Task 3

I think that students learn through socialization. In other words, learners learn through communication with others. Every one can learn, although their learning is in different terms of process and speed.

Here is an example to explain how this learning happens. For my students, the only thing they can connect with China/Chinese is their Chinese teacher. I am the only resource for them to learn at this point. Most of the time, they are “repeating after me”. Are they learning? Of course, all learning starts with “copying” someone. Without a “community” (at least two people), learning could never happen.

I believe that all the students have the capacity to learn. Many world language teachers share similar stories as me. We all have some students who are receiving some special help from school concerning their learning abilities. However, in our world language classes, they perform even better than other academic level students. I always think, for foreign language, whenever you start to learn, you are at the baby stage, and no matter if you are 5 or 25. I have a student who has mental challenges. She has problem to learn math, science, but not Chinese (actually she is pretty good). Another student has a speech problem, but she doesn’t have a speech problem in Chinese.

There are many factors that may shape students’ learning capacity: students’ mental development, teachers’ instruction, etc... I believe everyone can learn, but in different processes. Some students are good at memorization, some are good at analysis. Every student has a different capacity and that capacity can change due to environmental influence. Except for parents, the teacher is the most important element to shape each student’s learning capacity.

As an educator, we have very strong influences on students’ capacities. You must hear a lot stories like “I love to learn math because my math teacher from 3rd grade” or “I hate learning science because my teacher at my middle school is so terrible.” What we are doing in our classrooms can either motivate or decrease this capacity. Some of my students love learning Chinese. They told me that they are going to China when they grow up. They learn Chinese language and culture after school through the internet or purchased materials. An old Chinese proverb states “Teacher is architecture of soul” - We are changing the way our students think and believe; they are changing their capacity of learning.

The first thing those assumptions told us is that learning would not happy separately. One object of our instruction should be to help our students connect the new knowledge to their background knowledge, and to help them discover the new situation. I would have more students-centered discussion and performance-based assessments which offer more opportunities for students to socialize in their community to discover the best practices for them to learn.

P.S. 2. Pick one domain that you are interested in learning more about.
Domain 3 Instruction.