Methodology
The methodology used in our school is the most studied in recent years with regard to the teaching of foreign languages: the communication approach. In this approach, we do not only focus on the communicative perspective nor only on the action perspective, but we take from both perspectives the best they can offer for the teaching and learning of a foreign language.
Social phenomena are interrelated from individuals, who in turn act rationally. This “act rationally” reminds us of the old way of teaching languages based on comparative translation. It is a practice which is no longer effective in the teaching of languages, an action which one avoids using in class, even because it does not contribute to the pupil's action in class.
It would be much simpler to translate the word, and the student to write it down, however, when we force the student's cognitive ability to learn visually, or intuitively, or some other way, the student stands as an agent of his learning.
For Christian Puren (2014), perspectives should no longer be divided, since each has a value in the construction of knowledge. This is why the communication perspective is effective today. In addition, we rely on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), as this is the basis for most of the methods (manuals) available on the market today.
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, a reference work in the field of teaching / learning today, brings language teaching into a new era with the “action perspective”. Breaking down barriers to learning and linking communication to social action, the CEFR positively subverts traditional representations of language-culture teaching / learning / assessment both at the practical level of teaching and at the level of educational processes. 'learning.
However, for this change to succeed, it is necessary that the actors, who are concerned, deeply understand the paradigm shift that is taking place. This is the objective of our project which aims to move from the “communicative era” to the “actional communicative era”, using an approach that is no longer only “communicative” but “communicative”.
We are not only talking about an open communication, service and delivery, which remains in interculturality, but of a relationship in which no type of approach is criticized and therefore we can have the vision of the together, by following a course not only of formal learning, but for a teaching / learning full of self-knowledge, both in the theoretical domain and in the personal domain, of personal beliefs, never leaving aside the subjectivity of the student as a content self-educator.
Our learning is therefore complex, according to Edgar Morin (1990).
In this way, our teachers always try to lead by example, at all levels, to give the child the opportunity to observe the situation and understand the context even before directly translating the words, expressions, sentences used. “When the student pays attention to the message, that is to say to the meaning, to the content of the texts, and when given the opportunity to express an intention for personal communication, he finds himself in the most appropriate situation. more apt for motivation and more favorable to learning ”. (COURTILLON, 2003: 53)
It then takes place, or we try to do it most of the time: “comprehension <> location> memorization> production” (COURTILLON, 2003: 53). How do teachers make students realize that they themselves are the main agents of their learning process? And how will the teacher be able to teach if the pupils are not open to learning a foreign language or very attached to their first language?
To answer these questions, we start with a quote from Janine Courtillon: “the acquisition of speech can only take place under better conditions through the spontaneous practice of the language”. "The exchanges on the language become natural if the teacher gives the initiative to the pupils (...)". (COURTILLON, 2003: 64.65)
Above all, teachers, from the moment they create conditions that approach reality, that they choose subjects relevant to the student's life, that they do interactive and varied activities, when they are interested in answering non-spoken questions, they are interested in the students' lives as human beings, especially when they do not treat the students as if they know nothing about the language, at this time the students teachers capture students' attention, they can show that learning, anything, is important for life. “We cannot assimilate the learning of other disciplines and that of a foreign language. The student already has the practice of a language, he must transpose new signs in place of those he is used to using (...) We (the teachers) do not transmit a practice, we allows the acquisition. "(COURTILLON, 2003: 54)
According to Adail Sebastião (UFOP): “The teaching of the language is to perceive it as a formal organization which lends itself to the social functions of the uses of language for the purposes of effective communication” (p.21). Regarding the action of teaching a foreign language, Adair Bonini (UFSC) says: "the main objective of the teacher is the appropriation by the student of cultural manifestations resulting from human historicity" (2013: 33) . And Vilson J. Leffa (UCPEL), in relation to learning says: “Learning a foreign language is not an additional knowledge that is acquired and added to what we already have, like s 'it was a commodity added to the heritage.
What is foreign and, therefore, different to us, must penetrate our intimacy, causing a strangeness that affects our psychomotor, affective, cognitive and social structure. "(LEFFA in SILVA; ARAGÃO (orgs.) 2013: 76) They said this starting from the following question:" What is it to teach / learn a language? "
When we think of an answer, we affirm that: to teach / to learn (because when we teach, we also learn, and a lot) a foreign language is to give the possibility of being in different social contexts.
Whether it is by communicating ideas, giving opinions, or in a simple conversation (interaction), or by researching the Internet.
We start from the assumption that you have to love what you do as a teacher. Thus bringing Wallon's ideas (albeit focused on early childhood education), taking into account the importance of affection both for the pupils and for the teaching / learning process itself .
There is therefore a need for integration between the organism and the environment. It is not only the language, but a whole system that must be unveiled step by step. It is not only the emotion, the feeling, the passion of the native / foreigner, it is how the student feels while learning.
All teaching involves affection. In this way, we try to provide the students with a pleasant, pleasant and fun environment in which they can present their points of view without being censored or having their subjectivity diminished.
Textbooks offer students a range of modern information, directly related to the current world that the teacher can always enrich.
The four learning skills are discussed frequently, which means that students are able to develop each of them in a balanced way.
Finally, we believe that our methodologies are not rigid and therefore we can always specialize in the most effective methods of teaching a foreign language.