Real life situations
2. Using audio, visual And Kinaesthetic techniques to focus on a holistic learning approach
3. Students don't just study but use the target language in class.
4. Repetition of material
5. Allowing participation from all students to maximise practice.
6. Inductive learning not Deductive learning [a possible example]
6. Inductive learning not Deductive learning [a possible example]
[feel free to point out other essential element that shall be added to the list.]
And so these are the idea's I shall start to explore with relation to teaching in the church in the coming week with the aim of a post every Monday addressing one of these idea. Please feel free to suggest idea's, to critique the article/idea, comment etc [as long as it's not a personal attack].
And so these are the idea's I shall start to explore with relation to teaching in the church in the coming week with the aim of a post every Monday addressing one of these idea. Please feel free to suggest idea's, to critique the article/idea, comment etc [as long as it's not a personal attack].
