Factors involved in good modern language teaching

Teaching is a mission and you are the dedicated missionaries. Others have the job of teaching only the young, because their subjects have tangible results which can be measured in better salaries and greater comforts. You have the job of teaching not only the young, but the whole community before you can teach your pupils; for unless your community is convinced that they need foreign languages, you will never get full support for your program. Yet your work is the only connecting link between the various nations of the world. Fortunately we are in the midst of a real renaissance in the objectives of education. Foreign languages are deeply involved in the renaissance not because of vested interests on the part of teachers, but because of vested interests on the part of civilization. Languages are the only means of exchanging ideas not only with other nations of today, but with other cultures of the past. If there is any profit to be derived from comparing ideas it must ultimately come through the medium of foreign languages. Now more than ever it becomes necessary to prove by results that the study of foreign languages is necessary for our youth. Now more than ever it becomes necessary to do better teaching in order to obtain better results. What is good teaching in a foreign language? An appraisal of good teaching involves an examination of the objectives to be achieved, the methods used, and the results obtained. Good teaching cannot be evaluated until we have examined the whole cycle. It is not a matter of statistics or mass results. Good teaching is a matter of personal relationship in which the teacher utilizes all factors at his command to inspire a pupil to improve himself mentally in a field hitherto unknown to him. What I propose to do in this short talk is to guide you in an examen de conscience, for in the final analysis only the teacher himself can decide what to do to improve that personal relationship

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