Interaction

                We all know as future teachers that interaction amongst student is important. There should be a valuable exchange of input between the teacher and students that give the students a comprehensive understanding of the material. But how do we facilitate that interaction and make it as meaningful as possible? Krashen gave us a good start into understanding the value of meaningful interaction due to his input hypothesis. He believes in providing comprehensible input and building, or scaffolding, the material through the i + 1 method. The curriculum should always have the next level incorporated into the current lesson. While comprehensible input is important, we also need to question how much authentic exposure the students are receiving. As well as the lack of participation and output required in his model. It is so important for ESL and EFL students to have negotiation of meaning present in their classrooms. You may have students from all over the world in your classroom and they will all understand English differently according to their cultural and personal experiences. This is referred to in Kuma where interaction is used as an ideational activity. Each student will bring in their “own ideas and emotions” to the classroom and this will most certainly affect their understanding. This also relates to the article dealing with supporting students’ first language when you yourself don’t speak it. The article gives the example of Dolores, an ESL teacher who successfully incorporates each student’s culture into the classroom. She creatively uses their native languages to help them understand English which is a resourceful way of developing their interlanguage as well. Through the use of humor, she helps her students understand a very cultural aspect of English while still respecting all of their cultures as well. I think the article discussing Dolores' situation really sums up what many teachers face in education regarding input and material. How do we use authentic relate able material that can spread cross culturally while ensuring meaningful interaction? I think really pursuing the students questions is one point that was hit upon that is truly valuable. If  a student brings in a situation from home that they are curious about and want an explanation, there is nothing wrong with taking time out of class to provide them with that. It will be much more meaningful to the child then simply avoiding their question and focusing on the importance of homophones. Providing them with culturally relevant material will only help develop their understanding and appreciation for English. The use of humor to relate culturally is genius because it even pointed out in the article that L2 learners even at the intermediate/advanced level sometimes have a gap in understanding comical situations. Even I have experienced this in Spanish, not being sure of what phrases are funny or puns in Spanish or having jokes in English not transfer over. That point alone proves the importance for simple conversations, meaningful interactions, and comprehensible output. The way she has parents volunteer to teach certain lessons to the class is another way to incorporate cultural sensitivity and interlanguage connections into the class. Obviously we will all have days where grammar lessons and writing prevail, but we should always be trying to make interactions between ourselves and our students as meaningful as possible. The more excited we are to teach them, the more curiosity they will have to learn and expand their knowledge. Since some of us are Spanish ed. majors, how can we use this culturally informed method in our SFL classrooms? How can we get parents involved in their children's language learning or learning in general?