the 10 commandments of language teaching

The 10 Commandments

OfLanguage Teaching

H.D.Brown

LEARNER'S VERSION

*Go with your hunches*Dive in

*Get the BIG picture*Believe in yourself

*Fear not!*Love thy neighbor

*Seize the day*Cope with the

chaos*Set your own goals*Mistakes help us

TEACHER'S VERSION

I. Lower inhibitions2. Encourage risk-

taking3. Build self-confidence

4. Develop intrinsic motivation.5. Engage in

cooperative learning6. Use right-brain

processes7. Promote ambiguity

tolerance8. Practice intuition

9. Process error feedback

10.Set personal goals

CAN YOU MATCH THE TEACHER’S

COMMANDMENT WITH THE LEARNER’S

COMMANDMENT?

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself1. LOWER

INHIBITIONS

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself2. ENCOURAGE

RISK TAKING.

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself3. BUILD

SELF-CONFIDENCE

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself4. DEVELOP

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself5. ENGAGE IN

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself6. USE RIGHT

BRAIN PROCESSES

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself7. PROMOTE

AMBIGUITY TOLERANCE

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself8. PRACTICE

INTUITION

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself9. PROCESS ERROR

FEEDBACK.

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself10. SET PERSONAL

GOALS!

*Go with your hunches *Get the BIG picture *Dive in

*Fear not! *Love thy neighbor *Seize the day

*Cope with the chaos *Set your own goals

*Mistakes help us *Believe in yourself

1. Lower inhibitions

LEARNER'S VERSION

*Fear not!*Dive in

*Believe in yourself*Seize the day

*Love thy neighbor*Get the BIG picture

*Cope with the chaos

*Go with your hunches

*Mistakes help us.

*Set your own goals

TEACHER'S VERSION

I. Lower inhibitions2. Encourage risk-

taking3. Build self-confidence

4. Develop intrinsic motivation.5. Engage in

cooperative learning6. Use right-brain

processes7. Promote ambiguity

tolerance8. Practice intuition

9. Process error feedback

10.Set personal goals

The Future’s Predicate

(process over product)

Know less to

understand more!

Pascal’s Teaching Gambit

We don’t know what the END is. So we should enjoy the process. Teach students to be happy and you will be too!

References

H.D. Brown, (2000) 'Principles of Language Learning and Teaching‘, New York; Longman

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