Fourth Class

I am posting this several weeks after the class. 

I think I stopped posting because I was so embarrassed after this class. I'd had a busy week and hadn't studied much. My teacher spent half of the class reviewing old vocab and quizzing us. There were only 2 of us, and it was embarrassing.  I didn't remember a lot, and I hadn't studied all of the old words. I felt like the teacher was wasting time going over this old stuff, but she felt like we had to master the old before we could learn new. She kept saying things like, I remember I taught you this. Just because you've taught things, doesn't mean anyone remembered. 

The class improved once we starting learning something new. We could shine by applying that new knowledge, not by recalling vocab. We learned "this" and combined it with adjectives and nouns. This new dress, etc.

Lessons learned: It takes students multiple exposures to learn things.  Presenting the vocab in a new way rather than drilling it may be more effective. USING vocab helps build connections.  Drilling feels like a waste of time to students.

Language is arbitrary. I left thinking that although basic vocab seems SO Easy for a native speaker of the language, it is just gobbledygook for the learner until it is learned. It is meaningless sounds and symbols until it acquires meaning. We know the importance of helping students connect personally with a story, but they must also connect with the vocabulary.