My Teaching Philosophy Zhengzheng Wu During my eight years of teaching Chinese to American students (aged 19-35), my teaching philosophy has

evolved through an array of mosaic experiences as a classroom teacher, mentor and mentee, and teacher student in the MATFL program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). Participating in teacher workshops and reflective teaching, along with reviewing feedback from student evaluations, have further informed my teaching philosophy. The theories of linguistic education serve to inspire and validate my teaching practices. However, it is through the process of my day-to-day teaching that I gain the core of my pedagogical beliefs. 1. Do not rely on one method. All methods have their merits as well as drawbacks. Across the gamut of methods, be it communicative, task-based, content-based, or a more traditional way of teaching, I have met students who embrace them all. Yet their preferences vary from one to another. Which methods should be employed more often than the others can be determined by learners background features, educational goals, and institutional culture. For example, a class filled with dynamic and creative young learners is more likely to favor communicative activities, where as a group of accuracy-concerned adult students may prefer explicit grammar explanations. 2. Let students decide what the best method is. To solve the puzzle of which method to choose, the key is to compile a learning-related profile of each student, including characteristics such as age, personal interests, learning style, motivation, and learning objectives. Some students may favor oral communication over essay composition. Some might feel more comfortable with practicing grammar than jumping right into a conversation. Some prefer to have more hands-on guidance, while others get excited by creative autonomy in a given task. Therefore a good teacher needs to bear in mind students learning habits while constructing a lesson plan. He/she should be flexible with his/her lesson plans by 1) providing the whole class more than one option of activities to choose from; 2) switching to a back-up activity or simplify the task procedures in face of learners confusions and frustrations; 3) listen to students in-class feedback and suggestions to adapt the activities to their interests, learning needs, and styles. 3. Maximize students output opportunities. Although I hesitate to indiscriminately judge which method works better than the others, I always recall the number one reason why people study a foreign language: They want to be able use it to communicate. It is through the practice of using the language that learners are prompted to gauge and identify the learning gaps away from their goals. I therefore would like to utilize all opportunities possible to help students build their communicative competence. In the classroom, I usually rely on group work, games, role plays, skits, and other communicative activities to meet this goal. Ideally, the students should be able to reach out to the language community to interact with native speakers. For example, I have taken my students to Chinatown in San Francisco to conduct survey at the elderly center, order food, sample tea, and haggle for prices in souvenir stores. I have also arranged guest speakers from China to give

mini-lectures on topics regarding Chinese society, and made the students raise questions to the speaker. I have also encouraged students to use online language partner services to meet peers from China. 4. Incorporate cultural features into the language class. Knowing a foreign language opens a whole new world to us. Apart from linguistic competence, cultural knowledge equips one with another essential tool to navigate in this world. The common view is that language study and cultural learning are inherently intertwined. Cultivating a students interest in a foreign culture can directly boost his/her motivation to learn the target language, and vice versa. Culture is hard to define. Its encompassing scope can be massively wide, including such subjects as history, geography, social values and norms, folklore and legends, economics, politics, and famous people. I strive to select electing materials that cover a wide range of cultural topics. I have walked into the classroom with all kinds of cultural artifacts: flea market finds, handicrafts, bank notes and coins, menus, users manuals, pictures of street signs, magazines, animations, music, movies, and YouTube videos. When it comes to cultural teaching, I advocate using a mixture of both student-centered and teacher-centered approaches. Dependent on students motivation, cultural and educational background, creativity, and independent study capacity, I would sensitively appropriate the guidance and scaffolding needed to comprehend a cultural phenomenon, brainstorm ideas for a cultural project, and scout for resources. 5. Make the classroom a technology-friendly place. Computerized technology greatly enhances the enjoyment of learning as well as facilitate the learning outcome. I have enrolled in on-going workshops to update my knowledge and skills in language instructional technology. The technology applications I have used for teaching purposes on a day-to-day basis include Office, SmartBoard, SmartTV, Sakai/Blackboard, Diigo, Wenlin, Rapid Rote, WordPress, GoogleDoc, and Ipad. I have experimented with using PhotoStory to make students introduce their family members and tell a personal story. I have assisted students in putting together PowerPoint slides regarding their field trip research in Chinatown San Francisco. I have also designed blog websites to share resources and communicate one-on-one with students who are business and government professionals, through my teaching contracts with MIISs Customer Language Services. 6. Reconcile social expectations with teachers individuality. Educational professionals undertake tremendous social responsibilities. They ought to act with professionalism and propriety around students. Underneath the layer of social expectations, they are individual beings like everyone else. One therefore needs to feel comfortable with oneself before being able to engage the students and exercise leadership. To win over students attention and respect takes not only professional degrees, knowledge, and expertise, but also charisma and communication skills. Humor is a great bonding tool and problem-solver, while effective communication techniques take on-going learning to acquire over time. My teaching job has prompted me to continually improve my skills in communication and building rapport with students, partly through the use of humor.