IMPULSE DRIVEN SOCIETY

We have many times heard people say something like “I had an impulse to do it!” or “I couldn’t control a sudden impulse...” or something like this. Sometimes, people even say something like: “He or She is an impulsive person” or “... acts impulsively”. So, how good is it to let our impulses make us react or do things? Well, the answer may actually be too obvious to many who are reading this now. A lot of times, it’s frequent to hear that people regret once they have acted under an impulse; though, every so often others may say that doing so was not that regrettable at all. This last group thinks that it was a pleasant experience in their lives to have followed a sudden impulse.

So, again, is it wise to act impulsively? When are people more prone to do it? What are the results/consequences of it? Is it not this impulsive behaviour to which we normally claim responsibility for misfortune, accidents, or even crime? And, how possible is it to (and when can we) control our impulses? We may have a variety of answers to these questions. However, I can see that some people end up cheating on their couples, having sexual intercourse with someone they have just met, beating and hitting others, disrespecting the authorities, causing damage to themselves, crashing, looking ridiculous, and doing crazy things; all this, under the effect of an impulse or an impulsive life. And, it seems to be that society has always had some “helpers” to make us act by certain kind of impulses, those being alcohol, drugs, and some others like several soup operas, many Hollywood films, and a lot of computer games and stuff from the Internet. Of course, a lot of justifications (or excuses) are normally presented in order to, perhaps, convince our minds that “it’s the ‘normal’ life” and we had no choice and so let our conscious at ease. On the other side of the spectrum, I can also see that there are times when acting on an impulse may save the life of a person, open the door of a great opportunity, give us the chance to stick up for a weak one, attract the attention of someone you are in love with, and do good deeds. Consequently, I see the need to keep a sound, wise and upright mind in order to be ready for a fair impulse control.

In the Bible, Ephesians 5:15 says: "Be very careful, then, how live-not as unwise but as wise" I think this may be the factor of our impulses. What do you reckon?

Learner’s First Language in the EFL Classroom

Many EFL teachers believe that the native language should be avoided at all costs in the classroom. However, many students complain that they don’t understand some explanations given by the teacher in English. They suggest that, at beginning levels, some explanations take place in their native language. If you are an EFL student you may feel identified with these complaining students. But you first need to begin by understanding what EFL stands for. It’s the abbreviation for English as a Foreign Language. Most textbooks to learn English correspond to this category. EFL means that English is being taught to students who mainly live in a non-English-speaking country.

Some research has been carried out into this issue, and you may want to visit some web sites about it (see some of them at the end of this article) Most of this research may closely coincide with my view that learner’s first language is actually an elemental technique and strategy in the classroom. However, I think this matter needs to be discussed recognising at least three different contexts, calling for different skills and considerations:

1.       The Full Immersion View: Which is, of course, more effective in English-speaking-countries, where learners have no shortage of spoken English around them; thus, it was meant to be an ESL method. (ESL=English as a Second Language. Considered as the process of teaching English within an English-speaking atmosphere/region/country. In the UK and New Zealand this is replaced by ESOL=English for Speakers of Other Languages)

So you may notice and tell that this method works best with children who live in an English-speaking area.

2.       University Students in Developing Countries: Within whom there is a variety of differences regarding social class and international interaction. However, most of them have no access to an English-speaking environment, which is impossible to create or provide by their teachers, however much they make an effort to do so.

You can easily notice that certain teachers have always had fantasies about them creating an English-speaking environment wherever the learner may be, and forcing students to use English wherever the teacher may “control” them. Well, these students need to gradually communicate among each other in English and then use it as a friendly, easy-to-use and useful tool for their professional life; so, a more realistic strategy is to wisely use their first language in the beginning stage, and then along the course of their learning process when necessary.

3.       No technique is wrong when appropriately used: This is true for every aspect of our lives. It is our job as teachers, but also as students, to consciously analyse which technique works best for certain aspects of the language to be taught/learnt/acquired. So, sometimes we may strategically make use of the traditional method (remember that this is a method. It's neither the devil nor evil at all), especially with older learners at the very low levels, and then gradually (or even alternatively) switch to task-based and more communicational methods. In the end, what really matters is how effective and useful the English Language is becoming for the student’s formative project, and how well he/she can achieve the competences expected (as the ones remarked in the CEF= Common European Framework)

http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=598

http://www.ncsall.net/index.php?id=188

http://www.esl-lounge.com/talking-points-first-language.shtml

When to teach/learn the list of Irregular Verbs?

Most EFL teachers agree that it’s useless to teach the list of irregular verbs to beginner students, since they don’t know the simple past tense yet, particularly the present perfect tense. However, I’ve just heard someone saying that the list of irregular verbs should be the vocabulary students need from the very beginning in order to understand what the teacher says. According to him, the first language must be forbidden, even for teachers who deal with beginners. What do you reckon?

Developing Pragmatic Fluency in English as a Foreign Language: Routines and Metapragmatic Awareness

"Universität Hamburg

This study explores whether pragmatic fluency can best be acquired in the classroom by provision of input and opportunity for communicative practice alone, or whether learners profit more when additional explicit instruction in the use of conversational routines is provided. It is hypothesized that such instruction raises learners' awareness of the functions and contextual distributions of routines, enabling them to become more pragmatically fluent.
Two versions of a communication course taught to advanced German learners of English for 14 weeks are examined, one version providing explicit metapragmatic information, the other withholding it. Samples of tape-recorded conversations at various stages of the courses are used to assess how students' pragmatic fluency developed and whether and how the development of fluency benefits from metapragmatic awareness."

From:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=2553300

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